Economy - in simple terms: a cow based assessement of the world economies

(Most of the economies from a closed listserver)

TRADITIONAL ECONOMICS

You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies and the economy grows.
You retire on the income.

CHINESE ECONOMICS

You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim full employment, high bovine productivity and arrest anyone reporting the actual numbers.

INDIAN ECONOMICS

You have two cows.
You worship them.

PAKISTAN ECONOMICS

You don't have any cows.
You claim that the Indian cows belong to you.
You ask the US for financial aid,
China for military aid.
Britain for warplanes.
Italy for machines,
Germany for technology.
France for submarines.
Switzerland for loans.
Russia for drugs and
Japan for equipment.
You buy the cows with all this and claim exploitation by the world.

AMERICAN ECONOMICS

You have two cows.
You sell one and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
You profess surprise when the cow drops dead.
You put the blame on some nation with cows & naturally that nation will be a danger to mankind.
You wage war to save the world and grab the cows.

FRENCH ECONOMICS

You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.

GERMAN ECONOMICS

You have two cows.
You reengineer them so that they live for 100 years, eat once a month and milk themselves.

BRITISH ECONOMICS

You have two cows.
They are both mad.

ITALIAN ECONOMICS

You have two cows.
You don't know where they are.
You break for lunch.

SWISS ECONOMICS

You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you.
You charge others for storing them.

JAPANESE ECONOMICS

You have two cows
You redesign them so that they are one-tenth the size of anordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create cute cartoon cow images called Cowkimon and market them worldwide.

RUSSIAN ECONOMICS

You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 17 cows.
You give up counting and open another bottle of vodka.

ARMENIAN ECONOMICS

You have only one cow.
So the government claims there is a shortage of cows.
The government asks for loans and grants from other countries so the country can produce more cows.
The other countries oblige.
The government divides the grants and loans among themselves, and blames the opposition for inactivity, creates anticorruption strategy and takes one of the farmers to court.
Then the government tells another farmer to distribute milk to voters and make sure they join "Bargavach Hayastan" Party.
After the elections the country still has that single cow.

2006 Global Integrity Report Investigates and Assesses Anti-Corruption Mechanisms in 43 Countries, including the United States

2006 Global Integrity Report proved rather intersting. The report which places Armenia among the very week rating countries comes just a day after Armenia occupied a surprizingly high 32nd Place in World Rating of Economic Freedoms. Not to go into details about why I find the letter result so surprizingly high I'll just link to Onnik Krikoryan's post, where the matter is discussed at length.

As Armenia heads into the elections of May 2007, and in the context where absence of any ethical standards in government, inefficiency of the laws and practices designed to combat corruption and prevent abuses of power in the country prevail, the report by the Global Integrity undoubtedly provides information of wide public interest to Armenia.

The country uniformly ranks among countries with week and very week indicators as can be seen in the following indexes. And this time it's not the discredited Armenian opposition speaking, but rather the results of a major investigative report releasedby Global Integrity, an international nonprofit organization that tracks governance and corruption trends around the world.

“The mixing of money and politics continues to be a recipe for corruption in countries both rich and poor,” said Managing Director, Nathaniel Heller. “And yet, some nations have shown that, even with limited resources, political will and strong leadership can prove effective in addressing governance challenges.”

The Global Integrity report includes research and reporting from the following countries: Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon, Liberia, Mexico, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, the United States, Vietnam, the West Bank, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

To access the 2006 Global Integrity Report, please visit the website at http://www.globalintegrity.org/.