This is no pipe dream.

September 28, 2004 6:37 PM

Bet on Iraq
posted by jaronson (13 comments total)

Come to Flint!
posted by solistrato at 7:17 PM on September 28, 2004

Bet on Iraq? What are the odds?
posted by clevershark at 7:21 PM on September 28, 2004

Only a million to one! (although longterm their odds are better than ours, i bet)
posted by amberglow at 7:28 PM on September 28, 2004

A few years from now, you see a program on A&E portraying the lives of average Iraqis. You see people drinking locally bottled, genuine Pepsi Cola; not the ersatz they'd been consuming for years. They are buying their cars from Baghdad Mitsubishi.

Not too far fetch, considering we've only been there a year and a bit.

The China today would've been unrecognizable only 7 years ago.

Though I have to say that the value of a country's currency doesn't always correlate with the success of its economy.
posted by VeGiTo at 8:05 PM on September 28, 2004

And they had a very large, educated, middle class, until we bombed them back to the 18th century, of course.
posted by amberglow at 8:12 PM on September 28, 2004

What an intriguing idea - very cool FPP and link.
posted by davidmsc at 8:43 PM on September 28, 2004

That's what it's really all about, right? Buy cheap and sell high.

If the dinar were to climb to a dime, you've got two hundred thousand dollars in your closet. What if it were to reach a dollar? Or rebound to it's peak of over $3.00? Do you dare continue to keep your dinars in the closet?

An intriguing idea indeed...
posted by mkdg at 9:14 PM on September 28, 2004

I don't think that Iraq needs to be further ruled by American speculation...
posted by clevershark at 9:16 PM on September 28, 2004

Investing in Iraq (Realaudio from Marketplace).
posted by euphorb at 9:25 PM on September 28, 2004

They are buying their cars from Baghdad Mitsubishi.

Wouldn't this be beneith them? I mean, seriously, have you ever heard of an iraqi driving other then a German luxury car?
posted by delmoi at 10:00 PM on September 28, 2004

Come on, Bush supporters - let's see photos of your sacks of crispy new Dinars.

It's a no-brainer, isn't it?
posted by cell at 12:11 AM on September 29, 2004

"Above and beyond the vast oil reserve, agriculture, and highly educated population, there is now liberty in Iraq.

Does anybody else see the sarcasm there? Or is it now generally accepted that liberty comes in the form of a foreign army occupying your land?
posted by acrobat at 2:16 AM on September 29, 2004

It was only after I had been in Baghdad for a month that I found what I was looking for. I had traveled to Iraq a year after the war began, at the height of what should have been a construction boom, but after weeks of searching I had not seen a single piece of heavy machinery apart from tanks and humvees. Then I saw it: a construction crane.

No, the crane was hoisting a giant billboard to the top of a three-story building. SUNBULAH: HONEY 100% NATURAL, made in Saudi Arabia.

Seeing the sign, I couldn’t help but think about something Senator John McCain had said back in October. Iraq, he said, is “a huge pot of honey that’s attracting a lot of flies.”
posted by thomcatspike at 3:09 PM on September 29, 2004