Holbrooke, Stiglitz Blast McCain For 'More of the Same' on Iraq Today In NYC

by: phillip anderson

Wed Sep 24, 2008 at 09:15:55 AM EDT

TODAY, Wednesday, September 24 at 10:15 AM on W. 57th between 10th and 11th Aves. (to the right of the CBS building), Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and Dr. Joseph Stiglitz, renowned author of The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict, will blast John McCain for his continued willingness to spend countless billions on an endless war in Iraq at the expense of priorities in America, such as roads, schools and health care.

Ambassador Holbrooke is the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and member of the cabinet (1999-2001). He was the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement (which ended the war in Bosnia), assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs (1994-96), U.S. ambassador to Germany (1993-94), assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs (1977-81), and a member of Averell Harriman's delegation at the 1968-69 Paris Peace talks on Vietnam.

In addition to his groundbreaking book on the costs of the Iraq War, Dr. Stiglitz was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1993-95, during the Clinton Administration, and served as CEA chairman from 1995-97. He then became Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank from 1997-2000. In 2008, he was appointed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to chair a Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Economic Progress.

We could never afford this awful war and haven't even begun to pay for it yet. Now we see that as the markets are collapsing all around us, John McCain is still hellbent to keep fighting it even as we still have close to 50 million Americans without health insurance, a crumbling national infrastructure and the wizards of Wall St coming to the taxpayer, hat in hand, and asking for another trillion dollars or so.

Enough.
 

Stiglitz To Paterson: Raise Taxes On Wealthy Instead Of Cutting Expenditures

by: robert.harding

Thu Jul 31, 2008 at 15:18:13 PM EDT

Governor Calls Raising Taxes a "Last Resort"

Asked yesterday if he would raise taxes, Mr. Paterson said he would do so only as a "last resort," saying he feared that imposing higher rates would encourage lawmakers to pile on spending.

"The reason that I'm avoiding it is because I think taxes are addictive," he said. "What happens is when you start taxing, people start thinking of ways of spending money that you taxed."

Mr. Paterson's new economic guru recommended just the opposite course of action in a March 27 letter to the governor and legislative leaders. A copy of the letter was made public yesterday by a liberal fiscal group in Albany.

"New York, like most states, is now facing an unenviable choice: either taxes have to be raised, or expenditures cut," Mr. Stiglitz wrote. "When faced with such an unpleasant choice, economic theory and evidence gives a clear and unambiguous answer: it is economically preferable to raise taxes on those with high incomes than to cut state expenditures."

I have always thought something like a circuit breaker would be the best way to address our economic and tax woes here in New York. The wealthiest of New Yorkers should pay more.

Stiglitz tried to deliver that message, but for some reason, it didn't sink in with Paterson. I don't why he's reluctant to raise taxes on the wealthy.

One of the better plans I have read so far is what Sen. Craig Johnson has proposed. I will have more on Johnson's plan later.

Is the best way to rein in state spending? Well, certainly there is unnecessary spending somewhere. There always is with government. You should rein in. But you should also look at taxation and the approach to taxation. Right now, the middle class is hurting. We need to reform our tax system NOW. We shouldn't have to wait for our legislators to get their backsides to Albany. They should be taking care of it right now. It's that serious of a problem and must be addressed.