Power Cut

Several newspapers, periodicals and other scholarly journals publish the results of The Fund for Peace's annual Failed (or Failing) State Index. The FSI is the best indicator of how a country stands realistically. Ignoring numbers like GDP/GNP and looking deeper into the core of what makes a country so great like access to health care, education, media information, adequate infrastructure as well as looking at things like violent crime and sustainability.

Surprisingly enough, several European and North American (yes, that includes you US) states have been listed in the 'moderate' failing category. The top failing state is Somalia (#1) where as Norway (#177) takes the top position. Out of the 177 countries evaluated, the United States comes in at number 161 and Germany at 155. Not too shabby.

I noticed however that the FSI doesn't measure decline in international influence as a measuring factor. I think that if that was measured by the FSI, the United States would most certainly be in the top five in sudden loss of power.

If you care to read the report you may do so here.

Fear

I fear for the first time today that I might actually have to stay in Germany past my contract next summer.

I'm afraid that the US economy will be in such bad shambles (unemployment at least 9% -12%) that I won't simply be able to find a job in the States. I might actually have to stay in Germany and keep teaching English. The thought of staying in Germany isn't too bad, it's the thought of staying in my current job which kills me.

This economic bailout of the markets (whatever happened to the invisible hand? free markets? capitalism without risk?) is costing the US taxpayer billions upon billions of dollars in which we just don't have to spend. It's not there. Why? If the world financial system was so dependent on the US government saving the banks, then where exactly is support from central banks around the world?

Oil prices shot up $25 today.

We've allowed our own country to internally combust while doing nothing. I received over the weekend my application for absentee ballot. Not that an absentee ballot really counts anyway. Its just a farce. But Ohio is a swing state and I've got to do what I can to uphold democracy, so to speak.

Can't have your cake and eat it too.

Airway Robbery

Can someone please explain the airline pricing process to me. Maybe I'm dense, but I don't understand it.

1. A round-trip ticket from Frankfurt, Germany to Cincinnati, Ohio (both major Delta hubs) will run you $1,300 this year.
2. A multi-city trip including Frankfurt to Ohio, Ohio to the Washington, D.C. area then from Washington back to Frankfurt will cost a mere $1,084 when purchased through Delta.

I don't get it. How is it that the more I fly...the less I pay? The less I fly, the more I pay? I hate the airline industry.

I'm hoping that prices drop below the $1,000 mark. And when they do, I'm pouncing on my ticket home for the holidays.

Shite

The world is in shambles. My country is in shambles.
I have got to stop reading the news. Otherwise, I won't make it out of this election cycle.

Things I like:

1. Renewable energies
2. Deficits less than $5 Trillion
3. Keeping Russia in check
4. Non-laughable health care system

Things I don't like:

1. pit bulls with or without lipstick
   
2. drilling for oil off our coast or in our wildlife refuges. (It won't even effect oil production for another ten years, idiot).
   
3. continued deficit spending
4. tearing the constitution to shreds (see quote from Ben Franklin).
   

The Short List

This is the short list I'm compiling of potential schools where I will be applying for graduate admissions into an International Relations/Affairs/Diplomacy program. No particular order so far.

1. The Fletcher School of Diplomacy at Tufts University. Boston, Mass.
2. The Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Washington, D.C.
3. American University
4. Technical University of Dresden. Dresden, Germany.
5. Freie University. Berlin, Germany.
6. The London School of Economics. London, UK
7. The Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. Vienna, Austria.
8. The Edmund A. Walsch School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Washington, D.C.
9. The School of Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.

Should any of the above fail to accept me I would accept a position at the College of Social Sciences at Florida State University, Tallahassee (my alma mater) but only with substantial financial aid.

I love the smell of failed policy in the morning.

So I like to think of myself as an educated, fair and open person. That includes not throwing out any particular candidate in the election process until I've read the facts. And I'd like to spread that goodness to you.

As you know, I'm a Foreign Policy geek. Which includes a subscription to Foreign Policy magazine, (I used to subscribe to Foreign Affairs, but even that is too dry for me) spending hours perusing various news sources and worrying about the future. However, FP online has published ten policies of both McCain and Obama's that might be problematic for the US. Not just foreign in nature but also some domestic policies. I encourage you to take a look at the magazine and read both of the dossiers composed.

The List: McCain's 10 Worst Ideas can be found here.

The List: Obama's 10 Worst Ideas can be found here.