Outside the Beltway

LEAVE THEM A LOAN

· Saturday, October 18, 2003 · 1 comment

Matthew Stinson has some thoughts on why loaning money to Iraq makes bad economic sense and Senators who oppose grants are short-sighted. He also links good posts on the subject by Dean Esmay, Robert Prather, and David Brooks. Steven Taylor has an interesting argument as well.

I’m still somewhat on the fence on this one. Intellectually, I realize that $10 billion (which is now the disputed loan/grant amount) is a rounding error in the federal budget and see the practical and symbolic value of the grant. Viscerally, the “but they’re sitting on billions worth of oil” and “we could do a lot with $20 billion domestically” arguments are actually fairly compelling.

FILED UNDER: Iraq War
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College and a nonresident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm vet. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Discount Blogger says:
    Saturday, October 18, 2003 at 08:59

    A LOAN OR A GIVEAWAY?
    There is a big debate in the blogosphere about whether or not the $20 billion for rebuilding Iraq should be a grant or a loan. Some people would even like to recall the senators who voted for the loan option….

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