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 fter
today's heinous crimes committed by terrorists against the U.S.
and the rest of civilized humanity, there must be a sea change in
American policies if we are to effectively play the rough hand that
God has dealt us.
We are at war.
And war changes everything, including policies. We must now embrace
war policies.
Among the carnage
and massive human suffering there is an important wake-up call that
must be heeded by Democrats and Republicans alike: We live in a
dangerous world, and we must never forget how utterly important
it is to maintain our defenses in order to preserve freedom and
democracy and our way of life.
The terrorist
invasion of the U.S. mainland underscores the urgent need to rebuild
the defense and national security structure that has slowly but
steadily eroded in recent years. Barbaric terrorists have revealed
significant flaws in our intelligence systems and in our security
arrangements at home. This will all have to be changed. The threat
of terrorist use of nuclear or other weapons of massive destruction
hammers home the urgent need for strategic defense measures and
a general technological rebuilding of our defense posture.
In financial
terms, this will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. So be it.
It's a drop in the bucket for the defense of freedom. We will sell
bonds to finance military security. bonds will finance investment
in freedom.
In economic
policy terms, today's terrorist invasion similarly changes everything.
To backstop national security recovery we must take aggressive actions
to stimulate economic recovery. It was Reagan who argued 20 years
ago that U.S. economic decline in the 1970s stimulated Soviet adventurism
and expansionism. Reagan knew that economic recovery at home would
insure international recovery abroad.
In an interesting
book by Professor Gary Dean Best, entitled Pride, Prejudice,
and Politics, a similar point was made about the linkage between
domestic economic policy and international security policy. Prof.
Best noted that the failure of the U.S. to recover from the Depression
— where even as late as 1940 the unemployment rate was 14.6%
— created an image that the economically-plagued U.S. would
be a weak player on the world political scene. Quite simply, Best
argued that economic weakness at home encouraged Hitler and Japan
abroad.
In today's
terms, one cannot help but wonder whether Mideast-based terrorist
groups do not think that their energy-producing state government
sponsors can simply turn the dial, tighten oil production, and thereby
weaken the American economy even more. Is it entirely a coincidence
that the terrorist actions aimed at closing down Wall Street, closing
down the Pentagon, and even closing down the U.S. government, have
occurred in the immediate aftermath of worsening economic news and
slumping stock market performance?
No matter what
the cost, the U.S. must be prepared to restore its economy. Phony
lockboxes must be thrown out the window. Unnecessary obsessions
over debt retirement must be driven away. Now is the time for aggressive
fiscal and monetary stimulus to promote growth and finance freedonm.
Substantial tax cuts on individuals, businesses, capital investment,
and equipment depreciation should be immediately put into place.
Lower tax rates across the board will aid recovery by reducing production
and investment costs while stimulating an entrepreneurial economic
return. The Federal Reserve Board must substantially increase the
volume of bank reserves to reliquefy the financial system and the
economy. Steps to promote energy production must be taken aggressively.
Here in New
York, with the destruction of the World Trade Center, those of us
in the financial community will grieve over the sad and tragic loss
of husbands and wives who worked Downtown. So many of us involved
in politics and government will know people who lost their lives
in the plane hijackings. While we grieve sadly, our anger will demand
immediate U.S. retaliation to clean out the terrorist criminals
and the states that sponsor them. We know who they are. We know
where they are. And we will hope and pray that president Bush takes
immediate and effective actions.
But amidst
the grieving and the anger, none of us should lose sight of the
long-term goal of preserving our freedom and democracy. This is
a national security goal, and it is also an economic security goal.
What happened today changes everything. Lord give us the strength
to learn from it and take the right actions to preserve it.
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