May 03, 2006
In the chaos of Iraq, one project is on target: a giant US embassy
THE question puzzles and enrages a city: how is it that the Americans cannot keep the electricity running in Baghdad for more than a couple of hours a day, yet still manage to build themselves the biggest embassy on Earth?
Irritation grows as residents deprived of air-conditioning and running water three years after the US-led invasion watch the massive US Embassy they call “George W’s palace” rising from the banks of the Tigris.
In the pavement
cafés, people moan that the structure is bigger than anything Saddam Hussein built. They are not impressed by the architects’ claims that the diplomatic outpost will be visible from space and cover an area that is larger than the Vatican city and big enough to accommodate four Millennium Domes. They are more interested in knowing whether the US State Department paid for the prime real estate or simply took it.
While families in the capital suffer electricity cuts, queue all day to fuel their cars and wait for water pipes to be connected, the US mission due to open in June next year will have its own power and water plants to cater for a population the size of a small town.
COMMENT
When I learned that America was building clubs, golf courses, and swimming pools in
Vietnam during the 1960's it told me there was not going to be an early conclusion to the War. A short war was indicated that you won, took care of the after war business and went home. You really did not need to build luxury recreational or housing in the war theatre.
Those that forget history are those that will repeat it.
Deja vu. America is building a 104 acre Trump Palace in Iraq with a club, swimming, restaurants, and super deluxe apartments. They are even using Kuwaiti builders and foreign labor instead of putting unemployed Iraqis to work. America is really building a luxury resort instead of an embassy. I imagine that America does not have even one other embassy that comes close to the size, luxury, or features of the embassy they are building in Iraq. If there is ever peace in Iraq, I want to go to that resort if it ever goes into private hands, which it probably will if it is not sabotaged.
I think it ought to be named after the
current president "George W. Bush" since he deserves it because he brought America to the War there and he probably approved for its construction. I cant imagine any other structure in the world that says his name more than this one.
Now America Has To Watch Out For India, China, and Russia
Giants meet to counter US power
Jeremy Page in Delhi
India, China and Russia account for 40 per cent of the world’s population, a fifth of its economy and more than half of its nuclear warheads. Now they appear to be forming a partnership to challenge the US-dominated world order that has prevailed since the end of the Cold War.
Foreign ministers from the three emerging giants met in Delhi yesterday to discuss ways to build a more democratic “multipolar world”.
It was the second such meeting in the past two years and came after an unprecedented meeting between their respective leaders, Manmohan Singh, Hu Jintao and Vladimir Putin, during the G8 summit in St Petersburg in July.
It also came only four days after Mr Putin stunned Western officials by railing against American foreign policy at a security conference in Munich.
Comment
It seems that America during the George w. Bush administration could have accomplished a better job in creating better allies to America and to have massive agreement with most major international countries.
Now it seems that there is major disagreement with other major powers and that the issues will not be easy to handle for America.
It seems that if it wasn't for bad luck, America would not have any luck at all. It really boils down to American national leadership being extremely honest to its citizens and the international community, to reach out diplomatically and obtain international agreements among major powers, to deserve the friendship and support of our alllies and those allied with us on at least some fronts and to be smart on handling major problems to obtain satisfactory conclusions in limitted time frames instead of allowing them to linger and fester.
And we do not get anopther chance at this until a new President is elected and it better be the best President we can find. Hopefully the new one will learn from all of the mistakes of the current president and also come from some success in these matters from experience. We also do not need someone who listens to neocons. We also need someone who will talk to all countries and not to ignor anyone because there may be even small glimmers of agreement, peace, hope, and prosperity from the most disagreeable foreign leaders of the world.
Misery Index
The Misery Index is an
economic indicator, created by economist
Arthur Okun, and found by adding the
unemployment rate to the
inflation rate. It is assumed that both a higher rate of unemployment and a worsening of
inflation both create economic and social costs for a country.
[1] It is often incorrectly attributed to
Chicago economist Robert Barro in the
1970s, due to the
Barro Misery Index that additionally includes
GDP and the
bank rate.
[2]Misery Index - Era by U.S president
Index = Unemployment rate + Inflation rate
Rank
President
Time Period
Index Average
Low
High
5
Lyndon Johnson1963 -
19686.78
1965-11 = 5.70
1968-07 = 8.19
7
Gerald Ford1974 -
197615.93
1976-12 = 12.66
1975-01 = 19.90
11
Jimmy Carter1977 -
198016.27
1978-04 = 12.60
1980-06 = 21.98
9
Ronald Reagan1981 -
198812.19
1986-12 = 7.70
1981-09 = 19.33
8
George H.W. Bush1989 -
199210.68
1989-09 = 9.64
1990-11 = 12.47
4
William J. Clinton1993 -
20007.80
1998-04 = 5.74
1993-01 = 10.56
6
George W. Bush2001 -
20057.98
2002-01 = 6.64
2005-09 = 9.97
COMMENT
For many years Americans talked about the misery index and until the George W. Bush administration it was very telling. We could add the unemployment rate to the inflation rate and the sum would indicate the misery index of the nation for that month or year. It appears at first glance that America is doing pretty well under George W. Bush as it has under William J. Clinton, and George H. W. Bush, but not as well under Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford. But the misery index under Lyndon Johnson was the lowest and best of all time for America.
Americans take government indexes at face value. Most of us do not read the fine print. If you read the fine print the indexes make some sense. But if you compare the values to our individual values they do not.
Take the inflation rate. During George W. Bush's administration we have seen oil prices reach the roof and oil company profits reach record
high's. Recently, chicken and beef prices jumped because much of our corn production is routed to produce ethanol instead of feeding our livestock and corn prices also jumped. The costs to educate our children from
pre-school to the college and university levels have skyrocketed. Most state, county, and town government taxes are excessive already and going higher because they are running short due to prior obligations such as pensions and medical benefits of government employees. All health costs are running away from our individual ability to pay even with insurance. Even with such high costs our President
George w. Bush and Congress are forcing the middle class to pay the huge tax of social costs of millions of illegal aliens in this country. If one reads and understands the fine print definition of the inflation rate, the government inflation rate is probably accurate. But if you are trying to survive and be honest and pay the bills of your family you see a much higher real inflation rate that we all have to pay everyday which is tremendously much bigger. When you ask people how they are paying for their heating bills this winter, for example you get a bleak picture. Millions of Americans are wearing layers of clothing in their homes including outdoor
garmets, not taking prescription medicines because they would rather have something to eat, avoid going to their doctors because they cannot afford to go and do not have insurance, have lost their homes because they cannot afford to pay the insurance, taxes, or mortgage.
The American unemployment rate is also skewed away from reality.
1.) Today's minimum wage has half of the purchasing power of minimum wage during Lyndon Johnson's administration and even with the House increase in the minimum wage proposal will only have 75% of the purchasing power that minimum wage had during the Johnson years. And it has been more than 10 years since the minimum wage was last increased. Americans prefer to pay their bills and millions fall prey to the predator businesses that pay at or near official minimum wages usually with no benefits.
2.) We do not have a work force that is composed of American citizens and legal aliens, but is skewed with tens of millions of illegal aliens and H1B workers that are in America illegally since there are Americans available, qualified, and willing to perform those jobs. And millions of American continue to be fired because their jobs are sent offshore. Currently there are industries that are owned by the illegal aliens in America where most Americans will never find employment because they do not speak the foreign language.
3.) Millions of Americans, sometimes more than 10 years away from their retirement year, are retiring prematurely because they refuse to work for
Walmart wages or are physically unable to stand for long amounts of time at a register or can no longer do physical labor such as stocking shelves. Many hoped to remain in their old jobs, but their jobs were
offshored. Their retirements will not be as easy as they should be because they are losing as many as 10 years of retirement funding and they are also accepting penalties to retire early.
4.) Training and education are so expensive it is impossible to return to school to be retrained for most Americans especially those with families and those that are near retirement age.
5.) George W. Bush refused to extend unemployment benefits beyond the normal 6 months as his father has and I think those that do not find a job within those 6 months are not counted in official unemployment counts. I heard it takes a month for every $10,000 that you made previously to obtain a new job....most Americans fall off the unemployment radar before they are gainfully employed again.
6.) George W. Bush's tax policy has been to benefit the very wealthy and remove benefits on the poor and middle class. For example, he withdrew funding of grants and subsidies for college tuition to enable tax reductions for the rich.
Officially, more people are suffering with George W. Bush than with Lyndon Johnston even though Johnson provided a fair wage to those receiving minimum wage during his administration and America did not have the rampant
offshoring of American jobs, tens of millions of illegal alien and the H1B problems of today. President George W. Bush has far exceeded all previous misery index values of any past president including Carter and Ford. He has made most of America's citizens and legal aliens very miserable. And what is really sad is that he is not ashamed at all as he should be.
Think about what the misery index will be for each of the Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls that are running today if each are elected to President. How much of the misery index problem were they responsible for during the last 6 years? America has to be careful when electing future officials.
