I've added a dozen or so additional sites (including some news sites) to the Blogs around the World page. I hope any readers will do some exploring.
In addition, I've received many interesting suggested sites to add to the Blogs around the U.S.A. post. I'm inclined to make that post a stand-alone page of its own, too, but that will take awhile. I'm working on it.
In any event, I'm still around. Thanks for visiting.
I think the title of this post translates to "Iraq Stock Exchange, Monthly Bulletin, August 2004."
It is widely accepted that stock prices reflect investors' expectations of the future.
With all the recent Iraq-related despair out there (links provided upon request), including John Kerry's September 6th "quagmire" statement, I decided to see how market participants, with their own money on the line, perceive the future.
I went to the website of the Iraq Stock Exchange. If I've interpreted the data on this page (likely to be replaced in October) correctly, in August, the value of the Iraq Exchange's Industrial Sector increased by 53 percent, the value of the Investment Sector increased by 72 percent, and the value of the Tourism & Hotels Sector, perhaps reflecting current events and Iraq's bad press, decreased by 35 percent. Over the same period, the average listed Iraqi stock appreciated 41 percent in the month of August. My portfolio, having increased by 1.6 percent over the period, is very jealous.
In contrast, the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index increased by 0.4 percent over the same period (an American quagmire!).
While I don't seek to diminish the bad news that is coming out of Iraq, including the last few days' beheadings, the kidnappings; etc., some perspective is in order (see also the wonderful posts by Arthur Chrenkoff). Investors in Iraq do not appear to foresee a "quagmire."
The anti-Bush Texans for “Truth” continues to link to news articles based on forged (forged!) documents "purportedly written by President Bush's National Guard commander".
CBS wrote:
60 Minutes consulted a handwriting analyst and document expert who believes the material is authentic.
CBS now says:
CBS officials insisted that the network had done due diligence in checking out the authenticity of the documents with independent experts over six weeks. The senior CBS official said the network had talked to four typewriting and handwriting experts "who put our concerns to rest" and confirmed the authenticity of Killian's signature.
Was the "a" in the original CBS report forged?
(Original reporting on the topic via Powerline, LGF and many others, with a nice summary to date via Instapundit.)
