With both the global war on terror and the war in Iraq as well as the consequent gift of the reconstruction of Iraq to pay for without raising taxes or creating war bonds, the off the cuff decision to reconstruct the South to its former state with Federal Funds must be coming to a shock to the fiscal people that follow the US administration around, their calculators and pencils whirring, their brows furrowed, their voices whispering "is he sure? How will that happen?" Taking on a task through debt financing that in itself could double the newly minted (but fully expected) conservative deficit could set the country back a couple of decades and challenge the economic stability of the west through higher interest rates and payments on the increased debt, leading to unemployment. The other route would be the cutting of services but cutting what is now called 200 billion (but what will probably be much more) will challenge the balance of US federalism. Those services have to be taken from somewhere else that do not come in optional fatigue dress and that is a hell of a lot of service.

What happens if there is another unexpected hit - North Korea goes nutty, a dirty bomb or even another large hurricane hits the Gulf this year or even next? At what point do the people that make the call realize they have to actually pay their own way and cover the cost of this year's problems with this generation's cash?