One of the striking similarities between Dubya's terms and LBJ years is the "Guns and Butter" policy of LBJ. In other words, he maintained that the American economy was capable of sustaining both a costly war abroad (Viet Nam) and funding a "Great Society" on the home front. Clearly, our economy could not and did not sustain the burden of that degree of spending and debt. So with a failed war and a failed economy, it is no wonder that he or his party wanted him around at convention time.

Sound familiar for Dubya? This is exactly what is happening with the war in Iraq, presently at a cost of around half Trillion dollars and increasing at a rate of about $3-4M/month while trying to sustain a domestic economy. Only trouble is the domestic economy is floundering while our infrastructure crumbles around us, and the middle class disintegrates.

In the case of Viet Nam, Nixon kept the war going and when we eventually pulled out in '75 under Ford, the Fed was involved in some serious deficit spending. The chickens really came home to roost during the Carter years with out of control inflation and oil prices spiking rapidly. While Carter can be blamed for a number of things, the debt of the Viet Nam war and huge budget deficits, along with OPEC pushing oil up, where not his fault.

The eerily similar situation that Dubya has put our economy into now in comparison with the policies of LBJ at the time, is further exacerbated by the perfect storm of the mortgage and financial debacle, huge consumer debt, growing inflation, a weak dollar, and the spike of oil. Our current economy is even less able to sustain a costly war in Iraq and a domestic downturn than was the economy after LBJ's term. It has been recently pointed out by some leading economists that the economic policies of the last 8 eight years are more disastrous than the Hoover administration's policies preceding the great depression of the 30s. Our huge debt is owned by China, Japan, and a growing list of nations (Mexico?), and the prospects don't bode well for our grandchildren. Gloomy enough for you?