THE IRAQI WAR-"Was A Central Cause Of The Sub-Prime Banking Crisis Threatening The World"

[kpete]

Iraq war 'caused slowdown in the US'
Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent | February 28, 2008

THE Iraq war has cost the US 50-60 times more than the Bush administration predicted and was a central cause of the sub-prime banking crisis threatening the world economy, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

The former World Bank vice-president yesterday said the war had, so far, cost the US something like $US3trillion ($3.3 trillion) compared with the $US50-$US60-billion predicted in 2003.

.................

Professor Stiglitz told the Chatham House think tank in London that the Bush White House was currently estimating the cost of the war at about $US500 billion, but that figure massively understated things such as the medical and welfare costs of US military servicemen.

.............

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.

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

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. duh, really?

how come all us dummies knew that long ago?

[riverwalker]

2. great article

many have not yet made the connection.

[tekisui]

3. This needs to be packaged into one line for the GE: The Republican War Recession

or something along those lines.

[malaise]

4. Here's the Podcast

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio3_aod.shtml?radio3/nightwaves_tue

The full program starts after the music.
Edit.

[InkAddict]

5. Even as they encouraged and abetted outsourcing a complete

menu of American Middle Class jobs and services and allowed corporate manipulation of hiring criteria to in-source OJT-ending and job-killing H1Bs in America.

[DemoTex]

6. "The $3 Trillion War" (Vanity Fair)

In March 19, 2008, the U.S. will have been in Iraq for five years. The Bush administration was wrong about the need for the Iraq war and about the benefits the war would bring to Iraq, to the region, and to America. It has also been wrong about the full cost of the war, and it continues to take steps to conceal that cost.

In the run-up to the war there were few public discussions of the likely price tag. When Lawrence Lindsey, President Bush’s economic adviser, suggested that it might reach $200 billion all told, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld dismissed the estimate as “baloney.” Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz went as far as to suggest that Iraq’s postwar reconstruction would pay for itself through increased oil revenues. Rumsfeld and Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels estimated the total cost of the war in the range of $50 to $60 billion, some of which they believed would be financed by other countries.

For fiscal year 2008 the administration has asked for nearly $200 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If Congress provides the money, as it almost certainly will, then the total appropriated for direct operations in these two countries (including reconstruction, embassy costs, enhanced base security, and foreign aid) since the wars began will come to roughly $800 billion. It is extremely difficult to disentangle the Iraq and Afghanistan numbers, but Iraq is by far the larger endeavor and accounts for about three-fourths of the total. By the administration’s own reckoning, then, the cost of the Iraq war, counting only the money officially appropriated, will soon be some $600 billion, or more than 10 times Rumsfeld’s original number.

The administration’s estimates have been low—and wrong—from the start. Some of this is the result of its shortsightedness about every aspect of the war, beginning with its nature and duration. For instance, extensive use of reservists and the National Guard avoided the need to increase the size of the armed forces or resort to a draft—but at a heavy price, including reliance on highly paid contractors, people who in other contexts would have been called mercenaries. Another factor is the soaring price of fuel caused by the increase in the price of oil—which is itself, in part, a consequence of the war. (More at link ..)

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/stiglitz200804

[NNN0LHI]

7. +$3.00 a gallon gas is the direct result of the Iraq invasion

[malaise]

8. Ayone remember the Bush v Kerry debate

and how Bush dismissed Kerry re the real cost of this invasion and occupation, Then the M$M hacks backed him up.