What Drive-By Media and Vote Getters Hath Wrought
All for the media’s hate for President Bush and the emotionally driven isolationists, we just kicked $16.5 Billion out of the US Economy. All in one day. It goes like this:
Angling for impeachment of President Bush in retaliation for Bill Clinton: $50+ Million in special news bulletins, hit pieces, fake polls
Fear of just one country yet ignoring others with evil ties: $6.8 Billion ports deal
Thumbing your nose at a new partner in a key part of the world: $9.7 Billion Boeing 777 deal
Realizing you just scored re-election for 2006: Priceless
I’m not saying that deals should not be handled with scrutiny. I am not looking the other way at security issues. And I’m not saying that the UAE is without any form of responsibility for events in the past. Yet, we are so quick to forget the following countries: Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Korea, Iran, France, Russia, China, and Vietnam. These are not listed for the simple reasons that are coming to mind as you read them. Past atrocities are everywhere and we are still doing a brisk amount of business with these countries.
The newest critically injured victim in this latest debacle is soon to be Boeing. They have one deal on the books and another in the making. If these deals tank, we stand to lose more than $11 Billion - which will go to the EU. The reason is the newest creation to come from Boeing, the 787. The demise of one deal won’t kill the company, but it is a serious dent.
Boeing is revolutionizing air travel every day. This article by James Wallace, published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, has some staggering design and development firsts. The photo you see here is Section 41, which is the nose, cockpit, and forward fuselage. The 787 is to be built from a carbon composite material and is of single piece construction.
A few choice tidbits from James Wallace’s piece on the 787 dated August 26th, 2005:
“The 787 program represents a revolution in jetliner manufacturing. The fuselage barrels are made from one large piece of carbon fiber. They are the largest such composite pressure vessels ever made.”
“Such a composite structure is significantly lighter and requires almost no maintenance, unlike aluminum.”
As for the first customer delivery, Japan gets dibs:
“First flight of the Dreamliner should come in the summer of 2007, with delivery to the first customer, All Nippon Airways of Japan, in mid-2008.”
Now in last Thursday’s The Hill, Roxana Tiron has a piece titled “Dubai threat to hit back”. Here’s where the whole thing is starting to look like a ‘69 Impala with bald tires on an icy road:
“The Emirates Group airline will decide later this year whether it will buy Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner or its competitor, Airbus A350. The airline last fall placed an order worth $9.7 billion for 42 Boeing 777 aircraft, making Dubai Boeing’s largest 777 customer.”
“Dubai in mid-February also established the Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, a $15 billion investment to create a company that will lease planes, develop airports and make aircraft parts to tap into growing demand for air travel in the Middle East and Asia.”
Do you realize that the most profitable airline in the UAE is Emirates Airlines? As of last year they posted record growth and profits. In their press release from October of last year, Emirates Airlines posted a $251 Million dollar profit in their first 6 months of operation of fiscal year 2005-2006. Taken straight out and doubling that for a year, that’s about $500 Million in profit in one year. They have brought $25 Billion in revenues to the UAE. And they are planning on spending $9.7 Billion with us for Boeing 777s!
Straight from NewsMax:
“A harsh reaction from Dubai could impact a pending decision for the Emirates Group airline to purchase Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner - or go with the European competition, the Airbus A350.”
In a couple of articles on Strategiy.com I found some great information regarding the first orders of 787s: an order of 6 Boeing 787s comes from LCAL (Low-Cost Aircraft Leasing) and 20 from IFLC (International Lease Finance Corporation). LCAL is a Hong Kong based company and IFLC has its roots in Nepal. These two orders total about $3.5 Billion, about a third of the deal being brokered by and with The Emirates Group (Emirates Airline). Running the math, Boeing needs 6 deals to equal one deal with the UAE.
Sound tough to weigh what one should do when dealing with a partner in trade? Sure, if you actually do your homework, you can find out just how little our elected representatives read! They think Bush is a yokel, sheesh, get a load of those on the Hill!
Bah! Calling the American people ignorant and treating them as such is a mistake. Giving us false information with which to gain a personal advantage that in the end hurts our economy is a tragedy. This hurts our already bad reputation in the world, and may embolden those that wish to do us serious harm - without use of our ports!
Washington is full of Pantomime Horses, and we’re all locked in a life and death struggle …
References and Thanks!
Bloggers I read:
Amy started me on this thread!
Found Amy cross-posted to CaliforniaConservative too
Buck’s got a sound posting on this mess
Babylonandon cracks me up - sees a finger in the dike
PunditGuy wonders what is going on now
Sister Toldjah’s short blurb on the fallout - she has more
References:
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Hill
Strategiy.com
Emirates Group
NewsMax
Orange Cow
March 14th, 2006 at 6:00
Is this not proof enough that Democrats don’t put America first? Is this not proof enough that Republicans are no better than Democrats for selling out the President and a necessary ally in the UAE? This was a horrible blunder and the Senate is largely to blame for their demagoguery and pimping of America’s security. Talk about outsourcing; these ignornat politicans have outsourced their souls for a re-election bid. It’s like watching a grown man commit adultery. All I can do is look the other way and be ashamed for him.
When this started, the Dems were low-keying it. Within a few days, as I suspected, they started criticizing the President, who had nothing to do with the deal but learn of it and give his “Amen”, and tried to make themselves relevant on issues of national security. I smelled a skunk from the beginning. The reiterated tired old line, “They UAE gave sanctuary to 2 9/11 terrorists” was used over and over again to fearmonger. No one talked about how the US “gave sanctuary” to 11 of the 11 9/11 terrorists, letting them use the US as interface to pull off their plots. Yes, they used American banks, American flying schools, American cell phones, American hotels and American airlines. By that comparison, WE, the United States of America, are a greater security threat than the UAE (which is maybe why we’ve “outsourced” port security to communist China).
Then there was this line: “The UAE was one of only 3 nations that had recognized the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government.” What no one talked about what how the UAE, immediately after 9/11, cut all ties and support with the Taliban and became fast and hardened allies of the United States against terrorism. In fact, the Democrats were more friendly with Osama than the UAE, to the point where Osama came out and endorsed John Kerry for President right before the 2004 Presidential elections! Maybe we should cut all ties with John Kerry and the Democratic party and outsource THEM.
And Republicans know better, which is why their politicization of this deal is unconscionable. Pres. Bush is becoming prophet Jeremiah of sorts. Hopefully the US will listen to him and take him more seriously on this issue of terrorism than Israel did with Jeremiah.
March 14th, 2006 at 6:00
PS…. You forgot to file this entry under “Flaming Liberals” and “Sell Out Republicans”!