It is interesting that there are frivolous money stories in the news. Here is an excerpt from a USA Today editorial;
When the United States is running huge budget deficits and Americans are experiencing considerable pain at the gasoline pump, does it make any sense to subsidize a country with a huge budget surplus and an estimated $70 billion windfall this year in oil exports?
The short, and mostly correct, answer is no.
The country is Iraq, where the United States has spent more than $500 billion since the start of the war in 2003 and is still paying about $10 billion a month for fighting, reconstruction and training Iraqi troops. Iraq's economy is fragile, and its big surplus is based on volatile oil revenue that could nosedive if the price per barrel plummets, so caution is advised. But for now, Iraq is flush with cash and could be doing more to offset U.S. spending there.
Three places to shift the burden seem obvious.
The United States has paid about $48 billion for rebuilding projects over the past five years. While Iraq has gradually taken over most of that spending, the Bush administration is still seeking about $1 billion in reconstruction money in its new Iraq spending proposal. Iraq should handle that cost.
Additionally, the United States is paying about $90 million a month to groups of former Sunni insurgents who have joined U.S. forces to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq. That has been a good investment, but there's no reason the Iraqis couldn't start picking up the tab.
Perhaps most galling is the energy imbalance. American forces in Iraq are paying $153 million a month — $3.23 a gallon — for gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. Iraq, meanwhile, sits atop the world's fourth largest oil reserves. The nation does lack refining capacity and has to send the oil abroad. But its drivers pay a subsidized cost of $1.30 a gallon for their gasoline, and the U.S. military deserves a comparable discount.
The short, and mostly correct, answer is no.
The country is Iraq, where the United States has spent more than $500 billion since the start of the war in 2003 and is still paying about $10 billion a month for fighting, reconstruction and training Iraqi troops. Iraq's economy is fragile, and its big surplus is based on volatile oil revenue that could nosedive if the price per barrel plummets, so caution is advised. But for now, Iraq is flush with cash and could be doing more to offset U.S. spending there.
Three places to shift the burden seem obvious.
The United States has paid about $48 billion for rebuilding projects over the past five years. While Iraq has gradually taken over most of that spending, the Bush administration is still seeking about $1 billion in reconstruction money in its new Iraq spending proposal. Iraq should handle that cost.
Additionally, the United States is paying about $90 million a month to groups of former Sunni insurgents who have joined U.S. forces to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq. That has been a good investment, but there's no reason the Iraqis couldn't start picking up the tab.
Perhaps most galling is the energy imbalance. American forces in Iraq are paying $153 million a month — $3.23 a gallon — for gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. Iraq, meanwhile, sits atop the world's fourth largest oil reserves. The nation does lack refining capacity and has to send the oil abroad. But its drivers pay a subsidized cost of $1.30 a gallon for their gasoline, and the U.S. military deserves a comparable discount.
Now you know why people are frustrated....
Shakespere
Pittsburgh PA has won something they'd rather not win. It is the the first city outside California that has been named the sootiest in the nation. Sootiest is one of the categories the American Lung Association uses to determine the most polluted cities in the country.
Brazilian Gisele Bundchen is the world's top supermodel with estimated earnings of $35 million during the past year.
She more than doubled the estimated $14 million earned by Heidi Klum, who came in at No. 2 on the list by Forbes.com, followed by Kate Moss with $7.5 million, Adriana Lima with $7 million and Doutzen Kroes with $6 million. Forbes.com said that although Bundchen finished her lucrative Victoria's Secret contract last year, she continues to juggle 20 other modeling jobs.
A pile of dinosaur dung 130 million years old sold at a New York auction for nearly $1,000. The fossilized dung is from the Jurassic era, the auction house said. It looks like a rock on the outside and a colorful mineral inside. The buyer owns OurPets, a company that sells products to treat dog and cat waste. He bought the dung in hopes of motivating his employees and using it as a marketing tool by displaying it at the company's booth at trade shows, he said.
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