With A Little Help From My Friends
March 11th, 2009 at 11:14 pm - by Tom Prout
Association can be a wonderful thing, as is demonstrated by France finally breaking 43 years of ‘independence’ in times to trouble to realign with NATO; the company you keep, however, can also have detrimental repercussions as demonstrated by Africa’s growing financial worries.
But if, when times are tough, the people in the room don’t quite fit the bill, one could also take the approach of one Leila Jenkins, who created an imaginary friend in order to attract other, more tangible ones. Suffice it to say, that no man, or woman, is an island; is that really such a good thing, though?
France’s decision to rejoin the NATO command is motivated primarily by their need for stronger representation in NATO affairs, and the idea of France having a Napoleonic complex is quite amusing, to me at least. All joking aside, however, the move which will be put to a no confidence vote next week will see a greater balance of decision making and contributions, of which, militarily, France’s is the fourth largest.
On the note of contributions, the anger and frustration in Africa right now is directed to aid-providing countries who in the light of current financial crisis on their own soil have neglected to give ample support to the developing world. There has been much controversy surrounding the issue, and accusations that the developed world was coming up short on handouts prior to the recession, furthering the resentment that African nations feel about suffering for global economic trouble that “they played no part in creating.”
While Africa may not have contributed to the financial crisis at all, the same cannot be said for people like the infamous Jim Cramer, who is currently fighting a media war with comedian Jon Stewart. The blatant deception, market manipulation and other tactics of Cramer justifiably warranted some comedic roasting from Stewart, who was then dismissed by Cramer as a “variety show” performer. From there, the stone throwing spiraled until like all prominent men when faced with conflict, Cramer brought to his flank the entire NBC family.
On the matter, Jon Stewart commented with some relief: “It’s a good thing I like my news like I like my coffee, white and bitter,”.
With the SEC charging Leila Jenkins for fraudulent behavior, it is no surprise that the U.S. and Britain have taken to the microphones again pledging the importance of both reworking the infrastructure, and pumping countless billions into the system to kick start it. It’s a shame that Leila Jenkins doesn’t have a few more billion dollar clients stashed away somewhere to help contribute, because not all countries seem too eager to offer up more stimulus money at present.
If one were to adopt the policies of Jim Cramer, it would be about time to start calling the media and predicting great things to generate a nice ‘hype’ to fix the economy. I think it’s a little tougher, however, when you’re gambling the money of the whole world and not just that of overzealous T.V lovers.
