Debunking Stupid Liberal Arguments: American Military Operations in Iraq Caused Massive Budget Deficits and Led to Crushing National Debt September 3, 2010Matthew Cochrane
Ever get tired of listening to the same liberal arguments over and over again? I sure do. Most of the time, many arguments are simply not worth the time and effort to refute. After all, arguing with liberals can be as pointless as teaching a pig to sing. Often their talking points are based upon false assumption after false assumption, so that, even if you wanted to try to convince them the error of their ways, it would take more time than you or any normal person has.
There are some arguments, however, that are repeated so often they just need to be debunked once and for all. One such argument is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are what have caused our colossal national debt. A variable of this argument has liberals accusing conservatives of being hypocrites for wanting to limit and defund domestic programs while showing no such moderation when it comes to our government’s defense spending. Here’s one such example of a mainstream liberal making one form of this argument:
First, the facts. As regular readers well know, America is currently about $13 trillion in debt. As if that’s not crushing enough, here are some more scary figures about our national debt from the Heritage Foundation’s Brian Riedl:
·The national debt held by the public is set to surpass 100 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020.
·By 2020, half of all income tax revenues will go toward paying interest on a $23 trillion national debt.
·Federal spending per household, which has risen from $25,000 to nearly $30,000 over the past three years, would top $38,000 by 2020. The national debt per household, which was $52,000 before the recession, would approach $150,000 by 2020 (all adjusted for inflation).
So the argument is obviously not whether we are in debt or not, it’s how we have accumulated that debt and if the cost of America’s foreign wars have led us down this path of massive debt and borrowing. In order to do that, we must look at the United States’ budget deficit over the past several years and the percentage of spending the war in Iraq cost. Once this is done, we quickly find that this claim by liberals, that America’s military campaign in Iraq has significantly contributed toward our debt, simply ridiculous.
According to the CBO, the total cost of the eight year long Operation Iraqi Freedom, was $709 billion. To put this in perspective, President Obama’s stimulus bill cost approximately $862 billion. In other words, our entire eight year war in Iraq cost less than the Democrats’ 2009 stimulus bill. This chart shows America’s budget deficits going back to 2003, the year our military operations began in Iraq:
As you can see, the budget deficits actually shrunk under Bush during the war years until the Democrats regained control of Congress in 2007. It was then that our deficits began to rise again. When President Obama took office, of course, they skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. As the American Thinker's Randall Hoven succinctly puts it, “The sum of all the deficits from 2003 through 2010 is $4.73 trillion. Subtract the entire Iraq War cost and you still have a sum of $4.02 trillion.”
Comparing these deficits by the CBO’s figures, a Fox News article states (emphasis mine):
The U.S. deficit for fiscal year 2010 is expected to be $1.3 trillion, according to CBO. That compares to a 2007 deficit of $160.7 billion and a 2008 deficit of $458.6 billion, according to data provided by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
In 2007 and 2008, the deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product was 1.2 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.
In other words, “No, military operations in Iraq was not even a significant factor in accumulating our national debt.”
Arthur Brooks addresses this very argument near the end of his new book, The Battle:
…America’s military role in the world does come at a tremendous cost, human as well as financial. Some critics on both the left and right lambast our “interventionist” foreign policy for the billions it has cost in taxpayers’ dollars, let alone American lives. And in this they see an opportunity to skewer traditional conservatives, whom they accuse of trying to restrain domestic government spending while showing no such restraint in defense spending.
But as most Americans understand, the free enterprise movement is not the “no-government” movement. Free enterprise requires property rights and police, so that what is rightfully yours cannot be taken away by a criminal. Of course, this imposes your values on the criminal who wants your wallet, and it also costs money. But that is not objectionable.
Military intervention around the world is more complicated than police protection at home, and we need an ongoing debate about our military’s role in the world. But the protective role in of military spending cannot be compared with enterprise-wrecking government boondoggles like our car company bailouts. And the fact that most people see the military in a positive light and support our activities abroad is not philosophically inconsistent to a people who agree that American free enterprise can and should be a gift to the world.
While not cheap, and relatively nothing compared to the cost we paid for the war in human lives, Americans should take pride that with the money we used to fund Operation Iraqi Freedom the American military toppled a brutal dictator and has earned a potential democratic ally in one of the world’s most dangerous regions. By contrast, at a far higher cost, the Obama administration has increased government bureaucracy and entitlements with programs like Cash for Clunkers. It is these twin pillars of fiscal irresponsibility, bureaucracy and entitlements, that have given us our national debt and it is these two gigantic money pits that must be plugged if we are to dig ourselves out of this financial mess. As a recent Investor’s Business Daily editorial put it, “In Iraq, a new commander and a new strategy saved the day. On the economic front, we need both as well.”
Heard a stupid liberal argument lately? Drop me a line and if I've heard the same argument making the rounds I will take the time to refute it in this space when time permits.
Rick Scott's Running Mate in Florida is a Game Changer September 2, 2010Matthew Cochrane
One of the things that can’t help but be noticed is the growing diversity of the GOP. Several Republican candidates this fall break the stereotypical mold of Republicans being the party for white males. Nowhere is this more evident than in Florida where Marco Rubio and Allen West are both running in Florida as staunch conservative minorities. Add to that list from the Sunshine State, Jennifer Carroll, a state representative from Jacksonville, who was picked by Rick Scott to be his running mate in the gubernatorial election. The Miami Herald reports:
GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott on Thursday morning announced that state Rep. Jennifer Carroll of Jacksonville will be his running mate as lieutenant governor.
``I am honored that Jennifer is the first African-American Republican woman to be part of a statewide ticket in Florida,'' Scott said.
``Jennifer Carroll is the embodiment of the American dream. She came to America as a young girl, decided to serve her country with the United States Navy, pursued a higher education, started a small business, and then was elected the first African-American female Republican in the Florida Legislature,'' said Scott, who launched a new website featuring his new running mate (www.ScottCarrollforFlorida.com).
``Her conservative principles are in line with mine, and this fall we will present a clear choice between conservatives with business experience and a plan to create 700,000 jobs and liberal Obamacrats who want to bring the failed Obama agenda to Florida,'' Scott said in a statement to his supporters.
Carroll sports a pretty impressive resume. She retired from the U.S. Navy as a Lt. Commander and is a member of the NRA and the NAACP. As a native of Trinidad, she is an immigrant and should soften Scott’s perceived hard-line stance against immigration. Together, West, Rubio and Carroll have a chance to reach a significant portion of Florida’s minority population where, for instance, one out of every seven voters is black. The face of the GOP is changing and, as a result, should be able to make real inroads with minority voters this election cycle. The fact that this could potentially be accomplished during the age of Obama, makes this outreach even more amazing.
Radical Environmentalists and Al Gore: Who's to Blame? September 2, 2010Matthew Cochrane
A crazed environmentalist entered the lobby of Discovery Channel headquarters armed with a handgun with several metallic canisters strapped to his body. After taking three hostages he was shot after a long standoff after pointing his gun at one of the hostages. ABC reports:
The gunman, identified as James Lee, was killed by police following four hours of negotiations but the hostages are all safe, said Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger.
Manger said the suspect had "metalic canisters" strapped to his chest and back. When Lee was struck by police bullets, one of the canisters "popped." Police have not confirmed if the canisters were a bomb, but Manger said the "device may have gone off" when he was shot.
Manger said police will search the building looking for other potential explosives Lee may have left inside.
The Washington Post gives some insight on some of his, uh, unorthodox views on the environment:
Lee, who once listed a Silver Spring homeless center as his address but who had inherited property in Hawaii that he sold for $90,000, held extreme views about the environment. According to writings on the Internet, he believed that humanity had polluted the planet and that human reproduction was the worst pollutant.
"Humans are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what's left of the planet with their false morals and breeding culture," he wrote in an 11-point Internet communique that authorities said was similar to demands he made Wednesday.
According to MSNBC, Lee “experienced an ‘‘awakening” when he watched former Vice President Al Gore’s environmental documentary ‘’An Inconvenient Truth.’”
I hope this brings more media coverage to the growing movement of environmental terrorists. The movement is virtually ignored by the media, including right wing outlets.
It would be fun to say that Gore et al bear blame for this incident, just like the left quickly lays the blame at Beck’s and Limbaugh’s feet every time some crazed wacko does something based off of some perversion of conservative ideas. Unfortunately, it would also be inaccurate. As I’ve said before, “whenever some crazy loon performs an act of lunacy the media rushes to paint the entire respective political ideology by this act.”
James Lee is responsible for his own actions, not Al Gore or the mainstream environmentalist movement. There are plenty of nuts on both sides of the political aisle. All can be and almost always are uniformly condemned by both sides. And none represent the feelings or values of either side.
Global Warming Misinforming? You Don't Say! September 1, 2010Jamie Cochrane
A review by the InterAcademy Council (IAC) critiqued the IPCC for biased data and exaggerated reports. They found that much of the evidence given by the IPCC was based on little proof and only speculation. The report came after a hugely embarrassing 2007 benchmark climate change report, which contained exaggerated and false claims that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035.
In an article titled Climate Change Lies Are Exposed at the UK Daily Express, Donna Bowater explained:
The IAC, which comprises the world’s top science academies including the UK’s Royal Society, made recommendations to the IPCC to “enhance its credibility and independence” after the Himalayan glaciers report, which severely damaged the reputation of climate science.
It condemned the panel – set up by the UN to ensure world leaders had the best scientific advice on climate change – for its “slow and inadequate response” after the damaging errors emerged.
Among the blunders in the 2007 report were claims that 55 per cent of the Netherlands was below sea level when the figure is 26 per cent.
It also claimed that water supplies for between 75 million and 250 million people in Africa will be at risk by 2020 due to climate change, but the real range is between 90 and 220 million.
The claim that glaciers would melt by 2035 was also rejected.
Professor Julian Dowdeswell of CambridgeUniversity said: “The average glacier is 1,000ft thick so to melt one at 15ft a year would take 60 years. That is faster than anything we are seeing now so the idea of losing it all by 2035 is unrealistic.”
I guess we don’t have to worry about polar bears falling from the sky anymore…
The latest scandal comes from Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Democratic representative from Dallas, TX. The Dallas Morning News reports:
Longtime Dallas congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has awarded thousands of dollars in college scholarships to four relatives and a top aide's two children since 2005, using foundation funds set aside for black lawmakers' causes.
The recipients were ineligible under anti-nepotism rules of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which provided the money. And all of the awards violated a foundation requirement that scholarship winners live or study in a caucus member's district.
Johnson, a Democrat, denied any favoritism when asked about the scholarships last week. Two days later, she acknowledged in a statement released by her office that she had violated the rules but said she had done so "unknowingly" and would work with the foundation to "rectify the financial situation."
Initially, she said, "I recognized the names when I saw them. And I knew that they had a need just like any other kid that would apply for one." Had there been more "very worthy applicants in my district," she added, "then I probably wouldn't have given it" to the relatives.
I recognized the names when I saw them. That’s the worse excuse after an ethics violation I have ever heard. Of course, Johnson laments, if there only had been more worthy candidates from my district!
Ugh. It’s time to drain the swampland. Time to clean out the cesspool. November cannot come fast enough.
