“Defend the Economical Slump Rather than Attacking Iraq”

“The consumers are fighting a trench warfare using their money as bullets against double slump of the economy, but no backup troops are coming. The White House is captured by the Iraqi President Sadam Hussein, and the Congress is captured by the White House. (…) The consumers might have to raise their white flags.” (Editorial of the LA Times on the 7th)

The US President George W. Bush and the Republican Party are leading the public opinion toward the military action against Iraq; however, the American people pay more attention to the economy. Facing the interim election on the 5th of the next month, this alienation of the public opinion is predicted to be limiting the radius of action of the Bush Administration.

In result of the survey done by the New York Times and the CBS last weekend, 67% of the respondents answered, “The President Bush should pay more attention to the economy.” The respondents who thought the President Bush managing the economy properly were 41%, and it was the lowest since the inauguration. The response rate, which liked to here more about economy than the war against Iraq, was up to 70%.

Although the support rate for military actions against Iraq was still high with 67%, the response, which said to give the UN time to inspect weapons in Iraq, was 63%, so it was more than twice as higher than the support rate of the immediate military action with 30%. The ratio of the response, which said the President Bush was more interested in excluding the President Hussein than the weapons inspection, was 53%, so it was much higher than the response, which said he was not, with 29%.

The responses of the survey by the New York Times were even bitterer.

“The President Bush tries to turn the people’s concern about bad economy to the fear of war.” (A housewife in Seattle)

“In contrast for us to pay much attention to Iraq, no one talks about the economical slump.” (A middle-of-the-roader from Nebraska)

“I don’t like to say this because I’m a Republican, but in fact, the economy was better during the Clinton Administration. The national security is important, but the economical security is also important as well.” (An unemployed man in Florida)

The reason for these responses was because of the economical slump that the people felt. The LA Times reported that the people below the poverty line was increased from 31.6 million to 32.9 million last year, the median income was reduced by 2.2%, and the uninsured was increased by 1.4 million to 41.2 million. Especially, the social security budget was cut because the national security budget was increased.

On top of that, the oil price is going up because of the possibility of the Iraqi War; the enterprises are hesitating to investigate; and the demands in manufacturing industries are withering. The LA Times pointed out that it was predicted to use 9 billion dollars a month for war expenditure of the Iraqi War, and the recovery cost after war could not be calculated, so the Iraqi War was giving a bad influence to the economy.

A former President George Bush, father of the President Bush lost the 92 Presidential elections to a former President Bill Clinton who challenged him with a slogan, “Hey fool, the problem is the economy” although he won the Gulf War. For the President Bush who has the interim election coming up, he is at the crossroad to push the Iraqi War even harder or change the strategy now and go back to the economy.

Eun-Taek Hong euntack@donga.com