Joseph Stiglitz on the Wars and the US Economy

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz: Foreclosure Moratorium, Government Stimulus Needed to Revive US Economy
As the Obama administration rejects a foreclosure moratorium and austerity protests grip Europe, we assess the state of the US and global economy with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, author of Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy. Stiglitz backs calls for a foreclosure moratorium and says opponents of a new government stimulus "don’t understand basic economics."

On war, Stiglitz says Iraq and Afghanistan are "the first wars in America’s history financed totally on the credit card." [Unforthunately the transcript breaks off before his discussion of the impact of the wars on the economy. From my notes: Wars fought on credit create only liabilities without creating assets, a recipe for financial disaster, especially when the two wars may cost $4 to $6 trillion dollars. In his The Three Trillion Dollars War he (with Linda Bilmes) estimated $3 to $5 trillion, but the expenses of ongoing medical expenses for physically and mentally disable vets are more than they could measure when doing research for the earlier book.
Amy asked him why the wars were not part of the economic discussion in the US. Instead of anwering the question directly, he replied that because the wars do not strengthen but only weaken the economy, and he was for stimulating the economy, he advocated re-allocating the war budget to domestic needs.]