Entries for May 2006

I'm looking forward to the three-day Memorial Day weekend as much as anybody. It's a great respite from the five-day routine, plus it signals the start of the summer slack-off season. But I've come across some interesting new data that will probably make me a little bit anxious while I'm munching coleslaw in the backyard: Millions of high strivers in countries like India, China, and Singapore are much more willing to forgo these kinds of holidays—and other lifestyle privileges–in order to get ahead.

So let's look around and see whom we can blame for rising gas prices. There's China, selfishly buying up oil for its own mushrooming fleet of cars, with no consideration at all for American drivers. Iran is burnishing its axis-of-evil credentials by making vague threats about destroying its economy and cutting off its own flow of oil to world markets. Hugo Chávez…well, he's buddies with Castro. That's all anybody needs to know about him. Detroit has been forcing us to drive big gas guzzlers for years, and the nefarious oil companies just sit there and…make money!…as demand for their product outstrips supply.

Have you heard? China is poised to take over the world. Its scheming Communist government is scouring the planet for every last bit of oil, steel, and cement. Chinese banks have secret plans to sell off massive amounts of U.S. government securities and create a tidal wave of rising interest rates in America. When President Hu Jintao was in the States recently, his main goal was to persuade American companies to build more stuff in China so his minions can reverse-engineer the products, produce cheap knockoffs, and drive America out of business.