Just checking in, since I haven't done so in awhile. We had an extremely busy week this week--almost 650 students from DongSan Christian High School. The Christian religion is very widespread in South Korea; of a population of 50,000,000, 26% of the people claim allegiance to the religion of Jesus of Nazareth. That's almost 13,000,000 people. According to some schools of thought, that's not supposed to happen, but it is what it is. I'll have more to say on that in upcoming article.
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James recently sent me the following (I also received the same information from another former student today). Here are some data since Barack Obama became president. All of this is verified, mostly through government agencies:
Avg. Retail price/gallon gas in U.S.
Jan. 2009--$1.83
Today--$3.104
69.6% increase
Crude oil, European Brent (barrel)
Jan. 2009--$43.48
Today--$99.02
127.7% increase
Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel)
Jan. 2009--$38.74
Today--$91.38
135.9% increase
Gold: London (per troy oz.)
Jan. 2009--$853.25
Today--$1,369.50
60.5% increase (should have invested in gold, folks, but who can afford it?)
Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL
Jan. 2009--$3.56
Today--$6.33
78.1% increase
Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL
Jan. 2009--$9.66
Today--$13.75
42.3% increase
Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb. Fob
Jan. 2009--$13.37
Today--$35.39
164.7% increase
Unemployment rate, non-farm, overall
Jan. 2009--7.6% (that rotten Bush)
Today--9.4% (oops)
23.7% increase (this info is from the Bureau of Labor)
Unemployment rate, blacks
Jan. 2009--12.6%
Today--15.8%
25.4% increase (Where's Jesse Jackson?)
Number of unemployed
Jan. 2009--11,616,000
Today--14,485,000
24.7% increase
Number of fed. Employees, ex. Military (curr = 12/10 prelim)
Jan. 2009--2,779,000
Today--2,840,000
2.2% increase (why am I not surprised that only the government is growing?)
Real median household income
Jan. 2009--$50,112
Today--$49,777
-0.7% decrease
Number of food stamp recipients (curr = 10/10)
Jan. 2009--31,983,716
Today--43,200,878
35.1% increase (more government dependency, just what the Democrats want)
Number of unemployment benefit recipients (curr = 12/10)
Jan. 2009--7,526,598
Today--9,193,838
22.2% increase
U.S. Rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings
Jan. 2009-5
Today--9
U.S. Dollar versus Japanese yen exchange rate
Jan. 2009--89.76
Today--82.03
-8.6% decrease
National debt, in trillions
Jan. 2009--$10.627
Today, after 2 years of Democratic control of the government, $14.052
32.2% increase
There's a reason for this, of course, and that is that the policies of Barack Obama are simply wrong--they contradict economic law and they contradict moral law. The figures above are of absolutely no surprise to anyone who knows the first thing about history, i.e., how policies similar or the same as Obama's have been applied before. Hopefully, the Republicans can stem some of this, or at least slow it down. Until I die.
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Let me remind you once again of the quote attributed to historian Sir Alexander Fraser Tyler, over 200 years ago:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with a result that democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average life of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years."
Why do the Egyptians and Libyans want it? I think the saddest thing I'm seeing in South Korea is the impact of Western "political correctness"--global warming, feminism, "children's rights" (don't discipline them. Teachers are not even supposed to touch the children here at English Village, regardless of how bratty or disruptive they are being. All teachers can do is yell at them.); the "heroes" of the kids who come here are brainless pop culture stars. I've told some of the adult students I've had "please don't follow the West," but I'm afraid I'm spitting into a hurricane. The family is still strong in Korea and other Oriental countries. That's their only hope.
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Incidentally, March is "Women's History Month." That's not sexist, of course. However, "Men's History Month" would be, just like "Black History Month" is not racist, but a "White History Month" would be. If we continue to patronize these "victim" groups, they will continue to demand more and more until they bankrupt the country, economically and morally.