War Spending Approaches *Half a Trillion Dollars*

Rep. Jack Murtha explains the situation well, so just click on the title above to get to the HuffingtonPost column.

Aside from how monstrous a total it is for a war we never should have entered into in the first place, what's amazing is that the Republican Congress is still trying to permanently end the estate tax - a tax on the wealthiest fraction of one percent of the estates in the country - which would cost the U.S. treasury $1 trillion dollars. This, after a series of tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the country has added $2 trillion to the national debt already.

Obviously this is outrageous fiscal irresponsibility, and if the average American spent so recklessly they'd be out on the streets. But it'd be one thing to do this anyway, but to do it during wartime? This is the first time in history taxes have been cut during wartime in the history of the nation!

It truly shows their misplaced priorities more than anything else.

And who pays for all this? We utlimately do.

This reckless deficit hiking by the borrow-and-spend Republicans means that nations like China are fitting the bill. How can conservatives of all people think that a communist country owing so much of our GDP is in our national interest?

At some point, we have to pay that back. So the rich get a bunch of tax cuts now, but my generation and my kids will be paying it back down the road. And we'll be paying it for a very long time, either in direct increases in taxes or the gutting of programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Republicans do this because they understand that, ultimately, it doesn't hurt them. They get to spend as much as they want on pork for constituents, and cut taxes. And who's left to clean up the mess? The next party to be in charge - the Democrats. There's only two ways to fix the problem: raise taxes and/or cut spending - either of which leave any opening for attacking the Democrats by, you guessed it, the Republicans. Furthermore, it makes it difficult for the Democrats to do any of the things they want to do - like reform healthcare, etc. But I digress.

You've likely heard all these arguments before so I'm likely preaching to the choir here, but honestly, this captures in a nutshell so perfectly why the Republicans shouldn't be in power anymore.