Because “reconstruction” costs in Iraq were grossly underestimated (3.9 billion dollars a month!), W has decided that he needs to come up with more money to fund the efforts. Well, duh. Where is the money going to come from, you might ask? Federal workers, of which I am one. That’s right, W is proposing that federal workers’ raises be cut in order to fund this fiasco in Iraq. This goes beyond moronic. Most federal workers are already grossly underpayed when compared to their private industry counterparts. Rather than remedy that, W was proposing a 2.7% raise for next year but is now purportedly trying to cut that to as low as 1.5%, which is far less than the already piddly 4.1% raise of last year.
W claims that granting the raises federal workers deserve will “interfere with our nation’s ability to pursue the war on terrorism.” Furthermore, “In a letter to congressional leaders, [W] said he was invoking his authority to implement an alternative pay plan if he came to the conclusion that allowing the full raises to go into effect would be inappropriate due to ‘national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare.’” What?! Does he realize that the nation’s economy is already going down the shitter? Does he really think that reducing the salaries of one of the largest worker bases in the country is going to help revitalize the economy? And don’t even get me started about the moronic tax “rebates” W came up with…
Although I’m ranting about the situation in Iraq, I support the decision to oust Saddam Hussein; it should have been done back in Gulf War I. Not everyone agrees, and the prolonged situation in Iraq is causing plummeting support for the war. What it comes down to is that the U.S. should not have went at this alone, and because it did it’s now incurring all of the immense expenses. Did I mention that this is costing 3.9 billion dollars a month?! A multinational force backed by the United Nations is finally being considered, a move that is way overdue, in my opinion, but one that would have avoided all of this trouble.
I can’t believe what a moron W is. Although you would think that I’m a Democrat from the W rants I make on this page, I’m actually a Republican (albeit a very moderate one), especially when it comes to matters of the defense industry that keeps me employed. Why W would risk alienating one of his core voter constituencies is beyond me, but in this sense I’m glad he’s showing his true colors and continued lack of intelligence. I just hope people will hear about this, stop blindly supporting him, and refuse to reelect him. This is probably wishful thinking, though, as I had a hard time finding links on this story that seems to have been buried pretty quickly. Go figure. This is the last straw, and I refuse to just let this one slide without saying anything about it.
