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89% Of Americans Link Iraq and the Economy |
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The new CBS/New York Times poll, the same one widely reported saying 81% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track, has another amazing statistic buried in the numbers (pdf):
The war in Iraq ranks second behind the economy as the country’s most
pressing problem and most Americans think the cost of the war hascontributed to the country’s economic woes, including two-thirds who
think it has contributed a lot.HOW MUCH HAS THE IRAQ WAR CONTRIBUTED TO U.S. ECONOMIC PROBLEMS?
A lot 67%
Some 22
Not much/not at all 10
A full 89% of American feel Iraq has negatively impacted our economy. 89% of Americans can hardly agree on anything, but amazingly, they agree on this.
It’s impossible not to see the Iraq war - which has cost us $695 billion already and may cost as much as $3 trillion by the time we’re done - as the millstone that is dragging America down into the economic depths of recession. It’s impossible to discuss economic recovery or domestic growth while we’re sending $195 million per day to our money pit in the Middle East for a war that never should have been waged in the first place.
Americans clearly realize this fundamental problem, and come November, it’s going to be a real issue for Republicans.
With 89% of America recognizing the link between Iraq and our current recession, do you think they’re going to pick the candidate who will keep us in Iraq for “100 years?” (Remember folks, permanent military bases are expensive, even if somehow we could stop our soldiers from dying in Iraq.) The candidate who warns of “more wars” and a conflict that will last “till the end of this century?” The candidate who admits he “doesn’t understand economics?”
I don’t think so.
$195 Million per day. I just thought it needed to be said again. It makes me sick.
Glad to see Americans agree that the war in Iraq is the biggest threat to their country. Not some muslim terrorist but some Texan crime family funneling their tax money to Exxon, Haliburton and the rest of the Military industrial complex creeps.
Maybe america needs to se the docu ‘zeitgeist’ (www.zeitgeistmovie.com). Then they will see why there is a iraq war (… and it has nothing to do with terrorism).
I saw that movie last summer on line. Every American should see Zeitgeist and know what is really happening. Glad to see your post.
see the situation from Europe, you will not need the movie.
artur tom?
copywriter
Only, the term “President McCain” could make me sicker.
I write this comment from my macro economics class which apparently 89% of Americans haven’t taken (I’m American btw). War is inherently good for the economy as it creates jobs. These polls of what people “think” are pointless because most people don’t have a clue.
Bravo
The war boom and bust phenomenon is well established in economics. We’ve had the boom, now we have the bust. Look around, it’s pretty clear the war isn’t helping…
The fact is, WWII helped bring us out of a depression for a broad range of reasons. The fact is, at the time little or no jobs were available. When the war started a need for people rose, and thus people went to work those jobs but not only for themselves but for their country. People had several motives to make the economy expand. However, in this war this no new motivation to go to work and fight for the cause. No new jobs are really being created as you see them; at least not on the scale of WWII where you went from about nothing to thousands.
Dan, I agree with you completely that it is true, government spending will increase aggregate demand and therefore can only be good for the economy, (keynsian economics), for all you guys who are rambling on and on without no knowledge of economics just look at World War 2 which brought the American economy OUT of the Great Depression.
Are you people in absolute denial or what? we are talking about WW2 when this has nothing to do with that date and time, yes some thing%u2019s can be learned from the past, but not this type of thing, we are in this war for an unfound reason; OIL! We should stop following that damn dickhead Bush and this republican way of thinking, we need to start looking for way out of this war and we also need to start investing our tax dollars into Hydro Electric, Solar, And Wind energy; the fact is we can, but we are too damn lazy in the government department to do so! They want to hear anything, but the words “More Paper Work”. And yes it would be more expensive, at first, to use energy resources not pertaining to oil, but as time progresses it would be cheaper like 10 years after the fact, give or take 5 years.
This is how that stat should read:
Shockingly 11% of Americans who read and believe The New York Times/CBS News leftist views on the Iraq War, don’t believe the war has negatively impacted our economy.
Will someone find out who those 11% are please and prescribe to them 48 straight hours of thinkprogress.org and Keith Olberman, so that we can get the back in line. Jeez, what in the world is going on here!!!
Are you guys f*cking kidding me? Taking Econ 101 and 102 doesn’t automatically make you the world’s specialist on Global Economic policies. How about you pose this question to your Econ professor next class, “How , if “war” is inherently good for the economy, are we rapidly heading into a recession (2 fiscal quarters with no growth)? Shouldn’t all of the government spending create jobs and therefore push the entire American GDP forward?” What you’ll get is a very long a very complicated answer as to why it’s NOT THAT SIMPLE, and ultimately the answer is NO or (if your professor is a dumbass) I don’t know.
Also it doesn’t take much more than common sense to realize that simply printing new money and using the American “stability” as a backing is the worst policy possible and it’s only now starting to show after 5 years of being a war that has lead to absolutely nothing except for a deficit higher than any seen in during an administration ever. It also doesn’t mean much when the government spending goes into private “government contractors” that funnel the money OUT OF THE US and into OTHER ECONOMIES because they know that this American bubble that is only starting to pop now is going to really be the start of another depression.
It makes me sad to see the future of this nation go down the shitter when naivety steps and because “the last chapter said war is good” bullshit starts rolling
It’s people like you who voted for Bush twice. Stop listening to your rich republican parents tell you what’s good for this country and start making your own decisions.
Nel- Thank you so much for saying all of that! Lets get real here people, war is not good business, it is only good business because 35% of our economy is based on arms production, and you don’t build prisons to let them sit empty, likewise you don’t make arms to not use them.
This country has been fueling every conflict around the world from both sides with arms propagation. This is why war is good business. What we as Americans need to do is decided that we don’t want to be in the arms business for profit and that we never gave the government permission to do so( arms propagation is NOT a proper function of the government).
The solution here is to stop the import and export of arms in this country, that way we can make our own but not sell them and not buy anyone else’s. Once we take the profit element out of the arms race we can refocus that industry toward positive work like renewable energy. For a referendum proposed amendment to that end check out http://www.buddymooreforsenate.com
How many of those 89% are Economists? I’m not arguing they’re wrong, but do they have any basis to comment on the economy?
War is great for the economy.
But only if you get to plunder other countries or enslave their populations. So if you are Atilla the Hun or Adolf Hitler by all means - go for it. There are some pretty compelling arguments against plundering. I won’t go into those. I’m sure they are easy to figure out.
In terms of job creation, in the short term, sure, war can create jobs. So people are put to work creating weapons etc. This has some very significant downsides too. Just scale it down and imagine two villages at war with each other. Suddenly every man woman and child is pressed into the war effort in some way. Lots of jobs created! At the same time however, fields aren’t sown, children’s education is neglected, people’s free time and hence quality of life is diminished etc. Now say there is an excess supply of labor in the village before the war. People without tasks to perform. Now they start making weapons or being soldiers. But the other villagers still have to pay them, pay for the raw materials etc. So you have more people employed but everyone’s standard of living goes down since the portion engaged in the war effort are not adding value in form of products or services.
Thinking you can ultimately create value by creating destruction is like imagining a perpetual motion machine. Its totally illogical.
Now add to that the long term costs of creating mistrust among foreign trading partners, sowing seeds for future terrorism and using up intellectual space that could be devoted to pressing environmental, educational or health concerns.
But hey - by all means - test your hypothesis that war is good for the economy. Amp it up a little and invade Iran. I’ll come over and buy half of Manhattan when the Dollar hits EU 2 cents.
Interesting talks. Heres the truth; the war is completely neutral. Being an Econmics professor I’d like to say I have atleast a tad bit of knowledge on the subject… If you really look at the big picture the war has had a great deal of good and bad effects on the American economy. To all those who believe the war is responsible for our ressesion… Well… not quite, however you are very close. Its not the war, its our failing administration.
I think you mean “recession”
http: //www.biblicalrecorder.org/content/news/2004/5_26_2004/ne260504poll.sh tml
”
More than three-fourths of Americans - 78 percent - believe in angels, up from 72 percent in 1994. Belief in the devil has also grown - 70 percent of Americans believe in the devil, up from 65 percent in 1994.
“
Obviously if around 80 percent of Americans believe something, it must be true!
“Reality-based” indeed..
=darwin
FYI liberal tree huggers, NAACP members, gays, illegal aliens, and every incarcerated man and woman in the country even if we were fighting this war for oil it would only be due the Democratic party who have made it illegal to drill for oil in our very own country making it necessary to due business with the very people who would wish to due us harm
I can’t believe you’re blaming the democrats for the Saudi connection
and our “addiction” to foreign oil. Research the relationship between the the current sheik and his family to the Bush family dating back half a century!
I don’t think Nancy Pelosi was there.
OK I agree that war is BAD. As a soldier I hate war more than any of you! Can%u2019t tell you how many friends I%u2019ve lost. I have had men die beside me. I am not the normal Military man and have been in several ambushes and fire fights. Contrary to popular belief most military personnel never get shot at or fire a shot in anger. It is the job of combat soldiers to engage the enemy the rest while it is possible they may find themselves in dangerous situations, will never fires a shot in anger. Back on topic, but war for oil? YES! It%u2019s ok to say it we need oil and we need to protect that investment. We also need to destroy the elements that may bring fighting back to the US or other nations. Have you all forgotten what happen? Please as a soldier talk about the effects on the economy good and bad but don%u2019t kid yourself, the actions that are going on are needed and valid for national security that includes OIL. The only reason I’am at this site is reserch for a collage paper, The Iraq War: The Effect on Americas Economy. If you have a valid point for or aginst pleas I would like to hear it.