I had a random thought a couple of weeks back - how can people support the Iraqi people so they spend less time killing our soldiers and more time working and supporting their families? One idea that I came up with is that we could buy Iraqi goods - it certainly would support our goals in the region a lot better than buying Chinese goods. Thanks to Google, I found out that I’m not the only one with this idea:

BAGHDAD — U.S. shoppers will soon see “Made in Iraq” on clothing sold in American stores.

Shelmar, a 51-store retail chain based in Memphis, became the first American retailer to place an order with an Iraqi factory last month. About 2,000 tracksuits and boys shirts are expected to be on store shelves by early October, says Mike Longo, president and partner in the privately held company. Shelmar also does business as M Town and has stores in seven Southern states.

“We’ve got to get (Iraqi workers) back to work,” says Longo, who is a West Point graduate and former Army captain who taught at the Army’s military college in 1991 and 1992. “Otherwise, my buddies are going to keep getting … blown up.”

The only problem I have with this program is that, unfortunately, it focuses on state-owned factories. It’s understandable why this would be the case, though; the article gives the impression that, before we showed up, Iraq’s economy was very centralized, with the state owning most of the means of production. In conjunction with the war, I doubt there’s enough private capital in the region to support large-scale private operations. To do something about this, here are two things I’d like to see occur (but probably never will):

1. Get contracts going to the state-owned factories. They’re already there - may as well use them. It would seem we’re already on the right track on this anyways.
2. As part of the reconstruction effort, find a way to get capital in private hands so private entrepreneurship can take root.
3. Once private citizens in Iraq have some capital of their own, begin privatizing the state-owned industries, releasing shares to the workers and allowing private Iraqi citizens to buy into the industries. This would give the Iraqi government some much needed capital and reduce the amount of state interference in the economy.

Whether any of this will happen, though… well, we’ll see. Either way, I’m happy to see that Iraq is producing enough to export, and that American citizens will get a chance to help support the Iraqi people.

When even the French are getting tired of unions, you know you’re in trouble:

Newspaper and television opinion polls released Wednesday show dwindling French public support for unions that for decades have shut down services to thwart government efforts to reduce pensions or shrink government institutions.

In a survey conducted for the daily newspaper Le Figaro — which is generally pro-Sarkozy — and television network LCI, nearly seven of every 10 people polled said the strikes were unjustified.

[…]

Natalie Levy, wearing a skirt and black high-heeled pumps, attempted to negotiate a crowded rush-hour sidewalk aboard her son’s scooter Wednesday morning. She hit a gaping crack in the concrete, wobbled and snapped a heel.

In no mood to sympathize with the unions or the government, she groused: “The unions are selfish and the government is spineless. How is Sarkozy going to reform the country and make workers more productive when he can’t even get us to our jobs?”

Clearly, they need a strike buster, a strong leader that can face the transportation industry, look them straight in the eye, and say, “Go ahead, make my day.” Someone like… Reagan.

In all seriousness, what’s truly fascinating about this chain of events is that France is a full 25 years behind England and the U.S., both of whom went through a correction in labor policies in the late 1970s and early 1980s under Reagan and Thatcher. That the French people are losing sympathy for the unions is also interesting, and definitely worth following.

Found this article and found it very interesting. The entire premise is pretty simple - find ten things that everyone can agree on so we don’t have to be quite so nasty to each other.

They’re a good ten.

I don’t necessarily agree with all of it; I agree with the ten points, but I do dispute the statement that morality isn’t logical. Morality works because everyone benefits in the long term from it. When the benefits of a specific moral action become less clear, morality tends to change - take marriage in Western countries as an example, or pre-marital sex as another one. Since marriage is much less beneficial to both parties than it used to be, it’s becoming less popular. Since pre-marital sex is less hazardous in an “unwanted pregancy” sort of way, thanks to the wonders of birth control, it’s becoming increasingly common (or at least people are being more open about it).

Past that, though, it’s a good list. Read it. Learn it. Save up to 23% on your car insurance.

… but really don’t.

For those of you that don’t follow the news, General Musharraf declared a “state of emergency” in Pakistan approximately three to four days ago. A decent round-up of what’s going on, and people’s thoughts on it, can be found here.

From where I’m sitting, this isn’t all that surprising. Gen. Musharraf is one of a long list of dictators that the United States has propped up because he’s better than any popularly elected alternative that we can see coming from the region. A rather telling quote can be found here, in an article titled, appropriately enough, “US Likely to Continue Aid to Pakistan: Stuck Between Rock and Hard Place”:

Musharraf and his advisers, meanwhile, appear to be quite confident. There’s little to no doubt in their minds about whether or not the US will continue to support Musharraf’s regime. One aide to the Pakistani president said that the US “would rather have a stable Pakistan — albeit with some restrictive norms — than have more democracy prone to fall in the hands of extremists,” which - like it or not - sounds logical.

Unfortunately, in part because we keep supporting people like Musharraf in the region, there is no groundswell support of American interests in Pakistan. Any broadly popular political movement in Pakistan is guaranteed to have interests that are at least perpendicular to ours, if not flat-out opposed. However, until we start supporting popular interests in Pakistan, that’s never going to change. Of course, if all popular options in Pakistan are opposed to us, it’s quite understandable why we would want nothing to do with any of them, and it’s also quite understandable why we would not want a proven nuclear power to be directly opposed to us.

I’m guest blogging on Fire Chris Ault, a relatively nice and friendly blog detailing why the current football coach for the University of Nevada should retire. It won’t phase my output here much because, well, I haven’t been posting here much lately, so there you go.

Yes, I know I’ve been blogging about cars a lot lately. Too bad. I like cars, I was raised in a Dodge family, and there’s a lot going on. According to the New York Times, Chrysler is shedding 11,000 jobs and discontinuing the PT Cruiser convertible, Magnum, Pacifica, and Crossfire.

None of this is terribly surprising.

I never understood the Magnum - a V-8 station wagon in the 21st century? It was an interesting idea, but not one that I saw a whole lot of people jumping on. I do think a station wagon can still do well in the American market, but it needs to be a little more practical. The Crossfire has never reviewed well and was just a little too flashy for its own good. As for the Pacifica… I’m actually mildly surprised by that one. I’ve seen a fair number of them on the road, and they cut the price of them substantially compared to when they first came out. I must’ve missed something thing.

Things I’d like to see Chrysler do now:

1. Get a real small car. This means getting rid of the bulky and ugly Caliber and actually finding a decent replacement for the Neon.
2. Enough crossovers. Build something that people actually want. I’ve yet to meet anyone that says, “Wow, you know what I want? A crossover!” I’m sure they’re out there, but I don’t think they’re anywhere near as many as Detroit thinks.
3. Bring back the Ram 50 and give it a diesel. Oooh… that’d be nice. A small truck with a diesel - I bet it’d sell better than people think, and it’d be profitable to boot.

I think #1 is the biggest issue - they’re going to lose an entire generation of buyers if they don’t get an entry level product that young people actually want to be caught dead in.