Clarification - King of the Deficit

It's not the war that I question - although that would certainly be easy to do - it's the economic policies that have gone along with it. The fear that Iraq could become an incubator for terrorism and potentially supply nuclear materials to terrorists was a legitmate reason for taking out Hussein & Sons - even if we didn't find WMD's. If anything, they should have sent many more troops to prevent the current insurgency. Still, with each passing year, it will only become easier to look back and wonder if the decision to go to Iraq was worht the very steep cost.

My concern is that the US economy is in serious trouble and that the Bush administration's policies are only making things worse. Just like LBJ, Bush has advocated an unsustainable "guns & butter" policy that has the potential to cause the 1970's all over again, with out of control inflation and burgeoning national debt.

Bush is financing both tax cuts and the war through the sale of billions in US govt issued bonds. The only thing keeping the dollar from shedding value is foreign investors appetites for this debt. As foreign banks and govts have purchased less and less debt, the dollar's value has fallen relative to other currencies. The Euro is actually becoming the new currency of choice because, as a whole, Europe manages its balance of payments much better than the US.

If the US dollar devalues, inflation will occur. Income growth will not keep pace. American's standard of living will diminish. There are only a few solutions:

1) The US must export more than it imports.

2) The US must eliminate the federal budget deficit by raising taxes & cutting spending.

3) The US must raise interest rates.

Option #1 is a pipe-dream, short of placing a moratorium on imported goods, leaving us with some combinations of #2 & #3. I care a lot more about America than I do about my BMW - higher taxes and interest rates are not good for this country. Bush needs to raise taxes a little now, instead of forcing them to go up by a lot in the future. He needs to solve the federal budget deficit now, instead of forcing the post-baby boomers into a position where they'll have no choice but to pay 50% taxes. Bush does not know the first thing about economics - his out of control spending and foolish tax reduction is diminishing America's future. That is why I think his economic policies suck...