The price of liberty : paying for America's wars / Robert D. Hormats.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hormats, Robert D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Debts, Public--United States.

Debts, Public.

National security.

Finance.

History.

United States.

Finance, Public--United States--History.

Finance, Public.

United States. Department of Defense--Appropriations and expenditures.

United States. Department of Defense.

Expenditures, Public.

United States--Armed Forces--Appropriations and expenditures.

Armed Forces.

War--Economic aspects--United States.

War.

War--Economic aspects.

National security--United States--Finance--History.

Physical Description:

xxi, 344 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Times Books, 2007.

Summary:

A leading international finance expert reveals how our national security depends on our financial security. America's first secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, identified the Revolutionary War debt as a threat to the nation's creditworthiness and its very existence. In response, he established financial principles for securing the country--principles that endure to this day. Here, one of America's leading experts on international finance shows how leaders from Madison and Lincoln to FDR and Reagan have followed Hamilton's ideals. Drawing on these historical lessons, Hormats argues that the rampant borrowing to pay for the war in Iraq and the short-sighted tax cuts in the face of a long-term war on terrorism run counter to American tradition and place our country's security in peril.--From publisher description.

Contents:

Introduction: A Country Born of War and Debt XIII

1 Hamilton's Vision: Securing the Nation's Finances 1

2 The First Great Test: Financial Sabotage and the War of 1812 28

3 The Fiery Trial: A Tax to Save the Union 56

4 Capitalizing Patriotism: Progressive Finance During World War I 94

5 A Righteous Might: Shared Sacrifice During World War II 134

6 "A Prolonged and Complex Struggle": The Threat of American Bankruptcy in the Cold War 173

7 "Hard and Inescapable Facts": The Great Society Versus the Vietnam War 207

8 Bankrupting Communism: The Reagan Rearmament and Deficit Finance 227

9 New Enemies: Asymmetrical Threats and the Long War on Terrorism 251

Conclusion: The Price of a Long War 280.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [328]-330) and index.

ISBN:

9780805082531

0805082530

OCLC:

74569837

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description