Prof. Joseph Stiglitz: real cost of the Iraq war Part 1

http://www.interest.co.nz

I'm Bernard Hickey and welcome to www.interest.co.nz 's second exclusive interview with a newsmaker. Earlier this month we spoke Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor Alan Bollard.
Here we talk to Professor Joseph Stiglitz. He is a Columbia University professor and a Nobel Prize winner in economics who has co-written a book tallying up the true cost of the Iraq War to US taxpayers and the US economy. The book titled the Three Trillion Dollar War explains how the 5 year old war was expected to cost US$50 billion and has instead ended up costing at least US$3 trillion. The direct costs of the destroyed equipment and spending in Iraq is added to the growing medical costs for injured veterans, along with the massive macroeconomic costs of higher oil prices.
Stiglitz details how this surge of deficit-funded cash and wasteful spending has distorted global financial markets, helping create the global credit crunch that this week claimed Bear Stearns.
He goes on to say that the US Federal Reserve's move to rescue Bear Stearns creates a dangerous precedent and adds to a growing "Moral Hazard" on Wall St that investors can always rely on the US Federal Reserve to bail them out of bad lending and investing decisions.
He worries about the future of financial markets and cautions that other unnamed banks are also rumoured to be in trouble.
Stiglitz finishes by saying the Fed's liquidity pump is helping to strip the US dollar of its status as a reserve currency.
Stiglitz was in New Zealand to promote the book at the International Festival of the Arts at its Readers and Writers week. He spoke in Auckland on Tuesday night.

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[RomeoMD25]

Iran is a country whose defense spending is less than 1% of our own; spends less on its military than countries such as the Netherlands and Sweden; has never invaded another country in modern history, and could not possibly threaten us

[redletterchurch]

This whole world needs to get out of war and debt...and stay out of war and debt. The two are inter-related. International Banking needs to be examined very closely...both historically and presently. It's not a pretty picture. We don't need to hate anyone...we just need to change the system. We can compete with each other through constructive competition...not destructive competition. Thank-you for drawing attention to the extremely high cost of war. But notice who profits from war...

[cds10690]

all outstanding videos.. the truth will get out

[cds10690]

the us will attack iran, as soon as August as last as october..

you better get ready.. it is going to get very ugly... 7$ to 10$ gas.. food shortages

nothing this country has ever had to deal with

[suntzu1985]

very suspicious that is does not even mention the billions poured into the islamo facist organizations attacking israel and the western world since 1979. anyone heard of the plo? hamas? islamic jihad? hezbollah?

all of these groups are fronts for iran's war on the western world and especially israel.

islamic facism even emulates the nazis with their goose stepping and raised arm salutes.

iran itself means land of the aryans? anyone on hear remember adolf and his aryan race ideology?

[DividedLove]

Watch "money masters", "freedom to fascism", "money as debt", "ring of power", "zeitgeist". Nature and the creator will prevail.

[silveraguila]

I keep getting interrupts - does anyone know if this is due to location (ie, data transfer from NZ to CA in USA? Or - does the clip reside stateside as well, and if so, there's another problem?) My guess is that the low number of subscribers isn't only people going numb when they hear economics, but because the flm kept cutting out in the beginning. I will check later to see if this is a constant feature or was only momentary.

[Peterhodge]

Well done. Goes into more depth than on Campbell Live last night. Well worth a watch.

[x11115]

cool interview. That was good stuff Bernard!