CharmingGeek.net Funness

After reporting doom and gloom in Iraq throughout the entire election season, MSNBC/Newsweek is reporting that Iraq’s Economy is booming. Despite high unemployment, private enterprise is on a roll. Salaries have gone up by 100 percent since the fall of Saddam while income taxes have fallen by 66 percent. There are five times as many cars on the road in Iraq now compared to before the war. Real estate prices are skyrocketing as construction companies find success. Iraqis are now spending money they hoarded under the dictatorship on the flood of foreign goods that are now flowing tariff-free into their neighborhoods.
I’ve listened to the Iraq Study Group report (thanks to Reformed Chicks Blabbing) and I know things aren’t going swimmingly in Iraq. We all know that. The security situation is a mess, and the sectarian violence is enough to keep anybody from taking risks in business. But now that it’s safe to admit it, the mainstream media is reporting that political and economic freedom may bring prosperity to Iraq long before it can settle racial and religious differences.
via Hang Right Politics

You are the person of the year!

Try the Mercedes Winter Drift game. It’s a great way to waste time and get ready for that winter driving.

On an unrelated note, one in eighteen people has a third nipple.

Go visit Reformed Chicks Blabbing and vote for it in the Weblog Awards.

What a disaster! For this year’s Kennedy Center Honors reception a the White House, three other women showed up wearing the exact same Oscar de la Renta gown as first lady Laura Bush. For some reason, WCBS in New York is being particularly not nice about this, calling it the first lady’s “faux pas”, and saying “Laura Bush can’t compete.” USA Today points out that, not to make her guests feel more uncomfortable “The first lady, gracious as always, ran upstairs to change.”

The United Nations University has released a report claiming that the richest people in the world have more money and other stuff than everybody else.
There are some interesting numbers in there. According to the report, if you have net assets of more than $2200 then you’re wealthier than half the world. You’ll need $61,000 to be in the top 10% and about half a million to be among the world’s wealthiest one percent. If all the world’s wealth were pooled and distributed equally, we each get a check for about $20,000.
Additionally, you’ll find that the top percent holds 40% of the world’s total wealth, and people in the United States hold about 25% of the world’s assets, making it the wealthiest nation on earth. However, according to the report, due to some irregularity between exchange rates and purchasing power that I don’t understand, Japan may actually be wealthier.
Now that I’ve got you comparing yourself to everybody else, go over to the Global Rich List to see where you fall in the whole scheme of filthy, selfish greed. It should be noted that the Global Rich List is based on income, not wealth, and therefore is not only unrelated to the results of the UN report, but are also pretty much useless in determining how rich you are.
Granted, neither the UNU report nor the Global Rich List takes into account cost of living. There’s no doubt that we here in the US have it a lot better than people in most places in the world. I just hate the use of statistics to lump all the world’s people together financially and then make broad conclusions.
There’s something to chew on, anyway.

Thank you for the sweet tea. I’m lovin’ it.
Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for your chicken biscuit.

Dear Hardees,
Thank you for the thick burger. Can I please get one inside the Beltway?

I felt like I needed Morgan Freeman to narrate my epic journey to the office this morning.