NYT Op/Ed: War rages on as America collapses RAW STORY

Published: Saturday April 12, 2008



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Print This Email This "The U.S., once the greatest can-do country on the planet, now can't seem to do anything right," opines the New York Times' Bob Herbert this morning. The United States, Herbert says, is a country whose lopsided priorities have resulted in the squandering of resources, energy and manpower on the occupation of Iraq while the shrinking middle class sinks deeper into debt, infrastructure continues to collapse, the country is unable to provide health care for its population, and a post-Katrina New Orleans remains effectively underwater. EXCERPTS: # The U.S. seems almost paralyzed, mesmerized by Iraq and unable to generate the energy or the will to handle the myriad problems festering at home. The war will eventually cost a staggering $3 trillion or more, according to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. When he was asked on Democracy Now! about who is profiting from the war, he said the two big gainers were the oil companies and the defense contractors. This is the pathetic state of affairs in the U.S. as we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Whatever happened to the dynamic country that flexed its muscles after World War II and gave us the G.I. Bill, the Marshall Plan, the United Nations (in a quest for peace, not war), the interstate highway system, the civil rights movement, the womens movement, the finest higher education system the world has known, and a standard of living that was the envy of all? The entire article is available to read HERE.