Debate Reflections- No. 4

Is there any limit to the ignorance? In the Repub Presidential debate in Dearborn, Michigan on 10/9/07, Rudolph Giuliani was asked about the national debt. Here are Chris Matthews' question and Giuliani's response:



MR. MATTHEWS: Mr. Mayor, Hillary Clinton says that one of our biggest economic threats right now is how much of our federal debt is owned by foreigners, owned overseas. Do you agree?

MR. GIULIANI: Actually, the concern there should be the way to balance that is to sell more things overseas. That's the usual Democratic pessimistic approach to -- you know, how bad things are and how terrible things are. How about we try an optimistic approach? The way to balance the books is sell more overseas. Sell energy independence. Sell health care. Let's do it like a -- in a positive way.


Normally, a nation, like an individual, can sell what it has the most of. Giuliani apparently believes we can "sell energy independence," something we don't have and desperately need. And he believes we can "sell health care," though that would be easier if the United States, according to the World Health Organization, did not have the 37th finest health care system in the world. Of course, how a nation sells concepts like "energy independence" and "health care", rather than goods and services, to reduce its debt is something apparently only Rudolph understands.

But Rudolph's ignorance about the source of our debt is astonishing. Leaving aside the impact of the income tax cuts which Giuliani adores, the ex-mayor could have noted that, which economyincrisis.org has the U.S. Treasury indicating, as of July, 2007, mainland China held $4.7 billion of United States Federal Government Public Debt. (Only Japan holds more.) Yes, this is the same China:

-which, according to testimony to the U.S. Senate on 3/29/07 (reported by missiledefenseadvocacy.org) by the commander of U.S. Strategic Forces, is "developing an 'impressive' array of space weapons, including missiles and jammers, and is moving toward placing nuclear weapons in space to attack U.S. satellites";

-whose military hacked into Pentagon computers in July, 2007;

-which likely will gain access to U.S. defense-network technology under a proposed merger of Huawei Technology and Massachusetts-based 3Com network equipment manufacturer; and

-which, according to the Washington Times: FBI director Mueller on July 26, 2007 told the House Judiciary Committee "is stealing our secrets in an effort to leap ahead in terms of its military technology;" whose recent successes a former national counterintelligence executive told the same committee "include design information on all of the most advanced U.S. nuclear weapons, U.S. missile design and guidance technology, electromagnetic weapons and space-launch capabilities"; whose government has been involved in at least three major espionage cases- Katrina Leung, accused of secretly working for China's intelligence service; Chi Mak, convicted of passing embargoed U.S. defense technology to Beijing; and Nashir Gowadia, indicted on charges of selling weapons technology to China.

So the "Mayor of 9/11," whom we are told "owns 9/11," is unaware not only of economic issues but also of critical national security concerns. It's one thing to be ignorant. It's a whole different thing to be dangerous.