August 31, 2005

Special Bonds In "Special" Trusts
By Ed Henry

Here’s another one that you can put alongside the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) trust fund that mysteriously receives a pile of nonmarketable Treasury bonds every September, a deposit of billions that seems to float into the account for no reason other than to keep the program solvent. Another feat that only a corrupt government could pull off while robbing other entitlements like Social Security and Medicare and making us wonder what will happen when these trusts are exhausted.

This one is more than hazy. It’s preposterous. Yet, it’s dutifully reported every month in the U.S. Treasury’s Monthly Statement, table 8, three pages from the back and titled “Trust Fund Impact on Budget Results and Investment Holdings.” Remember that this is a federal government trust fund where holdings can be turned into cash at any time by raising taxes, borrowing from investors like China, or raiding budgeted programs to make these "holdings" good. (Read the rest here)

Top Ten Reasons to “Undo” Iraq in Due Haste
By Ivan Eland

Three years ago, in what passed for a “debate” about invading Iraq, I wrote a piece entitled, “Top 10 Reasons Not to ‘Do’ Iraq.” Now, after three years of war and many unnecessary deaths (both U.S. and Iraqi), I believe there are ten good reasons to partition Iraq, declare victory, and leave Iraq quickly:

1. The newly drafted Constitution has put the country on the road to eventual partition. The current draft allows the Kurds an oil-rich autonomous region in northern Iraq and makes it possible for the Shi’a to have the same in southern Iraq. The Constitution will likely inflame Sunni insurgents because the Sunnis fear that they will be left with a poor rump region in central Iraq that has no oil wealth. To reduce the chances of a civil war over this issue once the U.S. withdraws, the United States should stop denying the inevitable and broker a viable oil revenue sharing agreement among all groups that would satisfy the three future states in the former Iraq. Such an accord was reached between northern and southern Sudan to successfully end that country’s bloody civil war. (Read the rest here)

In Iraq Zero Plus Zero Is More than Zero
By Sheldon Richman

Lately, it sounds as if Americans need to continue dying in Iraq because otherwise the previous deaths will be meaningless. George W. Bush says, “These brave men and women gave their lives for a cause that is just and necessary for the security of our country, and now we will honor their sacrifice by completing their mission.” If the cause were really just and necessary, completing the mission would not be a matter of honoring those killed in it. The mission would stand on its own two feet. It can’t do that, however, because the feet are made of clay.

This is an odd sort of calculus: zero plus zero is greater than zero. It is the calculus of a man at wit’s end, who can’t admit he made a big mistake. Understandably, the American people are increasingly perplexed. Once again, we are cutting off our nose to save face. (Read the rest here)

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Libertarian Commentary on The News
By Nathan A. Barton © 2005

Stormy weather for the nation, in more ways than one!

Katrina Rules

The Strange 'Mercy' Of Hurricane Katrina
Washington (UPI) Aug 29, 2005 - The so far mercifully low casualties inflicted upon the United States by the "perfect storm" of Hurricane Katrina bear testimony to the superb efficiency of the high-tech, space based early warning weather system that serves the U.S. East Coast and Southeast.

Once more the US has ducked a big bullet: no matter how bad it is (as the next story reports), we have been spared the possible thousands that could die in such a massive storm.

Killer Katrina moves north; 55 confirmed dead
MSNBC
"Announcing itself with shrieking, 145-mph winds, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast just outside New Orleans on Monday, submerging entire neighborhoods up to their roofs, swamping Mississippi's beachfront casinos and killing at least 55 people. Jim Pollard, spokesman for the Harrison County emergency operations center, said 50 people were killed by Katrina in his county, with the bulk of the deaths at an apartment complex in Biloxi. Three other people were killed by falling trees in Mississippi and two died in a traffic accident in Alabama, authorities said." (08/29/05)

I am sure that deaths will continue to be racked up, but it is nothing like the hundreds that many were predicting. (Read the rest here)

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