Today’s sarcastic comics in economic correlations: Bush meets Berlusconi
Prince Albert - Sunday - December 19, 2004 - by: Mario deSantis
"Nearly every major economic indicator has deteriorated since you [Bush] took office in January, 2001...[and] if your economic advisers are telling you that these deficits can be defeated through further reductions in tax rates, then you need new advisers." Open Letter to President George W. Bush from 169 Economics Professors, October 4, 2004[1]
	I am overwhelmed by the deliberate messy confusion I find in today's social and economic predicament. In particular, I am disturbed about the proliferation of the many scientific statistical polls/researches splashed all over the mass media. My succinct comment to this inundation of statistical polls is that such polls are restricting our capacity to think for ourselves and they are a waste of economic resources. A few days ago I came upon a statistical research dealing with the length of Italian penises.[2] A result of this research is that 23% of Italians are not satisfied with the length of their penises; another scientific result is the discovery of a straight correlation between the length of the penis and the height of the individual. I wonder if these scientific breakthroughs would have an impact on our economic growth as people would ask for more psychological therapies and as surgeons would devote more efforts to satisfy the whim for longer penises for shorter people. I am laughing, I just exchanged few e-mails with Timothy Shire, publisher of Ensign, and in one such e-mail I nicknamed the economic policies of the Bush administration "Bushcomics," and at the same time Shire expressed his feeling that with Bush "the basic rules of inquiry have been suspended." George Bush and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have been meeting last Thursday, December 15, at the White House. A few days ago, Bush’s friend Bernard Kerik announced the withdrawal for his nomination to become secretary of Homeland Security citing problems he was experiencing with his nanny[3] while he was away to rally the troops at Ground Zero.[4] Then a few days ago, the day after Silvio Berlusconi was not found guilty of bribing the judiciary since the statute of limitations had run out,[5] Berlusconi’s friend Senator Marcello Dell’ Utri was sentenced to nine years in prison for bribing the judiciary in the same Berlusconi’s affair.[6] So, here we have Bush and Berlusconi together sharing their economic policies for the world. As Berlusconi raised the concern of the falling dollar Bush replied "The policy of my government is a strong-dollar policy." Further, Bush added that if the world is concerned about the American trade deficit then "people can buy more United States products if they're worried about the trade deficit."[7] I continue to sarcastically laugh as I find a straight correlation between ‘Bush and the economy’ and ‘Nero and the burning of Rome.’
	Mario deSantis
References:
1. .	169 Economics professors Open Letter to President George W. Bush October 4, 2004 http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/101204I.shtml
2. ...	Societ  italiana di andrologia Maschi, il complesso immotivato delle dimensioni December 13, 2004 Corriere della Sera http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/2004/12_Dicembre/13/sesso.shtml
3. ..	New York Times Kerik's nanny issue his latest blemish: Bush accepts his withdrawal; previous financial and work problems begin to surface December 12, 2004 http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/2943067
4. .	Buettner, Russ Now his double affair laid bare. Kerik cheated on wife with Judith Regan and correction officer December 13, 2004, Daily News http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2004/12/shenanigans.html
5. .	Scherer, Steve Italy's Berlusconi Acquitted of Corruption by Court (pdf) December 10, 2004 Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ax3.i52YfAhA&refer=top_world_news
6. .	CNN International Mafia case: Berlusconi ally guilty (pdf) December 11, 2004 http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/12/11/berlusconi.ally.reut/index.html
7. .	Hunt, Terence Bush Pledges Strong-Dollar Policy (pdf) December 15, 2004 AP http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/bush
Image Credits:
	Top picture, the base image was by Lawrence Jackson of AP, December 20, 2004 at Executive Office building press conference
	Bush and Berlusconi in the oval office by Reuters, Larry Downing
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