Monday, December 27, 2004

My family was anxiously awaiting news from my cousin and his girlfriend vacationing in Thailand.  The good news came today, but the story was wild.  Still alive. We barely survived. Unbelievable.  All our stuff got caried away by the flood. We lost everything. We stayed at the bang tao beach in Phuket about 20 meters away from the water.  In 20 seconds we and our bungalow were gone. We were carried away by a big wave. 300 meters later I cought a palmtree and climed up. I was glad it had a lot of branches, so it was high enough for the water. 1 hour later I found Dagmar also in a tree. It was a nightmare!!!!!!! Wow! 11:41:45 PM    Comment_ Trackback []

One of the things that really bothers me about America's new security regime is that it ignores economic realities.  The current world order isn't run by nation-states.  It's run by Adam Smith (aka global markets). The history of the last 20 years will focus on the radical expansion of these markets to encompass 3 billion people.  It was the tipping point for capitalism.  However, markets are harsh rulers.  They punish non-economic behavior with a sharp slap of the invisible hand.  There isn't any special immunity for the US.  So, when we spend $150 in direct security costs for every barrel exported by Iraq, we invite the slap.  The cost of Iraq's security isn't reflected in the price of oil, nor is the $5 per barrel of naval security we pay for every barrel of oil from the Persian Gulf. 4:01:04 PM    Comment_ Trackback []