Strikes in Iraq

[stogie bear]

This headline - Suicide bombers strike in Iraq - caught my eye this morning as I made my way through the toast, marmalade and coffee...

You wonder really what they are striking about. Certainly not for better pension entitlements!

Maybe they want more virgins or something!

[Guest]

hehehe...oh, right shouldn't laugh...good call but!!

[Tomcat]

ha ha

Their annual re-unions are pretty bleak affairs...

[Road Runner]

I hear their pension fund is in a better financial condition than most others.

RR.

[BAM]

They want better on the job safety... apparently it's not well known but alot of them end up getting killed on the job.

[Guest]

it's about time.

[Road Runner]

Somebody told me the training was murder.

RR.

[Guest]

hey boys when you are going to sent the extra 21,500 troops over there?

[donnnnnny]

costus you seem to have a problem with the west??

[Tomcat]

I think about two thirds of the worlds population have a problem with the West so Costass isnt alone. The forum would be pretty boring if we all agreed with each other.

[stogie bear]

I have a problem with the irrational people who want to kill themselves and us up because we don't believe in their wierd ghosts. These freaks will happily blow the earth to bits when (and it won't be long) they get the ability to do so.

But it's not like we don't deserve it. I think we should destroy all wierd countries and reduce their lands to rubble.

Come on America and Europe - it's about time you did some serious ass kicking instead of commiting global suicide like you are at the moment.

It's beyond my understanding that we should pump more and more lives and taxpayer cash into these fucking horrible dumps. Surely it's better just to kill off the people and snatch the oil. Save a fortune and also petrol would be a lot cheaper.

[Tomcat]

That pretty much the view i take . The sooner WWIII comes the better.. the population of the planet is gonner hit 9.5 billion soon and it needs a fucking spring clean.......

[Tomcat]

Just to add to this. I think that the problem is that that as far as Europe is comcerned is that its only the UK whoever does anything . The spanish , french , germans , Scandinavia, and all the other euros couldnt fight there way out of a paper bag these days.

Some of the heaviest fighting since the Korean War has been taking place in Afgahanistan with UK troops involved as those who watch the recent TV will allude to.

Its time for the others to get involved.... probably no chance of that...they just sit there and complain.

[Guest]

Just wanted to throw a couple of real-world economic factors into the mix. While for the most part I'm all for doing the job- and by that I mean killing people and breaking things... I'm also an economist at heart.

"Taking" the oil in Iraq would not change the price of oil.

The population increase of the earth is not really a problem. Human's occupy about 5% of the earths surface. There is no realistic point at which we suddenly run out of resources- regardless of what doom-sayers want you to believe.

People do not starve because of a lack of food. People starve because of a lack of freedom, and economic production value.

Japan and Hong Kong are big rocks. By all rights they should be starving. As long as there is a market, people are able to specialize and trade their production value created wealth for food.

The US alone could make enough food to feed the whole world, nto even mentioning the voluminous farmland available in Russia.

We send billions in government funds and private charity to Africa (just for one example) every year. The people are starving not because food isn't coming, but because the rulers take the money and sell the food on the black market.

If you have a house with starving children, and you keep dealing with the grubby parents, you will never be able to dump enough money on the parents that it will make a difference.

I'm about 50/50 on George Bush. But one thing he mentioned in the SOTU speech was very interesting. He proposed that all foreign aid programs be tied to measurable accountability programs on the governments of those countries.

The other reason third worlders starve is a lack of private property rights. No one will invest money in a country, and no locals will start businesses and new ventures when they have no guarantee of protection under the law. When the government can seize your holding at any moment, it's an economic damper.

Again- Hong Kong. Get out of peoples way and they will create wealth. India languished for years while their dozens of political parties and classes faught over the spoils. Red-tape blocked every kind of progress. Now they have finally wised up, and they are having an econoic boom. The incredible increase in Indians who can now afford cars is the primary reason for the price of oil.

Last but not least, gas is not really that expensive. In the US at least, gas is less per gallon than Haagen Dasz ice cream or Evian bottled water- neither of which can propel you to work every day. Although the numbers on the gas pump seem high to our memory, it's one of the few items we remember every single year.

We change the foods we buy, clothing, etc. literally almost every 6 months. And few keep track of what they spend on other items. Inflation happens everywhere, on every product. We just happen to remember that number on a gallon of gas.

The price of gas in the US, when adjusted for inflation, is as low or lower than it's been since the eary 80's. The biggest contribution to the price of gas is the multiple government taxed placed on it. Also, the law allowing every state to choose their own gas stadards means the gas companies have to produce dozens of little "micro-brews", which increases their production costs. The profit margin on gasoline for oil companies is about 8%. Many, many products and industries make higher profit margins than oil companies. You should protest your newspaper, which is likely to be making a 20% to 40% profit margin.

So, be of good cheer gentlemen. The world is not such a scary or hard to understand place. A few simple rules followed and things tend to work themselves out.

If you want less war, less starving people, and a better life for all- the things to promote are less government, fewer laws, more protection of individual rights, FREEDOM, and free markets.

Keep these in mind next time your government wants to take your money, pass more laws, "give" money to some "deserving" group, and intrude on your freedoms.

[Road Runner]

RR.