Re: Re: By the way, Bill

> Peter and All,
>     Why would it be unfair to state the obvious?  Our invasion of Iraq has 
> been a major factor in sending the economy into the crapper,

I admire an invasion powerful enough to reach back through the sands of time 
and throw the economy into a downturn a good two years before the war was 
even envisioned as a possibility.  And, as a bonus, it reverses the 
well-known phenemon that deficit spending helps to offset recessionary 
effects, keeping the economy from spiraling downward.  That principle 
apparently applies throughout history, but not with regard to Iraq.  That's 
a damn powerful invasion.

> with one direct result being a reduction of transfer payments from the 
> federal government to states and municipalities.

Now, you and I both know that there's no correlation between funding and 
spending in this government.  If they'd really wanted to fund both, they 
would have.  It's the magic system of government funding - anything we want 
to spend money on will get funded, regardless of revenues, and anything we 
don't want to spend money on will get cut.  That being said, I _agree_ with 
not spending money on things that are, more properly, State or municipal 
concerns.  And, again, I admire an invasion that can cause a reduction in 
federal funding for the levee system clear back to the previous 
administration.  Congress has been lowballing the Corps requests for levee 
funding for a *long* time, and at least part of the time the reason has been 
that the State Senate and municipal government failed to come through with 
matching funds.  Federal funding for such a project is a bonus which can be 
handy to the local authorities, but the responsibility for maintaining the 
system ultimately rests on the municipal and/or State governments.

> The levees in New Orleans were a specific budget item, and their funding 
> was cut even though it's been known for
> several years that they needed work.  I would call that a causal link, not 
> unfair blame.

The list of people who've cut or lowballed funding for the Louisiana levee 
system is quite long, but the canned talking point network isn't interested 
in examining this list, or putting pressure on the people actually 
ultimately responsible for maintaining infrastructure in their territory. 
Business as usual, really.

-Sloth 




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