Alright. The Bush administration has come hat in hand to Congress to bailout the financial markets. The people are PO'ed. They don't want to pay for it, understandly.
So it crossed my mind exactly what needs to be done at this juncture.
If the Bush Administration wants this bill, we need to be out of Iraq before the end of his term.
It's that simple, really.
The Iraq War costs us at LEAST $10 billion a month. So, 70 more months of the Iraq War, or about 5 years, would pay for the bailout alone.
Not enough dough to cover it in a short time? OK. Let's tap another potential revenue source, say, big oil. Get some of those windfall profits taxed.
Oh, and what about raising the capital gains and income tax rate on those execs that are getting those golden parachutes?
My point? It's time to play hardball with this bill. I generally agree that there should not be capitulation of any kind with respect to any "quick action".
But if we ended the war today, we could pay for this bailout in five years time.
Like I said, pretty simple.
Make the Bush administration play by the Pottery Barn rule. You broke it, you pay for it.
And the most costly thing I see in our budget that we don't need right now? Iraq.
This is a no-brainer.