The U.S. economy is in bad shape. Well, I believe that’s an understatement, the U.S. economy is in “deep shit.” Pardon, my French. Let’s start off with the facts here. On December 15, 2005, the U.S. Treasury/OMB Department secretly released its report entitled “Financial Report of the United States Government.” (PDF File) The findings of this report are so huge every news organization should be investigating how the Bush Administration has let this kind of financial disaster happen. David Walker who is the Comptroller of the U.S. stated in his report:

Despite improvement in both the fiscal year 2006 reported net operating cost and the cash-based budget deficit, the U.S. government’s total reported liabilities, net social insurance commitments, and other fiscal exposures continue to grow and now total approximately $50 trillion, representing approximately four times the Nation’s total output (GDP) in fiscal year 2006, up from about $20 trillion, or two times GDP in fiscal year 2000.

As this long-term fiscal imbalance continues to grow, the retirement of the “baby boom” generation is closer to becoming a reality with the first wave of boomers eligible for early retirement under Social Security in 2008.

Given these and other factors, it seems clear that the nation’s current fiscal path is unsustainable and that tough choices by the President and the Congress are necessary in order to address the nation’s large and growing long-term fiscal imbalance.

Dr. Chris Martenson of The End of Money puts it “The $53 trillion shortfall is expressed as a ‘net present value’. That means that in order to make the shortfall disappear we’d have to have that amount of cash in the bank – today – earning interest (the GAO uses 5.7% & 5.8% as the assumed long-term rate of return) And next year we’d have to put even more into this mythical interest bearing account simply because we didn’t collect any interest on money we didn’t put in the bank account this year. For the record, 5.7% on $53 trillion is a bit more than $3 trillion dollars so you can see how the math is working against us here. This means the deficit will swell by at least another $3 trillion plus.” The report also gives a stern warning that “The net social insurance responsibilities scheduled benefits in excess of estimated revenues) indicate that those programs are on an unsustainable fiscal path and difficult choices will be necessary in order to address their large and growing long-term fiscal imbalance…Delay is costly and choices will be more difficult as the retirement of the ‘baby boom’ gets closer to becoming a reality with the first wave of boomers eligible for retirement under Social Security in 2008.”

Dr. Chris Martenson sums it by stating that:

• There is no way to ‘grow out of this problem’. The US financial position has deteriorated by over $22 trillion in only 4 years and $4.5 trillion in the last 12 months.
• Any economic weakness will only exacerbate the problem.

The future will be defined by lowered standards of living.It’s pretty evident that the dollar is already falling and I suspect things are not going to improve much as countries opt to go with the Euro.

I believe that title is a bit misleading. They are really not pursuing nuclear technology because they already have it. They are in the mist of developing it for what the U.S. would call “a pursuit for nuclear weapons.” Is this just another scare tactic that the Bush administration is using? If you actually take a look at international law and what the IAEA has found, it is the complete opposite of what the Bush administration is saying.

First, the IAEA has found that there is no indication that Iran has diverted nuclear material for military purposes. To this day, there are still IAEA inspectors in Iran. Secondly, Iran’s development of uranium for civilian purposes is allowed under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. So, we have the major watchdog of nuclear technology saying they are not developing it for military purposes and we have a basis under international law that states they can have nuclear technology for civilian purposes. However, we know from Mr. Bush’s past history that his regard for international law and reports from credible international organizations are often thrown away. The unanimous vote of imposing UNSC1737 is an interesting vote. Considering that a similar vote (UNSC 1696) in late July failed to have all members of the security counsel vote with a single voice.

What are your thoughts? Could Russia and/or China have had a change of heart as I believe their stakes are high in Iran’s situation.
 

After the invasion of U.S. forces, many citizens of Afghanistan were at a standstill when they were told not to farm anymore heroin. The Afghan economy was barely surviving at that time and with heroin the only source of incomes to thousands of farmers, it was either farm heroin or starve. Yes, the U.S. did promise to reconstruct Afghanistan liked it promised to reconstruct Iraq. Both of the promises have been left empty and the citizens in Afghanistan are now and have been for the most part saying “to hell with what America wants me to do…” I need to support my family.

Well, it seems they are hard at work as Afghan heroin is on the rise according to several newspapers in California such as the L.A. Times and the Register Guard. It is relatively simple from a chemistry standpoint to pinpoint where the heroin was produced. According to the L.A. Times “”The rise of heroin from Afghanistan is our biggest rising threat in the fight against narcotics,” said Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino. “We are seeing more seizures and more overdoses.”

In fact, it is estimated by the Department of Homeland Security that there is an increase in heroin trafficking after the U.S. lead invasion. The market share of Afghan heroin was 7% in 2001, the year the U.S. government toppled the Taliban. In 2004, it was 14%.

So by not providing an alternative for farmers, we now have a growing problem of more drugs here in America. The Bush Administration had no real plans on the social aftermath that would result in toppling the Taliban. It also seems they continued that trend into the Iraq War. Nonetheless, as more drugs enter our community courtesy of the Bush Administration, we as a nation are left to pick of the pieces with social policies that are ill-equipped to deal with the already drug addiction in our local communities.

2006 has certainly been an interesting year full of political and social developments. Some good and some bad, well mostly bad! I really do try to be optimistic but its really hard when you evidence pointing towards the opposite way.

2007 will bring yet another slew of interesting stories to report on and I hope you will continue to read my blog and switch over to my new domain. For all of those who have not experiencing getting your own domain, it will give you a headache from day one. It’s very time consuming. In any case, what interesting stories or developments either domestically or internationally do you think will happen in 2007 as it relates to some of the stories I have blog about? It could also be some stories that you are interested too.

Well, who would have guessed that as 2006 George W. Bush would win such a wonderful prize like this. The Associated Press did a poll from December 19-21, 2006 in which they asked “Who they thought was the biggest villain of they year?” Surprise, it’s Mr. Bush! I just thought this was so funny because he beat out the Osama Bin Laden, Hussein, President Mahamoud Ahmadinejad, and Kim Jong II. Do you notice any similarities of these people? These are all people the United States government either want dead or overthrown! Well, touché! Mr. Bush has certainly put himself in the right bunch of people.

And speaking of polls, the poll that I currently have running has had 120 people who have voted. So thank you to all of those who have voted. The results are not looking too good either for President Bush.

61.7% give him a “F”
14.2% give him a “D”
9.2% give him a “C” or “B”
5.8% give him an “A”

I believe that title is a bit misleading. They are really not pursuing nuclear technology because they already have it. They are in the mist of developing it for what the U.S. would call “a pursuit for nuclear weapons.” Is this just another scare tactic that the Bush administration is using? If you actually take a look at international law and what the IAEA has found, it is the complete opposite of what the Bush administration is saying.

First, the IAEA has found that there is no indication that Iran has diverted nuclear material for military purposes. To this day, there are still IAEA inspectors in Iran. Secondly, Iran’s development of uranium for civilian purposes is allowed under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. So, we have the major watchdog of nuclear technology saying they are not developing it for military purposes and we have a basis under international law that states they can have nuclear technology for civilian purposes. However, we know from Mr. Bush’s past history that his regard for international law and reports from credible international organizations are often thrown away.

The unanimous vote of imposing UNSC1737 is an interesting vote. Considering that a similar vote (UNSC 1696) in late July failed to have all members of the security counsel vote with a single voice.

What are your thoughts? Could Russia and/or China have had a change of heart as I believe their stakes are high in Iran’s situation.

The tsunami brought devastation to the S. East Asian region along with parts of East Africa. In looking at ongoing work and work that will need to be started in the future, some countries are doing better than others. For example, we saw the quickness of the Thailand government in reconstruction efforts in Phuket province. The Indonesia government was not as quick and/or equipped to deal with the nearly 600,000 people who were left homeless.

It is important to look at the reconstruction efforts in a number of ways:

• Shelter
• Health
• Water
• Disaster Preparedness
• Psychosocial Support

Coupled with these efforts are the challenges that each of these problem areas will be combated by each government. The Red Cross has spent most of its funds on “water/sanitation.” Approximately, $127.5 million has been spent in this area. Followed by health ($112.2), shelter ($89.4) and psychosocial support ($35.3). The importance of a clean water system is evident. The governments including but not limited to Indonesia and Si Lanka will have to work harder in building efficient water and sanitation infrastructure specifically in the rural areas. The internal friction practically within the Indonesian and Sri Lankan governments which is plagues with corruption and inefficiency is putting several badly need reconstruction projects on hold

In terms of psychosocial support programs, healing is an important part of the recovery process. For example, programs that are directed at children who lost one or more parents will be an ongoing effort to international relief agencies and for the governments.

In the area of shelter, shelter still remains an issue that will need to be alleviated. Although, some progress along with the hard work from the international community have given, thousands of people are still without a permanent shelter.

Since this area is prone to disasters, governments along with the international community must step of the effort in programs that are aimed at hazards and vulnerabilities in the region. For example, the Indonesian government has implemented a community-based disaster preparedness program for 150 Aceh communities.

According to the Associate Press, here are how some projects stand in terms of the factors that I discussed above:

Indonesia: Around one-third of the some 600,000 people made homeless have moved into permanent homes, but some 70,000 people still live in roach-infested and leaky wooden barracks.

Sri Lanka: The main challenge to rebuilding is widespread fighting between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. The tsunami crashed into government-controlled areas and rebel territory, and rebuilding efforts were initially undermined by disputes between the two sides over how aid money should be distributed.

India: The two areas in India worst hit by the tsunami, the southern state of Tamil Nadu and the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands, are rebuilding in very different ways. A third of the more than 66,000 homes destroyed in Tamil Nadu have already been rebuilt or repaired and work is expected to be completed in the next year on the rest. Fishing fleets have been restored and the local economy is again healthy.

Thailand: Authorities faced the task of luring tourists back as well as rebuilding for homeless villagers. Roughly half the dead were foreign tourists. With a few exceptions, physical damage to hotels and resorts was limited, and the government launched special promotions within months.
Further information and sources:

UNICEF Report (Pdf)
Associate Press
Red Cross

This post is dedicated to the tsunami victims of 2004.

  R.I.P. (1933-2006)
What a sad day it is as an international singer James Brown is announced dead. He is known around the world. Known in France as “Le parrain de la soul and papa de la soul” he gave the world good times with his soulful voice.

French News (French only)
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U.K. News
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American News
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