US military spending vs. The World

Above graph shows USA military spending vs. 4 biggest powers (in billion of dollars)

I compered US military spending in 2008 with the four biggest powers ( in the line, but have in mind that US spends more than 45 highest spending countries in the world combined. The United States accounts for 48 percent of the world's total military spending. The United States spends on its military 5.8 times more than China, 10.2 times more than Russia, and 98.6 times more than Iran.


Source:The Center for Arms Control and Non-Profileration
http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/policy/securityspending/articles/fy09_dod_request_global/


For more details on military spending (, please visit: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute @
http://www.sipri.org/contents/milap/milex/mex_database1.html

Hong Kong: Special Administrative Region

It's the fourth installment of country briefs. Today it's Hong Kong (SAR).

Hong Kong

Is in the South East Coast of China. HK has a deep water harbor.
1,104 square kilometers (about 426 square miles)
Population: ~ 7 mln. (97% are Cantonese). Offcial language is Cantonese.
Density: 6,339 people per square kilometer. !


Brief History

Great Britain gained Hong Kong as a result of 1842 Treaty of Nanjing. Therefore, HK has been colony of Great Britain for 155 years !! (1842 – 1997)
colony of Great Britain until 1997. Gov't in Great Britain had laissare faire policy toward economy of HK

In 1984 the gov't of Great Britain and PRC (People Rep. Of China) reached an agreement (called joint Declaration), that Hong Kong will be turn over to Chinese control on July 1, 1997.colony of Great Britain until 1997.

Economy

Income per capita is simliar to standard of living in the advances economies. ~ $32.000
Hong Kong is known as special administrative region of China (PRC).
Head of the Gov't: Chief Executive (appointed by PRC).
world's fourth largest banking and financial center
Currency: Hong Kong Dollar
Unemployment Rate: 5% (171,900 unemployed)

U.S Department of State: Internship Program

Are you majoring in international studies, or political science (read below for more majors)? Your graduation is approaching, and you still don't have any experience in your field of study. Why not applying for an internship, at one of the most prestigious federal organization, U.S. Department of State? Now, having Depert. Of State on your resume under internships looks awesome!. I was lucky enough to attend one of the seminars, where state dept. official was giving details about an internship @ Dept. of State.

So lets start.

1.visit the website: http://careers.state.gov/ then click on “Student Programs”.

Who can apply?

a) A U.S citizen
b) a student (junior,senior, or graduate student). Junior will have completed all sophomore credits,
c)good academic standing


Salary and benefits

the majority of all internships are unpaid
limited number of paid internships are available to student who can demonstrate financial need.
If you wish to apply for paid position, you must include in your application your SAR (Student Aid Report), and EFC (Expected Family Contribution). Visit, http://www.finaid.org/fafsa/efc.phtml for more details about SAR and EFC.
Students are paid for maximum of 10 consecutive 40-hours week (GS-4 step 5 level, may change)

Selection Process
All applications are submitted online through the USAJobs website. USAJobs is The Federal government's official job list website.link: www.usajobs.gov

About half of the internships are in Washington, D.C. A limited number of intern positions are available at Dept. offices in other large cities.

Other Student Employment Programs

Cooperative Education Program
Student Temporary Temporary Employment Program
Student Disability Program
Summer Clerical Program
Fascell Fellowship Program
Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship
Presidential Management Fellows Program

Source: U.S. Department of State
more @ careers.state.gov

Group of 8 (G8) - Unemployment rate

In the chart you can see the most powerful nations in the world (also known group of 8), and their unemployment rates (%) in 2009.


In case you don't like my chart, here is the text:

G8 - Unemployment rates
Canada – 8% (highest in seven years) (~ 620000 unemployed as of February)

France – 8.8% (~ 3.5 mln unemployed)

Germany – 8.3% (3.585 million unemployed)

Italy - 7,1 % (1.8 mln unemployed)

Japan – 4.8 % (3.35 mln unemployed)

United Kingdom - 4.5% (~1.5 mln unemployed as of March)

United States - 8.9% (13.7 mln people unemployed (latest report)!), the higest in 26 years.

Russia 8.5% mln , (2.2 people unemployed)




Sources:
http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/01/japanese-unemployment-hits-seven-year-high/
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/labour-travail/lfs-epa/lfs-epa-eng.htm
http://www.france24.com/en/20090320-french-economy-expected-shrink-first-quarter-insee-unemployment-recession
http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2009-04/13776683-instant-view-4-german-april-adj-jobless-rises-for-6th-month-020.htm
http://www.italica.sm/shownews.php?newsid=0000000455
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article10046.html

Third World / Global South

Couple words about the Global South.

These countries are also called underdeveloped countries. The global South is where most people live. Today several countries in Africa (Ghana, Somalia, Niger, Congo, Liberia, Zambia) would be called Third World as well as states in Asia (Afghanistan) and Latin America. Freedom and equality is often limited. Also, economic and political power is in the hands of a very few. State is unable to guarantee economic and political stability. Poverty and authoritarian rule are the norm. Democracy does not exist. Individual freed is limited. Clientelism,rent-seeking, and corruption occur in the struggle for state jobs and revenue. Sovereignty is compromised by external actors (other states, international organizations).
States are unable to perform basic tasks expected by the public such as; providing education and health care, creating infrastructure. It’s difficult to establish a democracy. It’s caused by lack of capacity because of absence of a professional bureaucracy to run the government. State is packed with officials that only supports those in power, and want to rip off resources from state for personal gain. Therefore, there is lack of growth. Poorer countries can’t compete with the advanced industrialized democracies. As a result, state decides on import substitution, import become restrict making foreign products more expensive. One local firms had developed to compete at home and abroad trade barriers were lifted off. Import substitution resulted in industries reliant on the state for economic support and unable to compete in the international market. State had to borrow in order to build and subsidize their industries. In many third world countries informal economy which is not taxed by the state. It is dominated by small enterprises (street vendors), informal economy contribute up to 60% of a country’s GDP. However, it does not generate tax revenues that could be spent on infrastructure or social welfare. These workers are not subjected to labor laws. Globalization increase gap between the North and the South. Disease such as malaria cured in the West long time ago, is still killing millions of Africans each year. West still extract natural resources from African nations. Third world states were left with legacies of colonialism (ex. Basic economic infrastructures) made wealth accumulation difficult.