Does the Associated Press's Martin Crutsinger moonlight as a Code Pink operative?
There has to be something that explains what I'll call his Iraqnaphobia.
Last month (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), the AP reporter erroneously cited the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a "major factor" explaining why "the deficit has widened." In a quick review of the related June 2009 Monthly Treasury Statement, I cited three examples of higher spending in other areas of government that were larger than last year, both in dollar and percentage terms, than the $33 billion, 7% increase in total defense spending. NB commenter Arminius further pointed out that "Our military spending amounts to 5 percent of GDP. Iraq and Afghanistan amount to 15 percent of that 5 percent. Obviously, as Tom notes, larger culprits are responsible for the massive deficit."
It's simply not possible that the two wars can be a "major factor." No matter -- This month, in an otherwise fairly decent report, Crutsinger did it again (bold after title is mine):
Federal deficit higher in July, $1.27T this year
The federal deficit climbed higher into record territory in July, hitting $1.27 trillion with two months remaining in the budget year.
The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the July deficit totaled $180.7 billion, slightly more than the $177.5 billion economists had expected.
The Obama administration is projecting that when the current budget year ends on Sept. 30, the imbalance will total $1.84 trillion, more than four times last year's record-high.
The soaring deficits have raised worries among foreign owners of U.S. Treasury securities including the Chinese, the largest holder of such debt.
Massive amounts of government spending to combat the recession and stabilize the U.S. financial system have pushed the deficit higher. The cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with depleted government tax revenues, also are major factors.
This time, referring to Table 3 the July Monthly Treasury Statement, total defense spending through ten months of the fiscal year has been $531 billion, up 8.1% from $491 billion at the same time last year. That $40 billion difference hardly is "major" in the context of a total deficit increase of almost $900 billion so far this year ($1.266 trillion through July 31, compared to $377 billion last year). If Arminius's 15% estimate for the cost of the two wars as a percentage of the total defense budget is accurate (that would annualize out to about $100 billion, which seems about right based on information I have seen in previous years), you could zero out the entire war effort and not even make a 10% dent in the projected year-over-year deficit increase of almost $1.4 trillion ($1.84 trillion this year vs. $455 billion last year).
Bigger contributors to the enlarged deficit on the spending side Crutsinger should have individually cited, instead of lumping them all into a "spending to combat the recession" catch-all, include:
- HHS, up $95 billion, or 16.3%.
- Department of Labor, up $62 billion, or 131% (you read that right).
- Social Security Administration (mostly not a recession-related increase), up $62 billion, or 11.4%.
- "Other" (all within Treasury Department itself, not described in detail anywhere else), up $232 billion, or 228% (you read that right).
On the collections side, the roughly $550 billion decline in receipts through 10 months ($1.74 trillion this year vs. $2.29 trillion last year, before other adjustments I would normally make, but won't now in the interest of space) is almost 14 times bigger than the total increase in defense spending, and totally dwarfs whatever miniscule increases might have occurred in the Iraq and Afghan theaters of the War on Terror (am I allowed to say that?).
On this one, Crutsinger is clearly cracked. The AP is pathetically ignorant and/or deeply negligent in allowing his Iraqnaphobia to stand uncorrected, as it almost surely will.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters
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God Gawd Almighty! That is it. I am going into the Nexus.
August 13, 2009 - 02:47 ET by JWFI created 2 forums dedicated to this very topic.
Bush spent less as a percentage of GDP than the last 4 Presidents.
Bush was an average spender despite having 2 battlefronts in 2 different countries.
I created those forums for the trolls. And what are we getting here? The MSM is still throwing this is our face.
I am going into the Nexus. It is 1988 in the Nexus. Ronald Reagan's last full year. I got my betamax (NEC 70EU) with the slowmo. Just starting my cd collection. I am living in the Philippines, San Miguel Naval Communications Station. Drinking the San Miguel beer. Watching Cheers, Newhart, Magnum P.I. Johnny is still alive. Ozzy has some of his best work. I live a block from the beach. Driving a 1980 Pinto hatchback that was all glass in the back. 2.2 liters. Radiatior leaked like a sieve. I kept 2 gallons of water behind the drivers seat. Someone had torn out all of the environmental crap. It was a fun little 45 minute drive to work. I nearly hit a carabou driving home one afternoon. It was dusk and the cart was really dirty. I slammed on the brakes at the last minute. I thought the carabou was bucking. It was the farmer jumping straight up and out of the cart. Ah, fun times. Bucakroo Banzai is in the beta right now. Apritada. Calimari. Siopao. Sam Kinison is still alive. John Candy is still alive. John Ritter is still alive. The USS Missouri is on a round the world cruise. SNL's second golden age. Hurricanes (typhoons in the PI) still meant it was time to stock up on beer. Stars & Stripes. Berkeley Breathed. Top 40. You could still find the 3 Stooges & Abbott and Costello on TV. Alex Cox was still making movies. Wall Street. Terminator. Blade Runner. Top Gun. Dirty Dancing (Shut up! It is a guilty pleasure. Watch it in the dark when know one knows) Ice Pirates. Andy Sidaris. Ghostbusters. Rolling Stones were still kinda making music (well we hoped) AC/DC. Loverboy. Simply Red. Def Leopard. Whitesnake. Scorpions. New Wave. New Jack. First time I heard God Bless the USA was in 1988. Adventures of Ford Fairlane (Yea I know it came out in 1990. Shut up. It is my Nexus. You like that San Migoo? Get the hell out iffin you are gonna be so picky) Everybody wants to rule the world and we had not yet elected a President who thinks he can and an MSM thatwill carry his water and sleep in his bed.
Adios guys, next time the Nexus crosses land will be Nov 2010. Hey look, it is Captain Kirk and Guinan coming over for some calimari and san migoos. Gotsta go.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 4 psychic wars in 1988.
PS: I was only 1 year into a 22 year search for Ken Lazlo's 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 in 1988. Yes. I know. You probably never heard of it. Welcome to my world. I did not know it never got big play in the U.S. That is partly why it took 22 years to find it. Oh, and try googling 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. That does not help in the search. Yes. Yes. Yes. I also know. He keeps missing number nine. It is maddeningly frustrating. And fun. He is Italian. Number nine got dropped in the translation. He handled the mistranslation better than Hillary did.
PSS: I am watching Friends and Farscape and Hearts Afire in the Nexus too. Screw you. It is my Nexus. You don't like it, no San Migoos for you.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
August 13, 2009 - 16:39 ET by stratmanThe reason Lazlo did not sing the number 9 was because Nena took them all for her 99 Luft Balloons.
I remember drinking San Miguels with a Filipino in Cleveland in 1988.
This Nexus thing is strange and fun.
We sent out for another case for my friend stratman.
August 13, 2009 - 17:57 ET by JWFDon't touch the gecko's. They eat insects. We will hide some of the beer when it gets here so it won't run out too fast. Captain Kirk enjoys the beverages a leeeeettle tooooo much.
Yes, we get a quite a few songs that are popular here that you can't find back in the states. You ever hear chocolate by soul control?
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
On My Way!
August 13, 2009 - 22:33 ET by stratmanCan't say I ever heard of Soul Control before.
From what I gather, politics is very serious business in the Philippines. My buddie's best friend from back home had a car accident precipitated by a rival political faction while in college resulting in quadriplegia. Great guy, very sad thing.
My buddie would get so red/flushed drinking his first beer. (genetic deficiency of alcohol dehydrogenase) We would all crack up. Then Willie would drink us under the table. His visa ran out and he moved back, but I hear he's somewhere in the US again. Miss hanging out with him.
Thanks for reminding me of the good times had. I will get some San Miguel and raise a bottle in your honor!
Cracked and/or negligent?
August 13, 2009 - 05:21 ET by motherbeltI would say Crutsinger is ignorant and AP is negligent.
Many on the left don't care about accuracy; what they care about is "effect."
It's long been their insistent contention that if only we weren't fighting the wars we could elimate the deficit, erase the national debt, provide free medical care, end poverty and hunger, fix global warming and find a permanent cure for halitosis.
For Crutsinger and others of his opinion, "major factor in the deficit" means "expenditures I don't agree with."
His contention is like the recurrent claim since the 70's of "If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we......"
Liberal Logic
August 13, 2009 - 06:00 ET by FeynmanFanThe facts must fit the theory. The theory is that Bush was bad for the country, so the "facts" must support that theory - no matter what.
Well, it's pretty much
August 13, 2009 - 06:28 ET by Indiana JoeWell, it's pretty much proven. The only cure for Bush Derangement Syndrome is Obama Adoration Syndrome. It seems our major news organizations cannot report anything even remotely resembling the truth about anything political anymore. When they display the blatant ability to lie about provable facts, there can be no other conclusion.
Their "close-ranks-and-belittle-all-naysayers" strategy is bound to fail in the long term. "The truth will out," said Shakespeare (?), and it's as true now as it was 400 years ago. They will not be dissuaded by falling viewer/readership numbers. They join our own congresspeople in labelling those who dissent as "unAmerican" and even "Nazis" (having no clue what the distinction between Nazis and "fascists" may be; they, in fact, are both). They ignore the roaring success of "dissenting-view" formats, from talk-radio to Fox News. And they will be next in line for government "bailouts" (read: "ownership"), and it will finally be official.
They have moved, in their minds, from the Fourth Estate to the Fourth BRANCH of U.S. Government. They are the propaganda arm of modern American government. Goebbels would fit right in with this bunch. And he would be proud to join them.
Which is why I never read or watch any of the "mainstream" news outlets anymore... at ALL. May they all rot in hell.
Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for life. Give a man a fish, and he'll be back tomorrow asking for another. If you don't give him one, he'll lead a march demanding the fish to which he's "entitled." And the next day, Wolf Blitzer will be wondering why you hate people who can't fish. - Me
Why are the tags even more clipped than they used to be?
Capital v Expense
August 13, 2009 - 07:04 ET by allanfThe reporters at AP have never run a business. The costs of these Wars are not fixed costs. They are either one time expenditures to be charged against revenue or capital cost for the acquisition of goods and equipment. That is very different from the ongoing fixed cost increases Obama is proposing.
Something the left will
August 13, 2009 - 08:22 ET by BDSomething the left will never understand nor acknowledge is that today in 2009 our government commits less resources to national defense than it did in the 1930's using the GDP as the yardstick.
On a percentage basis we now have smaller military than we did back then, as well as smaller commitments overseas (Remember the Philippines, Nicaragua, Canal Zone etc.)
We have a significantly smaller force today than when I first swore to defend the constitution in 1982 where I had a choice of 18 Divisions to be assigned compared to the 9-10 today.
In 1982 we had Five division size forces in two corps assigned to Germany alone. Today we have two in Iraq under one corps, and less than a division in Afghanistan.
The left is just nuts. If we went down to a single Platoon defensing the US at JFK International, they would still freak out....
Thanks, BD
August 13, 2009 - 08:36 ET by BlondeI didn't know that, vis-a-vis the 1930's. It's a useful fact to have at hand. And a scary one, too.
Unfortunately, many people have no understanding of exactly what that means, as most people under 30 can't identify Dwight D. Eisenhower (or any president prior to Reagan, with the exception JFK, natch).
I hope he fails, too.
Blonde: Yeah, each
August 14, 2009 - 08:15 ET by BDBlonde:
Yeah, each generation of soldiers has a place they point to overseas that is a bit glamourous that that generation loves. In the case of the 1920-30's it was the Philippines. Officers such as Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall all served their tours and it molded their mindset.
To my particular year group it was Germany.
BD, Obama is fixing that GDP Defense Spending gap.
August 13, 2009 - 08:47 ET by acaiguanaIt's an old principle. How to make a small fortune. Start with a large fortune.
If you demonize profit and destroy the economy, GDP ratios will fall to pre-1930's levels. Just wait a while.
ACA
...
Quoted from: 'Acaiguana notes from the Underground' (Soon to be at theaters near you)
Aint that the truth. Still
August 14, 2009 - 08:16 ET by BDAint that the truth. Still attempting to identify cuts for next FY that will allow us to survive a potential 10% cut intact.
August 13, 2009 - 09:15 ET by jessieHDeficit because of war? Really? I don't think so. I blame Mr. obama, Congress & senate. I didn't see the soldiers giving away our tax dollars. Not one general passed a bill without reading it. Not one sailor called the people a racist mob. I haven't heard the air force say that we carry swastikas. No, I'm pretty shure it was our government.
It's the blame game
August 13, 2009 - 10:54 ET by slickwillie2001The obvious reason for this nonsense is so that the democratics can blame future deficits on President George W. Bush. The Bamster already blames him for this years deficit, claiming he simply inherited it from the President. That excuse will wear thin in a year or so, but the two-war excuse can be used forever, including 2012.
This bogus lefty argument always drives me wild...
August 13, 2009 - 11:48 ET by trak65I love trumpeting the "less than one percent" figure when they bring up war expenditures. They usually pipe down for a few minutes. The real deficit culprits are OBVIOUSLY the dem congresses. Going back 30 years, there's a near perfect correlation:
dem congress = big deficits
repub congress = small deficits or surpluses
Wonder how they'd like the
August 14, 2009 - 00:37 ET by RR GOPWonder how they'd like the cost of Chicago or some other major city evaporating under a mushroom cloud?
Something like that happens, and they start in with the same garbage they did right after 9-11 and try to set us up and weaken us for yet another hit, I fear it will be open season on these ba$tards.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.