Ramadan Prices

I wasn’t shocked when I realized that it happened, prices are going to climb every Ramadan, the government and His Majesty are trying to provide an outlet for the destitute and the impoverished, the effort is sincere but the self-gratification is inevitable.

In layman’s terms: tell the people we created a market for the poor, and you tell the people that all other markets are for the rich, merchants will think “I will raise the prices since there is a place for people who don’t like it.” I agree with Fahed Al-Fanek on this.

Check it out here and here

Obviously the government is not resurrecting the Ministry of Supply, but everyone who reads this blog knows I am no capitalist, but I do agree that people should not speculate when there are statistics, however, a 65% decrease in the cost of fruits and vegetables where taken directly from middle-men, intermediaries.

I think the governments role should be somewhere else, releasing support of any kind, to any industry, let the market take it’s place and then, like we saw in the banks, telecommunication, insurance and other sectors go back to the regulation role.

Why such a change of heart from me? Not really, the next step should be tax exemptions for collectives and co-ops which will pave the way for a more socialistic endeavour, more on that later.

Radi

Irony

Antione Ghanem died last night, an MP from the March 14 assembly, which includes these people. I wanted to stray off-topic but I had to mention these people to support my point.

Feb 2005: Ex-PM Rafik Hariri

June 2005: Anti-Syria journalist Samir Kassir

June 2005: Ex-Communist leader George Hawi

Dec 2005: Anti-Syria MP Gebran Tueni

Nov 2006: Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel

June 2007: Anti-Syria MP Walid Eido

Sep 2007: Anti-Syria MP Antoine Ghanim

I was watching LBC and they had an ad made of people welcoming kinships and family at the Airport. They ran it beautifully, it was leading to a proclamation that stunned me:

“The Safest Country in the World”

I live in Jordan and while we do have a fear of terrorism in the wake of our 9-11, which happened on the 9th of November almost two years ago, I can guarantee that Jordan is still safer that Lebanon. I can also tell of the Irony of watching a member of parliament not yet 48 hours in the country from his fearful stay outside Lebanon (in Abu Dhabi), foolowed by such a daring advertisement for lebanon.

Radi

IAF pulls out, good riddance

I seriously believe that the previous municipal elections in Jordan were fair and honest, I looked at the process and I personally believe that it is extremely hard if not impossible to have dual registration or to manipulate the results, each candidate had an option to have a representative present in voting halls and the IAF did take that option.

Islamic Action Front has always accused the government of fraud in the elections while most of the other parties who had losing candidates maintained that the elections were fair, IAF, I believe, fell into the same trap most relegious movements fall inot, they believe that all of the people attending prayers in their mosques and who were helped to be registered by them, will eventually vote for them. Nothing is farther from the truth.

I admire many of the sheiks in mosques who go ahead and run for seats, they contribute alot to the welfare of the society, and provide seriously, whether in terms of morals and ideals or in term of social networking and social justice and honesty.

However, people are not going to automatically poll for such candidates in elections, some people prefer technocrats (as I do) while others simply have tribal loyalties, many others vote for the person who they think will be able to do personal favors for them, regardless of whether or not it will be beneficial to the district and country as a whole.

They lost fair and square, the sooner they will accept it, the sooner they can work to solve it for the parliamentary elections. Where I voted, there were two engineers running from the same clan, I ended up casting a vote for the one whom I thought was in it for the right reasons.

If the IAF would choose prominent members of clans who are well educated and can be considered technocrats, then it is easier for them to win sympathies of clans and people who look for the contentment of the country in services. However, if they continue to choose serious member of the Islamic movement who are educated in theocracy and theology then they will never reach the position of responsibility outside their own organizations.

P.S. I said they will claim fraud and cheat in this election almost a week ago, they did, no surprise.

Radi

You cause it, you pay for it

When I first saw an apartment I liked it was priced at 120 thousand Jordanian Dinars, today I saw the same apartment sold for 320 thousand JD, which reminded of an incident a few summers ago when I went to buy Tomatoes, they were priced at 10p/Kg today the same store sells them for 50p/Kg. You could teach me about inflation all you want but the time frame I am talking about is not what you think it is, unless, of course, you do reside in Amman.

The time frame is two years and we are not located in 2003 Brazil, (although in certain sectors we beat the 77% rate as mentioned earlier) I remember reading somewhere that from 1964 through 1994, the accumulated inflation rate in Brazil fetched 1,000,000,000,000,000 % (that´s one quatrillion percent) !! This fantastic figure is not an estimate; it was calculated by Joelmir Beting, a well respected Brazilian journalist, based on the official inflation numbers.

As I said, we aren’t Brazil, we are Jordan were the inflation rate is controlled through control of prices of commodities and especially necessities. Water, electricity, fuel and cement were until recently all controlled, all but cement still are.

This saved the government the effort of trying to control what i call the inverted up loop. Once they let the cement price go free, so, naturally due to inflation and commercially due to LaFarge’s monopoly of the region’s cement, the prices went nuts as they did worldwide, the prices increased steadily with demand.

Which brings me to my the real point, the demand increased because of the influx of Iraqis moving in to the country, the estimate in about a half a million Iraqis which means an average of 100,000 apartments, this is what is called unnatural growth. If prices of apartments and shops and land went up, followed by the price of fuel, which runs everything in this country, then we can guesstimate that if the Iraqis left the countries the demand will decrease and prices of apartments will go down. The government chose another route, to build subsidized housing for the lowest income in Jordan, this subsidy I believe should be paid by Iraq, whether in terms of oil or otherwise.

I therefore, agree that the Iraqis caused inflation and they should either pay for it or leave, two ways to deflate it. I think that our infrastructure is being stretched thin by this influx, and we should address it head on.

Radi

No Taxation without representation

I believe in this motto as a general guide for any tax system, Because we, as Ammanites, pay an increasingly unrealistic tax-rate for services rendered and not, we should be active in the upcoming elections, although I have certain comments about the state of the greater Amman Municipality or in other words the “amaneh”.

It seems unrealistic that we pay the “amaneh” for pavement but we do them our selves, that we have the highest pothole per meter ratio, while the amaneh has the highest income of any goverment agency. That we still don’t have an efficient numbering system in Amman, although the system is in place, the municipality has not done anything to make it viable. Only recently have the buildings on main streets received decent visible numbering. They could enforce a test on all taxi drivers to memorize the street names, or at least on courier companies. I would accept any positive step in Amman.

The other thing is that half of the council of the “amaneh” is elected while the other is appointed which makes little room for the demands of people, I would accept as a first step the Mayor, to be appointed while the whole council elected.

Radi

They pull me back in

“Just when I thought I was out–they pull me back in!” That’s my feeling about Palestinian politics, I could spend obscene amount of time trying to avoid reading about it, but if a spend a minute reading any title I get confused on why exactly do I want to avoid it.

Palestinian politics is getting more and more complicated every day, the people are suffering yet more, their threshold is continuously being tested and unfortunately no one is present to give them the results of those tests.

Hamas won the election and I wrote in 30-1-2006 that Hamas winning is not necessarily good for the Palestinians, if anything it is bad, time proved I am right in a sense, but it was expected, only a minority of serious observers of Palestinian politics thought that Hamas had the power to tell the people of the world that they are looking for peace through blowing up people.

International opinion is against Hamas is almost unified, they believe that Israel is to recognised and that a unity government that recognizes all the previous accords and agreements is to be placed. This is like telling Hamas: “You won, you get to participate in the same kind of government you were ushered in to throw out, and you get to loose all the rational that brought you in, if you agree, you are done, no one will elect you again, if you don’t then we will starve your people.”

Hamas has a lot to be blamed for, the Coup d’État in Gaza and the starvation of the Palestinians are among the most visible while there are more vague ones, I would honestly call it a destabilization of the elections in the region, look at Egypt and elsewhere, the effects will cause people to be afraid to vote for Islamic candidates. I can almost guarantee that the next elections in Jordan, the municipal elections, are going to called unfair and undemocratic with calls at forgery and similar claims. My guess is Islamic Action Front (IAF), no one will vote for them because people fear another Hamas in Jordan.

Radi

Enjoy Jordan

I’m being sincere, I’m not playing a pun about the weather and I am not trying to convince to leave Jordan, I really mean it. I went to Dana Nature Reserve last weekend and although the weather was aggravating and the sun roasting, it was a beautiful experience. We went on a four hour trail starting at 8 am from Dana village to Feynan Eco-Lodge.

I am going to Ajloun reserve next month and I strongly recommend the reserves to anyone who enjoys a bit of nature, adventure or both.

I will post some pictures soon, come back later

Radi

Support Local Brands

I am now changing my mind about certain beliefs, I looked far and near and realized that globalization, though helpful in some areas, is largely to blame for everything.

It is in Jordan that restaurants are opening up by the dozen, and the services are getting better, if you look for European style cuisine, it is available, mainly thanks to foreign restaurant chains coming here. This pushed the restaurant industry to step up and face the challenges.

Recently, I tried both Tropicana and Minute Maid, which are properties of PepsiCo. and Coca-Cola respectively. I enjoyed the juices they offer, but not as much as I enjoy local juice companies. For some reason, local juice companies -who buy concentrates from abroad- seem to be doing a great job.

Since I have been on a diet for a long time now and losing reasonable weight, I realized that not only do I not need beverages that contain CO2 in them, I HATE them. There were times when Burger King and McDonald’s were not allowed in Arab countries, because of connections to Israel, times change. Today there are a plethora of branches of many companies, with connections to Israels in the Arab World. Try Chili House and Chili Ways, and if you don’t seem to like them, then try something else, but try Jordanian first.

I therefore took a drastic decision, not buy multinational products and help the local competition. I know that I am not a fan of Starbucks anymore, it makes sense that I should when available, support a local brand, and I found one that is superior in value and taste, although not variety.

This picture was actually on their site and the friends at archive.org still have a copy, if Israel awarded the Chairman of Starbucks, I am not buying from there. Simple, Right?

http://web.archive.org/web/20010502093522/www.starbucks.com/aboutus/recognition.asp?cookie_test=1

Economically, I find it viable to Jordan that I buy my coffee from flavours, or any other Jordanian variety, I personally enjoy it, and am a regular customer, they know my drink and prepare the minute I walk in.

I also enjoy going to places where the giving is part of their revenue, not some minute percentage, but actually a fixed part that is of significance, and I must say I am not surprised by amount of such places available.

If you are into nature, try Wild Jordan, it is amazingly good, and supports the RSCN, which is as good cause as any.

But if you feel that you need a more entrenched cause, try the places at

AlQaser Hotel Howard Johnson. I think this may impress you, also remember their courtyard is a very nice place to sit and relax.

Remember to support as many local enterprises in your community, because they will help the money flow to remain in the country.

Radi

Rumours – 2

I have heard rumors, I don’t claim any of these to be true or actually credible, but I want my minuscule readership to hear what people try to sell to me. This is a series, I will post to it more often than other series I started, mainly because people talk alot.

- I heard that there is a ministerial shake-up, the Prime Minister is changing, Sharif Shaker is rumored, a big change of plans for the elections waiting to happen

IF this is true, it is not unexpected, I heard a speaker at the World Economic Forum say that “a certain Arab country which I will not name … has minsters change every 8 months … give them a chance”

I can’t remember who he was but it was right before the Schwab final lines. I guess the gentleman was referring to Jordan, he was right, each Prime Minster has a specific agenda, when it is done, he leaves. I guess. I am not sure.

Parliamentary elections in the region are scary, Hamas in the P.A., the Musilm Brotherhood in Egypt and many other examples make it something to be watched for.

Radi

Rumours – 1

I have heard rumors, I don’t claim any of these to be true or actually credible, but I want my minuscule readership to hear what people try to sell to me. This will be a series, I will post to it more often than other series I started, mainly because people talk alot.

- I heard that there are cities being built in Zarqa, Jordan and in other areas for the Palestinians in Refugee camps in Lebanon. Other Palestinians in the gulf and whatnot will be offered citizenship and most will be given generous compensations. Other likely candidates for the way of transfer are Palestinians living outside the Apartheid wall but inside the Green line.

IF this is true, it will cause the same effect that the Palestinians living in Kuwait who came over, it caused inflation and strained the public services for years, the same happened when the Iraqis who fled Iraq came over. I used to be able to afford to buy a decent apartment, but not anymore.

My every-8-day update, My scale is busted but I am guessing, I lost another 2 pounds.

The most non-self-centered thing that troubles me, is the rights that will be taken away from them. They have inalienable rights and they should be respected, I hope for the sake of the region that it is not true.

Radi