U.S. Warned on War Spending & Deficits (World Economic Forum)

[Gloria]

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34887

U.S. Warned on War Spending and Deficits
Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Sep 26 (IPS) - One of the world's most exclusive business clubs warned the United States Tuesday that its open-ended national security and war expenditures, along with tax cuts that led to large budget deficits, could affect the country's status as a powerful economic force.

The Geneva-based World Economic Forum issued its 2006-07 Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) rankings and listed the United States in sixth place, down from the top spot, behind Switzerland, Finland and Sweden and just ahead of Japan.

The top 10 countries are all rich industrialised nations. They are Switzerland, Finland Sweden, Denmark, Singapore, the United States, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain.

The report says that with potentially even higher spending commitments in defence and homeland security, which comes with the U.S. war on terror and ongoing plans to lower taxes further, the U.S. faces difficult fiscal balancing.

"With a low savings rate, record-high current account deficits and a worsening of the U.S.'s net debtor position, there is a non-negligible risk to both the country's overall competitiveness and, given the relative size of the U.S. economy, the future of the global economy," said Augusto Lopez-Claros, chief economist of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Network.

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[rodeodance]

1. wh will respond by cutting more social programs

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

2. What, Me Worry?

Anybody got a picture of Alfred E. Neuman handy?

We're the United States. NO PROBLEM. Everything's fine. Nothing to be concerned about. THINK POSITIVE! BE HAPPY! BUY, BUY, BUY!!!

[EVDebs]

7. The Nation ran a cover, see this link

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushworry.htm

[skids]

3. WhooHooo! We're #6! We're #6! Yeayaw! We're ehh... #6?

Reality starts to set in. Too bad many of the sheeple won't get it until after the elections. Hopefully enough of them will.

[Joe Bacon]

4. Who cares? The Rapture is coming!

The Republicans do not care one bit about bringing down the deficit. 90% of the Republican members of Congress believe that the Rapture is imminent. They really are stupid enough to believe that bullshit. Are they gonna be in for a rude awakening when China dumps the dollar and demands immediate payment of the bounds the idiot Republicans sold them!

[BadgerKid]

5. Clinton had budget surplus

September 27, 2000
Web posted at: 4:51 p.m. EDT (2051 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton announced Wednesday that the federal budget surplus for fiscal year 2000 amounted to at least $230 billion, making it the largest in U.S. history and topping last year's record surplus of $122.7 billion.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/09/27/clinton.surplus/

[truthisfreedom]

6. bush will say it's "naieve" to think that spending money on perpetual war

is not a good idea or good for our country. he'll say it's a "mistake" that we aren't still the world's greatest economic power.

[OneBlueSky]

8. when you think of the money that's been pissed away, stolen, and . . .

otherwise disappeared into the coffers of BushCo and their friends, it's enough to make you puke . . . and want to throw something at somebody . . .

like maybe an impeachment resolution at Bush . . .

and indictments at Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and a few dozen others . . .

imagine what that money could have been spent on . . . rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, universal healthcare, infrastructure, creating schools that teach kids to think, developing alternative energies, and oh so much more . . .

instead, all "we the people" have to show for our money is endless war, a demoralized and over-extended military, a collapsing economy, a devastated environment, and the complete loss of international respect and admiration . . .

nice job, assholes! . . .

[xchrom]

9. another bomb for the democratic party arsenal.

i feel your pain republick party, i feel your pain.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Well Duh!

Economists from the analytic school have been saying this for over 20 years! The late 80's recession is directly, mathematically correlated to the Reagan policy disasters. I published a paper that related this and the overspending on defense to artificially prop up the economy as conducted by the USSR. That was in 1985.
The Professor

[NotGivingUp]

11. i guess this admishtration is getting exactly what it wanted. n/t

[YankeyMCC]

12. There are just to many

ways for all kinds of experts to point out the disastrous nature of this administration's policies.

[AtLiberty]

13. Duh...

One needn't be a member of an exclusive business club to figure that one out...

Most of us figured this out years ago...

[Supersedeas]

14. What, me worry?

[wholetruth00]

15. And just why isn't this "breaking news" on the TV news shows?

It should be a major news story.