XPost: alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk, alt.christnet.second   
   coming.real-soon-now   
   From: gregpcarr@yahoo.ca   
      
   On Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:38:47 +0000 (UTC), First Post   
    wrote:   
      
   >-Economists Explain: Bush Destroyed Our American Dream   
   >   
   >By Simone Davis   
   >   
   >   
   >50000 soldiers   
      
   Sorry the number is one tenth that at around 5,000   
      
   dead and more than 28,000 wounded Americans, plus more than   
   >1,000 private contractors killed and many more injured.   
   >   
   >The costs of the invasion and occupation seem to have no end. This endless   
   >war was the result of a wrong turn. We've been stuck slogging through the   
   >results of the mistake for almost five years now.   
   >   
   >How did all this happen anyway? How did President Bush move our country   
   >from a strong dollar, decent gasoline prices, a strong jobs market and a   
   >surplus in our national treasury into a situation where now we have the   
   >largest trade deficit, biggest national debt, fastest wage reductions,   
   >highest gas prices and a declining dollar?   
   >   
   >I finally see a flickering light at the end of this long and dreary   
   >tunnel. It gives me hope. Filled with the spirit of the Thanksgiving   
   >holidays, I wish to offer gratitude to those holding up candles for us.   
   >Held up as beacons by a few brave members of our Congress, the lights at   
   >the end beckon us. So, let's dust ourselves off and walk in their   
   >direction. On the way, of course, we can talk more about how all this   
   >happened and what we can do to prevent it from ever happening again.   
   >C'mon, come with me....   
   >   
   >As Bush began his takeover of the White House in January 2001, the big   
   >debate in Washington was over what to do with a projected budget surplus   
   >of $2.2 trillion that President Clinton has left behind. That's over 2.2   
   >trillion dollars. Not billions. The surplus was trillions. Remember?   
   >That's where we started.   
   >   
   >Before Bush had control of our national treasury, the total budget surplus   
   >over first 10 years of this century was projected to be $4.56 trillion by   
   >the Congressional Budget Office. Man, things were different then! Before   
   >Bush, wages were on the rise, home ownership was on the rise, the dollar   
   >was strong and the job market was stable. All that has soured now.   
   >   
   >Further down this page, we'll talk in more detail about what happened to   
   >our surplus from 2001 to 2006, but, first, let's fast forward to November   
   >2007. Just this week, President Bush is seeking 196.4 billion dollars with   
   >no such strings attached to fund the continuation of his wars - almost   
   >$200 billion dollars more. This is the largest funding he has ever   
   >requested for his overseas military endeavors.   
   >   
   >Apparently as a scare tactic to make Congress give him more money right   
   >now, Bush's public relations team has been just lately spreading the   
   >(false) word that if Congress doesn't give him all the money he wants   
   >right away that he will have to start laying off civilians and holding   
   >back holiday pay for active service personnel.   
   >   
   >"This is irresponsible, absolutely irresponsible for them to say something   
   >like this," Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.,said.   
   >   
   >John Murtha, a leading war critic and chairman of the House subcommittee   
   >responsible for Pentagon appropriations, said the $459 billion peacetime   
   >defense funding bill passed by Congress two weeks ago includes more than   
   >enough money to prevent the Pentagon from having to take any drastic   
   >measures to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.   
   >   
   >Let's turn the calendar back a couple of years and remind ourselves of   
   >what Jack Murtha did and said in 2005. Exactly two years ago, Rep. Murtha   
   >came out publicly and demanded that the U.S. begin removing our troops   
   >from Iraq. As a decorated war hero himself and a veteran military man,   
   >many listened to his words but George Bush only scoffed at them.   
   >   
   >Rep. Murtha is the Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, a   
   >Vietnam combat veteran and a retired Marine Corps colonel with 37 years of   
   >military service, a rare combination of experience that enables him to   
   >understand defense and military operations from every perspective.   
   >   
   >In 2005, when he introduced a bill in Congress to begin the withdrawal   
   >from Iraq, Rep. Murtha said, "Our military has done everything that has   
   >been asked of them, the U.S. can not accomplish anything further in Iraq   
   >militarily. It is time to bring them home."   
   >   
   >In the two years since Rep. Murtha told us that we needed to stop fanning   
   >the flames of the civil war in Iraq, Bush has increased our troop presence   
   >there. We have incurred another 1,800 American troop deaths. Just in the   
   >two years since Murtha asked to stop the killing!   
   >   
   >Gasoline has increased from about $2.00 a gallon to about $3.00 a gallon   
   >in the same two year period.   
   >   
   >The price of a barrel of crude oil has gone from $60 to $100 in the same   
   >period? Why? Because the value of the U.S. dollar has continued dropping   
   >in reaction to the increasing U.S. national debt caused by the Iraq war.   
   >   
   >There's a direct relationship between the Iraq war and the deficit. As the   
   >war drags on, the deficit grows. As the deficit grows, the value of our   
   >own dollar on the world market plummets.   
   >   
   >When the U.S. dollar hit a record low just this Thanksgiving week, oil   
   >also surged ahead rising to a record high. It's been an inverse   
   >relationship. What caused this? It began with Bush's invasion of Iraq.   
   >   
   >He spends us into deficit. Our federal deficit causes our dollar to lose   
   >value in the world. Consequently, imports and other things we buy   
   >overseas, then, get more expensive because our dollar won't stretch as   
   >far. Since we buy oil overseas with our now devalued American dollars -   
   >oil goes up in price. And, up and up - and up.   
   >   
   >Hence, gasoline has almost doubled in price since Bush has been in the   
   >White House.   
   >   
   >Here we are, four and a half years after Bush invaded Iraq and two full   
   >years after Rep. Murtha asked for a withdrawal from Iraq.   
   >   
   >Though we are still slogging away in the mess that was created for us, we   
   >can be inspired by the fact that Rep. Murtha is still fighting for   
   >withdrawal.   
   >   
   >Jack Murtha is one of those that stands firm at the end of our tunnel   
   >lighting our way out of this economic disaster.   
   >   
   >He is refuting the spin coming out of the White House and insisting that   
   >the military spending in Iraq is fruitless.   
   >   
   >Very knowledgeable about military spending and budgets, Mr. Murtha said   
   >this time the president is also to blame for the pending cuts at bases in   
   >the U.S., which will probably include closing child care centers,   
   >libraries, family and youth activity centers, and counseling services for   
   >returning troops and their families.   
   >   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)