Yeah! That Might Work!

I've decided to start something that might never happen again but now I have a tag for it just in case it does. This is a "Hey, That Just Might Work" post and it just might be the last but here it goes.

Today I was listening to NPR (how very libral of me). I do so occasionally to catch up on what the general American is thinking about stuff going on within and without our boarders and sometimes about our boarders (but that's another post). So today, on the way to work I heard a report on some stuff going on in Iraq (not unusual these days). This report was on a business man from the US meeting with Iraqi officals about setting up a theme park in Bagdad. Sounds crazy right?

Park Goer #1: "Hey, let's go ride the roller coaster one more
time before the city's power shuts down for the day."

Park Goer #2: "I think a bomb exploded on that side of the
park and it will take a while to adjust the railings. So let's get some dippin'
dots and head home. We'll miss curphew if we wait for the roller
coaster."

That's the funny side of the situation but there are seriously things that are practical about this. Think about it. When you go to your nearest theme park, who is it that's running the rides and all the consessions? Our nearest theme park employs the young for most of these. In Iraq it would mostly employ young men. They don't need much training to run the tea cups and without these jobs they might very well be building roadside bombs or shooting at Iraqi police and American Troops.

There are about five or six companies that are looking at Iraq as a fruitful business opportunity and their goal is, of coarse, to make money but a side effect that we can all agree is good is that Iraqi people will have jobs. Right now most people don't have anything to loose by joining those groups against democracy because they simply don't have anything. There's a huge amount of money that our government has used to "rebuild" Iraq but there hasn't been anything seen as a result of it. Maybe the ones responsible for spending it were not associated enough with its source and haven't been looking to make changes that are visible in the short term. But those with a business mindset may thrive where government has seemed to fail because they are very connected to these funds are going to make sure there are profits. They have a vested intrest that their pockets will be lined and as a result of that jobs will be provided.

Some may see this as just another thing that the US is trying to push on the Iraqi people. "Get them to embrace our version of captalism so that they can be dependant on our companies in place of our Forces." Think about it. Let's look at the theme park for instance. How many theme parks housed within a city have you been to where there aren't a dozen resturants within walking or driving distance? Consider the shop down the street from Sea World that has some very similar souviners at a fraction of the price. Potential local business owners will be drawn by location. "Hey, if we could set up our cafe near the theme park we could sell ginger tea to those idots who spent all day on the tilt-a-whirl."

Think of the possibilities.