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October 23, 2007
Funding the Mid-East Wars -- "Let's Make A Deal"
At present, federal tax revenues do not cover federal outlays, which include armored vehicles and Blackwater "security" guards (whose employer gets 3 times the amount per man it costs to maintain a U.S. soldier -- another brilliant stroke of fiscal genius by this administration).
Okay, so how do Americans pay for the war? Credit, of course. International investors hold more than 50% of our outstanding Treasury bonds and notes. Japan is number 1, China is number 2.
My advice to the President. Forget Congress. Go straight to the Far East and cut a deal for direct financing with China and Japan. That would eliminate the Wall Street middle men and any other marginal borrowing costs.
Plus, it would let the President use not only his charm, but also the quantitative lessons on international finance learned during his Harvard MBA days.
Best of all, because the President would be side-stepping Congress in his all-encompassing role as Defender of the Homeland, the constitutional requirement that Congress appropriate money wouldn't even apply. Clearly, the fact that the Democrat[ ] Congress is trying to be involved in how the war is financed directly impacts how the President, as commander in chief, can wage the war. That interferes with the President's inherent Art. II power to decide all things war related.
It's a slam dunk all the way around.
Posted by shertaugh at October 23, 2007 2:19 PM