Latest RW talking point: war isn't making us poor

[nxylas]

A couple of my RW Facebook friends have posted articles making the claim that the Iraq war is only responsible for an itty-bitty part of the deficit, and most of it is the fault of Obama's stimulus, wasting money on trying to provide jobs for working Americans, instead of spending it on something worthwile, like bombing brown people. They've got a graph and everything:

http://media.sfexaminer.com/images/How+much+did+the+Iraq+war+cost.gif

Anybody got a rebuttal for this?

[realisticphish]

1. 2009 is also when the economy crashed

so tax revenue is going to plunge, increasing the deficit.

I'm not an economist, and my response isn't cited or anything, but I'm sure it's a contributing factor

[democrat_patriot]

2. Link to original graph. Where'd it come from.

I could make one just like it in reverse....

[nxylas]

3. This is where I saw it, though I don't know its ultimate origin

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Little-known-fact-Obamas-failed-stimulus-program-cost-more-than-the-Iraq-war-101302919.html

[mikeysnot]

6. Look at the source...

Editorial Page Editor Mark Tapscott was voted Conservative Journalist of the Year for 2008 by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and he was inducted into the Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame in 2006. Before joining the Examiner in 2006, he was director of The Heritage Foundation's Center for Media and Public Policy and founded its Database 101 Computer-Assisted Research and Reporting Boot Camps at the National Press Club. He's a former assistant managing editor and managing editor for two other Washington region daily newspapers


This is called "I am a conservative shill"


Look at these points he made....

The disinfo campaign is so intenese now...


* Obama's stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War -- more than $100 billion (15%) more. <--- WwwhhhhhaaaT! It only cost 100Million? Really.

* Just the first two years of Obama's stimulus cost more than the entire cost of the Iraq War under President Bush, or six years of that war.

* Iraq War spending accounted for just 3.2% of all federal spending while it lasted. <--- WwwhhhhhaaaT! while it "lasted"?????

* Iraq War spending was not even one quarter of what we spent on Medicare in the same time frame. <--- Your right using US tax money for the benifit of US citizens is a "Bad" thing...

* Iraq War spending was not even 15% of the total deficit spending in that time frame. The cumulative deficit, 2003-2010, would have been four-point-something trillion dollars with or without the Iraq War.

* The Iraq War accounts for less than 8% of the federal debt held by the public at the end of 2010 ($9.031 trillion).

Then send them this link

http://zfacts.com/p/447.html

and then this link

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-25/obama-s-economic-stimulus-program-created-up-to-3-3-million-jobs-cbo-says.html

And then point out that the war in iraq was financed out of your back pocket to pay multi national corporations to profit off of death and destruction, and then pay no US taxes but receive the protection of the US military from money that came from our back pockets to go over seas and never come back to benifit usa citizens...

And the stimulous money stays in the US for the benifit of US citzens.

[nxylas]

9. I know he's a conservative shill

I was after facts to rebut his arguments, which you've provided. Thank you.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. The source is not something I'd ever read. The article, and probably the graph, is by Mark Tapscott.

Editorial Page Editor Mark Tapscott was voted Conservative Journalist of the Year for 2008 by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and he was inducted into the Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame in 2006. Before joining the Examiner in 2006, he was director of The Heritage Foundation's Center for Media and Public Policy and founded its Database 101 Computer-Assisted Research and Reporting Boot Camps at the National Press Club. He's a former assistant managing editor and managing editor for two other Washington region daily newspapers. He is also proprietor of Tapscott's Copy Desk blog.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/bios/mark-tapscott.html#ixzz0xdwCWFJe

[gratuitous]

4. War in combination with tax cuts is making us poor

Remember, back in 2001 and 2002 we were running budget surpluses. Then we bought two shiny wars, and George W. Bush, along with his Republican pals running Congress, thought it would be a neato idea to empty the Treasury into the overstuffed pockets of their wealthy friends. Oddly enough, rather than pumping that money back into the U.S. economy, all those overrich fatcats squirreled away all that cash overseas, and our country hemorrhaged money for eight long years while the Republicans made issues like flag lapel pins and Terri Schiavo the centerpieces of our national discussion.

In short, tell your Facebook "friends" to fuck off and die.

[madmom]

5. I saw a graph that showed bush's economic policies made up 40% of Obama deficit....this.

one shows it was much worse...

http://mediamatters.org/research/200907140057

[sinkingfeeling]

7. They do know that the 2009 budget came from the Bush administration, right?

The 'wars' has cost us $1.086 trillion. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf



Here's a link that talks about the 2009 Bush budget, which ran through Sept. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_United_States_federal_budget
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget#2008_vs._2009

The CBO reported in October 2009 reasons for the difference between the 2008 and 2009 deficits, which were approximately $460 billion and $1,410 billion, respectively. Key categories of changes included: tax receipt declines of $320 billion due to the effects of the recession and another $100 billion due to tax cuts in the stimulus bill (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or ARRA); $245 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and other bailout efforts; $100 billion in additional spending for ARRA; and another $185 billion due to increases in primary budget categories such as Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, Social Security, and Defense - including the war effort in Afghanistan and Iraq. This was the highest budget deficit relative to GDP (9.9%) since 1945.<57> The national debt increased by $1.9 trillion during FY2009, versus the $1.0 trillion increase during 2008.<58>

The Obama Administration also made four significant accounting changes, to more accurately report the total spending by the Federal government. The four changes were: 1) account for the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (”overseas military contingencies”) in the budget rather than through the use of “emergency” supplemental spending bills; 2) assume the Alternative Minimum Tax will be indexed for inflation; 3) account for the full costs of Medicare reimbursements; and 4) anticipate the inevitable expenditures for natural disaster relief. These changes would make the debt over ten years look $2.7 trillion larger, but that debt was always there. It was just hidden.<59><60>