Bonds Quotes
Wilson was very candid that there would be high cost to war and sacrifice would be needed. See {584570} for other similar candor. This quotation was often used by critics of George W. Bush who initiated the Iraq War and then cut taxes for the rich, but then financed the war through the budgetary emergency appropriations bypassing the budget rules that the revenue must be specified to pay for it. His administration even claimed at an early stage in the war that the oil revenue from Iraq oil would defray the costs.
At the time, the George W. Bush Administration policy was to have the United States running a very large trade and budget deficit—the largest in the history of the world. In order to finance the deficit, the U. S. Government had to borrow money and it did so by selling bonds and other financial instruments. Many of these were purchased by Asians, but Paul’s point was that they were “propping up” American spending habits and might not continue to do so.
This is an excellent historical quotations showing how our government financed the Spanish American War. Wars have always placed economic stress on the nations which wage then. In the American Revolution we borrowed from individuals and from France. After that all our wars were financed by a combination of war bond sales, other borrowing, and tax increases—all except the George W, Bush Afghanistan and Iraq Wars which were not funded thus complicating an economic crises caused by Bush’s Great Recession. While some critics saw Bush’s actions as reprehensible and irresponsible—it was the only time in American history where tax rates were cut in wartime, Bush’s team had a plan. They had an ideological point of view that said that major tax cuts would spur the economy and lead to MORE government revenue as a result of the growth that would come. However, in this case there not only was no growth, but there was the worst recession in American History. But there was a plan to finance the war—it just went awry.
See {604501} for another of his statements. It was Alexander Hamilton who called the national debt a national blessing. See {207891}. Jackson was convinced that a moneyed class who held the national debt could dictate to any administration by threatening to not renew their bonds. The same concern was expressed at the beginning of the 21st century regarding the Chinese and the Middle Eastern countries which held do many of our bonds.
