The Unbearable Costs of Empire: Bush’s War Could Help the Economy in the Short Run; The Big Harm Comes Later
Author(s)
Galbraith, James K.
Abstract
One is tempted to analyze these sums, particularly the immediate costs of war in Iraq, in terms of budget deficits and interest rates–in terms, that is, of the conventional arithmetic of fiscal irresponsibility. But this misses the point. The real economic cost of Bush’s empire building is twofold: It diverts attention from pressing economic problems at home and it sets the United States on a long-term imperial path that is economically ruinous.
