...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Friday, October 17, 2003
      ( 12:29 PM )
 
Well, At Least There Was No Barfing

Bush had dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi tonight (it's already tonight in Japan) and managed to get through it without any regurgitation episodes. So that's one up from his dad. Bush is on an Asian Mission: strong arm the countries into helping us by cripling their own economies. I think it may work - Bush is such a sweet and persuasive guy, after all.

Bush himself made no public comment on
the touchy topic of Tokyo's policy of intervening
in foreign exchange markets to stem the
yen's recent rise against the dollar.

But a senior U.S. administration official told
reporters later: "The president once again
reiterated his support for a strong dollar and
for market-determined exchange rates."

In other words, Bush went over to strong-arm Japan into complying with our economic wishes. It's an interesting tactic, considering Japan is one of the only countries to actually give a LOT of money to our Iraq "problem."

Tokyo spent a record 13.5 trillion yen
($123 billion) in the first nine months of the
year to try to stem the rise of the currency,
which recently hit three-year highs against
the dollar.

U.S. manufacturers say a weak yen threatens
their competitiveness. Japan is worried that a
strong yen could hurt its rebounding economy
by making exports too expensive.

This is unacceptable to Bush. He and his cronies are determined that the "markets" must rule - and so any country that attempts to intervene to protect its own currency is just asking to get on our enemies list right now. Funny thing, how Bush insists that other economies do what we want, even if it means their own struggling countries are hurt by it. Way to make friends and influence people!

"We need a level playing field when it comes
(to) trade and a level playing field will help us
create jobs here in America," Bush said in
California before leaving for Japan on the first
leg of a trip that will also take him to the
Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia
and Australia.

It's all about a "level playing field," which means fair for the U.S., not for anyone else. But this is somewhat confusing. Bush is saying that these countries should make it easier for us to create jobs in our country. But Bush also lauds US corporations that continue to send factories and outsource staff to other countries. So he says one thing but does another? What is this? Oh, wait a minute... this is the Bush administration. It's not about what they do, it's about how well they can obfuscate. Sorry, lost my place on the hymnsheet for a second there.

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