For the first time in a while, the economy has dominated the headlines this week, pushing aside the thoughts of war with Iraq and a nuclear standoff with North Korea.

President Bush, accused by critics in the past few months of ignoring the still-sagging economy, has put his focus on boosting confidence, cutting taxes and restoring some benefits to unemployed workers.

As much as we might like to think that putting the focus on the domestic agenda will make those other problems go away, it won’t.

What we &045; and especially legislators &045; need to consider is that our fears over terrorism and possible war with Iraq (or even North Korea) are intimately tied to our fears about the economy.

Like it or not, we can’t isolate these problems.

With a lot of help from some wayward CEOs and a general downturn, the economy is a victim in many ways of the terrorists’ agenda. This is exactly what Osama bin Laden said he wanted to do: Bring our capitalist system to its knees.

Does that mean that we should all run out and spend a few dollars on new shoes to make ourselves feel better and boost the economy?

Not exactly.

But lawmakers need to consider the twin issues &045; domestic uncertainty and international uncertainty &045; as they look to find compromise solutions to our economic solutions.

Republicans &045; who control Congress &045; need to work with Democrats on such things as unemployment benefits and a tax cut that helps those who need it and will inject money where we need it.

But, like it or not, we can’t ignore this war on terrorism that we are still waging. Calming those fears will do as much to help our economy as the tangible measures sure to tie up Congress’ attention for the next few weeks.