More joyful economic news and analysis

From Think Progress:

Iraq hurting long-term economic future
Robert Reischauer, head of the Urban Institute and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said the benefits of war spending for the U.S. economy had been “muted” because so much of the money is spent on goods and services abroad. That, he said, was “stimulating economies elsewhere, not the least being the economies of Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.”

Way cool! We're stimulating the economies of countries to which we are also paying $110/bbl for oil! Nice job if you can get it.

But wait, there's more!

Iraq oil revenue soars, creating huge surplus
But U.S. still investing billions in rebuilding, facing squeeze at home
Associated Press
11 March 2008
WASHINGTON - Iraq is not spending much of its own money, despite soaring oil revenues that are pushing the country toward a massive budget surplus, U.S. auditors told Congress on Tuesday.

The expected surplus comes as the U.S. continues to invest billions of dollars in rebuilding Iraq and faces a financial squeeze domestically because of record oil prices.

The U.S. economy is teetering on recession, we have a record federal deficit, BUT... we're still spending $10Bn/month in Iraq... which has a "massive budget surplus"!

Stop the madness!