FINANCIAL: international economy reform

"THE FINANCIAL EXECUTIVE Political economy of reform
Source: BusinessWorld 05/08/2007

What elements make economic reform, especially difficult ones that involve overcoming vested interests and imposing short-term pain, possible? What is the role of leadership that is well intentioned and acting in the interest of the people? How does leadership sustain the political and social commitment to the growth process? We struggled with these and many other questions in a recent World Bank workshop in D.C., chaired by Nobel laureate and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University Michael Spence.

The workshop brought together economists and practitioners from 20 countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe to compare notes on ongoing case studies that attempt to surface lessons from reform experiences under a wide variety of settings - historic, geographical, social, political. This is part of a broader exercise of the 21-member Commission on Growth and Development, likewise chaired by Professor Spence.

My colleague at Lazaro Bernardo Tiu & Associates, Christine Tang, and I were tasked to write and talk about the reform experience during the Ramos years, focusing on successful reform initiatives that had an important impact on Philippine growth performance.

While the reform agenda during the Ramos presidency covered much ground, including such diverse areas as investment promotion, trade liberalization, privatization, fiscal consolidation, environmental protection, and a social agenda, we chose to focus on three discrete reform efforts which were started and completed during the Ramos presidency, and which had a clear measurable impact (benefiting the country to this day). The areas that we thought illustrate well the political economy of reform and the role of leadership are:

a) Telecommunications reform. At that time, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (and others) reportedly observed that "the Philippines is a country where 98% of the residents are waiting for a telephone line and the other 2% are waiting for a dial tone." Recognizing how this sad situation impeded development, the Ramos administration moved swiftly to opened up the sector to new investors such that now, with the wide use of cellular mobile phones, there is one telephone for every two Filipinos. One of the fastest growing industries in the country - business process outsourcing - would have been completely unimaginable if this reform were not done. It has also allowed "connectivity" among Filipinos everywhere, especially the more than eight million overseas Filipino that are supporting their families-and the country.

b) Oil deregulation. Prior to the reform, deficits in the Oil Price Stabilization Fund (OPSF) were a recurring problem, contributing to fiscal risk and social tensions (whenever government raised domestic pump prices). By deregulating the oil industry, and allowing new entrants and imports to come in, the Ramos administration helped insulate the vulnerable fiscal sector from the vagaries of oil prices, especially the unprecedented escalation in the last several years. Faced with the recent oil price run- up, other countries that have failed to deregulate earlier on were forced, by price pressures, to do so, not surprisingly accompanied by political disturbances.

c) Water privatization. From a water crisis situation where many households were not getting enough or continuous water supply, and many poor households were completely unconnected, the privatization of MWSS distribution (the largest water privatization in the world) has increased water coverage from 67 % of the population to 85% ( reaching outlying poorer communities) , cut non-revenue water (in the east zone) from 61% to 35% and increased average water availability from only 17 hours to 21 hours, while halting the drain of providing for this sector from the budget.
It will take much space to describe how these were done in record time by what started out as a minority presidency. Clearly though, elements of political will, vision, communication and constituency building, and astute timing to take advantage of opportunities, came into play.
Since President Ramos, continuing political turbulence has discouraged the emergence of such vision and the persistence and consistency in the pursuit of economic reforms (save for the expanded VAT, a response to a largely self-created fiscal crisis). We can only hope that as the leadership gains confidence after a credible May election, it will devote its energies, no longer to just political survival, but to leaving a lasting legacy that will drive the country's economic performance in the next decade.

In a situation where a third of the country is in absolute poverty, where job-creating domestic and foreign investments are not happening, and where hundreds of thousands are leaving the country every year in search of a better life, muddling through - made possible by workers remittances - is an unacceptable default option. "

Pope warns Catholics who back abortion

I have no comment to make on the topic of abortion itself. I do see it as a damming contradiction that abortion proponents do not support an increase in social programs that provide support to abandoned & poor children and that uplift families. Priorities that would improve the standard of living of all people in achievable areas such as education and healthcare.

"Source: Reuters News 05/09/2007

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE, May 9 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Wednesday warned Catholic politicians they risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion if they support abortion.

It was the first time that the Pope, speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him on a trip to Brazil, dealt in depth with a controversial topic that has come up in many countries, including the United States, Mexico, and Italy.

The Pope was asked whether he supported Mexican Church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalise abortion in Mexico City.
"Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ," he said.

"They (Mexican Church leaders) did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church... which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment (of life)".
Under Church law, someone who knowingly does or backs something which the Church considers a grave sin, such as abortion, inflicts what is known as "automatic excommunication" on themselves.

The Pope said parliamentarians who vote in favour of abortion have "doubts about the value of life and the beauty of life and even a doubt about the future".
"Selfishness and fear are at the root of (pro-abortion) legislation," he said. "We in the Church have a great struggle to defend life...life is a gift not a threat."

"ALWAYS A GIFT"
The Pope's comments appear to raise the stakes in the debate over whether Catholic politicians can support abortion or gay marriage and still consider themselves proper Catholics.
In recent months, the Vatican has been accused of interference in Italy for telling Catholic lawmakers to oppose a draft law that would grant some rights to unwed and gay couples.
During the 2004 presidential election, the U.S. Catholic community was split over whether to support Democratic candidate John Kerry, himself a Catholic who backed abortion rights.
Some Catholics say they personally would not have an abortion but feel obliged to support a woman's right to choose.
But the Church, which teaches that life begins at the moment of conception and that abortion is murder, says Catholics cannot have it both ways.

"The Church says life is beautiful, it is not something to doubt but it is a gift even when it is lived in difficult circumstances. It is always a gift," the Pope said.
Only Cuba, Guyana and U.S. commonwealth Puerto Rico allow abortion on demand in Latin America. Many other countries in the region permit it in special cases, such as if the fetus has defects or if the mother's life is at risk.

Brazil, the world's most populous Catholic country, is mulling bringing the debate to a referendum.

The Pentagon Wants $$$700 Billion!!!

Congress must outright reject this proposal from Defense Secretary Gates.

Reject it! That is crazy money. Let me offer 2 humble suggestions to our elected representatives. 1. Fund the Dept. of Defense at 2002 Levels. 2. Inform the Department of Defense that Emergency & Supplemental Funding Bills are no longer acceptable. Meaning the War in Iraq must be worked into the existing budget for the Department of Defense.

It is long past time for Congress to take a solid stance opposing the Iraq War. This can be done without strings attached, as President G.W. Bush wants. Cut off the funds.

The fact of the matter is these requested funds belong to the tax payers, therefore how can Secretary Gates justify this request while a majority of U.S. citizens desire an end to this 'misadventure' in the Middle East? Moreover, I pose another question: how can this new Democratic Congress, put in place not by their mass appeal but because of public opposition to the War in Iraq entertain such a motion?
Politicians in this matter are too politically correct and cautious. America is calling out for leadership.

This same week as I write this post, “the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 out of 275 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal”.

The citizens of America no longer support additional tax dollars moving outside of the United States to the citizens of Iraq void of binding benchmarks for success and absolute consequences for failure.


Source:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10098216

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/51624/

I hate to go off topic, but I just heard a GOP loyalist on the radio say that they believe “if we leave Iraq she’s afraid the terrorist will come after us”. Let me tell you something, fine. Fight the terrorist! I would support $700 Billion for that. Who attacked America on 9/11? It was neither Iraq nor its former dictator. Look here, WE (our beloved nation) has been at War in Iraq and politically at War at home. Can we all be sensible, how much longer will Iraq War supports tolerate incompetent leadership in President G.W. Bush, the Generals in Iraq, CIA and at the Pentagon? It is you whom are preventing the nation from ending this war and moving forward. You have my blog to defend your positions.

Comments welcome

Coral Ridge Church Closing Political Arm: Update

"Religious right at political crossroads; Coral Ridge Ministries' decision to disband its political arm has raised questions about how the conservative Christian movement will define its national agenda in the coming years.

Source: The Miami Herald 05/08/2007

When nearly 1,000 Christian activists gathered in Fort Lauderdale two years ago for the Center for Reclaiming America's annual political conference, the mood was triumphant. Speakers hailed President Bush's reelection and the leaders rolled out ambitious plans: launching a Capitol Hill lobbying arm, opening a dozen regional offices and recruiting activists in all 435 congressional districts.

No more. The center -- one of the country's leading Christian grass-roots political organizations -- closed its Fort Lauderdale doors last month, sparking speculation about what its sudden demise means for the future of the religious right.

''It's a big loss,'' said the Florida Prayer Network's Pam Olsen, who led a prayer rally Thursday to mark the National Day of Prayer at the state Capitol. Olsen, who served as the state chairwoman for social conservative outreach for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign, vowed a comeback: ``You will see the Christian-values voters rise again.''
Others, however, see a crumbling conservative Christian base deflated by ethical scandals in the Republican Party, the Democratic victory in the 2006 congressional elections and -- perhaps most significantly -- a split between the old guard and new leaders over where to go from here. An increasingly vocal branch has called for expanding the platform to include global warming, HIV/AIDS and poverty.

`BROADEN OUR AGENDA'
''There's a growing constituency in the evangelical movement that says we really do need to broaden our agenda,'' said the Rev. Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church in Longwood, who last year stepped down as president-elect of the Christian Coalition after the group refused to include climate change and poverty on its agenda. ``We need to be not so narrow and combative.''

The Center for Reclaiming America, founded in 1996 as the political-action arm of the Rev. D. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries, once stood at the forefront of the fight to ban same-sex marriage, outlaw abortion and promote religion in schools and public life.

SCHIAVO CASE
The center helped rally Christian activists during the Terri Schiavo controversy, gathered thousands of signatures for a statewide referendum on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and sent 196,422 signatures to the U.S. Supreme Court urging the justices to uphold the ban on what is known as partial-birth abortion, which they did last month.
Advancing a conservative Christian agenda remains central to the ministry's mission, but the organization will deliver its message through its media channels rather than lobbying, said John Aman, a spokesman for Coral Ridge Ministries, which had $38 million in revenue in 2005.
''It is a shift in means but not ends,'' he said. ``It's going back to doing what we're best at, which is creating media.''

MEDIA OUTREACH
Coral Ridge officials say they hope to extend the ministry's television, radio and Internet outreach to 30 million by 2012, up from three million today.
Kennedy, 76, who suffered a heart attack last December, was recuperating in a Michigan hospital when the center shuttered its operations. Some have speculated that the closings came about as a result of Kennedy's prolonged absence, although Coral Ridge officials maintained that the two were unrelated.
Kennedy, who founded Coral Ridge in 1974, later emerged as an internationally known evangelist whose Coral Ridge Hour became synonymous with the preacher's slate gray hair, dark suits and robes and commanding voice.
John Green, a senior fellow in religion and politics at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, said the longevity of conservative Christian organizations is often tied to their leaders.

PERSONALITY FACTOR
''Many of them are based around strong personalities, and many of them grew out of the individual ministries of televangelists,'' he said. ``It's quite plausible and quite likely that these closings have something to do with Rev. Kennedy's illness.''
The closings come at a challenging moment for the religious right.
The Christian Coalition -- founded in 1989 by televangelist Pat Robertson and credited with helping Republicans seize control of Congress in 1994 -- has dwindled financially and politically. It boasted a budget of $26 million in the late 1990s. By last year, the group was $2 million in debt, fighting off creditors and facing defections from some of its strongest state chapters, including those of Iowa, Ohio and Alabama.

Not all religious right groups are struggling. Focus on the Family, James Dobson's Colorado Springs, Colo.-based group, commanded a formidable budget of more than $140 million in 2005, according to GuideStar.org, which monitors nonprofits' tax returns. Tony Perkins' Family Research Council still has considerable influence in Washington. And Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries' budget was $38 million in 2005, according to GuideStar's latest records.
But groups that are flourishing may face problems as their base ages, particularly if they fail to court younger evangelicals, said Clyde Wilcox, a professor of government at Georgetown University who has studied the religious right.
Some evangelicals are tiring of electoral politics in the wake of ethical scandals involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Christian conservative poster boy Ralph Reed. 'Some of them are beginning to say, `Maybe we've been had in the electoral arena,' '' Wilcox said.
The next generation will likely be less easily swayed by the right's mobilization efforts, he added. ''Younger evangelicals are slightly less partisan, and they tend to be less scared by secularism,'' Wilcox said. ``They're engaging a broader social agenda.''
SOME CONTROVERSY
Last year, pastor Rick Warren, the author of the popular book The Purpose-Driven Life, drew the ire of some conservative Christians for inviting Democratic Sen. Barack Obama to an AIDS conference at his Saddleback Church in California.

And 86 evangelicals, including Warren and Florida's Hunter, backed an initiative on climate change, drawing criticism from James Dobson and other conservatives who oppose Christian involvement on climate issues. Last week, a coalition of evangelical leaders launched an initiative to lobby Congress for immigration reform.

Many Christian conservatives disagree with such efforts, arguing that the Bible speaks more directly on pro-life and marriage issues.

Aman of Coral Ridge said the ministry remains committed to its original moral vision. Other Florida groups -- including the Florida Prayer Network and the Florida Family Policy Council, an affiliate of Focus on the Family -- also say they will stick to their core issues: same-sex marriage and abortion.
CHANGES OPPOSED
''The social conservative movement should not change its agenda,'' said John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council. ``While the scripture speaks to all areas, it speaks with more clarity to some areas than others.''
But Northland Church's Hunter, who was among the evangelical leaders who signed the recent statement on immigration reform, said Christian activists must diversify their platform to remain relevant.
''A lot of these religious right organizations are kind of trapped within their original visions right now,'' he said.

''Most movements start off being against something. In order to mature, you have to figure out what you're for,'' Hunter said."

Tragedy drive folks to fight

Source: The Miami Herald 05/08/2007
TALLAHASSEE

They were average people who watched the news occasionally, too busy with family and work to pay attention to their representatives in Tallahassee.

Then tragedy intervened: A son hanged himself with his backpack strap; a daughter was abducted, raped and buried alive; an undetected eye disease sent a toddler to his grave.

Soon they became advocates, the suitless oddities of the state Capitol, working harder than the well-heeled lobbyists to try to get their legislation passed. After years of driving, telling their stories and begging, they bridged the disconnection between Tallahassee and the real people of Florida, learning more about the Legislature than they ever wanted to know.

''I was always raised to believe in the legal system and in justice,'' said Debbie Johnston, a Cape Coral woman whose son, Jeff, hanged himself in a closet two years ago at age 15 after relentless bullying in school and on the Internet. ``I guess I had a very idealized view of government.''
For two years, she has sought legislation to create a statewide ban on bullying. As the session ended nearly eight hours before deadline Friday and her bill died, she wept in the public gallery above while senators congratulated themselves and their staff for the session's hard work.
Last year, the legislation died as representatives debated whether Key lime pie should be the state's official dessert. She still won't eat it.

REGULAR AT HEARINGS
Johnston, who once thought the lawmaking session lasted all year rather than 60 days, quickly became a regular at committee hearings and in the labyrinthine halls of the Capitol. Last year, her first session, she packed Jeff's friends into a bus, rented two hotel rooms and put it on her credit card. They stared up at the 22-story Capitol building, she said, like ``the Clampetts go to Beverly Hills.''
''I used to ride horses, and they can't see the jump before they come to it,'' she added. ``They say throw your heart over the fence and go for it. I just closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and put $4,000 on my credit card.''

Now she rattles off the names of legislative leadership. Speaker Rubio. President Pruitt. She calls her bill sponsor, Rep. Nick Thompson, a Fort Myers Republican, by his first name. She says she will be back in the special session on property taxes in June, and if that fails, next year.

''We're not quitting,'' she said.
Her tenacity is common for this special class of lobbyists, but not all have had to return year after year.

When Jessica Lunsford was killed in 2005 by her neighbor, sex offender John Couey, it sent her father, Mark, of Homosassa on a crusade to toughen state laws to include electronic monitoring and minimum sentences for child molesters. That was accomplished in one legislative session -- the girl's body was discovered in March 2005, and the bill was signed two months later.

Mark Lunsford wore a tie with 9-year-old Jessica's picture on it as Gov. Jeb Bush signed the legislation into law. Lunsford called the tie his ''hug'' from Jessica.
''Every time I asked for something, from the beginning to now, people did it and they did it quickly,'' he told The St. Petersburg Times after the signing.
Not so for Pam Bergsma, a Lake Worth woman whose grandson didn't have a basic eye test that she says would have saved his life. He died in 2000 at age 3 from a rare cancer that wouldn't have been life-threatening if it had been caught earlier. She has been fighting to pass legislation requiring the eye test for retinoblastoma since the 2002 legislative session -- five years ago.
Bergsma, who can't count the number of times she has been to Tallahassee, used to sleep in her car but now stays in a Motel 6, the cheapest place she can find.
''What I have experienced and what I have seen up there, I never would have believed,'' Bergsma said. ``I always had an open mind.''
She has seen senators fight for her bill and against lobbyists for pediatricians, who don't want the requirement. But she says the lawmakers should feel ''shame'' for lengthening her quest, which she swears she will see to the end.
Every year, she truly believes the bill will pass. After no one sponsored it last year because it had failed so many times before, she believed the support she got this session meant it was time. But the bill died again.
''I was so sure'' it would pass this time, she said, then couldn't speak for sobbing.

MUCH TO LEARN
Jodi Walsh, a newcomer to the process who was ''appalled'' at how lawmakers dealt with her when she first visited them in January, said she took action after her ex-boyfriend encouraged her then-6-year-old son to steal a knife from the kitchen and stab her.
She recorded the conversation, and the boy's father was convicted of child abuse, but the decision was overturned because the judge said the legal definition of child abuse didn't include verbal manipulation. So, this session, she tried to convince lawmakers to include mental abuse in the law.
Her bill failed, too, but Walsh says she has learned a lot about the Legislature, which she used to follow only in the newspapers. She believes citizens should hound their representatives throughout the session to remind them of who really holds the power.

''It's personality that comes into play and not principle or priority or issues,'' Walsh said. ``It's their own personalities at each other's throats. That's what it boils down to. That really sickens me.''

G.W. Bush Welcomes Queen Elizabeth II

"Our two nations hold fundamental values in common. We honor our traditions and our shared history. We recognize that the strongest societies respect the rights and dignity of the individual. We understand and accept the burdens of global leadership. And we have built our special relationship on the surest foundations -- our deep and abiding love of liberty."
-- President George W. BushMay 7, 2007

Criticism of the Christian Church

"Loving the Person Who Isn't "One of Us"

By: Rubel

ShellyThe best way for the church to get clear about our mission in the world is to study the life of Jesus. Our goal is to be in our corporate life the continuation of who Jesus was in his personal life. So naturally we take our cues from him. We watch him break down barriers by taking time for children, affirming the dignity of women, and receiving the people others avoid. He touches lepers and blind people. He receives Gentiles and makes a Samaritan the hero of one of his best-known parables. He rescues a woman about to be stoned for committing adultery. He eats with tax collectors and sinners. As you read those stories from the Gospels, however, you notice that the religious establishment is outraged by his behavior. They don't imitate him. They criticize him -- and eventually murder him!It distresses me greatly that churches generally have the same bad name with the general public today that I have just given the "religious establishment" of Jesus' time. That is, churches are typically viewed more as exclusive clubs than welcoming havens. More people say they find nonjudgmental acceptance in Alcoholics Anonymous than in churches! And if you are inclined to reply in a defensive mode that groups like A.A. are willing to tolerate every point of view and let people get by with doing anything the like, you are exposing the fact that you know nothing about how that group functions."

comments welcome

Political Lesson for Chrisitians

"Closing one door, opening another A lesson in politics for conservative Christians
Source: Orlando Sentinel 05/03/2007

One of the major players in what came to be known as the "Religious Right" in the 1980s has shut its doors. The Center for Reclaiming America, based in Fort Lauderdale, part of Dr. D. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries, has decided to close. It will also shut its Washington, D.C., office known as the Center for Christian Statesmanship.

Kennedy, who is 76 years old and recovering from a heart attack he suffered in December, is one of the best educated and most compelling of all the cultural conservatives who sought to use the political process to reverse the "moral slide" in America. Most of Kennedy's televised messages in recent years have strayed from traditional preaching and focused primarily on politics and social issues.

Brian Fisher, executive vice president of Coral Ridge Ministries, told the Miami Herald, "We believe that by streamlining the operations we will be able to return to our core focus." One hopes that will be preaching the unadulterated Gospel of Jesus Christ, unencumbered by the allures of the political kingdoms of this world, because that is where the greatest power lies to transform lives and ultimately nations. It does not lie in the Republican Party, with which Kennedy's organization was almost exclusively associated.

Politics is about compromise. The message of the church is about truth. One has to look no further than the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons -- who long ago gave up speaking of another kingdom and another King (if they ever did) in favor of faith in the Democratic Party -- to see how quickly the church and its primary message can be blurred when it enters into a shotgun marriage with politics. Jim Naugle, the mayor of Fort Lauderdale, told the Herald that the last election persuaded candidates to package themselves "in the middle, rather than to the right."

Nearly 30 years after religious conservatives decided to re-enter the political arena -- after abandoning it as "dirty" and leading to compromise -- what do they have to show for it? The country remains sharply divided and the reconciling message they used to preach has been obscured by the crass pursuit of the golden ring of political power. In the end, they got neither the power, nor the kingdom; only the glory and even that is now fading, as these older leaders pass from the scene.
This is not to say there is no role for conservative Christians in the civic life of their nation. There is. But Christians must first understand that the issues they most care about -- abortion, same-sex marriage and cultural rot -- are not caused by bad politics, but are matters of the heart and soul. Some evangelicals wish to broaden the political agenda beyond these issues to poverty, social justice and the environment. Politics can never completely cure the ills of any of these, but the message Christians bring about salvation and redemption can. Besides, they can never "convert" people to their point of view.

Too many conservative Christians have focused on the "seen" rather than the "unseen," thinking appearances at the White House, or on Meet the Press, is evidence that they are making a difference. And too much attention has been paid to individual personalities, rather than to the one these preachers had originally been called to exalt.

Nothing in the Bible commands believers to reform or redeem society through government and politics alone, or even mainly. Neither is there any expectation that non-Christians will be converted to the Christian point of view, which can vary on some topics, through politics.
Corwin Smidt, executive director of the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., told the Herald that evangelical groups that are built around a single charismatic leader often struggle when the leader is gone. "These televangelists are able to generate a fair amount of money," he said, "but in terms of their institutional longevity, it's really at risk."

To paraphrase a verse familiar to most Christians, what shall it profit a man if he gains the White House, but loses his own soul?

Christians are also fond of saying God never closes one door without opening another door. The "door" of the Center for Reclaiming America has closed. The new doors can produce a more effective politics, if what's on the other side is based on a message that has less to do with partisanship and more to do with the one who transcends all politics and who lends His power only to those who will use it as He instructed.

Economic indicator: GM profits down 90%

Economic indicator: GM profits down 90%. U.S. business leaders must apply a common sense. Why has Toyota surpassed GM? Because their cars are more reliable, cheaper, and more fuel-efficient. Personally having owned a Honda, Toyota and several GM cars I know this as a fact. Toyota was the best car I have ever had. In addition, Toyota is already producing hybrid cars while GM is not forecasting turning out any significant number of hybrids for years down the road. The drive for corporate profits in the short run may cripple specific companies in the long run. I believe the price of gas is also having an effect on the market for larger (SUV’s).

"Toyota surpassed GM in car sales in the first quarter of 2007, even as both companies posted record sales numbers. That's the first time that's happened, and it gives Toyota a legitimate claim on the title "World's Largest Automaker." GM has held that title for more than 75 years.

Toyota said it sold 2,348,000 vehicles, which is about 88,000 more than GM. If Toyota maintains its lead throughout the rest of the year, GM will lose its place as the world's No. 1 automaker, a position it has held for more than 75 years.

"Well obviously, it wasn't the news we wanted to hear," said John McDonald, a GM spokesman. "But both GM and Toyota are growing around the world, and GM also had a record first-quarter sales performance in the global market."
McDonald said GM has been doing well lately in emerging markets, especially in China, where it now sells a million cars a year.
It's still not clear whether Toyota will end the year with an edge in total sales, but many analysts expect that it will.
Auto analyst Mary Ann Keller said Toyota is growing faster than GM in much of the world, especially in the highly profitable North American market. Keller said Toyota has made so much money that it's been able to open new plants all over the world, from San Antonio to St. Petersburg, Russia.
Toyota's rapid expansion has its downside. Keller said there is evidence that Toyota may be trying to grow too fast and that its vaunted reputation for high quality may not be as strong as it once was.
"Their quality in the United States is not what it used to be," Keller said. "They have suffered enormous numbers of recalls, their warranties costs are up."
But for now, Keller said, there's a good chance that Toyota will end the year as the world's biggest automaker.

For its part, Toyota tried to downplay the milestone today — perhaps because of political sensitivities in the United States. The company said it doesn't pay attention to rankings and is only interested in improving the quality of its vehicles."

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9803216

BUSH Finally Defines Iraq Success

Americans have been asking a simple question for years. What is meant by success in Iraq?President Bush finally anwers the question.

Source: Agence France Presse 05/02/2007
WASHINGTON, May 2, 2007 (AFP) -
US President George W. Bush on Wednesday was to host top Democrats to wrangle a truce in the bitter feud over the Iraq war one day after he vetoed their effort to tie funding to a withdrawal timeline.

Hours before White House talks also set to include Bush's Republican allies, each side urged the other to compromise amid increasing talk of agreeing to "benchmarks" for the Baghdad government but no sign of a deal on a pull-out.
"I am confident that, with goodwill on both sides, that we can move beyond political statements and agree on a bill that gives our troops the funds and the flexibility they need to do the job," said the president.
Bush, an unpopular leader waging an unpopular war, signalled some of his strongest support yet for clear "benchmarks" for the Baghdad government as he addressed a very friendly crowd at a national builders' meeting here.
"Iraq's leaders still have got a lot to do," he said. "They've got a lot more to do and the United States expects them to do it, just like I expect them to remain courageous and just like they expect us to keep our word."
But he rejected any "precipitous withdrawal" from Iraq, the chief reason he gave Tuesday for vetoing a 124-billion-dollar spending bill for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that also set October 1 as the start date for withdrawing the 146,000 US troops in Iraq.
The Democratic majority leader in the House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer, said he hoped the chamber would vote on a new Iraq war budget within two weeks, and signalled that the party would not choke off funding for US troops.
"We will not allow this to languish," he said. "We are going to fund the troops, we are not going to leave our troops in harm's way without the resources that they need."
Such a schedule would allow the Senate to take up its own version and send the new emergency bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to Bush at the end of May, he said.
"What we can do is bring about benchmarks for accountability," Democratic Representative Kendrick Meek told CNN television Wednesday. "It's now going on five years. The president wants another blank check."
Bush, in remarks to a builders' association, defended his decision to send more US troops to Iraq this year and pleaded for patience with his approach amid polls showing that both he and the war are deeply unpopular.
"We are heading in the right direction," he said, telling the friendly audience that signs of progress in Iraq were "not headline-grabbing" and "certainly can't compete with a car bomb or a suicide attack."
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox television that benchmarks for the Iraqis government "is the place where compromise could well be achieved."
"There's bipartisan frustration -- frustration in the Congress with the Iraqi government. I think we can reach an agreement on the kinds of requirements of the Iraqi government that they ought to be pursuing," he said.
He cited the Baghdad government's struggle with passing legislation on oil revenue sharing, setting up local elections, and other matters.
"There are a number of other things they know they need to do in order to continue to enjoy our confidence. And most of it has not yet been done," McConnell warned.
Bush also seemed to fine-tune his definition of victory in the war, saying: "The definition of success as I described is 'sectarian violence down.' Success is not, 'no violence.'"
"There are parts of our own country that have got a certain level of violence to it. But success is a level of violence where the people feel comfortable about living their daily lives," he said.
Bush had most recently defined success as creating a government in Iraq that can "sustain itself, govern itself, and defend itself."