The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 3 of 14)

Your observations are spot on but your conclusions are misdirected.

- The price of oil is high for the very reason that you state. We have new users of an inelastic supply chain so the price has to go up. But in inflation adjusted dollars, the $1.75 I pay at the pump is cheaper than the $0.79 I paid for the same product in 1972.

-You assume that Bush went to Europe to mend fences. I take the position that Bush went to Europe to console a dying friend. Germany, France, Belgium have double-digit unemployment. Not all signatories to the EU intend to use the euro as their currency. Most of the former East Bloc states in the EU are not going to sit still for protectionism when they are trying to rev up their economies. The EU Constitution reads like a Congressional Omnibus bill. Even the CIA gives the EU 15 years before it cracks. Their population is in freefall such that over the long term the ability of EU states to support the bloated welfare state is in peril.

-Iraq, maybe invaded for the wrong reason, but the right intention. Yes we did not find any WMD. But since the overthrow of Saddam look at what is going on. Eight million Iraqis stated their choices in elections. An elected government is in Afghanistan. The Palestinians held free elections and may just overcome the error that was Arafat. The Lebanese are making noises. Assad surely at this point sees he has only a short time before the status quo is toppled. Mubarak is giving second thoughts to stuffed ballot boxes. Even the Saudis realize that they are at risk.

p>So I prefer to state that America is engaged not weaker. Like a prize fighter ignoring the crowd, we go for the TKO using the right hook of democracy and left jabs of free elections. The bout may go more rounds and our opponent laid a good early blow but there is a good chance that the crowd may go silent as the challenger lies unconscious on the mat. br> -- John McGinnis br> Arlington, Texas /p> p> Jed Babbin replies: br> To Mr. Loftus: By my math, the Euro is overvalued by at least twenty percent. But you are right in saying that the Euro, being worth more, can buy more oil /p>

To: Mr. McGinnis: Your points are mostly right, but for two points. We are weaker economically. The dollar, in free fall, cannot recover while our trade deficit is so high and the cost of the war continues to mount. Our military -- engaged is not a better word -- is being consumed (in terms of aging equipment, strain on the soldiers, and the diminishing ability to recruit reserves and new soldiers) by the war without the aid we should be receiving from our so-called allies. It's tempting to think that the President went to Europe to console a dying friend, but that's not what happened. He's doing what he needs to, in accordance with his "make them an offer they must refuse" strategy to limit their options on Iran and China, and he isn't making headway against the European trend. They are active in appeasement and in profiteering, and we cannot ignore their negative influences on our major problems. We are winning the fight, so far. But this war can still be lost, and Europe is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

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