? I explain the last eight months by placing it in PERSPECTIVE and you say I didn't answer your question? :lol: nevamind...
placing it in perspective in reference to what the last 40 years or the past 12 months? hmmmmm nevermind is right.
In macro-economics, 12 months isn't perspective. It's day trading. Which explains your comment, since politics is a day-trading kind of business and has no use for perspective or accuracy.
If your question was intended to solicit a useless answer, then yes. I failed to answer your question. :hihi:
I wasn't directing that at you. You're regularly one of the more sensible posters on TF. If we are truly close to the end, then I don't disagree. The total cost of the war has sent hundreds of billions, maybe trillions, up in smoke. Spending that money at home and seeing something come from it would have made a huge difference, I'd think. Maybe the current outflow of money is smaller, but still the average citizen sees little return on all the money going to aid foreign, especially in the wake of billions spent on an unnecessary war. The credit/mortgage crisis is also a clusterfk, in addition to poor/deceptive leadership for a number of years. I think either will be eager to send our money to Iraq to help out when there are bumps in the road, and I really question if either will be able to "no touchie" if Iraq has serious internal or external issues. McCain believes in war and will see it through. Obama disagreed with the war from the beginning and didn't think continuing it would be in our best interest. I'm not sure he was wrong despite the fact that the surge now appears to be working. I saw on Yahoo! news this morning or yesterday evening that Al-Qaeda activity in Afghanistan is stronger than ever. Seeing us with our hands tied in Iraq pisses me off. Well, I agree with you here. I've never understood our relationship with Israel and I keep coming to the conclusion that it must be a mix of keep Muslim countries in check and protecting our holy land. Huh... we have a strong economy. How much do we owe China?
How fast would China crumble if we stopped investing there? Cherry picking stats is fun, but futile. Complexity rules. Another reason that our market driven economy remains the model for the rest of the world - including China. Don't let any of the sky hit you...
Uhh, we're not investing there that much, they are raking in huge trade deficits in their favor and are buying up our debt. If we stopped trading with China it would wreck both our economies. They have a huge multi-$Trillion cash reserve to see them through until they can develop new markets. We would have no huge reserve of cheap manufactured goods that we are used to buying and inflation would eat all our wages and savings alive as we struggle to find a supplier like China (doesn't exist) or to recover our own very expensive manufacturing industry. There is a balance that, if upset, hurts us badly. We need leaders with foresight, not rash reactionaries, and who don't go off half-cocked, shortsighted, and blind.
Our standard of living has gone down and I don't think it will be getting better anytime soon. Spin it how you like, common working class families have seen a decline in their standard of living and we are leaving a burden that continues to grow for our grandchildren. I'll dodge splinters of the falling sky and you continue to drink the kool-aid.
