Mervyn Lobo wrote: > > I have not heard of a single place, repeat not one, > that has had economic progress because the leaders > had sound religious views. > Anil Desai responded: > > Heard of United states of America? can anyone > imagine Americans electing any one who does not > profess to deeply held religious views and who is > not a regular church attendee? > > Is USA not a state that has made economic progress? > Mario responds: > Anil, > You are right that Americans have elected Presidents who profess religious beliefs and attend church. You are also right that the US economy has been very strong and creative and productive and resilient over the years, due, in my opinion, mainly because of its relatively free market policies. > You are wrong in your assertion that the US President being religious has something to do with the strength of the US economy. > To begin with, the US is not a dictatorship run by its President. It is a representative democracy, with a Congress and a Judiciary that is co-equal in constitutional power with the Office of the President. > In addition, the US has a Federal Reserve Bank which is constitutionally independent and responsible for controlling the US money supply. While the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank board is periodically nominated by the President and ratified by the US Senate if they concur with the nomination, the bank subsequently conducts its mission independantly. > Mervyn Lobo mervynalobo at yahoo.ca Wed Apr 9 10:24:53 PDT 2008 > anil, Maybe we are not on the same page here. The US economy, in the past eight years has regressed. The clue is its currency which is depreciating by the day. The economies that have grown by leaps and bounds are those of India and China. I don't think any of its leaders go to church. > Mario observes: > Mervyn, > Once again, we see a grossly distorted version from you of the facts, especially as they relate to the US and it's economy. > I have no idea what your definition is of economic regression, but the slowdown in the US economy began very recently, not eight years ago, when the US began a recovery from its last business cycle and the economy grew steadily for over seven years with low inflation and unemployment rates, while absorbing the economic shocks of the 9/11 attack and the cost of conducting wars of liberation in Afghanistan and Iraq. > You also seem to have no idea that the growth of the economies of both India and China were and still are substantially fueled by imports by the US from these two countries, which is part of the reason that the US currency has declined in value. >
