Whatever your pre-invasion position, there is no question that Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld ended up dragging the effort in Iraq on a long time, at great cost, a cost that continues today.
Reading the tea-leaves, I detect that the GOP will push to have the balance due on that war paid by America's retirees and those 'gapped' by our first-class health care system (pun intended). Of course, they will pretend that it is related to the current, jobs spending that is required.
Obama has signaled an entitlement summit for February.
Are you up for that? I'm not sure I am.
I'd propose that the Social Security Tax, capped as it is, have that cap removed temporarily, until the costs of the Iraq war are recouped (both direct and indirect).
There is a lot of wealth in this country, and we haven't had a wealth tax act since the 1930s. (Sooner or later, folks will realize that is on the table, seriously, just as FDR did.)
We do not need a military presence everywhere in the world, do we? Can't we propose nearly $100 billion in annual savings, from 2015 and beyond, say, based on a 'rethink' of the military?
How much is in the classified budget, in which we collect every, single piece of communication in the country, if not the world? Can we get $20B annually out of that budget?
Put another way, let's put all options on the table. Let's put our first, best efforts into ways to control health costs, including immediately legislating for the *total* information required to do so, smartly (not what we have collected, to date, which I judge to be ... not of decision-making quality, based on what I've seen).
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Should America's Retirees Pay for Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld War Blunders?
