Stiglitz: Iraq war 'caused slowdown in the US'

[BurtWorm]

Talking about the economy, not the communal American brain (but that applies as well):

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23286149-2703,00.html

...

The spending on Iraq was a hidden cause of the current credit crunch because the US central bank responded to the massive financial drain of the war by flooding the American economy with cheap credit.

"The regulators were looking the other way and money was being lent to anybody this side of a life-support system," he said.

That led to a housing bubble and a consumption boom, and the fallout was plunging the US economy into recession and saddling the next US president with the biggest budget deficit in history, he said.

Professor Stiglitz, an academic at the Columbia Business School and a former economic adviser to president Bill Clinton, said a further $US500 billion was going to be spent on the fighting in the next two years and that could have been used more effectively to improve the security and quality of life of Americans and the rest of the world.

The money being spent on the war each week would be enough to wipe out illiteracy around the world, he said.

Just a few days' funding would be enough to provide health insurance for US children who were not covered, he said.

...

[tekisui]

1. Repeat after me: The Republican War Recession.

[SoonerPride]

2. The military budget is bankrupting America

Not just the war, though that certainly hurts, but the overall level of spending is astronomical.

We spend what the next 20 countries do combined.

The military industrial complex is bankrupting America and should be gutted and defunded.

I'm tired of wasting money on bombs instead of national healthcare.

[JuniperLea]

3. Ya think?

In the old days, we supported the war effort by rationing. We built up the military instead of spending ten times as much to a private company to do the things the military did for itself.

[kirby]

4. I have the totally opposite view...

The economy would have been in the tank if not for all the billions and billions pumped into the military industrial complex. Not that it is a good thing, but I think it has simply delayed the pain for the next administration.

[BurtWorm]

5. You mean for all the armor the Bushists commissioned?

;)

I'm sure Halliburton is weathering the economy perfectly well, anyway.

[kirby]

7. It may not...

be the most efficient or fair distribution of money, but those dollars going to Halliburton or Defense companies to 'up-armor' Humvees, etc to impact the economy. Of course all the money could have returned a MUCH MUCH higher return on investment if spent other ways.

[belpejic]

6. Stiglitz also has a Nobel n/t