[LS]

Richard, come on. Who is "doing the drumbeats of war?" THE DAMN NEW YORK TIMES. Yah, those liberals want to strengthen the economy to re-elect Bush? Not logical. Moreover, sorry to tell you, but economic history shows that war is NOT good for business. There has been no war where major industries outside of munitions have really prospered. Robert Higgs has a WELL-RESPECTED study showing that the U.S. really didn't come "out" of the Great Depression until 1946, when the pent up savings of Americans finally came back to consumer goods. Military spending did little to "get us out" of the Depression.

[arete]

Yah, those liberals want to strengthen the economy to re-elect Bush? Not logical. Moreover, sorry to tell you, but economic history shows that war is NOT good for business.

No liberals don't want to strengthen the economy not that there is anyway they could. Unless you know of some secret fix, I'd say that the libs are simply making hay out of pointing out the obvious.

I also suspect that the ruling class elite (all politicians) see themselves in jeopardy of being thrown out of office if things get really bad. If the best they can do is give us recession and economic uncertainty, then maybe all of them need to go.

War, unless you are building tanks, probably does little to stimulate economic activity overall. It does provide the public with a big distraction and at least in the short run, provides a form of single mindedness and societal "glue." The politicians want us focused on Saddam and not Senator Dipshit. It is terribly unfashionable and UNPATRIOTIC to criticise our government when we are at war.

Richard W.