If it's still on newstands, read a fascinating "Letter From Baghdad" by George Packer in the Nov. 24 issue of The New Yorker. It (at least you can see the slide show, if not read the whole story) includes this quote from a 29 year old Charlie Company commander named John Prior: "We'd been planning this war since freaking 12 September, and it might have helped if someone had drawn a map before the war and figured out where everyone went."
It's a fascinating piece of reporting. If it shows up on an archive, I'll post a link.
Authorities are now retracting the report that the two GIs from the 101st Airborne had had their throats slit by an Iraqi mob. Nevertheless, the fact that Mosul -- a northern Iraqi city that should be a relatively welcoming place for the U.S. -- is now the scene of increasing attacks is ominous. One theory I've heard is that the military authorities have run out of money for paying off the locals so sentiments have changed abruptly.
The usually sharp Jack Shafer, it seems to me, has it wrong on this one. The reason most mainstream news organizations have not picked up the story of the "leaked" memo written by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith is that it simply wasn't new information. Just rehashing of already discredited raw intelligence. In fact, I think it's a sign that the Bush administration's habit of repackaging nonsense and passing it off as critical news that supports their policies is simply not working anymore. News organizations have been burnt too often and are now arching a cynical eyebrow at the latest "leak" of "classified information." And, so, here comes Newsweek with a biting dismissal of Feith's document [credit where credit is due, the link comes from Shafer's own Slate piece].
Closer to home -- literally and figuratively -- is another story I can't provide a link to. Entitled "The $44 Trillion Abyss," from the Nov. 24 issue of FORTUNE, it chronicles the story of a research study commissioned by the lamented Paul O'Neill, to deternime "How prepared was the nation today to pay all its future bills." The study, which calculated -- conservatively -- the cost of baby boomers beginning to retire in the next five years while there are fewer workers to pay for ballooning Social Security and Medicare bills, was never released. One reason for the silence -- Paul O'Neal has been replaced by the more politically sensitive John Snow since "No savvy administration power player would dare point out, right in the middle of tax-cut season, that there was a huge hole in the country's finances -- a $44 trillion hole." Larry Kotlikoff, one of the researchers (and head of the economics dept. at Boston Universtiy), calls it the "great Treasury cover-up."
"The gap between payments and income came in at $44.2 trillion," according to the report. "Think about $44 trillion for a moment. It's probably the biggest thing you've never heard of -- and certainly the biggest number FORTUNE will publish in its pages this year. It's more than four times the size of our GDP, and 1-1/2 times the size of the entire world's GDP...
"Just to be clear, that number is not a bill that comes due on a certain date. What it shows is the debt that would accumulate over years of deficits if we continue as we are. It is an honest measure of the inexorable pressure on the government's future ability to spend. this amounts to a massive weight on the economy.
"Worse than that, it's getting bigger. Every year the government sits on its hands, that $44 trillion grows by about $1.6 trillion. Remember Kotlikoff's generational accounting technique estimates the present value of our future needs. It's exactly like saving for retirement -- the later you start, te more you have to save each year. So if nothing is done this year, the gap will widen to nearly $46 trillion next year."
Meanwhile, at least the drug companies and private insurance companies should do fine
It's a fascinating piece of reporting. If it shows up on an archive, I'll post a link.
Authorities are now retracting the report that the two GIs from the 101st Airborne had had their throats slit by an Iraqi mob. Nevertheless, the fact that Mosul -- a northern Iraqi city that should be a relatively welcoming place for the U.S. -- is now the scene of increasing attacks is ominous. One theory I've heard is that the military authorities have run out of money for paying off the locals so sentiments have changed abruptly.
The usually sharp Jack Shafer, it seems to me, has it wrong on this one. The reason most mainstream news organizations have not picked up the story of the "leaked" memo written by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith is that it simply wasn't new information. Just rehashing of already discredited raw intelligence. In fact, I think it's a sign that the Bush administration's habit of repackaging nonsense and passing it off as critical news that supports their policies is simply not working anymore. News organizations have been burnt too often and are now arching a cynical eyebrow at the latest "leak" of "classified information." And, so, here comes Newsweek with a biting dismissal of Feith's document [credit where credit is due, the link comes from Shafer's own Slate piece].
Closer to home -- literally and figuratively -- is another story I can't provide a link to. Entitled "The $44 Trillion Abyss," from the Nov. 24 issue of FORTUNE, it chronicles the story of a research study commissioned by the lamented Paul O'Neill, to deternime "How prepared was the nation today to pay all its future bills." The study, which calculated -- conservatively -- the cost of baby boomers beginning to retire in the next five years while there are fewer workers to pay for ballooning Social Security and Medicare bills, was never released. One reason for the silence -- Paul O'Neal has been replaced by the more politically sensitive John Snow since "No savvy administration power player would dare point out, right in the middle of tax-cut season, that there was a huge hole in the country's finances -- a $44 trillion hole." Larry Kotlikoff, one of the researchers (and head of the economics dept. at Boston Universtiy), calls it the "great Treasury cover-up."
"The gap between payments and income came in at $44.2 trillion," according to the report. "Think about $44 trillion for a moment. It's probably the biggest thing you've never heard of -- and certainly the biggest number FORTUNE will publish in its pages this year. It's more than four times the size of our GDP, and 1-1/2 times the size of the entire world's GDP...
"Just to be clear, that number is not a bill that comes due on a certain date. What it shows is the debt that would accumulate over years of deficits if we continue as we are. It is an honest measure of the inexorable pressure on the government's future ability to spend. this amounts to a massive weight on the economy.
"Worse than that, it's getting bigger. Every year the government sits on its hands, that $44 trillion grows by about $1.6 trillion. Remember Kotlikoff's generational accounting technique estimates the present value of our future needs. It's exactly like saving for retirement -- the later you start, te more you have to save each year. So if nothing is done this year, the gap will widen to nearly $46 trillion next year."
Meanwhile, at least the drug companies and private insurance companies should do fine
posted by John at 6:17 PM
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