Sports

Maradona to call up Pachuca star Gimenez



Argentina manager Diego Maradona told an Argentine radio show on Monday that he will call up Pachuca standout Christian "Chaco" Gimenez for the next pair of World Cup qualifiers.
"It's true that I will call up Christian Gimenez for qualifying," Maradona told Buenos Aires radio station Del Plata. "I'm not calling him up because the games are at altitude but because of his performance in Mexico."
Gimenez has been a star for los Tuzos yet again this season. He was the highest-scoring player on the highest-scoring team in Mexico, as Gimenez's nine goals led Pachuca. Los Tuzos scored an astounding 42 goals this season.
With Pachuca, Gimenez has won league titles, international titles and has been a major part of the club's success.
"There are players who will earn call-ups based on what they show me during league," Maradona said.
Argentina will host Colombia on June 6 and will play Ecuador in Quito four days later.

Sports

Maradona to call up Pachuca star Gimenez

The Obama Economy

As the Dow keeps dropping, the President is running out of people to blame.

As 2009 opened, three weeks before Barack Obama took office, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9034 on January 2, its highest level since the autumn panic. Yesterday the Dow fell another 4.24% to 6763, for an overall decline of 25% in two months and to its lowest level since 1997. The dismaying message here is that President Obama's policies have become part of the economy's problem.

Americans have welcomed the Obama era in the same spirit of hope the President campaigned on. But after five weeks in office, it's become clear that Mr. Obama's policies are slowing, if not stopping, what would otherwise be the normal process of economic recovery. From punishing business to squandering scarce national public resources, Team Obama is creating more uncertainty and less confidence -- and thus a longer period of recession or subpar growth.

The Democrats who now run Washington don't want to hear this, because they benefit from blaming all bad economic news on President Bush. And Mr. Obama has inherited an unusual recession deepened by credit problems, both of which will take time to climb out of. But it's also true that the economy has fallen far enough, and long enough, that much of the excess that led to recession is being worked off. Already 15 months old, the current recession will soon match the average length -- and average job loss -- of the last three postwar downturns. What goes down will come up -- unless destructive policies interfere with the sources of potential recovery.

And those sources have been forming for some time. The prices of oil and other commodities have fallen by two-thirds since their 2008 summer peak, which has the effect of a major tax cut. The world is awash in liquidity, thanks to monetary ease by the Federal Reserve and other central banks. Monetary policy operates with a lag, but last year's easing will eventually stir economic activity.

Housing prices have fallen 27% from their Case-Shiller peak, or some two-thirds of the way back to their historical trend. While still high, credit spreads are far from their peaks during the panic, and corporate borrowers are again able to tap the credit markets. As equities were signaling with their late 2008 rally and January top, growth should under normal circumstances begin to appear in the second half of this year.

So what has happened in the last two months? The economy has received no great new outside shock. Exchange rates and other prices have been stable, and there are no security crises of note. The reality of a sharp recession has been known and built into stock prices since last year's fourth quarter.

What is new is the unveiling of Mr. Obama's agenda and his approach to governance. Every new President has a finite stock of capital -- financial and political -- to deploy, and amid recession Mr. Obama has more than most. But one negative revelation has been the way he has chosen to spend his scarce resources on income transfers rather than growth promotion. Most of his "stimulus" spending was devoted to social programs, rather than public works, and nearly all of the tax cuts were devoted to income maintenance rather than to improving incentives to work or invest.

His Treasury has been making a similar mistake with its financial bailout plans. The banking system needs to work through its losses, and one necessary use of public capital is to assist in burning down those bad assets as fast as possible. Yet most of Team Obama's ministrations so far have gone toward triage and life support, rather than repair and recovery.

AIG yesterday received its fourth "rescue," including $70 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program cash, without any clear business direction. (See here.) Citigroup's restructuring last week added not a dollar of new capital, and also no clear direction. Perhaps the imminent Treasury "stress tests" will clear the decks, but until they do the banks are all living in fear of becoming the next AIG. All of this squanders public money that could better go toward burning down bank debt.

The market has notably plunged since Mr. Obama introduced his budget last week, and that should be no surprise. The document was a declaration of hostility toward capitalists across the economy. Health-care stocks have dived on fears of new government mandates and price controls. Private lenders to students have been told they're no longer wanted. Anyone who uses carbon energy has been warned to expect a huge tax increase from cap and trade. And every risk-taker and investor now knows that another tax increase will slam the economy in 2011, unless Mr. Obama lets Speaker Nancy Pelosi impose one even earlier.

Meanwhile, Congress demands more bank lending even as it assails lenders and threatens to let judges rewrite mortgage contracts. The powers in Congress -- unrebuked by Mr. Obama -- are ridiculing and punishing the very capitalists who are essential to a sustainable recovery. The result has been a capital strike, and the return of the fear from last year that we could face a far deeper downturn. This is no way to nurture a wounded economy back to health.

Listening to Mr. Obama and his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, on the weekend, we couldn't help but wonder if they appreciate any of this. They seem preoccupied with going to the barricades against Republicans who wield little power, or picking a fight with Rush Limbaugh, as if this is the kind of economic leadership Americans want.

Perhaps they're reading the polls and figure they have two or three years before voters stop blaming Republicans and Mr. Bush for the economy. Even if that's right in the long run, in the meantime their assault on business and investors is delaying a recovery and ensuring that the expansion will be weaker than it should be when it finally does arrive.

International News

Soldier charged in rampage had gun taken away last week

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. soldier charged with killing five of his fellow troops in Iraq had his weapon taken away last week, a U.S. military official said.

U.S. troops based at Camp Liberty near Baghdad, Iraq, wait while a robot disarms a roadside bomb in 2005.

The Army is investigating how how the shooter obtained the firearm used in Monday's attack.
The suspect was identified as Army Sgt. John M. Russell, Maj. Gen. David Perkins said Tuesday in Baghdad.
Russell has been charged with five counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault, Perkins said.
Russell killed five people when he fired on other troops at a stress clinic at Camp Liberty, the U.S. military encampment near Baghdad International Airport, officials said.


Believed to be at the end of his third tour in Ir and soon on his way out, Russell is from the 54th Engineering Battalion, based in Bamberg, Germany. The unit is attached to Multi-National Division South but based at Camp Victory in .
Russell is in military police custody at Camp Victory.

The military has launched a criminal investigation into the attack and another probe that explores the military's mental health services operations and how such violence can be avoided in the future, Perkins said.
Among the five killed, two were officers on the staff of the clinic, one from the Army and the other from the Navy. Both were with the 55th Medical Company. The other three were enlisted soldiers who were at the clinic.
Perkins said Russell had been receiving counseling within his battalion. Last week, Russell was referred to the Camp Liberty center.
"He had been seen by his chain of command, chaplain, things like that for about the week prior to [the shootings], but that could have been the first time he physically had gone to the clinic," Perkins said. His commander took his weapon away, Perkins said.
"All soldiers carry weapons with them in Iraq. The commander of this suspected individual that is in custody had taken his weapon away. He was referred to counseling the week before, and his commander determined that it was best for him not to have a weapon," Perkins said.
The motive for the attack is not clear, Perkins said.
One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Army Times that the soldier was escorted to the clinic and "got into a verbal altercation with the staff" when he got there and was asked to leave.
The soldier and his escort got back into their vehicle and drove off, the report said.
"At some point during the drive, the soldier got control of his escort's weapon and ordered the escort out of the vehicle," the official said, according to the Army Times. "The soldier then drove back to the clinic, walked in and began shooting."
Perkins said there have been "many different accounts" of what happened, but he could not confirm any sequence of events. He said that the firearm used in the shootings was some sort of personal weapon and it was probably either a pistol or an M-4 rifle.
"This is a continuing investigation. It will include an examination of how the incident occurred," he said.
"Speculation does not serve us well, or rumor. We need to know the facts because we will spend a lot of time trying to prevent these types of things in the future."
Russell was referred to counseling because officials were concerned about his actions and words, but Perkins didn't elaborate.
The clinic is temporarily closed for the investigation. Alternate locations are available to soldiers, Perkins said.
Russell's age and family information were not disclosed nor were any details about his mental state. No one else was wounded in the incident, Perkins said, but he did not elaborate on why there was a charge of aggravated assault.
Russell was apprehended outside the clinic after the shots were heard, Perkins said.
"The 55th Medical Company provided immediate counseling for those who witnessed the shooting and were at the center during the time of the incident," Perkins said.
Maj. Gen. Daniel Bolger, commander of Multi-National Division-Baghdad, said the shootings show the challenges troops face.
"When something like this happens, we've got to be careful not to judge too harshly and extend a sympathy that is due to all these soldiers and families," Bolger said.

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