Turbo Iraq?

Let's start with an interesting reading on Iraq (a popular subject these days...).

As some of you may remember, I said that US deserves to make a profit after its (continuing) efforts to remove Saddam - and even Iraqi themselves agree with that (see the poll I linked in April). But:

But lack of oversight and transparency have created the opportunity for corruption. Businesspeople working in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan (two major sources of supplies for Iraq), allege that Halliburton's unchecked power to choose contractors and send the bill to the military opens the door to kickbacks.

A Tranparency International raport I posted some time ago also shows then when it comes to deals in 3rd world countires, US companies dont shy away from bribes and shady dealings.

Seems nobody is interested in changing that. :(

Anyway, my optimism for Iraq situation is being drained down. I *still* think that removal of Saddam was good and necessary, but what happened afterwards...*shrug*.

Now when one thinks of Marshall plan after the IIWW and the current problems in Iraq, there is an obvious question - why 50 years ago US could help rebuild a continent after a 5-year war (the official name of the Marshall plan was the EUROPEAN RECOVERY PROGRAM), and now it cant rebuild a single country after a month of hostilities?

There is something to be said for demagogy of using arguments from history to talk about present situation - it is always easy to critisize what is going on now, and wisely point and past events.

So I am not going to present an easy solution here - I am not even going to present *a solution*. I'd just like to point you out in the direction of an interesting concept.

People say that money makes the world tick. In other worlds, political decisions are influenced by the factors of the economic system. Is the economic system of today the same as the one 50 years ago?

How much have the capitalism changed over the past half century (or perhaps we should consider the process in the longer term)? And if it has, does it deserve another name, like turbocapitalism, perhaps?

I hope it is not that bad, and whaterver damage has occured, is and will be reverable. But for now, I can only hope - to know that, I would need to do lot more research. I'd value your opinions on that, though (hint - commment).

Untill another time...