suspended

thIs is My blOg and the Vote is to suspEnD and CAn iT, Can'T Have it Magically Erased. shucks!
ps. puzzles and more are back

Stuff to Steal

stole this from 7aki, so thought to fill it up...

I am: Always trying to learn a new thing.
I think: Its about time to get off my ass after being lethargic for more than two years.
I know: that i am doing better now than 6 months ago.
I have: been away from this blog and the internet for a long time
I wish: That I can figure out how things are going to be 2 years from now. Since by then a lot should have changed by then.
I hate: how I had been lied to, spied on, manipulated, and generally not being myself.
I miss: my partner of 4 years it will never be the same at work without him
I fear: Disclosure and the mayhem it might bring, oh and going back to Yemen.
I hear: that you can shoot someone 4 times and get off with close to nothing if your last name is birdy (asfour), but i guess the same can't be said about being a pedo those birdies get caught on camera and go to jail. so birdies shoot away.
I smell: little to nothing, pretty much lost it at a young age.
I crave: A cordon bleu.
I search: to grasp an rope's end.
I wonder: what others that are close to me are thinking, especially the ones that i can't ask directly.
I regret: what ? me ? nah !
I love: the fact that I wore a skirt this morning, soooo comfy (me3waz, wizra whatever you wanna call it .... this thing in case you people start thinking I'm more of a pervert than i already am...) I ache: sometimes when I think too much and end up not sleeping at night.
I am not: a lot of things that people think I am, and I'm a lot of things they never think I could be. All without being a liar or a hypocrite, and just by capitalizing on peoples ability to be in denial
I believe: that I need to be less of an asshole to people, regardless of the fact that i think they totally deserve whats coming to them ... that's why i never am nicer ;)
I dance: atleast once a week, to get the jitterbugs out of my system
I sing: at the top of my lungs while I'm driving (and dancing too)
I cry: rarely now, i think i dried my ducts as a kid (Big boys do cry!)
I fight: with myself quite a lot ...
I win: at losing ? does that qualify ?
I lose: when I feel that it would make others happy while I could careless about it, that's quite often. competitive sports aint my thing
I almost never: fully comprehend anything, there is always more to learn about it.
I always: try to keep the people i care about close to me, closer than most and it sometimes spreads me thin
I confuse: others by my unwillingness to fit in one of two polar camps
I listen: to others and genuinely enjoy.
I can usually be found: at my home(s) .... or online ...
I am scared: of being in my thirties and its totally unrelated to my age.
I need: To be complimented every once in a while (even though i act contrary to that and might bitch at you for doing it)
I am happy about: A lot
I imagine: my area if specialization will be drasticly different than what i studied years ago.

Prices only go up in our version of the the "free" market

cartoon by payne

I told u so ... prices only go up in our version of the the "free" market
So the prices for gas have been priced at $140 per barrel in jordan and it took them like 10 days to actually price it at that after it hit that mark ... now after 18 trading session of falling petrol prices and it being at $123 (a 16% drop from the peak) we are told that they might think about lowering the price and fixing things if it hits $90 a barrel! &@ck#%% $#^! $u^& licking ^%$&* #%^&#%&^ #%#&%^ @#!#!@#
This concludes our short report of "you should've known betta!"
ENJOY!

Disturbia p.IV

haven't done this in a while and this one is different since its only one site !
go there for a dose of truly disturbing whispers -- http://www.commonties.com

sample 1:



Sample 2:



Sample 3:

2il 3asfora 2alatli (the lil robin told me) ...

Sick and tired to having to pay your bills for water and electricity ? are you tired of being to have unlimited access to water and electricity and then paying for it (sometimes optional or heavily discounted) ?
Well soon enough you won't have to! introducing the pre-paid electricity and water system coming to Amman by the end of the year. no more worries, need water at mid-night because your water quota has been consumed ... you should have known better beaver, you should have been prepared and kept some pre-paid cards reserved.
Welcome to the new utility horizon !

So diesel costs for the winter are going to be a pain, gas ? not a chance you might as well take out those Romos and sell them while you can ?
So what are the people supposed to do ? well easy turn to electricity and wood... so hail on the new deforestation age and illegally cutting trees for timber (yeah thats like so last year). Actually the interesting phenomena this summer, i believe that it will get worse in winter, is that people are actually stealing electricity from the main lines and overloading the stations in the process (because its not just 1 or 2 people it is the whole damn neighborhood). so come winter expect this piece of news to make its rounds.

The future of the internet, will you bend over please ?

This is what they are trying to do, kill off the free medium of expression that we all have and cherish. If you think "meh... this is canada its not going to affect me!" then you are wrong ! once the model is applied in one country, other ISP's will be slobbering to cash in. They already started that with mobile internet websites and soon they will embark on decimating the internet.
Stand up !

Source - Ipower



Extra Reading - Article by mike finch

ps. while this seems to be a hoax its still a viable future ...

Jordan; a 110% behind entrepreneurs. sho bitgol ?!

Nassim was Talking a while back about issue blogging so I thought I'll pitch in to the cup, what I want to talk about today is a fairly simple issue; how regulations, the blessings system and bureaucracy blocks and crushes entrepreneurial spirit in our community. It really is interesting for me to be living in a country and always hearing people say that they are a 110% backing entrepreneurs. while, in reality, they are just paddling backwards when it comes to it.

well the story goes like this, a group of Jordanian individuals came up with an idea that had a lot of potential, something that would raise the level of services in the public schools.

The idea was to centralize the food production for schools, to arrange that all the food that will be provided for the public school to be produced and packaged in a central stations located in proximity to a group of schools and delivered fresh daily to the schools. each meal will compose of a balanced diet, the centralization of the meal will reduce the cost on the students and there will be subsidies and aids. Even 10% of the profits will go into a scholarship & aid fund for the students, without effecting the current break-ups. The element that will be effected is the system in which the teachers at the beginning of the year cut a deal with the falafel store at the corner of the school to provide the cafeteria with sandwiches around the year .... YUM !

So since the project involves the public school system you have to go do the rounds of blessings from various people and more importantly the department of education.
So you go and do your presentation rounds and the atmosphere is mostly reactionary... they will attack you on every front if they feel that you will curtail on their authority, reduce their income streams or be a serious competitor to anything on the market. On the other hand if you have a genuinely profitable idea that hasn't be implemented then you will certainly be blocked, without a reason or justification for that rejection. It's the attitude of "2i7na awla" (we deserve it more) that prevails.

By the way if anybody has the leverage to implement the idea, please make haste and hit the ground running. It's already in the pipeline.

ps. this was supposed to be one of those long posts that dissects things but it kinda never made it there.

Meh .....

"Obviously fighting against the Israeli's gives you the right and the backing to do whatever you want, and guarantees you a clean bill regardless of what you do. So by that logic it is perfectly fine for me to be peccant and the evilest being on earth as long as i promise that i do it for the sake of justice ? And people nod happily to that ?"

"You know how they tell you a cup is either half full or half empty ? I say bullshit ... the whole concept of the cup is an illusion for the masses to be fooled into thinking that there is any substance to what they are seeing at all ... in fact there is nothing. And the group that gets on my nerves the most are the ones that think although it's half full it is really full since it's bottomless cup of water."

"Moderates should really die, i suggest a mass seppuku it would be quite the spectacle.... reason.... well they are the wolf's in a sheep cloth, pandering around that they are centrist and peaceful people while allowing extremist of both sides to transgress.... worst kind are those damn religious moderates! "

" It must have been a very sinister guy that coined the term "blowjob", so that he can crack up every time a girl tries to blow his whistle"

ENJOY!

Only I.F... (Inflation Fornication)

So after discussing some background about inflation, and heaps of people complaining about it (of course not on here!) and the people discussing whether it's ethical or not, or whether it's an international phenomena that our revered government can do nothing about or not. There have even been voices about holding a strike on May 4th, and discussion ensued on whether it's even a good idea!

With all that talk about inflation I have not once read, from a Jordanian perspective, what are the actual options available for us to fight inflation, or some forecast to where we are heading. The most common thing that gets repeated is "the government is doing the best they can and the population should bear with the situation right now since it will pass"

Inflation is a perpetual problem that faces every economy and it's addressed by the fiscal policy of a country in order to expect it and put measures to control it and meet those expectations.
To fight a sharp rise in inflation both short term and long term plans must be adopted after identifying the main cause for the inflation, which i'll attempt to zero in on later on in this post.

In what follows I'll try to the best of my ability to answer most of those question, atleast from my perspective.

Is sharp increases in inflation an international problem ? if so how are other countries dealing with it ?

simply YES ! inflation rates in many countries have rose to critical level during the past year. Taking a look at inflation rates of countries around us and those who we do considerable importing from:

So we note that Gulf countries have experienced a huge inflation (with Qatar having the lead with its 13.8%) that is expected due to their economical boom and increases in oil prices. The main cause of inflation in those countries are their currency pegs against the dollar, with booming economies and the continued lowering of interest rates on the dollar it is forcing those central banks in the gulf to lower their interest rates instead of increasing it which is causing more inflation. The current method adopted to fight inflation in those countries is to raise wages and cap commodities prices, and they are intervening directly in real estate loans since real estate is the other major contributing factor of inflation. Kuwait broke its dollar peg in may of last year for basket of currencies, although it remained heavily weighed. there is growing pressure on other gulf countries to drop their pegs too in order to be able to maintain the economic growth rather than adopting band aid solutions that will contribute to future inflation. While the other option is to allow their currencies to appreciate against the dollar.

Given that 23% of Jordan imports are from Saudi Arabia, a 16 year high inflation rate is sure to translate into our markets. On the other hand China (inflation of 8% by the 1st quarter of this year) with a share of 8% of Jordanian imports (a figure that sure sounds too low in my opinion) is sure to translate in even higher rates. The inflation in China is a combination of four major factors, the fixed exchange rate with the dollar, the increases in oil prices, the super booming economy, and the developing middle class with the ability for spending.

Currently China is fighting inflation with little success, they are using commodity price controls and fixing the price of gas, they are raising their interest rates and bank reserve requirement and hoping to hold out from attacking the main culprit for inflation which is their undervalued currency against the dollar. if they decide to reevaluate their yuan (Chinese currency) by selling off their dollar reserves (in the form of T-Bills) they are bound to bring down the house of cards.

Focus! so what about Jordan ?

Well For Jordan, as discussed in the previous article, the causes of inflation in order of importance are as follow:

• Increased taxation and lifting of subsidies on commodities which contributed to market uncertainty and sharp increases in the prices of commodities.
  
• A Bubble real estate market that is fueled by speculation due to the low interest rate and enticing loan arrangements which is not reflected with an equal rise in demand.
  
• Increase in commodity prices globally regardless of the first point, coupled with a depreciating currency

Taxation is becoming the sole contributor to the Jordanian fiscal budget, after the privatization of many governmental income streams based on the requirements of free market adoption recommended by the world bank and IMF. The country found no option to reduce the deficit without increasing the taxation and lifting the subsidies, the problem with both is twofolds; one is the timing which came at a turbulent time where there is no stability in global market prices, two in the mismanaged transparency in lifting up the subsidies based on schedule rather than surprise which was the case.

Now that the subsidies have been lifted totally, it will most likely be followed by an increase in taxation, most likely an increase on an already high sales tax.

Since real estate speculation has been a major contributor for Jordanian economy and we are already reached the peak in that market, it will most likely put even more pressure on the speculators translated by higher level of defaults at banks and a slow down in the real estate market akin to the one experience in the early 90's after the second gulf war estate boom.

Short Term solutions

Currently those are some of the short term solutions that might be able to curb the inflation rate and help elevate the consequences on the citizens.

• Lifting of subsidies and revaluation of commodity prices that are set by the government should be fixed to a schedule that is transparent to the citizens while taking into account the shortages that might occur before each increase. That will help price stability in the market. stabilizing the prices of certain staple commodities as was done with natural gas is also encouraged but not to overburden the budget. (prices of natural gas, bread, livestock's grain and hay prices have been fixed)
  
• The increase in productivity and private sector profits haven't been translated in higher wages coupled with low interest rates encouraged debt while discouraging savings. The salaries for the private and public sector should be increase accordingly and the minimum wage to be reevaluated based on current prices. (lip services increases in salary that doesn't meet the cost of living increases)
  
• To maintain the investment in real estate which is a main driver of the economy in jordan it is encouraged to fix the price of iron. ( the government reduced the sales tax on iron from 16% to 8%)
  
• Limiting the amount of loans given out by public banks in order to limit the supplies by a requirement to increase the reserves.
• Encouragement of farming and agriculture projects that are provided with governmental protection in form of loans and tax exemptions to satisfy the country's local needs for staple commodities especially grain. To ward off the inflation and speculation of the global market and to make it viable to be competitive locally with the governmental backing.
  

Long Term solutions

On the long term the major problems that are facing Jordan are ever increasing petrol consumption without any semblance of independence or capitalization on years of dirt cheap oil. The shortage of water supplies and the dependence on seasonal rain reservoirs, and wide economic restructuring.

• Re-investment of the privatization capitol in forms of alternative energy, in terms of nuclear, solar or wind energy sources in order to provide part of the countries energy needs and to drive up a new sector into economic growth. The solution and pipe dreams of oil shale and petrol wells being found in Jordan do little since they will come at a time period that will demand more cost effective solutions for Jordan and Shale oil as it stands currently will provide little of our energy needs at too exuberant of a cost, and talk about petrol beds being found conveniently at this time is a bit too frowzy for my taste.
  
• A solution to the ever dwindling value of the dollar, which with the current adopted policy of the fed will continue on deteriorating. So a solution to this problem will be necessary to remove some of the downward pressure on the Jordanian economy.
• A tightening of the budget is required, and by that I mean to act like the economy we are and not put up appearances for appearances sake. Till now, year over year our fiscal budget has been mushrooming endlessly.
  
• Economical transparency of the government budget and investments, plus the democratization of the process as has been worked on since the year 2000 is required to be followed upon, and careful attention needs to be given to the water shortage issues and methods of circumventing the problem with diplomatic ties with neighboring countries is needed.
  

Conclusion

Well I tried to be optimistic as much as possible. but i Got bored towards the end and had to wrap up, My only hope in the short term lies in the workers and people of jordan. It would be of extreme importance to start a co-operative consumer watch to help market forces and bring down commodity prices. That would be done by sharing consumer price information and boycotting the higher priced retailers. All that it requires of the consumer is to share their grocery bill with an aggregator and follow up on market prices and shop at the cheapest available option based on the data. that will surely control the supply cartel from increasing the prices too rashly.

On the other hand wages needs to pushed up from within the institutions, and the lowest paid workers need to organize in order to realize their fair share of the profit to translate into higher wages. Anyways am writing in English so all this falls to deaf ears in my opinion.

What is interesting is the latest brain storming session came to the conclusion that everything is dandy and the denizens have been through worse so there is no need to do anything to rectify the situation and we need to stay the course.
So dear denizens, please drop your pants and bend over cause you might as well start enjoying !

ENJOY !