It is a shame I can't get on a Quango!!

It is a shame I can't get on a Quango especially with the Tory-Lib government committed to cutting down waste. Apparently, there are quangoes to monitor the work of other quangoes!! Maybe that is not true but in the British National Health Service (NHS) the sheer number of these quasi-non-governmental organisations were unable to prevent major negative outcomes at a Staffordshire hospital. I suppose I am not a member of the great and the good or of the politically correct. There was that couple in Scotland, which made an absolute mint by sitting on loads of public sector boards.

Changing the subject you do wonder about our government bosses. Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox has berated our NATO allies for not pulling their weight in Afghanistan. I think it would make more sense for Fox to start howling when there is a full moon than to expect the Germans and Italians to put any combat troops near trouble zones. If the Canadians can set a timetable for pulling out then we should do the same. There is plenty of anti-British rhetoric coming out of Barack Obama, a bit more would not make any difference. The way he spits out "British Petroleum" maybe we should set up a peace and reconcilliation commission and investigate did we really torture his Grandad in Kenya. Perhaps the Brits should kick up more of a fuss about extraordinary rendition, water-boarding etc.

Is the world economy choking on American dollars?

In the Sunday Telegraph Liam Halligan writes a perceptive article on the imbalances of the world economy.
With cheap American dollars used to buy cheap Chinese exports there is now the problem of the "carry trade" with people borrowing the low yielding greenback to buy
higher yielding assets. This is sowing the seeds of the next world crisis.

On the same page Ambrose Evans-Pritchard notes that Germany is hiding its bank losses
while countries are willing to bankrupt themselves buying Asian goods. Also, Ambrose-Pritchard notes that the main deficit countries are the United States with $628bn, Spain with $109bn, Italy with $62bn, France with $58bn, United Kingdom with $53bn and Greece with $42bn.

The Chinese are unhappy accumulating depreciating dollars but don't seem to want a free floating yuan or to turn away from exports and expand their domestic
economy.

With the U.S banking industry in a pretty bad way and healthcare reform dividing the country, the new Obama administration seems to have lost a lot of goodwill very quickly. When a million people attend an anti-Obama rally in Washington that is quite something.

Michael Portillo looks at the Basra departure.

In the recent Sunday Times, former Conservative Minister Michael Portillo wrote a very perceptive article about our departure from Basra. He noted that the U.S military were getting a bit miffed about the British Army's supposed skills in counter-insurgency gained from Northern Ireland. Portillo also noted that the UK lacked the stomach for the Iraqi campaign. What was the point of having all our weapons such as nuclear etc?
www.searchaccountant.co.uk
However, what was heartening was the number of posts to the article from the United States, which praised the contribution of the British troops on the ground. There was a local post saying that we are such a small country (bankrupt one at that) we should not get involved.
My view is that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who sees his main job as cutting military expenditure, should have had the courage of his convictions and pulled the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, when he got the top job. We are in an impossible
situation. We can't win the wars and we will never get much leverage with the Americans. Commentators are suddenly noting that the British tortured Obama's grandfather in Kenya. Why he is going to support us?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5375770.ece

Barack Obama will have to manage expectations.

Barack Obama is an amazing speaker and his message of "change" has struck a chord both in the United States and elsewhere. The senator will now have to manage expectations because the challenges are pretty tough. For instance, the extension of health insurance to all Americans defeated the Clinton administration. The imposition of an NHS style solution would be defeated by the size of the U.S population. Health schemes throughout the world are coming under pressure of increased costs and longevity whatever their funding model.
www.searchaccountant.co.uk
The president-elect of the United States will benefit from Democrat majorities in the Sentate and in the House of Representatives. If he brings the same competence to bear as he did for the election campaign, which raised a record amount of money, then Obama could be well-placed to reach his goals. He can make quite a few changes to Bush policies by executive order.