It's a GLOBAL economic crisis!

Just the other day I took a taxi to the medical campus because I was running late. As is the habit of most drivers, this one struck a conversation with me out of thin air. Therefore I decided to write this post as a response to his nonsense because I know better than to start a debate with someone as uneducated and as small minded as an Egyptian taxi driver.

The first putrid breath he uttered was: "America's gonna be broke! niahahaha!" which I later learned was a reference to the economic crisis, the 'great bailout' and whatnot. Ahmed the taxi driver has a theory saying that the 700 million dollars (I decided not to correct the sum) of the bailout would do nothing to save the American economy and that the treasury would become depleted and America would cease to be a world power, etc...

What is the appropriate response to a theory as ridiculous as that? Seeing it best not to aggravate the situation, I simply agreed with the theory while my insides boiled with anger and disgust. Has hunger driven people to become THAT stupid? What is this person's excuse to actually believe beyond any reasonable doubt that the lunacy that is his economic theory is anywhere near reality? What he, as well as flocks of Egyptians, seem to have missed is that this is a GLOBAL economic crisis which has affected and will continue to effect all corners of the globe. This young unsuspecting taxi driver doesn't seem to comprehend that as the situation continues to deteriorate in the US, the already on-the-verge-of-crumbling Egyptian economy will be directly affected as a result.

Instead of arguing I simply nodded and agreed with how "what goes around comes around" and comforted myself with the fact that his idiocy would eventually get the better of him. And sure it did...

Yesterday, the world witnessed a 27% increase in prices. Everything from the wheat we plant to the coca cola cans have increased in price. That includes, as I was kind enough to point out to the taxi I took, gas prices! To my surprise, I was not at all upset that the fare from my house to the campus had almost doubled. All I wanted was to see the look on that driver's face when he went to fill his tank at the gas station. Apparently, America wasn't the only one affected by the crisis :)