Has the current presidential administration doomed our future?

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Ned


Well, Arrian, they (members of the Bush administration) still defend Bush's decision not to take out Saddam and are somewhat critical of the current administration's effort in Iraq.

Kind of like this guy:

I would guess if we had gone in there, I would still have forces in Baghdad today. We'd be running the country. We would not have been able to get everybody out and bring everybody home.

And the final point that I think needs to be made is this question of casualties. I don't think you could have done all of that without significant additional U.S. casualties. And while everybody was tremendously impressed with the low cost of the (1991) conflict, for the 146 Americans who were killed in action and for their families, it wasn't a cheap war.

And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the answer is not that damned many. So, I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the president made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq.

--Dick Cheney, 1992

[Ned]

Originally posted by Kidicious


That has nothing to do with liquidity. Now you are making an argument that the value of the stock market affects spending. Are you just dropping your argument about surpluses? I don't necessarily disagree that a stock market collapse can have consequences for consumer spending. What are you getting at?

That is why I think we were talking about two different things. When I was thinking of "liquidity," I was thinking of money (including debt) and easily converatble assest one has. This all adds up to buying power and contributes to demand.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Ned


That is why I think we were talking about two different things. When I was thinking of "liquidity," I was thinking of money (including debt) and easily converatble assest one has. This all adds up to buying power and contributes to demand.

Do you realize that the debt was paid off in cash that is also an asset? No ones net worth decreased.