Posted on 02/11/2011 2:25:29 PM PST by mojito
....Egypt has no oil, insignificant industry, small amounts of natural gas, and 40 million people who are about to become very, very hungry. Without figuring out how to feed the destitute bottom half of the Egyptian population, all the talk of "models" is window-shopping.
[....]
What happens next? Egypt's stock market has collapsed, and its pound has fallen to the lowest level since 2005, with some brokerage-house analysts warning of a 20% decline during the next several weeks. Foreign investors have deserted the market for Egyptian treasury securities, so the central bank will print money to give to the banks to buy government debt.
After half a century of military rule since the 1952 Free Officers' coup, Egypt's wealth is concentrated in the hands of the old regime and its family and friends. If this regime is overthrown, and the corrupt nexus of army and business faces expropriation, the entire liquid wealth of Egypt will make a run for the border, along with its current proprietors.
This is a formula for a classic currency breakdown and galloping inflation, which invariably means panic purchases of commodities and hoarding: a collapse of the Egyptian pound, uncontrolled capital flight, inability to finance a current account deficit in the $15 billion range, and chaos in the Egyptian economy. Egypt might appeal to the international community for help, but the largesse offered to 450,000 Gazans will not extend to the 40 million Egyptians living on less than $2 a day.
Egypt's rulers had a good run as an American client. They have not yet absorbed the enormity of Washington's abandonment of a reasonably faithful and consistent ally.
(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...
The only solution. Liberty and Islam are not compatible. There is no hope for Egypt as long as they remain Islamic.
well I think Obama just offered them lots of dollars.
starvation bump
They get their food and money from the government. Who will pay them and feed them with no bucks flowing in. The wolf is at the door.
Beenmy concern since day 1. Once the jubilation dies down, where are they going to get food for these people? Tourism is shut down. Not stable at all.
>>Free Markets, Individual liberty, a government without corruption.<<
Yeah, we could use a little of that over here in the US.
It’s those damned chickens again.
Egypt's rulers had a good run as an American client. They have not yet absorbed the enormity of Washington's abandonment of a reasonably faithful and consistent ally. Accustomed as they are to hypocrisy in all public discourse, the rulers did not quite grasp President Barack Obama's obsession ... America's president really is prepared to gamble core American interests on the sketchy proposition that Egypt can turn into a Muslim democracy.
Who says? This is small stuff. The US gets along fine with very high levels of male genital mutilation.
Egypt is going to have quite the hangover.
Well. Remarkable. As you say, read the whole thing.
Spengler is excellent and as he so often does, knocks it out of the park.
This is one of the reasons why I get my news and analysis here. The alphabet networks have nothing to offer but adolescent navel-gazing. If you want to know what is going on you go to the web. FR should be first stop.
If Fox ever hires Spengler, maybe to take the slot right after Beck, maybe they could finally retire the dufus BOR and it will be a win-win all the way around.
I heard on John Bachelor last night that 35% of Egypt’s workforce works for the government. It’s economy cannot sustain itself with that much of the worforce getting paid by the government. It takes decades for someone with a technical degree to get a job anywhere in Egypt because there is no industry. They hate us because we have supported the Mubarak government for 30+ years.
Right. It works every time it's tried.
Good thing conservatives have all the guns.
Howzat? I don't see any Americans in the streets shouting "Death to Egypt".
Read all the articles there
>>The US gets along fine with very high levels of male genital mutilation.<<
Um, there are medical reasons to circumcise.
# Uncircumcised men are about twice as likely to be infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) and pass it along to sexual partners, resulting in higher cervical cancer rates in regions where the majority of men are uncircumcised [source: Infectious Diseases Society of America]. It also appears that circumcision helps protect against infection from chlamydia and syphilis [source: JAMA].
# Recent studies have shown that circumcision can dramatically reduce the rate of HIV infection. According to these studies, a circumcised man is 60 percent less likely to contract HIV than an uncircumcised man [source: Timbert]. (This holds true only in the case of female-to-male transmission — circumcision hasn’t been seen to influence the rate of male-to-male HIV transmission [source: JAMA].)
Per Web-MD
I suspect you would have a hard time coming up with any medical reason to rationalize a clitorectomy.
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