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25% increases and capping salaries won’t help… The US “dream” is all over and we’re hanging on by a thread and that ‘thread’ is oil.
From last week’s Washington Post
U.S., China Clash on Currency. Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi saying Americans do not have a full understanding of the situation.
“Some American friends are not only having limited knowledge of, but harboring much misunderstanding about, the reality in China,” Wu said, according to a copy of her remarks provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For example, Wu noted that China needed to create enough jobs to absorb an estimated 300 million rural workers – equal to the entire population of the United States – into its urban economy in the next two decades.”
You can just imagine what’s going to happen to prices when 300,000,000 more Chinese workers come online and India has about the same number and you can bet your bottom dollar that the percentage of workers learning English will grow by leaps and bounds
We must remember that the true unemployment rate in the USA is far higher than ‘official’ estimates
The “United States also has a low literacy rate compared to other developed countries…” which cannot help our employment situation.
And although it’s not received any press, the Hurricane Katrina story really shattered the illusion of the “American Dream.”
Whilst villagers in Pakistan without electricity used to be impressed with episodes of ‘Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous’ on their car battery driven televisions, the Katrina debacle showed them that “one in three New Orleans residents lived in poverty, and the literacy rate stood at only 40 per cent.” Some “American dream.”
All empires come to an end, all we can hope for is that our Bush/Cheney/Rice psychopaths who are clearly making up US foreign policy as they go along don’t take the rest of the world with them.
These headlines only from today’s Wall Street Journal:
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
“Indian Scientists Return Home As Economy Moves a Step Up Original Research Replaces Rote Work, Allowing Firms To Lure Talent From U.S.
Dr. Barbhaiya Looks for Cures
By PETER WONACOTT
December 14, 2006; Page A1
PUNE, India — For more than 20 years, Rashmi Barbhaiya lived a comfortable life in New Jersey as a researcher for drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., commuting from his five-acre suburban estate in a blue Mercedes.Now, in a move that hints at a big shift in the global pharmaceutical business, Dr. Barbhaiya is back home in India. He’s still trying to discover new drugs, but he’s doing so with an all-Indian-born research team at a company he founded in this center of Indian high technology.
As big drug companies shut down some research facilities in the U.S. and other rich countries, labs in India and China are increasingly picking up the slack.”@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
The key sentence of course “in a move that hints at a big shift in the global pharmaceutical business…”
It’s not going to be pretty but at least the USA still has more nuclear, biological and chemical weapons than everybody else and the USA is #1 for manufacturing and selling weapons of mass destruction.
I love Charlie’s article at https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/533.cfm where he speaks of the USA being #1.
#1 for military expenditures – More than five times as much as #2 – China
#1 for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction per capita
#1 for the number of rapes
#1 for teenage pregnancies
#1 for total number of divorces
#1 for CO2 emissions
#1 for CO2 emissions from fossil fuels 2000 (per capita)
#1 for electricity consumption
#1 for nuclear energy consumption
#1 for oil imports
#1 for total energy usage per person
#1 for municipal waste per capita
#1 for nuclear waste pollution
#1 for the number of threatened species
#1 the largest debtor in the world
#1 for firearm discharge
#1 the highest divorce rate
#1 for total crimes committed
#1 when it comes to adults prosecuted for crimes
#1 when it comes to the numbers of their population in prison – Over two million! 34% more than China which has 241% more people
#1 when it comes to the number of criminal record holders
#1 for plastic surgery procedures and
#1 for the amount of money spent on healthcare yetà
#46 for life expectancy and there are estimated to be about 45 million Americans that do not have any health insurance
#2 for the number of abortions
#2 for heart attacks and
#2 for asthma sufferers
America is not even in the top 30 for public spending on public education so it’s not surprising that it’s …
#14 for duration of education and…
#47 for total education spending and
#14 for school life expectancy and
#68 for the percentage ‘literacy’ level of the population
#11 for unemployment
#6 in the world for the total number of murders
#3 for the total number executions along with our democratic ‘friends’ in China, Congo and Iran
#13 for social security expenditure as % of GDP
#98 for GDP real growth rate
#1 for soft drink consumption
#1 for the number of television hours watchedSo Wellington Trading Group is just another one of those boiler rooms.
There is also an “Investor’s Warning” at the Costa Rica Securities Authority (SUGEVAL) website about Wellington Trading Group which you can see at and says: “Therefore, they are not authorized by SUGEVAL to make public offering of securities or other related services.”
And…
“Warning: All offerings made in or from Costa Rica to foreign or local investors without proper authorization from this Superintendence, are considered a direct violation of the Law of Securities Markets N. 7732, and could be penalized by prison.”
So to understand this properly, you met with the Wellington Trading Group people in San Jose and the same people tried to sell you land which is normally sold under the name of Wellington Asset Management – Is that correct?
There are many other projects that should have been named “Give Me Your Money & Try To Catch Me Estates” but I don’t think that would have caught on too well with the customers.
Little will change with the Democrats ESPECIALLY with regards to Israel and the rest of the Middle East which could explode at any time…
Has it occurred to anyone that maybe Cheney and his neoscam friends allowed this Democratic upset to happen to give the illusion that the little people have power when they vote.
Then when the real Presidential elections come along, the vote rigging team goes into action again and we have it even worse next time.
At least we know Bush is an illiterate moron, Cheney on the other hand is an evil shapeshifting bastard.
Edited on Nov 15, 2006 09:19
If you are that paranoid jreeves I would suggest that living in any foriegn country is probably not for you. There are probably more paedophiles in your country than the entire population of Costa Rica
Oh! Wikipedia, now there’s an in depth authoritative source for you! You’ll be quoting Fox News next and how objective they are.
Here are some reliable, on the ground expert sources for you:
1. “I have put thousands of Americans away for tens of thousands of years for less evidence for conspiracy with less evidence than is available against Ollie North and CIA people. . . . I personally was involved in a deep-cover case that went to the top of the drug world in three countries. The CIA killed it.”
– Former DEA Agent Michael Levine. CNBC-TV, October 8, 19962. “The connections piled up quickly. Contra planes flew north to the U.S., loaded with cocaine, then returned laden with cash. All under the protective umbrella of the United States Government. My informants were perfectly placed: one worked with the Contra pilots at their base, while another moved easily among the Salvadoran military officials who protected the resupply operation. They fed me the names of Contra pilots. Again and again, those names showed up in the DEA database as documented drug traffickers. “When I pursued the case, my superiors quietly and firmly advised me to move on to other investigations.”
– Former DEA Agent Celerino Castillo
Powder Burns, 19923. “The Subcommittee found that the Contra drug links included:
1. Involvement in narcotics trafficking by individuals associated with the Contra movement.
2. Participation of narcotics traffickers in Contra supply operations through business relationships with Contra organizations.
3. Provision of assistance to the Contras by narcotics traffickers, including cash, weapons, planes, pilots, air supply services and other materials, on a voluntary basis by the traffickers.Payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies.”
– Senate Committee Report on Drugs,
Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy
chaired by Senator John F. Kerry4. “I really take great exception to the fact that 1,000 kilos came in, funded by U.S. taxpayer money.” – DEA official Anabelle Grimm, during a 1993 interview on a CBS-TV “60 Minutes” segment entitled “The CIA’s Cocaine.” The 1991 CIA drug-smuggling event Ms. Grimm described was later found to be much larger. A Florida grand jury and the Wall Street Journal reported it to involve as much as 22 tons.
5. ALLEGATIONS OF CIA PROVIDING DRUGS TO AMERICAN CITIES (House of Representatives – September 27, 1996) http://www.idfiles.com/congrecord.htm “What is interesting about one of the introductions to the John Kerry committee report was, everybody knew that there were drug runs. Several agencies of the Federal Government had distinct knowledge that drugs were being flown into the United States, and the proceeds were being used to fund the Contras. My point is this: Whether the CIA or the DEA or the Justice Department or anybody knew and did nothing, turned their heads, allowed it to go on, or directly participated in it, they are guilty of undermining the citizens of this country. They are guilty of creating the devastation of many of the communities in this country.”
6. “Cocaine Politics tells the sordid story of how elements of our own government went to work with narcotics traffickers, and then fought to suppress the truth about what they had done. The ways and means by which U.S. government officials joined forces with cocaine criminals, and then engaged in a largely-successful cover-up to hide the truth, are meticulously documented by Marshall and Scott, making Cocaine Politics essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the real Iran/Contra story.”
– Jonathan Winer, Counsel, Kerry Subcommittee on Terrorism and Narcotics7. “Combing through hundreds of documents, conducting interviews with government officials, journalists, mercenaries and drug dealers, Scott and Marshall piece together the complex picture of the convoluted contra-drug trafficking scandal, U.S. involvement in covering it up and how the entire episode mirrors past CIA handling of right-wing narcotics operations.”
– Louie Estrada, The Times of the Americas8. “Barry Seal. Facing prison after a drug conviction in Florida, Seal flew to Washington, D.C., where he put together a deal that allowed him to avoid prison by becoming an informant for the government. As a government informant against drug smugglers, Seal testified he worked for the CIA and the DEA. In one federal court case, he testified that his income from March 1984 to August 1985, was between $700,000 and $800,000. This period was AFTER making his deal with the government. Seal testified that nearly $600,000 of this came from smuggling drugs while working for – and with the permission of the DEA. In addition to his duties as an informant, Seal was used by CIA operatives to help finance the Nicaraguan Contras. The CIA connection to the Mena operation was undeniable when a cargo plane given to Seal by the CIA was shot down over Nicaragua with a load of weapons. In spite of the evidence, every investigator who has tried to expose the crimes of Mena has been professionally destroyed, and those involved in drug smuggling operations have received continued protection from state and federal authorities.” http://www.idfiles.com/
These people have gained NOTHING from telling their stories and have often run great perosnal risks in telling the truth whereas none of the ‘established’ sources you quote want to rock the boat. They will simply regurgitate the ‘official’ sanitized version of events.
You don’t know that by now?:
Wake up pdavid!
Oh! No you don’t ‘pdavid’..
After dismissing my ideas as “nutcase political theories” without justification you can post your comments here for all of us to read.
There are more people that think more like me than you probably imagine.
Please remind us again what that has to do with Iraq?
“Invading Iraq after September 11th, is like invading Mexico after Pearl Harbor.”
A quote from Richard Clarke when interviewed by Tim Russert of Meet the Press, Sunday, March 28th, 2004
May I suggest that as the former White House terrorism adviser, he knows a little more about “terrorism” than any of us on this board do …
The Rolling Stone article was written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr, where is article appears is unimportant -it has appeared in hundreds of publications – it is what he says in the ‘Was the 2004 Election Stolen?’article is important.
You’re dropping it now because you know you can’t correct it because it is 100% factual.
Or are you saying, contrary to historical fact, that the US did not help bring Somoza to power?
Most Ticos know more facts (not glorious patriotic LIES) about American history that most of the Americans I know.
Which US ‘intervention’ in Nicaragua are you referring to? You like to mention what happened with the Sandinistas but don’t mention ‘why’ the Sandinistas were so palatable to the Nicaraguan people to begin with…
Maybe it’s because the Sandinistas inherited a country that had been totally pillaged by it’s previous President Anastasio Somoza who had been installed by the USA.
When Somoza was overthrown by the Sandinistas, he fled to the US where he admitted to being worth $100 million although a US intelligence report claimed he was worth $900 million not bad considering two thirds of the population earned less than $300 per year.
Now that’s a democracy you would feel more comfortable with is it?
Wasn’t it in Nicaragua where several members of the Reagan Administration helped sell arms to Iran, an avowed enemy, and then used the proceeds to fund the Contras?
Wasn’t it in Nicaragua where members of the U.S. State Department “who provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking…?” Where “elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers.” And where “large quantities of the drug entering the United States for consumption.”
“For the better part of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army (the Contras) run by the US Central Intelligence Agency.” There’s “democracy” for you&
But who appointed you and the USA as the world’s judge when it comes to elections in other countries? Even when many of those elections had been free and fair? More fair and with a far greater turnout than the two most recent, some say “stolen” Presidential elections in the USA?
Why do you feel that you and your government have the right to interfere in other people’s affairs (overtly or covertly) when you would never tolerate other people interfering in your affairs?
The vast majority of US ‘interventions’ have resulted in horrifically “wretched” conditions where hundreds of thousands of people were killed – take a look at Chile, Iran, Guatemala, Syria, Indonesia, British Guiana, Ecuador, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Uruguay, Bolivia, Grenada, Morocco, Panama, Bulgaria, El Salvador and Haiti.
And when you speak of a “birth of democracy,” as you can see from Iraq, sometimes our concept of “democracy” simply does not work and hopefully you’re smart enough to recognize that others do not want an American type of “democracy,” and they have every right to make their own decisions about what sort of “democracy” they would like
And if Hugo Chavez is “intervening on behalf of Ortega with both funds for the campaign and promises to the Nicaraguan people of discounted oil if they vote Ortega in.” Doesn’t that sound like that would be good for the Nicaraguan people? Surely the USA should be happy about something being good for the people?
Once again, you insinuate that it’s OK for the US to intervene but it’s not OK for Chavez to intervene with a country that shares a lot more with Venezuela culturally than the USA does.
Like your nuclear weapons, it’s OK for you and your “friends” (like Pakistan which is a nuclear armed Muslim military dictatorship) to play with them but nobody else can have them. And what happens when Musharraf is replaced by a harder line Islamic regime as many experts expect? Will they hand over their nuclear bombs to you, the ones that the US allowed them to develop? Oustide of the NPT? Do you think?
The actions of the US have started yet another arms race, this one more deadly than ever. “The threat of nuclear strikes is now greater than during the Cold War.”
“According to the experts the Bush administration’s ‘war on terror’ has resulted in more global terror and more turmoil in the nations it was intended to rescue from terror. So the war’s latest byproduct, a nuclear arms race among ‘rogue nations,’ should surprise no one.”
You can sleep tight tonight knowing that people like you and our “god fearing” nation – the USA – has made this world a far, far more dangerous place that it should be.
