Troops Return From Iraq With Money to Burn By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press
Writer

HINESVILLE, Ga. - One short test drive and Army Spc. Todd Strange is gushing
"Oh, sweet! I love it!"

He's been home from Iraq a little over 30 hours and already he's trading
in his little 2001 Dodge Neon for a muscle car - a 2006 Mustang GT, V-8
engine, price tag $26,320.

"I'm buying the car to show off, pretty much," admits Strange, 26, of St.
Louis.

Business has been booming in this southeast Georgia town since just after
Christmas when thousands of 3rd Infantry Division troops from neighboring
Fort Stewart began returning from a yearlong tour in Iraq and finding their
bank accounts flush with combat pay, tax breaks and bonuses.

"Christmas in January" proclaim newspaper advertisements for one local
furniture and electronics store.

That's especially true for retailers who suffered through 2005 while some of
their best customers were overseas. Now, they worry about keeping new cars
and home theater systems in stock.

"It's been a lonely year," said Monica Doering, manager of Freedom Furniture
and Electronics, less than a mile from Fort Stewart's main gate. "It's not
only the soldiers' Christmas, but what we're experiencing now is actually
our Christmas."

The 3rd Infantry has 19,000 troops returning to Fort Stewart, Hunter Army
Airfield in nearby Savannah and Fort Benning in Columbus.

Hotels in Hinesville have been booked solid by soldiers' families attending
homecoming ceremonies. Restaurant parking lots are full, and rental
properties that sat vacant for nearly a year are filling up again.

"We needed it badly. If they are not here, we can hardly pay our bills,"
said Mike Randerwala, manager of the Quality Inn in Hinesville. "Last year,
I had a loss of more than $100,000."

--
"We must create a economic crisis in order to ensure that there is no
alternative to a smaller government." - Bush - Imprimus Magazine 1995.

"We seek to remove resources from the control of the state, thereby starving
it." - International Society for Individual Liberty - NeoCon Libertarian.

"Throughout his term, Bush has implied tax cuts would starve the government,
paying for themselves by causing budget deficits that, in turn, would place
heavy pressure on Congress to lower spending." - Jeff Lemieux - Senior
Economist - Progressive Policy Institute.

"They have an agenda which is to starve the government of revenue. But in
order to get it through, they keep on having to pretend that the tax cuts
are affordable, and so they've been suppressing the likely cost of
everything, including the war on terror." - Paul Krugman - Economist.