March 5th, 2008
Iraq: Guns or butter
The $2 Trillion Nightmare, from Bob Herbert at the NY Times today:
On Thursday, the Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Senator Chuck Schumer, conducted a public examination of the costs of the war. The witnesses included the Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz (who believes the overall costs of the war — not just the cost to taxpayers — will reach $3 trillion), and Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International.
Both men talked about large opportunities lost because of the money poured into the war. “For a fraction of the cost of this war,†said Mr. Stiglitz, “we could have put Social Security on a sound footing for the next half-century or more.â€
