The dangerous spin of war and money

[tiptoe]

The dangerous spin of war and money

By DERRICK Z. JACKSON
First published: Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Mitch Daniels and Lawrence Lindsey are footnotes who continue to kick us from behind. Lindsey was the chief economic policy adviser to President Bush, who predicted in 2002 that invading Iraq would cost $100 billion to $200 billion.

It is largely forgotten that Lindsey said this not to warn Americans that this would blow a hole in the domestic agenda of the United States. He said this to make the President look good, swatting away fears that a war even at that level would hurt the economy.

As the Wall Street Journal wrote, Lindsey "dismissed the economic consequences of such spending, saying it wouldn't have an appreciable effect on interest rates or add much to the federal debt, which is already about $3.6 trillion."
...
To Lindsey's surprise, his service to the President was considered a betrayal. Two days later, Daniels, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, called Lindsey's estimate "likely very, very high." Within a week, The Washington Post further quoted Daniels as saying that whatever Bush decided about Iraq, it could be managed by "rotating resources from things that are of less than life-and-death importance to meet the life and death imperatives of the moment."

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http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=634808&category=OPINION&newsdate=10/31/2007