http://blogs.salon.com/0002515/
"Impact on US of $87 billion
This is slightly off-topic, since I normally like to stick with the impact of our policies on Iraq, but a paragraph in a Financial Times article got my dander up:
Mr Bush's call for $87bn ($77.5bn, £54.7bn) is more than the $78bn all 50 states need to finance their predicted 2004 budget shortfalls, which are crippling many local services.
We're feeling the pinch right in my hometown of Somerville, Massachusetts, where policemen and teachers have been laid off, and educational and service programs cut. This in a city where residents are very concerned about gang-related violence and the ability for the city to keep its head above financial water. It's not clear what is going to happen to various populations who have relied on city services, such as recovering addicts and the homeless. Presumably they will remain / go back to the street.
An article in The Star from Malaysia also reports that the higher American deficit
could ultimately translate into weaker economic growth in the United States. That is the assessment of private economists who believe the surging federal deficits, while helping to boost a lagging economic recovery this year and next, will mean trouble down the road in the form of rising interest rates and higher inflation.
How much more trouble are we getting into?"
8:32:56 AM comment [0]
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