U.S. arms sales to developing countries hits record $66.3 billion last year

From 2010 to 2011 U.S. weapons sales tripled to developing countries. U.S. sales constituted more than three quarters of the global market. Russia was the next largest supplier with $4.8 billion in sales.

Although the global economy may be in decline U.S. arms exports increased from $21.4 billion in 2010 to $66.3 billion last year. The next highest level of arms exports was in 2009 at almost $31 billion less than half the amount in 2011.

A New York Times graph shows the percentage of arms transfers to developing countries by a group of countries. In 2010 the U.S. had a 44% share. Russia managed a 24% share and China just 5%. In 2011 the U.S. share surged to 79% while Russia plunged to 6% and China managed only 3%.

Even though times are tough in many places, Persian Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Oman have made huge purchases of U.S. weapons since they have plenty of oil revenues. They worry about what might happen if there were an attack on Iran. Rhetoric about attacking Iran is obviously a great boon for the U.S. military-industrial complex.

The annual report was prepared by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. This report is thought to be the most detailed arms sales data available to the general public.

Among the Gulf States Saudi Arabia is a huge customer. Last year the country purchased 84 advanced F-15 fighters, ammunition, missiles, and also upgrades to 70 of its present F-15 fleet.

The Saudis also bought dozens of Apache and Black Hawk helicopters. The total bill was $33.4 billion. The Saudis had plenty of money left over to go on a property buying spree in Europe.

. The UAE bought an expensive Terminal High Altitude Area Defense valued at a cool $3.49 billion and 16 Chinook helicopters for almost a billion. Even Oman bought 18 F-16 fighters for $1.4 billion. Israel often expresses worries about such sales but is provided with even more advanced weapons. Of almost $71.5 billion spent by the Gulf States about $56.3 billion was spent in the U.S.

Much to China's annoyance the U.S. also sold Patriot antimissile batteries for almost $2 billion to Taiwan. The U.S. sold India $4.1 billion in transport planes.

The U.S. in 2012 spent $711 billion on arms which is 4.7% of GDP. The U.S. ranks first in the world in spending on arms and has 41% of world expenditures. China is in second place with expenditures of $143 billion or 2% of GDP. Its global share is 8.7%. Saudi Arabia spends a whopping 8.2% of its GDP on arms and a total of $48.2 billion. The military-industrial complex is thriving even though the global economy may be in the doldrums.

U.S. solar company Abound files for bankruptcy

The company had received a 400 million dollar loan from the U.S. government. The company is losing money as demand from the U.S. and Europe falls and competition from Chinese manufacturers has cut prices.

Another reason for Abound's failure is that its manufacturing process has lost its competitive advantage. Abound produced electricity directly from cadmium rather than using silicon cells. While the cost of silicon cells was high this was an advantage but now the price of silicon cells has dropped considerably so the Abound technique is no longer efficient.

U.S. solar makers are requesting the government to increase tariffs on Chinese solar panels. However, any legal measures are already too late for Abound.

­ Last year another U.S. solar maker Solyndra also collapsed after receiving over a half billion dolllars from the U.S. government. In the last year solar panel prices have dropped by half. The import of Chinese made panels has soared from 639 million in 2009 to 3.1 billion in 2011. While restricting imports would help U.S. manufacturers the price for the panels would rise for U.S. consumers. For more see this article.

Senator Rand Paul introduces bill limiting warrantless drone surveillance

The bill is called "Preserving Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act" or in acronymese PFUSA. The bill would limit the ability of the government to use drones for surveillance without warrants.

However there are wide exceptions to the requirement.Warrants would not be required for border surveillance. That is understandable but the bill would also allow an exception in case of suspected terrorism. What the government considers terrorism as we know can cover a lot of ground. Finally the bill only applies to the use of drones in the U.S. so it would have absolutely no bearing on the expanding drone use globally by the U.S. It does not even deal with targeting U.S. citizens outside the U.S.

As this article points out Rand's effort may be too little too late. The military already has within the U.S. 64 drone bases. There are numerous other drones operated by state and local police. The bill probably has no chance of passing either. However at least Rand Paul is calling public attention to the issue.

Australia tops Better Life Index rankings

Australia came up on top of the rankings in the Better Life Index of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Each of eleven categories were ranked in 36 countries.

In spite of the highest rankings the Labor government of Julia Gillard has low ratings in polls in Australia! However, the Index stats are excellent. Life expectancy is 82 years two years above the OECD average of 80. Employment is also well above the average.

After Australia the next best country is Norway. Coming in a respectable third is the U.S. in spite of having a relatively high unemployment rate. Canada is further behind coming sixth after fourth place Sweden and fifth place Denmark. Turkey was in last place.

The new scale was used beginning in 2011 as a way to measure well being of countries in more ways than simply economic growth. As well as income and education, the scale includes work-life balance and life satisfaction.

Canada shows increasing income inequality. The report notes::"In Canada, the [household net-adjusted disposable income] of the top 20 per cent of the population is 53,988 USD a year, whereas the bottom 20 per cent live on 10,077 USD a year." Canada does not fare well on work-life balance or civic engagement either.

The average voter participation in OECD countries is 73 per cent while Canada is just 61 per cent. For more see this article and also here.

Top ten richest counties in the U.S.

This site lists the ten richest counties in the U.S. together with statistics and photos. I found the list surprising.

Of the ten richest counties four are in Virginia alone. In fact the top two richest counties are in Virginia. There are three of the top ten in New Jersey. There are two in Maryland.

All but one of the richest counties are on the east coast of the U.S. The only other county in the top ten is in Colorado. I thought that there would be some top counties in California, Texas, or Florida.

Loudon County Virginia is the richest county in the U.S.with a population of 277,433 in 2010. The median family income was $110, 643 in the same year. The residents are well educated with 58 per cent of those over 25 having a bachelors degree or higher. For much more see the full article.

New bill threatening U.S. privacy rights passes U.S. House

While the first attempt to violate privacy rights of Americans called SOPA was withdrawn, it has now come back as CISPA( Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act). Opponents have already called it SOPA2. The new act was supposed to address concerns expressed by critics of the first bill.

Not only does the new bill not solve those concerns an amendment actually makes the new bill broader in its application. A large number of organizations and individuals oppose the bill. See this site and also here.

The bill passed in the house by a vote of 248 to 168, not even close. The bill will now go to the senate. There needs to be a lot more opposition before the bill will be withdrawn again. Although the bill strengthens information sharing it also encourages the intelligence community to collect more information on U.S. citizens whenever they think this could possibly enhance national security.Critics expected this new bill to reduce the authority to snoop and to make companies liable for illegally providing the government with information. An amendment did not do this but actually broadened grounds that government could use to collect information.

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) condemned passage of the bill and expects that by the time the bill reaches the Senate there will be more popular opposition. Although there is no date for the bill to be debated in Senate, some fear that the bill might be quickly introduced and debated to avoid scrutiny. For more see this article

U.S. eleventh in World Happiness Rankings

The Earth Institute a think tank at Columbia University has released its first ever World Happiness Report. According to the report Canada is the fifth-happiest country in the world.

Surprisingly the top 3 are all those dark and dreary northern Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Finland, and Norway in that order.. Then comes the Netherlands close by Denmark. Canada is the happiest outside of Europe. The U.S. missed the top ten and came in at a relatively gloomy eleventh.

The happiest countries are among the wealthier countries and the least happy: Togo, Benin, Central African Republic are among the poorer countries. For much more and a slide show of the happiest countries see this article.

Job-based health care costs over $20,000 per annum in the U.S.

Milliman Consulting estimates that job-based health care costs will be over $20,000 this year. This is the highest ever. The amount is said to be for a typical family.

Only ten years ago costs were half that amount.. Since 2008 health care costs are increasing at from 7 to 8 per cent per year.

If this trend of increases does not slow health care costs will consume more than half of a person's income by 2037 according to one study.

Health care in the U.S. was 17.3 per cent of U.S.. GDP this is the world's highest. For years health care expenditures have outpaced economic growth. From 2000 to 2009 health care costs grew 2.4 per cent more than did GDP.

Over the last five years the average worker has seen an increase of 40 per cent in the amount contributed for insurance. Fewer companies even offer coverage and for those who do premiums have risen along with deductibles.

The number of uninsured continues to climb in the U.S. The Census Bureau estimates there are about 50 million Americans who are not insured. For more see this article.

Nuclear weapons worldwide data

This BBC article lists countries with nuclear weapons and how many they have.

Total world nuclear warheads are estimated be 20,000. Many however are not operational.

Only about one quarter or 5,000 of the total are operational. Countries are secretive about how many nuclear weapons they have. Israel officially does not even admit it has any.

The Federation of American Scientists has made estimates of stockpiles of each nuclear country based on information that is available.

Russia has the largest stockpile with 2,430 operational weapons and an estimated 10,000 in all. The U.S. has 1,950 that are operational with a total of 8,500.

In comparison to the U.S. and Russia other countries have relatively few nuclear warheads. France has 290 operational and 300 stockpiled. China is said to have 0 operational but 240 stockpiled.. The UK 160 operational and 225 stockpiled.. Israel has 0 operational but about 80 stockpiled.

Pakistan has 0 operational but between 90 and 110 stockpiled. India also has 0 operational but about 80to 100 stockpiled. The two countries are about equal in stockpiles.

Finally North Korea has 0 operational and less than 10 stockpiled. Obviously there is a huge task ahead if nuclear weapons are to be eliminated. No doubt Russia and the U.S. could both eliminate some of their stockpiles without endangering any power balance.

India's purchase of Iranian oil brings protests from the U.S.

India has managed to forge a good relationship with the West especially the U.S. Now the U.S. is putting pressure on India to stop purchasing Iranian oil. However that oil is key to India's continued economic growth.
Through support for India the U.S. is able to provide a check to Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific area. To damage relations with India over the purchase of Iranian oil would be very short-sighted in the view of some analysts.
Sreeram Chaulia of the Jindal School of International Affairs notes:“In the last ten years, if the Unites States has achieved anything of strategic value in Asia, it is the closeness with India,” “And I don’t think it would want to jeopardize all that for the sake of punishing Iran.” Chaulia went on:“It would be strategic suicide on the part of the United States to actually go ahead and impose sanctions on Indian companies,” However perhaps many U.S. politicians will demand that Obama bring India in line and punish the country for opposing the boss.
However another analyst noted that the U.S. has already had some success in putting pressure on India. Some Indian companies have withdrawn investment from Iran and financial organisations are struggling to reroute their financial dealings due to sanctions. For more see this article.

U.S. to extend Israel loan guarantees of 3.8 billion for 3 years

   The Obama administration has told Israel that it will recommend the U.S. Congress approve 3.8 billion in Israeli loan guarantees be extended for three more years. The Deputy U.S. Secretary of State and Deputy U.S. treasury secretary announced the U.S. decision in a meeting with the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister.
  Some in Israel had worried the Israeli request for the extension might be denied. The U.S. usually does not turn down what Israel requests. In particular the Obama administration is not likely to alienate the Israel lobby during an election year!
     The two U.S. officials told the Israeli official that the extension of the loan guarantees until 2015 would receive wide support in both parties. The Deputy Foreign Minister said:The U.S. is a true friend and ally of Israel,". "The partnership between the two countries is a natural one. Extending the loan guarantees strengthens the international position of the Israeli economy and will allow the government to continue to raise funds at lower costs."  While this is true one would think that European countries in crisis such as Greece are much more in need of loan guarantees and lower costs for borrowing than Israel! For more see this article.