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It’s not just the economy, stupid

Give a listen to this NPR report. It really does matter what foreigners think about US policy.

See, when the US runs up a huge budget deficit fighting wars by itself, it has to borrow money to pay its bills. And since the US has a trade deficit with the rest of the world, much of that money has to come from foreign banks. Those lenders see a pariah dollar, a huge budget deficit, and an administration that likes to throw billions down holes like Iraq, ergo, they’re less likely to lend money. So the dollar falls further, interest rates go higher, and the economy sinks lower. Add to this the aggravating factor of soaring prices for oil – a commodity we’re burning plenty of in, you guessed it, Iraq.

Naturally you would hope that life, liberty, etc are more important than a weak currency, big deficit or the price of oil. But when the US exhausts its diplomatic, financial and military resources on a fool’s errand in Iraq, life, liberty, etc lose their defender.

posted by Theo @ 6:14 PM