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It’s hard following an election campaign when all three candidates are openly dishonest and hypocritical. The recent spat between McCain and Obama over ‘talking to Hamas’ proves the point, though Clinton deliberately walks a similar path.

Yet again, America’s political system is degenerating into a circus.

All three have, at some point in their careers, intimated they would talk with Hamas. When in appropriate company i.e. addressing Jewish audiences, all three are quick to demand Hamas recognizes Israel’s right to exist, rejects violence, and accepts a two state solution, before any talking could even be considered.

This latter is just a “do as you’re told or face the consequences” approach guaranteed to produce a backlash, whether from Hamas, or the Iranian government – another troublesome administration America is trying hard to bully into line.

It is this blatant hypocrisy by each candidate that is seized on in turn by their opponents, converted into ammunition, and fed to the blind and stupid via the party’s favorite media outlets.

It’s short-sighted, dishonest, and does no-one any good; not the American people, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, or the people of the Middle East generally. In fact, it highlights quite sharply the deficits of the American political system, the ignorance of most Americans towards foreign affairs, and the inadequacies of all three candidates standing for the job of President of the United States.

The American people don’t just accept lies from their politicians, they demand them. They require their favorite political hero (or heroine) tell them exactly what they want to hear. Given they have little or no knowledge of the true state of affairs in the outside world, generally their demand is for a substantiation of last night’s ‘political commentary’ on CNN, Fox, or MSNBC, something all three candidates happily supply, to the elated cheers of a satiated gathering.

Nowhere else in the Western world are leaders elected entirely on their ability to put down an opponent, except perhaps, in Italy.

It is often quoted that ‘we get the leaders we deserve’. Interestingly, the US president frequently turns out to be as lacking in knowledge, and the ability to deal diplomatically with the outside world, as those who elected him to office.

It’s true that America will never elect an honest politician, even if it could find one. That’s a pity, for it is only honesty that will solve the problems of the world, many created in the first place by the dishonesty of those who’ve held high US office in the past.

Blind allegiance to Israel, against an Arab world for a century frustrated and embittered by Western control, will never bring peace to the Middle East. Taking sides is a puerile concept when it is obvious both parties are in the wrong. What’s needed is honest diplomacy without threat or coercion.

America’s high-handed attitude towards both Iran and Hamas is that of a righteous nation determined to bring both parties to repentance and a final, supplicatory, acceptance of the political dogma of Western democracy and capitalism. Given the religious self-righteousness prevalent in the United States, that attitude is hardly surprising, though profoundly erroneous. At best, success in this aim will ultimately result in the death of cultures and a world reduced to pseudo-Americanism; great for the corporates, but Hell on earth for everybody else.

Hamas refuses to accept Israel’s right to exist because the Jewish state represents pseudo-Americanism imposed on the Arab culture. Israel is viewed, both by Hamas and Ahmadinajad, as America’s proxy in the region.

Resolution of the conflict between Israel and Palestine is only difficult because the Palestinians feel impotent against the might of the West, always dictating terms favorable to their Jewish ally. Hamas recognizes this to be the case and has sworn to rectify this disparity by the only means open to it – violence.

Demanding an end to bloodshed is not inappropriate, provided both sides agree to comply. So far, Israel and the West have not been party to any such agreement.

It will take an honest US president, one who realizes military might is diplomacy’s subordinate, to overcome the problems in the Middle East. Judging by the recent track records of the three contenders up for the post, optimism is truly not an option.

Once one stops rooting for one’s hero and instead observes the circus, it becomes clear any prospective ringmaster will likely end up as just another clown.

Filed under: Political games

NBC Nightly News last night displayed the price of gasoline at the pump in a small number of countries around the world. They were all priced in American dollars.

Whenever such comparisons are made in America, the assumption is always that everyone in the world pays for their gasoline in US dollars. It holds true for American tourists, but is useless when comparing the cost to that of a Brit purchasing his gallon in London, or a Dutchman in Amsterdam.

In order to arrive at a fair correlation between the price of a quantity of gasoline in, say, London, and that of a similar quantity in New York, it is necessary to forget foreign currency exchanges altogether. An Englishman buys his gasoline with British pounds, an American with US dollars. Each is a unit of currency. The value of that currency, both to the Englishman and the American, is entirely dependent on how much of it he earns.

Average individual earnings in Britain are around 24,000 pounds per annum.^[1] The average figure for an American earner is approximately $26,000.^[2] On a unit to unit basis, the American fares fractionally better, but for our purposes the difference is negligible. Average earnings work out at roughly similar figures in both countries.

Forget foreign exchange: put simply, one British pound equals one American dollar; each is equal to one unit of currency.

NBC Nightly has a habit of making wild assertions on its programs, that never make it to their website (I wonder why?) so you’ll have to take my word that Brian Williams made a valiant effort to console his viewers by pointing out that, while they were paying around $4.00 a gallon at the pump, the poor old Brits were having to fork out $8.28 a gallon; the Dutch – $9.52, while the Russians got away with a mere – $3.06.

WRONG! This is the price disconsolate American tourists would be paying in each of these countries. It most definitely is not what the natives are spending.

It’s way, way, too much trouble to calculate the conversions in roubles and Euros, so for the purpose of this presentation we’ll stick with our comparison of US dollars and British pounds. However, it does make for a further complication. In his enthusiasm to demonstrate how well off the American public truly is, Mister Williams may or may not have taken size into account, but it’s a sad fact that US citizens get seventeen percent less for their gallon than the British, who still use the Imperial measurement of 4.55 liters, against the US 3.78 liter gallon.

Consequently, while our Englishman is filling his tank at today’s British price of 113 pence per liter, or 5.14 British pounds per Imperial gallon, at US gallon volumes that price becomes seventeen percent less, or 4.27 British pounds for the equivalent US gallon.^[3]

We’ve already determined that unit for unit the British pound and US dollar are equivalent values in their respective countries, so suddenly the British are not paying over twice the price for gasoline as their transatlantic cousins. In fact, the difference is only about six percent more, or 0.27 of our unit of currency.

Nevertheless, our American pumping his gas can still smile, knowing his gasoline is costing him less than the Englishman’s over the water.

Or, is it?

At 4.00 currency units a gallon our American is paying about 3.00 units, or 75%, for his product. The other is made up of federal and state taxes (15%) and distribution/marketing costs (10%).^[4]

Our Englishmen digs in his billfold for 4.27 currency units to pay for his equivalent amount of gasoline, of which only about 1.28 units is the cost of the product (less than half the unit currency price in the US). Distribution/marketing account for 0.38 units, and the rest – a whopping 2.61 units – goes in taxes and excise duties.^[5]

In fact, our American motorist is paying more than twice as much for his gas as the average British motorist. The Brits just pay a lot more of their taxes via the gas pump.

Whether this is a good, or bad, idea depends on one’s viewpoint. US gas tax, like its British counterpart, is supposedly used to maintain highways.

Britain has some of the best motorways in the world, in line with most of Europe. America’s highways are pot-holed, rutted, cracked, and falling to pieces. At times they can be downright dangerous. It isn’t only the roads that are in a poor state, many of the bridges and underpasses are on the verge of collapse.

I guess our Englishman can console himself with the thought that to some extent at least, he is getting what he pays for.

On this side of the pond, Americans are just pouring their hard-earned dollars into the vast, deep, pockets of their oil companies, and getting absolutely nothing back in return.

^{[1] “National Statistics Online (statistics.gov.uk) May 20th 2008}

^{[2] “Household income in the United States”, Wikipedia}

^{[3] “Fuel Price Reports”, Automobile Association UK}

^{[4] “A Primer on Gasoline Prices”, US Energy Information Administration}

^{[5] “The Price of Petrol”, Petrolprices.Com (UK)}

Filed under: A load of gas

Back in January 2008, Sparrow Chat featured an article on the new (to America) Smart Car from Mercedes Benz. This feature has received a large number of hits in recent months, due to the increasing cost of gasoline, but as yet no-one has been able to provide a concrete answer as to why the the European version fairs so much better in fuel consumption than its US counterpart, though a number of theories have been expounded.

Recently, Sparrow Chat received another comment on the subject, from Duncan in San Antonio:

“I just looked at the new Smart cars in the San Antonio showroom was appalled at the low gas mileage!! I am a Brit and lived in London where these were every where.

I seemed to remember them doing about 70 MPG in the UK – so I checked the UK Auto Car web reviews to make sure: and for the 70hp Passion it is listed as 36 MPG town (adjusted for the US gallon)and 58 MPG (adjusted for US gallon) highway.

WHAT have they done to the car here in the US???? They are only estimating a corresponding 33 MPG and 41 MPG – not much more than my Focus!

Such a great car but it will not catch on with this poor gas mileage – shame, a real shame.”

In fact, Duncan had made an error in his calculations and later corrected his figures in another comment. The incorrect figures have been replaced in the above reproduction of his comment.

It can be seen that around town the UK model is only slightly more economical (3 mpg more) than the US version. On the highway, however, the difference is dramatic. The UK car manages 17 mpg more than the US car.

This is a stunning difference for which, at this moment in time, there is still no satisfactory explanation.

Would anyone else out there care to comment?

Isn’t it time the importers of this vehicle set the record straight once and for all? Perhaps someone from the Penske Automotive Group the sole distributer of Smart cars in the USA, through its subsidiary, SmartUSA, would care to contact Sparrow Chat with the answer so many people are interested to hear?

Filed under: US not so Smart