AP Poll: To Fix Econonmy, Get Out of Iraq

[paparush]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - The heck with Congress' big stimulus bill. The way to get the country out of recession — and most people think we're in one — is to get the country out of Iraq, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll.

Pulling out of the war ranked first among proposed remedies in the survey, followed by spending more on domestic programs, cutting taxes and, at the bottom end, giving rebates to poor people in hopes they'll spend the economy into recovery.

The $168 billion economic rescue package Congress rushed to approval this week includes rebates of $600 to $1,200 for most taxpayers, the hope being that they will spend the money and help revive ailing businesses. President Bush is expected to sign the measure next week. Poor wage-earners, as well as seniors and veterans who live almost entirely off Social Security and disability benefits, would get $300 checks.

However, just 19 percent of the people surveyed said they planned to go out and spend the money; 45 percent said they'd use it to pay bills. And nearly half said what the government really should do is get out of Iraq.

Forty-eight percent said a pullout would help fix the country's economic problems "a great deal," and an additional 20 percent said it would help at least somewhat. Some 43 percent said increasing government spending on health care, education and housing programs would help a great deal; 36 percent said cutting taxes.

"Let's stop paying for this war," said Hilda Sanchez, 44, of Waterford, Calif. "There are a lot of people who are struggling. We can use the money to pay for medical care and help people who were put out of their homes."

The subject of leaving Iraq shows a sharp partisan divide — 65 percent of Democrats think it would help the economy a lot, but only 18 percent of Republicans think so.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080208/ap_on_bi_ge/stimulus_ap_poll_3

---

We, The People, get it!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Why doesn't Congress?

Out of Iraq NOW!!!!!!!

[sce56]

33. Because their masters won't let them do the peoples bidding only the corporations!

[foxer]

54. How would Corps survive, next you'll want them to bid on contracts

[tbyg52]

56. It's the corporations, stupid!

I keep trying to get that meme taken up.... ;)

[Auggie]

61. Right -- there's too much money yet to made

[alstephenson]

2. Finally! Something newsworthy and important!

I've about had it with DU these days.:( Thanks for the post.

[paparush]

3. No problem!

[pacalo]

8. Ain't it the sad truth.

It's the faux indignation & the self-righteousness in particular that are getting to me.

[BlueJac]

65. Me too..........

Nice reply!!

[musette_sf]

4. winner of this week's

"No Sh!t, Sherlock" award.

[leQ]

5. ditto that!

[paparush]

6. A deafening "DUH!" reverberates throughout the land..

[truedelphi]

28. It sure does! n/t

[hvn_nbr_2]

11. "No shit, Sherlock." -- I've read Sherlock, and Congress is no Sherlock. nt

[AllyCat]

16. LOL!!!

[Bumblebee]

7. This does not bode well for McCain, does it? GOOD.

[pacalo]

9. Best article since the primaries began.

[Richard_C]

10. Sounds like Obama to me!

Which candidate wants to get out of Iraq?

[texastoast]

12. Bill Richardson

Oh, that's right. He wasn't glammy enough.

[Bumblebee]

18. Both of them, actually...

[grahamhgreen]

13. Call your Senators and tell them about this poll.

[Andy Canuck]

14. Unfortunately it is kind of like a palliative patient asking for chemo,

way to far gone to be able to do anything for the economy. More importantly though, getting out of Iraq will save many innocent lives.

The US will be forced to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan, just as the Soviets were forced to withdraw from Afghanistan.

[AllyCat]

15. Jeez, what a concept. And it won't require us to be bailed out by China either

unlike this ridiculous "stimulus bill" that will only put us deeper in the hole.

[jjr5]

17. Thanks for posting this.

[TheCowsCameHome]

19. Now if only someone would run with this concept..................

[bonito]

20. KICK!

[gulfcoastliberal]

21. K&R

nt

[Xolodno]

22. Will it?

In the past, a war would bring some economic growth. As monies funding the war would be invested and spent in U.S. industries. Followed by recession as the end of a war would cease the expenditure of monies until the economy re-adjusted itself.

But with more of an open economy and global trade, those funds are transfered to other countries as many U.S. industries now have their manufacturing located out of the country, with foreign companies picking any slack they can't produce. I wouldn't be too surprised to see the trade deficit drop not too long after leaving Iraq....assuming of course that happens. What worries me, once these troops come home...will they have jobs to go to? It may be some time before the economy to re-adjust. Unless of course many stay in the Military but based at home, which would then result increased consumption as they are not spending their funds overseas.

[Sadie5]

34. Good point

When the soldiers returned from Viet Nam there were few jobs to be had. Some companies allowed the vets to return to previous jobs but not many and a bad recession followed. We to stop the export of jobs to India and cut off the chinese credit cards.

[ckramer]

23. bomb bomb bomb, bomb Iran

McCain sang.

[Zorra]

29. Yep. McCain wants eternal war. I'm sure Doc Dean is already on it. n/t

[MasonJar]

24. Get out of Iraq and spend the money on upgrading our dying and dangerous

infrastructure...education and universal health care are also good choices. No more tax breaks; take away the breaks for the outsourcers and the offshorers, who use our infrastructure but do not pay taxes to keep it in good repair.

[jwirr]

58. And while we are at it bring other troops home for other overseas

bases. Yes there will be people out of jobs but it is not because of a lack of work to do. Just no money to play empire and do those jobs at the same time.

[jwirr]

59. And while we are at it bring other troops home for other overseas

bases. Yes there will be people out of jobs but it is not because of a lack of work to do. Just no money to play empire and do those jobs at the same time.

[applegrove]

25. This is good news. McCain will fail on that issue.

[blue4evah]

26. That's a very good point

The Iraq war is draining our financial resources. All to find nonexistant WMD.

[kirby]

27. Actually this will ruin economy...

The only reason we did not have a recession already is the HUGE money the gov't has dumped into Defense spending during the past few years. When that money stops all hell will break loose. The Iraq War spending has just delayed the house of cards we are living under.

[Amonester]

39. How about spending the exact same amounts into rebuilding the

crumbling infrastructure (you know, rusting things like bridges, and not only in MN...), a real Universal Health Care system, and kicking off new electric-car/train industries, plus rebuilding NO (as well as getting a workable plan to prevent higher sea-level's forthcoming floodings...)?

Off course, I must be just day-dreamin' again.
But I'm not the only one.

[Xolodno]

45. Good idea, but.....

No thanks to the war, we now have huge deficits that must be paid. And yes, our infrastructure is in need of investment, its too bad the money will not come now. FDR and Reagan (please excuse the Reagan cite, I am an independent) at least had the right notion when it came to government expenditures/deficit spending...reinvest it in the United States (infrastructure and military...FDR put more in infrastructure before the war of course).

With the WTO and its treaties for increased globalization, the United States has sent its money to everyone else. (Just a note, don't make NAFTA the scape-goat on this, the ability to trade freely with Mexico was available since the 1960's under the Maquiladora's program and I'm sure there were other treaties in place for Canada. NAFTA was just the most publicized, visible and easy one to cast stones at. Meanwhile the George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were approving treaties via the WTO, most favored nation trading status (China), etc. that undermined companies that didn't move overseas). With the U.S. dollar dropping like a skydiver with no parachute, it won't be long before the idea of uniting the economies of Canada, United States & Mexico seems feasable....then again, perhaps that was the plan all along.

[jwirr]

60. I don't know about you but defense spending in no way effects my

personal economic wellbeing. It would effect the workers in those industries but I really do not care about the investors.

[paparush]

30. How's about we shave a few BILLION off our Defense Budget?

2005 Figures
------------

US        $420.0B
China     $62.5B
USSR      $61.9B
UK        $51.1B
Japan     $44.7B
France    $41.6B

[LynnTheDem]

31. Proof: vast majority of Americans = intelligent; rightwingnuts = dumb

er than a box of fucking rocks.

No offense meant to boxes of rocks.

[QUALAR]

32. IRAQ AUDIT

There are thousands of American companies that have defrauded this country. Audit the Iraq war and send them a bill.

[goforit]

35. BTILLIANT!!!! Who woda thunk it?

[kestrel91316]

36. Wow. Somebody finally woke up and noticed this MONEY PIT

that WE STARTED. And we DID start it. I'm not talking about the justifiable invasion of Afghanistan. I'm talking about IRAQ.

It's about the f---ing MONEY PIT, stupid!!!!!!

[rusty quoin]

42. I've been saying that all along. I know I'm not alone.

Afghanistan busted the Soviet Union, and Iraq will bust us.

[Rockerdem]

37. Only 65% of Democrats??? WTF??

Some people's ignorance can't be cured.

Must be Hillary's supporters (just kidding)

[Divine Discontent]

38. 1/3 of all DEMS

aren't Democrats apparently, well, if they are, I put them into the 70-80% of people that would keep quiet if our gov started making people disappear.

[beltanefauve]

46. This is an Associated Press

article. Do you really think you can trust those figures?

Also from the same article:

(snip) In fact, economic problems have contributed to pulling the president's approval ratings to all-time lows. Only 29 percent approve of his handling of the economy, the lowest mark yet in this polling. Bush's overall job-approval rating slid to 30 percent, also a record low.

Isn't it amazing how his approval ratings NEVER seem to go below 30%?

[0007]

55. NO!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

40. At Last

[swag]

41. "Econonmy"

They have econonmies now?

Good luck to 'em!

[Quantess]

44. A surprising amount of DUers misspell their OP title.

I wonder whether spell check checks the title or not...

[paparush]

52. .

[Lydia Leftcoast]

43. As my sig line says:

(Maybe people are finally catching on.)

[fshrink]

47. And tax the fucking oil companies on the humongus

profits hey made out of this mind-boggling and disgusting mess.

[Senator]

48. Impeachment As Panacea

Without it, we can't move on ending Iraq.

Without it, we lose hundreds of billions in foreign trade with those who oppose war criminals.

With it, we could find our way out of Iraq, find our way out of the economic morass, and very possibly reunite this once-great nation.

It remains our ONLY moral, patriotic option.

---

[Beartracks]

49. How come we can always deficit-spend for defense...

... but when it comes to domestic programs and priorities, it's "gee, there's not enough money, we can't do that"? I love how Republicans say we can't afford universal or single-payer, government-provided healthcare -- "Where will the money come from?" they ask -- and yet never asked the same question when it came to funding the Iraq war. For healthcare, education, and all the other critical domestic priorities, it seems the money could come from exactly the same place it did for Iraq: thin air! Part of me thinks if we were actually serious about those issues, that is exactly what we could do. (Now, I'm not in any way advocating deficit spending, just merely pointing out the hypocrisy -- no, really? -- of so many Republicans.)

B-)

[wake.up.america]

50. This war could stop tomorrow and there would not be a marked improvement in the poverty in America.

That says two things - stupid war and America does not want to humanely distribute the wealth.

[DeeDeeNY]

51. So they finally figured it out, with the exception of 82% of Rethugs

National Debt Clock

[thunder35]

53. cut defense spending

[jwirr]

57. Yes and go after the profiteers. If we went after the people who made

money on this illegal war we would go a long ways toward getting rid of that debt. I am not talking about the soldiers but instead the rich corporations that have encouraged and abetted *ss in his crimes. If we go after them and make their profit go away they would think twice about starting another war just for profit.

[Patchuli]

62. Why do the poorer Republicans

consistently vote against their own interests?! I think they imagine that if they are in the same party as the rich greedy set, they are part of them. What a joke. The rich could no more care about the poor Repubs than they care about US, the Dems!

U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW!!!

[cedric]

63. So do you see that Iraq is now able to stand on its own two feet

or is it a case of simply pull out?

[Patchuli]

64. Iraq has no incentive to "stand on its own two feet"

as long as we fight their battles. We shouldn't have been there in the first place, it's now a civil war and there is no 'fixing' that. These people have fought each other for thousands of years. Our being there has not and will not change that. Our occupation of that country however, will continue to kill our soldiers and drain our economy. I think America needs to worry about standing on her "own two feet" now. Maybe if these morons-in-charge knew how to use diplomacy, they could find a way to extricate U.S. from the mess they put us in.