Math

Barron's (09.17.07), via Bonddad:

"Start with 130,000. Add 30,000. Subtract 30,000. What do you end up with?

Right you are: 130,000.

Feeding on Thin Gruel

"So why bother?"

"Good question, but don't ask us. Ask George W. Bush. For that numerical round trip neatly describes the now-famous surge of additional U.S. forces in Iraq launched, on the president's orders, in March, and the contemplated ebb, we suppose you might call it, slated to start sometime before Christmas and last until next summer."

More math. "Apart from the anguishing, inexorable rise in the casualty toll, the cost of our engagement has been mounting remorselessly and, by year's end, cumulatively may well reach three-quarters of a trillion dollars. Ironically, but not surprisingly, as David Rosenberg of Merrill Lynch recently observed, the enormous expenditures necessary have acted as a significant stimulus to the economy."

"But the bill, as it were, for the whole messy business has merely been deferred. The uncalculated but obviously humongous price, in economic drag and budgetary strains, will have to be paid, most likely, of course, on the next president's watch."

Thanks again, George.