Bush's money pit

In Monday's NY Times, Paul Krugman started his column with these words:

"Last year America spent 57 percent more than it earned on world markets. That is, our imports were 57 percent larger than our exports. How did we manage to live so far beyond our means? By running up debts to Japan, China and Middle Eastern oil producers. We're as addicted to imported money as we are to imported oil."

Now I have just heard a broadcast report that Bush is already asking Congress for billions more to spend in Iraq and Afghanistan. If his two requests are filled by the end of this year, his warmongering and occupying will have cost almost a half trillion dollars.

Remember when his cronies said the Iraq cost would be perhaps $50 billion? When they said that Iraqi oil earnings would cover costs?

Welcome to the zoo, everybody.

Sigh, even in the NY Times

John Tierney was at it again today in the New York Times. He seems quite upset that evangelical leaders have joined the call to do something about global warming. Leaving aside the vast number of scientists who have been warning us for years, he quotes his own favorites who say that "programs to slow global warming are one of the worst investments — far less worthwhile than programs to immediately combat disease and improve drinking water and sanitation." What Tierney does not so much as mention is that both can be done at the same time. Countless projects for fighting disease and improving sanitation go on year in and year out. Just think how much these could be expanded, for example with the $4 billion George Bush spends every four days on his occupation of Iraq .

Bushite economics

US money for the Iraq trough is nearing the half-trillion dollar mark. But the Bush cabal knows where some of that money can be had. On Monday, Molly Ivins summed it up like this:

"Just a few weeks ago, the House of Representatives cut $16 billion from Medicaid over 10 years, which means states will increase co-payments on poor people and drop preventive care-which will cost more in the long run, but what the hey. They also cut $12.7 billion in student aid and loan programs over five years, because who needs that? And cut another $1.5 billion in child support enforcement in the next year, which is positively brilliant and will result in a drop of at least $8.4 billion in child support collected over the next 10 years. Oh, and a measly cut of $577 million in foster care over five years, making it harder to take care of neglected and abused children, who probably did something to deserve it in the first place."

We need more Kings

Today in the very church (Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta) where MLK spoke so powerfully in the 1960s, Coretta Scott King was remembered as the first lady of the civil rights movement. The AP quoted one of the ministers leading the service: "Praise God for Coretta Scott King; let the heavens rejoice for the witness of our sister."

Up in Detroit, Rev. Al Sharpton had this to say in another service: "Mrs. King is not history because she is dignified. Yes, she was dignified. Yes, she had grace. Yes, she was regal, but that doesn't make her history. She is history because her husband and her stood up for what was right."

If ever shoes needed to be filled....