Midnight Sun on Hold Indefinitely
Author, Stephanie Meyers, has put “Midnight Sun” on hold indefinitely in what has been called an overreaction to the posting of a partial draft without her permission. This is the last volume in “The Twilight Saga” series.
Actually, the story arc has already ended, and “Midnight Sun” was to be the first volume of the same story arc from another character’s point of view.
Bush’s Economic Record
In an opinion piece by Keith Marsden, we read that over the eight years of Bush’s Presidency, the U.S. has outperformed the rest of the world by almost any international measure:
- The U.S. economy is 19% larger than it was (compared to 14% by France, 13% by Japan, etc.).
- Household consumption at $32,045 per capita is second only to Luxembourg.
- The U.S. spends the most per capita of any country on health services ($6,657 in 2005) — double that of Britian.
- Life expectancy rose to 78 years in 2006 from 77 in 2000.
- Wealth distribution in the U.S. is similar to the U.K. and Isreal with the richest quintile receiving 45.8% of total income.
- Compared to Germany’s $4,963 and the U.K.’s $4,937, the U.S. is investing $8,018 per capita yearly.
- Employment is high by international standards — 71.7% in 2006, or five points above the euro area average.
- Compared to the euro zone average of 8.3% from 2001 to 2007, the U.S. unemployment rate was 4.7%. During Clinton’s two terms, it was 5.2%.
- As a percentage of GDP, the U.S. spends 2.0% of GDP annually — compared to 2.7% in the euro zone.
