About that huge national surplus (no, not in this country)

August 9, 2008

In his first-ever Democratic radio address, Barack Obama touched on one of the bigger stories of the week that probably didn’t generate quite as much attention as it should have.

[T]he Iraqi government now has a $79 billion budget surplus thanks to their windfall oil profits. And while this Iraqi money sits in American banks, American taxpayers continue to spend $10 billion a month to defend and rebuild Iraq. That’s right. America faces a huge budget deficit. Iraq has a surplus.

Now, Senator McCain promises to continue President Bush’s open-ended commitment to the war in Iraq, while refusing to pressure Iraqis to take responsibility for their own country.

Let me be clear: we are well over five years into a war in a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Our brave men and women in uniform have completed every mission they’ve been given. Our country has spent nearly a trillion dollars in Iraq, even as our schools are underfunded, our roads and bridges are crumbling, and the cost of everything from groceries to a gallon of gas is soaring.

Now think for a moment about what we could have done with the hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars that we’ve spent in Iraq. We could have rebuilt American schools and roads and bridges. We could have made historic investments in alternative energy to create millions of American jobs. We could have headed-off $4 dollar a gallon gas and begun to end the tyranny of oil in our time.

Instead, the President decided to spend our money on tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, and a war in Iraq that has already lasted longer than World War II. And Senator McCain has fully embraced these Bush policies.

That’s all quite right, of course, but it was funnier when “The Daily Show” made the same point.

Hmmm… video keeps timing out or something for me. But I can imagine it was probably pretty funny.

  • Alpacas? First-lady plates? good gods, people—I’ll sell them slaves! Adult Male Republicans are $50 each; Adult Female Republicans are $75; Republican Children (gender is not guaranteed, so the price is substantially lower) are 3 for $20.

    And, if they order the Family-Sized Package (One Adult Male, one Adult Female, and a six-pack of Mixed Gender Children) for $125, I’ll throw in a Matching Set of PaulBots and a Raving Lunatic Member of the Right Wing Noise Machine!

    Each slave comes with a monogrammed leash, choke-chain, and flea collar—and every purchase entitles the buyer to a certified copy of the Bush Administration’s Aggressive Interrogation Tactics and Illegal Inhumane Methodologies Manual the book, How to Successfully House-Break Your Republican Slave in Ten Easy Lessons….

  • Well at least we can rest assured that that 79 billion will be spent wisely to the benefit of the poor Iraqis that we haven’t managed to kill yet.

  • Now think for a moment about what we could have done with the hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars that we’ve spent in Iraq. We could have rebuilt American schools and roads and bridges. We could have made historic investments in alternative energy to create millions of American jobs.

    Well, it’s a start. Now if Obama will just point out that we launched a war in Iraq for the purpose of making sure that money would not be available for those things, maybe we’ll get somewhere…

  • As long as the money sits in our banks, all that surplus is “paper profits”. Probably being used to prop up Fannie and Freddie and who-knows-what-else, while our money, which the Congress has apportioned for the purpose, pours directly into the pockets of Bush/Cheney Buddies Consortium.

    3 card Monte anyone?

  • Can we get the billions in cash our incompetent leaders sent packaged and wrapped on palettes into a war zone back now??

    If the Iraqis have billions in surplus how come they don’t have continuous electricity yet or clean drinking water flowing. Maybe they should supply the people with generators until they get the situation under control.

    They only have it because Bush and Cheneyu haven’t quite figured a way to steal it from them yet…At any rate it won’t be coming to the American tax payer and doubtful it will go to the Iraqi people either.

  • Maybe we could hire a subsidiary of Haliburton to distribute the money to the families of our fallen soldiers. Never mind they’d probably load it onto a pallet and “lose” it in Michigan.

  • Well said (as usual) but I can’t wait until they start running that clip of BushBrat & McPanicAttack playing snuggle bunnies.

    Not only will it drive the point home for all but the dimmest bulbs but Das Base has been so well trained that they’ll scream “Ewww! Gay!” and stay home on Election Day.

  • Please help spread the word and donate to the Accountable America. We have to fund and help with their efforts.

    Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions.

    “We want to stop the Swift Boating before it gets off the ground,” said Mr. Matzzie, who described his effort as “going for the jugular.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/us/politics/08donate.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1218351965-wMzfK5ijxuz6vmevOKsK8Q

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