What Vladimir Putin (right) may be saying: "I agree, Kim. The Americans do owe you $65 trillion." (Photo: Wikipedia)

Reparations payments have been an inseparable part of post-war recovery for centuries, and now North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il wants a piece of the pie. The Australian Broadcasting Company reports that North Korea is demanding – not suggesting; demanding – that the United States pay nearly $65 trillion U.S. in reparations for “six decades of hostility.” To be precise, KCNA, the official state-controlled news agency of North Korea, reports that just compensation for the tribulations suffered since the division of the Korean peninsula in 1945 is $64.96 trillion.

What can North Korea buy with $65 trillion?

Perhaps with $65 trillion North Korea will be able to afford better industry, not to mention sensitivity training to help smooth over their issues with human rights violations. While it is difficult to take accurate assessment of North Korea’s human rights issues, Wikipedia indicates that Amnesty International has enough data to suggest that major sanctions against North Korea are warranted. The Korean War created a mass refugee exodus and divided Korean families, which in turn led to food shortages. UN troop movement (as well as bombardment) under U.S. leadership allegedly led to the near-collapse of society in North Korea. The nation was not expected to last, yet last it did. The strife of war caused as many as 750,000 divided families according to Korean Studies Review, a problem that continues to haunt that area in modern times.

Commemorating anniversary number 60

The Korean War occurred 60 years ago, and North Korea and Kim Jong-Il likely decided it was an opportune time to remind the world of what they claimed was 5 million North Koreans “dead, wounded, kidnapped or missing.” In addition, they claim that U.S. sanctions have made their economic recovery nearly impossible. These sanctions date before North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006, says KCNA. None of this takes into account any of the suffering numerous world sources show that North Korea inflicted upon its own people.

Sources:

Australian Broadcasting Company

Wikipedia

Korean Studies Review

Visit North Korea:

Will Obama graduate from the presidency with honors? Image from Wikimedia.

President of the United States Barack Obama on Sunday night appeared on both “60 Minutes” and a special Oprah Winfrey show called “Christmas at the White House.” As usual, more people are interested in what happened on Oprah’s show than anything else. Specifically, the masses are evaluating whether they agree with Obama’s figurative report card, which he filled out himself.

Oprah asked Obama what grade he’d give himself on his time thus far in office. “A good, solid B-plus,” he said. Now, before you take out no fax loans and start making picket signs reflecting which grade you’d give the president, here’s the logic behind Obama’s B-plus. Study up, y’all, this is bound to come up at the dinner table or the bar at some point.

Foreign security

Obama believes the war in Iraq is beginning to wind down and he pointed out that many troops have been withdrawn from Iraq. He also says he believes the U.S. has the best possible plan in place for Afghanistan.

He also mentioned that the world’s perception of the U.S. has greatly improved. He said America has “reset” its prestige. The U.S. also has been instrumental in halting the development of nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea.

The economy

Though many households are not yet feeling the results of the ever-so-slowly growing economy, Obama confirmed what economics experts have been saying, which is that the economy is back on track and making positive progress.

The unemployment rate dropped in November to 10 percent from 10.2 percent in October. Obama said during his year as president, the economy has stabilized and is now growing. The country avoided another Great Depression after enduring the worst recession since then.

Popularity contest

Though Oprah and Obama are decidedly pretty chummy, Oprah will be Oprah. She asked the president to respond to his dwindling popularity in the polls. Obama said he was surprised his numbers had held up as well as they did with 10 percent of the population unemployed.

What does it take to get an A?

President Obama said that if a health care plan had been passed, he would have given himself an A-minus. He said he recognizes there are still a lot of things undone, and that’s why he didn’t give himself a higher grade. There is still time for Obama’s B-plus to change to an A-minus if the health care bill passes this year.

Some people actually got jobs in November!

Numbers on unemployment for November have been released, and it turns out that unemployment actually went down last month, falling from 10.2 percent in October to 10 percent for November.

Of course, this might be just because of seasonal employment, but I suppose we have to take whatever we can get. It’s widely known that optimism will help the economy more than anything, because confident consumers spend more money. People are also much more likely to get payday cash advances if they know their jobs are secure.

The bad news

Unfortunately, while the overall number of unemployed Americans fell in November, the number of Americans who have been unemployed for at least 27 weeks (more than six months) increased. Luckily the legislation passed last month that extends unemployment benefits should help some of these people out.

Usually, unemployment rises in January as people who had taken temporary jobs over the holidays go back to being unemployed. Also, many companies do layoffs in January after they see their budgets for the previous year.

Not black and white

Of course, though the falling unemployment rate is indeed great news, it doesn’t give us cut and dry answers about where the economy is headed. This little upturn in employment could be simply circumstantial. Experts have been saying for months that unemployment would be one of the last economic factors to change after the recession ends. It’s surprising, therefore, to see a reduction in unemployment now, and it’s very possible that unemployment will go back up or possibly get worse in 2010.

The unemployment numbers have fluctuated a lot this year, but one thing is for sure: They’ve been bad, bad, bad. In December 2007, before the recession began, the national unemployment rate was only 4.9 percent, which is normal. Even at its new, lower rate, unemployment is still more than double that. Once more people start getting jobs, those people will start spending money. Of course, people need to spend money in order to create more jobs.