Republican Mismanagement of the US Economy

What I find ludicrous is how the Republicans want to lecture the Democrats and Obama about "economics" and "budgets" and "deficits and debts".

Here is a bit from an article by Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz in Project Syndicate:

Even if Bush could be forgiven for taking America, and much of the rest of the world, to war on false pretenses, and for misrepresenting the cost of the venture, there is no excuse for how he chose to finance it. His was the first war in history paid for entirely on credit. As America went into battle, with deficits already soaring from his 2001 tax cut, Bush decided to plunge ahead with yet another round of tax “relief” for the wealthy.

Today, America is focused on unemployment and the deficit. Both threats to America’s future can, in no small measure, be traced to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Increased defense spending, together with the Bush tax cuts, is a key reason why America went from a fiscal surplus of 2% of GDP when Bush was elected to its parlous deficit and debt position today. Direct government spending on those wars so far amounts to roughly $2 trillion – $17,000 for every US household – with bills yet to be received increasing this amount by more than 50%.

So how big is "the tab" that Bush and the Republicans have run up for their "war of choice"?

Indeed, when Linda Bilmes and I calculated America’s war costs three years ago, the conservative tally was $3-5 trillion. Since then, the costs have mounted further. With almost 50% of returning troops eligible to receive some level of disability payment, and more than 600,000 treated so far in veterans’ medical facilities, we now estimate that future disability payments and health-care costs will total $600-900 billion. But the social costs, reflected in veteran suicides (which have topped 18 per day in recent years) and family breakups, are incalculable.

Right now you've got the Republicans saying that won't add $1 billion to FEMA to help the latest victims of a natural disaster "because America is broke". Funny... nobody noticed this "broke" problem in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, or 2008 when Bush and the Republians were spending taxpayers money like a drunken sailor.

What I can't believe is that voters in the US continue to believe the incredible nonsense spewed by the Republicans, especially by their outrageous presidential "candidates" who show abysmal knowledge of economics, of foreign affairs, of the Constitution, of American history, of the legislative process, and the pain & hurt among the unemployed, foreclosed, the retired and soon-to-retire who have lost their life savings, and the young who face a job market that will be closed to them for a decade. These bozos claim they can "run" America. Yeah... just like Bush ran America... right into the ground.