Sunday afternoon (2:30 pm CST) Iowa Public Television will air the Frontline production on the war in Iraq, "Bush's War."
At about 5 hours in length, it's a big investment of time, but nothing like the investment we've made as a country. If this conflicts with your schedule, you can view this on the internet at the PBS website:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/
I've had an opportunity to view this on the internet. While I would have liked to see more information in some areas, it's balanced, highly detailed, and well documented.
It portrays a dysfunctional administration, consumed by internal politics, lack of leadership, and a disregard for the toll this war has taken on Americans. Understanding how we get into this kind of conflict may help us understand what we're doing there, and how we can avoid this in the future.
At 5 hours, it's about the length of a football game. If it gets even one fourth of the audience of televised games (not even counting the Super Bowl), it will be a success.
If not, then that in itself explains how we find ourselves in the situation we're in.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Brother, can you spare a dollar?
With apologies to the depression-era song ("Brother, Can You Spare a Dime"), I was struck by the irony of two articles in today's Des Moines Register.
The first editorial, ("How to Pay for $3 trillion war?") makes a strong case that we deserve more honesty from presidential candidates on the true cost of the war in Iraq.
The second article, ("Almighty dollar loses its potency around the globe") refers to the weakening of the U.S. dollar, but doesn't quite connect with the underlying cause: the national debt. In fact, other than the inconvenience of having to exhange currency to tour the Taj Mahal, I might have the impression that this doesn't effect me.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The U.S. dollar is already at record lows, making nearly everything we import more expensive. The lack of fiscal responsibility by the current administration will become more apparent in the months ahead.
As I write this on Sunday evening, the dollar is crashing in Asian markets, and it's likely that U.S. stock markets will drop dramatically this coming week (this is in addition to the 15%-20% drop in equities since October of last year).
When you get your next 401K statement, see prices continue to climb at the grocery store, or fill up with gas this summer, the problems of deficit spending will become more apparent...even if you're not planning to visit the Taj Mahal.
The first editorial, ("How to Pay for $3 trillion war?") makes a strong case that we deserve more honesty from presidential candidates on the true cost of the war in Iraq.
The second article, ("Almighty dollar loses its potency around the globe") refers to the weakening of the U.S. dollar, but doesn't quite connect with the underlying cause: the national debt. In fact, other than the inconvenience of having to exhange currency to tour the Taj Mahal, I might have the impression that this doesn't effect me.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The U.S. dollar is already at record lows, making nearly everything we import more expensive. The lack of fiscal responsibility by the current administration will become more apparent in the months ahead.
As I write this on Sunday evening, the dollar is crashing in Asian markets, and it's likely that U.S. stock markets will drop dramatically this coming week (this is in addition to the 15%-20% drop in equities since October of last year).
When you get your next 401K statement, see prices continue to climb at the grocery store, or fill up with gas this summer, the problems of deficit spending will become more apparent...even if you're not planning to visit the Taj Mahal.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Just put it on my tab... again this month
As presidential candidates talk of "fiscal responsibility," you can expect to hear more about the impact of our growing national debt on future generations.
Today, we learned that our country set yet another record in February. The U.S. government reported that we set a record deficit in February, with federal spending exceeding revenue by $175.5 billion...in one month. In fact the runner-up budget deficit of $120 billion set in February of last year wasn't even a close contender. It shows what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it.
This brings our national debt (now called the "Total Public Debt," just to remind us who, exactly owes this money) to over $9.4 trillion. By the way, the U.S. Treasury now let's you see the total, updated daily, just for fun:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np
It looks like President Bush has a real shot at breaking over the $10 trillion mark. No small achievement for one President, considering the sum total of debt accumulated by the 42 Presidents who served before him was only $5.7 trillion.
And President Clinton was no help during his 8 years in office. He never went over the $50 billion mark in a single month, and in most years didn't exceed the $170 billion mark...in a whole year. G.W. has had to do all the heavy lifting.
It's no coincidence that the value of the U.S. dollar sunk to a new all-time low this past week. It's part of the reason we have Canadians flooding the mega mall in Minneapolis, foreign nationals buying real estate in Aspen, and foreign governments ("sovereign wealth funds") buying major stakes in American corporations. We are "on sale."
It's difficult to explain numbers like this. It's easier just to say that the government spent all the taxes they collected from the 140 million or so taxpayers, and then added debt of an extra $1,250 for each...just last month.
It's just difficult to explain this to my 4 year old grand-daughter..whose generation will be left with the tab.
Today, we learned that our country set yet another record in February. The U.S. government reported that we set a record deficit in February, with federal spending exceeding revenue by $175.5 billion...in one month. In fact the runner-up budget deficit of $120 billion set in February of last year wasn't even a close contender. It shows what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it.
This brings our national debt (now called the "Total Public Debt," just to remind us who, exactly owes this money) to over $9.4 trillion. By the way, the U.S. Treasury now let's you see the total, updated daily, just for fun:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np
It looks like President Bush has a real shot at breaking over the $10 trillion mark. No small achievement for one President, considering the sum total of debt accumulated by the 42 Presidents who served before him was only $5.7 trillion.
And President Clinton was no help during his 8 years in office. He never went over the $50 billion mark in a single month, and in most years didn't exceed the $170 billion mark...in a whole year. G.W. has had to do all the heavy lifting.
It's no coincidence that the value of the U.S. dollar sunk to a new all-time low this past week. It's part of the reason we have Canadians flooding the mega mall in Minneapolis, foreign nationals buying real estate in Aspen, and foreign governments ("sovereign wealth funds") buying major stakes in American corporations. We are "on sale."
It's difficult to explain numbers like this. It's easier just to say that the government spent all the taxes they collected from the 140 million or so taxpayers, and then added debt of an extra $1,250 for each...just last month.
It's just difficult to explain this to my 4 year old grand-daughter..whose generation will be left with the tab.
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