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Sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own
by anna at 06:12 PM on August 20, 2003
There's a thin line between patriotism and xenophobia. And in between is what I suffer from, something I'll term xenopathy for lack of an actual word. It's not that I hate foreigners or mistrust their motives. I just don't care much about goings-on overseas. I know I should but I don't, which only fuels my guilt about feeling so smugly complacent.
Those knee-jerk anti-globalization protests always amaze me. All the usual suspects mass in their signature black-on-black garb to unfurl banners, shake their bony fists and hoist puppets aloft in a snit about...what? Hell if I know. One thing I do know is that they think 3rd World debt should be forgiven. I think my debt should be forgiven. I want to tell Wells Fargo to go to hell about the $123,000 I owe them. I want to tell Visa to kiss my ass about the $10,000 debt I've run up. But I can't. So what's the difference?
Time was radio ads hawked cars of upcoming movies. Nowadays you're moe liable to hear a slick message from "the people of Saudi Arabia." Which is misleading, because it's really from the oil-rich government of Saudi Arabia.
The gist of it is that these people are our staunch allies in the war on Big Terror. Oh, really? Where did 15 0f 19 9/11 hijackers hail from? Where was Osama born? Whose state-sponsored "religion" is responsible for almost all terrorism? Fuck them. They knew all along these vermin were in their midst and could have eradicated them. Look at how fast they rounded up the scum when they struck in their posh 'hood.
3,000 French people died in a recent heat wave. Those are Sept 11-like death tolls. I read this and idly wonder why they didn't simply crank up the AC.
There are exceptions to my xenopathy. For instance, I'm fascinated by Brazilians. Their soccer team is legendary, and all the players go by one name. They're supposedly the most exotic, beautiful people in the world. They're obsessed with plastic surgery, gyms and fashion, the skimpier the better. Everyone walks around with thongs creeping up their butt cracks and ogles one another. They have an unparalleled zest for life.
I dig Australians too. Every time America fights a war, they show up. They're like, just bring the Foster's Lager and we're there, mate. Australia was founded as a British prison so most of its populace is descended from violent criminals. And I can't get enough of their clipped accents. Tom Cruise was an idiot to ditch Nicole Kidman in favor of that gaunt Spanish chick.
But I don't care enough about any of these countries to pay the exorbitant amount it would take to visit there. And since I no longer fly, I guess I never will.
So what am I going to be missing?
comments (18)
Where's Lockheed when you need him? I would like to know if any countries actually pay on their debts or do they just tally up the numbers so, later down the road, a country can ask a favor of another who is indebted to them. "Hey now, come on. You have to help us. Look how much debt you owe us." Do countries send out monthly payments? Are there interest rates to worry about? Do some countries give better rates than others? Can you get one country to consolidate your debt to another to get a better interest rate? I don't know.
As for absolving third world countries debts, are they paying on them now? If not are we calling them, like creditors, demanding payment and ruining their world credit report? Haiti? There's an R9 credit rating. I do believe that if you owe a debt it should be repaid. If you know you won't be able to repay then don't make the debt. I'm sure there is something in your country that can be used as collateral to wipe it out if you can't pay. Natural resources could be one.
The French. Geez. I guess they never thought to get Le Airconditioning. They thumb their noses at the rest of the world but can't even get some AC units shipped in to save some lives? Crepe eating surrender monkeys.
by Ezy at August 21, 2003 8:10 AM
We would be royally screwed if creditors came to us to pay off our own debt right now. Good thing WE don't have to do monthly payments.
Anna, I know you are basically saying you don't give a fuck, but half the reason Third World countries have debt is because of "help" from the West. Here is a pretty succinct article about the reasoning behind the debt forgiveness movement. Without these debts, the nations could start using that money to educate themselves, fix their internal issues. It's not like you & me where if our debt was forgiven we could get more cafe mochas. It's like, if their debt is forgiven they can, I don't know, have the possibility to pull themselves out of poverty.
If you stopped reading "news" stories about celebrities maybe you'd have enough memory storage left to recall that Islam is not synonymous with terrorism.
by Linz at August 21, 2003 9:05 AM
Not to defend France or anything, but the reason the heat has hit Europe so badly is because they are completly unused to it. If I remember correctly, when London hit 90 several days in a row this summer, it wasn't so remerkable because the length of the heat wave, but that it had never gotten that hot there, ever, in recorded history. The truth is much of Europe has never gotten a/c because they've never needed it. To put it in perspective you guys might understand, it's like when it snows down in the D.C. area. You all go apeshit, start stocking up on bottled water, and getting into 30 car pileups because even an inch of snow is so damn unusual to you.
As for debt, it's probably best not to bring it up at all. I couldn't quickly find all the data on this, but the US currently has about $862 billion in debt owed to foriegn nations. I'm not really sure what all is included in the figure, or who the money is owed to, but it is an accurate figure. That doesn't include bonds held within the country.
by mg at August 21, 2003 9:29 AM
Ah, me and Linz think alike. I'm just real slow hitting the submit button. I found the info on money owed to the US by foreign countries, it was about $18 trillion in 2000. Our just under 1 trillion in debt seems like a lot, but we are owed nearly 20 times as much.
by mg at August 21, 2003 9:33 AM
Hmmm, the West has actually crushed countries into debt. So astronomical is the debt that it simply will never be paid. Iraq will be a prime example of this, global capitolism and the need to invest money globally really sucks.
I agree with MG on the AC thing, we're just not used to super high temp's, with no plan in place to cope people ended up dying. It was mostly the frail and old that copped it.
by o_O at August 21, 2003 10:31 AM
its like being a kid all over again. did anyone else bet friends ten bucks they couldn't do something...like eat caterpillars? then when they did, you owed them. so you would double or nothing. and then double or nothing, and so on. eventually the number reached beyond reasonable counting and became a farce. YET SOMEHOW, the bets continued to get made. actions kept occurring. you're still stuffing bananas in tailpipes, and your buddy is tagging cop cars. all to get this magical number to change. but it doesn't really matter anymore. its all become monopoly money at this point. or at least canadian currency. chuck?
by lajoie at August 21, 2003 10:41 AM
Who the hell are we having to borrow money from and why? Do these countries owe us also? With all of the aid sent out to countries around the world I find it hard to believe there are many out there that aren't indebted to us in one way or another. I could be wrong though not being an economics major and all.
Linz, I'm not saying we should hold countries in poverty because they owe us a debt. I would never agree with that. We should allow them to get back on their feet and when they have stabilized then they can begin to pay back their debt.
MG, I know that most of Europe is ill prepared for weather of that sort. I just saw a good chance to take a shot at the French and took it. No offense to any other Europeans. Really. On another note, if our country was a corporate entity we'd be going the way of Enron and Worldcom. Is there a chapter 11 for countries?
o_O, how is your brother UK doing? Did he get back safe?
by Ezy at August 21, 2003 11:31 AM
Ezy, he's ok, but things are not going well there at all from what he said.
p.s. new name (as you can see).
by Neosporin at August 21, 2003 11:48 AM
Details on the Ezy/Neo conversation please? Things aren't going well where??
by Nosy Linz at August 21, 2003 11:55 AM
My brother (UK) is in Iraq; he flew there hours before the bombing started. He's an aid worker that works as part of a team of people that go anywhere they're needed and he happens to speak Arabic so of course he was going to be going. He does this for charity org's and whether he gets the call to go or not he usually ends up in these places regardless because he is just that way out. He's a trainned medic so that's mostly what he has been doing. Fixing up civillians caught up in the shit (road blocks are preventing ambulances and cars taking and bringing the injured I'm sad to say) so I'm sure I can say he IS saving lives or at least making people comfortable in whatever way he can.
by Neosporin at August 21, 2003 12:15 PM
Iraq Linz, UK commented back when the war was on. He was going to Iraq to provide aid to civilians.
Like the new name. I agree, also. Shortening it to Neo would be lame.
As much as the people who are attacking US troops and Iraq's infrastructure hate us, we'll never get anything productive done there in my opinion. We are definitely stuck between a rock and a hard place. If we pull out and Saddam isn't dead or captured, we're going to look like we just left the Iraqi people like we did Vietnam. If we stay every terrorist organization and group that hates us is going to continue to make sure Iraq stays in turmoil. What do you do?
by Ezy at August 21, 2003 12:16 PM
Wow. That is amazing.
I wish him luck! Sounds like he should have the name of an ointment too...
by Linz at August 21, 2003 12:17 PM
Bacitracin?
by Ezy at August 21, 2003 12:23 PM
Waaait a minute... about this debt thing...
I'm not the bond trader that Lockheed is, but I'm pretty sure that the U.S.'s "debt" is not as bad as it sounds. Here's why:
With countries, municipalities, as well as private corporations, debt is a fundamental financial instrument used to finance operations. The U.S. Federal goverment "borrows" money by issuing U.S. Treasury Bonds. (Also called T-Bills or T-Notes, depending on the payback period.) Now, you can only borrow money if there is someone who will lend it to you. (Obviously.) The credit standing of the U.S. Federal government is so strong that U.S. Treasury Bonds are usually referred to as "default-free."
Anyway, the main thing I wanted to point out is that "borrowing money" by issuing bonds is a very fundamental thing. It doesn't necessarily indicate that a country, municipality, of corporation is "broke," but rather, it's a way for them to fully leverage their financial assets.
by Eviltom at August 21, 2003 12:34 PM
To be honest I think he needs that luck, things are getting a lot worse over there. As for what to do in Iraq? The coalition needs to leave. I believe we have done what we set out to do, free Iraq from Saddam. He won't gain control again (even if he is still alive) because clerics are now gaining more power and control and Saddam doesn't have the West's backing like he did when he rose up through the ranks to power. WMD? Plenty of time has passed, well enough to find them and with the supposed "proof" the coalition had then you'd think they would have laid their hands on them by now. Of course that's if they ever existed in the first place...
But that's not what this post is about...
The debt? it's all "not real" money, so I think third world debt should be scrubbed, of course other countries that are a hell of a lot better off (ie: not starving to death) should obviously be paying the debts they owe to whichever country they borrowed/accepted help from.
by Neosporin at August 21, 2003 1:13 PM
Anything I might say about national debts would seem ignorant by comparison. You guys know your shit. I don't even know the difference between the budget deficit and the trade deficit.
But I know a lot more about Islam than facile celebs. Did you know that the Koran's Ten Commandments forbids hewing fruit trees? Or that it expressly prohibits killing women, children or fellow Muslims even in pursuit of jihad?
All of which were blatantly disregarded Sept 11. Maybe I should have clarified that Saudi Arabia's "religion" (cult?) is the fanatical Wahhibi strain of Islam. These people sneer with contempt at peaceable Sunnis and Shi-ities. They won't rest until each and every one of you infidels accept all aspects of their prudish agenda. They were behind the Dobai Towers attack, the twin embassies leveled, the first Trade Center bombing, the USS Cole, Sept 11, Bali, and probably the decimation of the UN base in Bahgdad. So, while you can't equate Wahhibi Islam with terrorism, you sure can equate terrorism directed at American/Western targets with Wahhibi Islam. As I said, fuck their medieval asses. You show your face Osama and I'll personally rip your lungs out for $25 m, you worthless coward.
Good to hear that UK is OK. Bad to hear about his difficulties, Neosporin. Maybe it's time to come home.
by anna at August 21, 2003 6:55 PM
I guess the issue with third world debt is two issues really: should debt be forgiven, and how do you stop it happening again?
I guess to me the second is by far the more important - its well and good to say that this horrible mess is a bad thing, but if you forgive debt now, it'll come back. Maybe not today.. maybe not tommorow etcetera.
I advocate dropping thirdworld debt like the destructive downward-spiraling herpes sore that it is (you are in debt therefore you will be in debt, only more so) and outright banning loans to such countries. I'm talking murder-like penalties - kill a man, and he's dead, but loan a man's government money and you've condemned him and everyone he knows to misery and an early death. It's time for certain companies to enter the equivalent of chapter 11.
by flibble at August 28, 2003 9:37 PM
Well MG I may owe you an apology.After all if you can see that noone in Afganistan and Iraq are sending money to help the flash flood victims in Kansas.Giving money to the firemans fund in New York doesn't top the list in Kenya.I could be mistaken for your stupidity,then again maybe not.You did not delete anything in my comment to the "Everyone rocking on the whole cell block" I don't understand why you would try to act big to the Badsamaritan authors? When you're nothing.Do you have a small penis?It's okay if you do...Cuz you Suck.Delete this Bitch!!!
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by Windex at September 2, 2003 12:18 AM