Do your agree with the Nobel prize wining economist Joseph Stiglitz on the true cost of the US war in Iraq?
I've read the
book, and it makes sense, what do you think?
I've taken a few quotes from this review...
I've read the
book, and it makes sense, what do you think?
I've taken a few quotes from this review...
Joseph Stiglitz says that America's adventure in Iraq is more expensive than any war - barring the Second World War - it has ever fought. The superb achievement of this book, however, is how little you do have to take on trust. Its arguments advance methodically, increment by increment, in language that an innumerate arts graduate such as myself can understand.
The backbone of the book, though, is a set of relatively simple sums. The Iraq war - whatever you think about the political casus belli - was presented to the American public as a free lunch. Bush's economic adviser Larry Lindsey said the war could cost $200 billion and "would be good for the economy".
That's just the operating costs, mind. The core of this book's argument is that the cash accounting process the administration uses is a cheat: it counts what's being spent now, but keeps promissory notes off the books.
That's just the operating costs, mind. The core of this book's argument is that the cash accounting process the administration uses is a cheat: it counts what's being spent now, but keeps promissory notes off the books.
The reason Americans are not yet feeling the pinch is that the government is running its war on the never-never. Rather than raise taxes, they're running up the deficit. Rather than set aside money to pay veterans' benefits, or invest in the systems that will administer them, they're leaving it to the grandchildren.
The lesson for whoever inherits the Oval Office next year is, to paraphrase Larkin, "get out as quickly as you can and don't have any wars yourself".
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