The cost of freedom

Antiwar liberals in Washington have taken too a new line of attack of late. With the 5-year cost of the war in Iraq closing in on $1 trillion, they sense an opening. The war, they say, is the reason for a declining economy. The war is the reason we cannot have universal government-run health care. The war is the reason we cannot be responsible and reign in entitlement spending that threatens to bankrupt the nation in the near future.

Thankfully, Larry Kudlow blows this argument up in his column today:

First point: The U.S. has spent roughly $750 billion for the five-year war. Sure, that's a lot of money. But the total cost works out to 1 percent of the $63 trillion GDP over that time period. It's miniscule.

But here's the real question we ought to be asking: What is the cost of freedom? While the Left refuses to acknowledge it, the U.S. homeland has not been attacked since September 11. Right there is a big economic plus. Since President Bush went on the offensive and took the battle to Iraq, al Qaeda and other extremist terrorist groups have been utterly routed by U.S. forces. But in tying the jihadists down on their home turf, and keeping them from mounting another coordinated attack on the U.S., our economy has benefited incalculably.

Then again, the anti-war forces might want to recall John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, in which he called on Americans to "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to ensure the survival and the success of liberty."

Do these folks actually think 1 percent of GDP is too large a price, too heavy a burden? I sure hope not.

Now, let's talk numbers:

And by the way, despite the current slowdown, the U.S. economy has performed remarkably well during the five years of the Iraq war. Real GDP has increased by 16 percent, or 3 percent annually. The unemployment rate has hovered below a historically low 5 percent for quite some time. Nearly 10 million jobs have been created. Household net worth has increased by $20 trillion. Industrial production has expanded by 13.5 percent. Even home prices, despite the current correction, have increased by 20 percent.

But this matters not to Washington liberals. They see a sticker price approaching $1 trillion and they immediately begin to think of a liberal wish list of policies that they could purchase for the same price. This is their real motivation for cutting funding for Iraq; to funnel it towards their big-government Utopian schemes.