The Bush administration seems to have a serious problem with telling the public and even the members of Congress the true costs of its policies. This has become a definite pattern. Consider, first and foremost, the way the Iraq war has been handled. We were initially told that the war would cost only a couple billion and that the vast majority of the cost of rebuilding the country would be paid for by the oil. We were told the war would be over within a matter of weeks, the Iraqi people would embrace our troops and shower them with flowers, and we would establish a democracy in no times, all while losing the lives of only a few troops.
The war would barely cost us anything--little time, little money, and few lives. Wrong, wrong and wrong. We've got 700 American troops dead and that number just seems to rise faster the longer we stay in the country. It's a year later and our exit strategy is nearly non-existent--with a realistic occupation time of a decade if we truly want to keep the country stable. And we've spent billions upon billions of dollars with no end in sight--and with the Pentagon short on money as it is.
So how does the administration respond to all of this?
They attempt to keep photographs of flag-draped coffins containing American troops from being published by the press. They refuse to discuss the billions more in funding that the military needs until January, after the elections. They insist they are sticking with the June 30th deadline for transfer of power even though there is no entity in place to transfer power to.
Do they do this because they are stupid? Do they do it because they are in denial? No. They do it because they still want the American public to believe that this is a war without cost.
This mindset does not end with the Iraq war, though. The Medicare bill Bush and the Republicans recently shoved through Congress also is a case of them trying to ignore real costs. We learned that the administration greatly underestimated the cost of the bill. But, more importantly, they threatened to fire Rick Foster if he dared to tell Congressional Democrats the truth about the costs of the bill if they asked. An investigation has subsequently been launched into that threat.
You would think with an investigation in progress, the administration might be a bit more careful about obscuring the truth--at least on this topic.
Oh look, I'm wrong again. I must stop thinking in logical terms.
The AP is now reporting that Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson is unwilling to provide Democrats with the estimated costs of the Medicare bill. Shocking. Let's take a look at what the article, via Yahoo News says.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson is refusing to make public or give congressional Democrats the Bush administration's estimates of the cost of last year's Medicare legislation.
(. . .)
The bill won final congressional approval in November, after a close vote in the House of Representatives that GOP leaders held open for an unprecedented three hours while they worked to persuade reluctant Republicans to vote for the centerpiece of the president's domestic agenda.
Bush and Thompson said repeatedly that the legislation would cost no more than $400 billion over 10 years, even as Medicare's top analyst forecast that it would cost at least $100 billion more.
"The range of our estimates was $500 billion to $600 billion all the way through the process," Richard Foster, Medicare's chief actuary, told a congressional panel in March. Bush and Thompson have said they were unaware of Foster's estimates until after Bush signed the Medicare law in December.
Congressional budget experts, on the other hand, said the bill would cost $395 billion, a figure they reaffirmed even after the White House said in January that it would cost $534 billion. Democrats have been seeking Foster's estimates since.
There you have it, folks. This is an administration that lies about the costs of its policies every chance it gets. Then when it gets caught lying, it just lies again. Best of all, it's usually the same lie.
As far as Bush is concerned, everything is free. All we have to do is close our eyes, wish hard enough, and trust in everything the administration says. And don't worry--it won't cost you a thing. Not your freedom, not your security, not your quality of life. That's how things are here in America. Free as can be.
(Originally posted on my blog, Nightmares For Sale)