Keeping an Eye on Kim

Yes, our economy is teetering on the brink of collapse; yes, we have a presidential election, Congressional election, and local election looming; sure, prices are up, wages are down, and people are concerned about getting from paycheck to paycheck. We still have two wars occurring, billions being poured into the Middle East, and little progress to show for it. Americans as a whole—the media, the government, and the public—seem to have forgotten a key event, though.

Kim Jung Il stroked out.

Almost three weeks ago.

This turn of events—and its being buried by domestic concerns—is a key concern for both the Bush administration and the soon-to-be President-elect. Not only is the face-man for a burgeoning nuclear power now incapacitated at best—the current best guess is that Mr. Kim is paralyzed—and dead at worst, but our own government, who decried North Korea as a member of the “Axis of Evil” and considers a non-nuclear North Korea a key part of its regional security strategy, has either overlooked or underestimated the gravity of the situation. As regional stability is concerned, Mr. Kim’s medical condition is a critical issue upon which diplomatic negotiations must be based; if he’s no longer in charge, our current policies may no longer be applicable.

Think of it this way: with Kim, the U.S. knew who it was dealing with. He was the Decider in a very literal sense; he was the brain and the heart of North Korean foreign policy. Without knowing the details of Mr. Kim’s condition, or even if the man’s still alive, the United States—and the world as a whole—needs to consider the possibility that the Dear Leader is no longer the leading man in North Korea; further, the State Department must devise a set of practical, easy-to-implement diplomatic contingencies for the likely political turmoil that Mr. Kim’s death would instigate. In the event of his death, the resulting power vacuum could ultimately lead to anything from reunification with the South to a civil war (possibly between Kim Yung Nan, the “number two” in North Korea, and other members of Mr. Kim’s inner circle) and a new, more brutal and more opaque regime. In any case, the United States should see this as both a political opportunity and as a key national security issue, and it should consider gathering intelligence on Mr. Kim’s condition a top priority.

It’s the Public, Stupid!

In the throes of what could become the toughest economic times since the Great Depression, everyone’s worried about “saving the economy.” Perhaps this single-minded obsession is a throwback to the ’92 election—many of us will remember the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid”—but it’s time for a reality check.

This time, it’s not the economy… it’s the public.

On the basis of the current government’s ineptitudes, it’s best to break it down. First, there’s the war in Iraq. Irrespective of its validity or necessity, the United States has spent over $550 billion (as of August ’08) fighting to secure Iraq from insurgents, outside forces, and ultimately its own citizens. With the cost of the war growing by an estimated $200 million per day–that’s roughly $138,000 per minute—and an unknown number of belligerents and civilian casualties, the “liberation” of Iraq will ultimately cost the United States far more than the current $700 billion in proposed corporate bailouts. The damage we’ve caused to our international reputation and the fabric of the international system itself has yet to be fully felt, however.

The second major issue is the war in Afghanistan. While forgotten in many Americans’ eyes due to the overwhelming popularity of the “Bombs over Baghdad” campaign, we’re still shelling out blood and money to restore the country to normal operation. We spend $2.3 billion per month in Afghanistan —about a quarter of the Iraq War’s cost—with very little to show for it. Taliban fighters still make raids from safe havens in the mountains, or from Pakistan; at best, intelligence needs to be taken with a grain of salt; Afghani soldiers are far behind their Iraqi counterparts in training and discipline; warlords still maintain authority over many of the regions outside of Kabul; and insurgents have begun using American military tactics against our soldiers. In short, Afghanistan is analogous to the administration’s view of our economy: undervalued and teetering on the edge of the abyss.

…and then there’s the economy, with its strong “fundamentals” standing beside its collapsing infrastructure. I’m not an economist, but common sense suggests that, when half a dozen of your economic powerhouses either collapse or need rescued from their own bad decisions, the fundamentals of the economy—measured risk-taking, a sound credit line, and long-term stability, in my opinion—are lacking. Amid this turmoil, taxpayers are being asked to spend more money (that many Americans don’t have, by the way) to bail out the corporations who squandered our money in the first place. Taxpayers are also being asked to do this immediately, with no guarantee that such a corporate stimulus package will fix the problem. Oh, and to oversee the operation, Washington’s asking the taxpayers to trust the same government who lifted New Deal bank regulations and allowed such shady deals to progress on their watch.

Finally, the global demand for oil acts as a perpetual thorn in working-class America’s side. With gasoline prices surging twenty cents in a single day, then taking four weeks to return to normal, one must consider whether the record-setting profits made by petroleum conglomerates are indeed the result of peak production… or the result of taking their powerless consumers to the cleaners. Increased fuel charges, of course, trickle down through the economy: everything from food to pharmaceuticals now costs markedly more than it used to.

With all of these issues converging on the taxpayer, most people have started the Blame Game. Democrats blame the Republicans; Republicans blame Democrats; the banks blame everyone but themselves, and the public blames whomever’s closest. In reality, however, the public is the source of this mess. We’re the ones who bought into mortgages that were too good to be true; we’re the ones who put our government into office and allowed them to cow us into submission; we’re the ones who grumble at the gas pump and do nothing about it; and ultimately, we’re the ones who pay for issues that we shirk off, saying “there’s nothing I can do about it.”

And until we’re willing to fix our own mistakes, we’re right.