Letters to the Editor
cdunlea
Published Letters: 154 Editor's Choice: 35
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@Robot
[Read the article: Malthus is in the air]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"But what does this mean? It means Egypt and all the Egypts do the best they can to buy what food they need. Sometimes it works, like in Egypt, sometimes it does not, like in Zimbabwe or North Korea."
You seem to have confused "ability" with intent. These countries you mention have and have always had the ability to feed themselves, they simply don't want to due to self-imposed policies. South Korea, for example, is rapidly becoming one of the most prosperous nations in the world and is very much able to feed itself. In terms of climate and resources it is virtually identical to the land north of the 38th parallel. Yet while a South Korean's diet is rich in seafood, grains and vegetables and delivers plenty of daily calories, North Koreans as recently as 2004 were told by their government that grass is better for you than rice, due to chronic shortages. North Korea can feed itself, it merely chooses to spend its resources on other things, and curtails/eliminates the entire private sector that has always been the engine for greatest productivity.
Zimbabwe is the same way. The former Rhodesia was able to feed itself just fine. But after 30 years of Mugabe's policies of corruption and heavy-handedness, the country is on the brink of economic collapse. Part of the food problem is a direct result of the land seizures of the 1980's when white farmers had their farms appropriated, then sold off to local blacks, without training, resources or credit to purchase equipment, seed or fertilizer. The result is a catastrophe.
Malthus himself never realized that England proper never had a peacetime famine after 1624, due to the rise of enclosures, large-scale farming and agricultural development. Throw in the railroad and steam powered shipping, and famine could be averted almost anywhere there was a will to avert it. Throw in private enterprise and productivity can be sustained indefinitely.
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That's a no-brainer
[Read the article: Dawning of the age of the Asian PC]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Given that Federal policy toward stem cell research, global warming and the like are driven by some hillbilly redneck preacher's view of what God wants, it's not only likely more breakthroughs will be made outside this country, it's a damn near certainty.
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@robot
[Read the article: Malthus is in the air]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not sure what slogans you're talking about...
...but Won't and Can't ARE very different. I have a 13 year old daughter, I have to explain the difference all the time.
As for Egypt: how does the fact that 90% of Egyptians live within 10 miles of the Nile change anything? Especially when that's been the case since the Old Kingdom (3100 BC) and certainly during the reign of Cleopatra VIII, when the Nile Valley was the single largest exporter of grain to Rome?
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@Greeneyedkzin
[Read the article: Looking for a few good women]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Certainly agree--women will certainly find themselves in combat, even without the combat MOS. Since the age of the Hittites, supply columns have been a great way to attack the enemy at its weakest point (that's how the battle of Kadesh stated, I believe). Whether or not the law allows them to get an infanty MOS, they should be prepared to face hostile fire--and return it.
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Well, folks, this could have been predicted
[Read the article: Housing market refuses to stabilize]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]when you allow for the fact that there was a little, totally underreported change in how mortgages are created that took effect for most borrowers about March 8. I mentioned in another post weeks ago that the mortgage insurance (MI) companies were going broke; well, as of March 8, most of them came out with new rules saying that their minimum FICO score went from 575 to 620 with a considerable down payment, and to a 660 (!) with a small one. Overnight. The last MI company (Radian) followed suit effective April 1.
So, let's combine what's new over the past 2 months: borrower FICO minimums are now at requirements tolerating NO credit blemishes just to get a loan with less than 20% down; maximum financing in most markets is reduced by 5% per the GSEs when the property is in a declining market county; Expanded Approvals (for less than perfect buyers) are no longer being accepted by most lenders; the 100% Flex program is now all but extinct; and the Fannie Mae stated income loan program--a superprime loan for the self-employed requiring excellent credit, proven assets and other strong credentials--is being phased out.
Basically, if I ran a convenience store with the scope of changes like these being put in my business, I'd have to tell 8 out of 10 customers they weren't eligible to play the lotto, buy milk, cigarettes, bread or the paper in my store. Yes, 80% of actual transactions, based on what I've seen over the past three years of all prime loans I've written, would be affected by these changes. The only thing buoying these numbers up was the rush to FHA programs, which don't have these considerations--yet.
Given all that, Andrew, how could ANYONE familiar with the housing industry think the sales figures would rise this spring? Here's my prediction: the next batch of figures will fall again.