Howard Dean - Way Out There

Via Drudge: Howard Dean Says Iraqis Worse Off Now

Let's see. Saddam is gone. They have food and medicine that the regime once withheld. Kids are going to school. People are debating the nature of their new government - actually debating and protesting and voicing real opinions - instead of cowering in fear of the torture chambers. Their economy is even improving via an infusion of capitalist beliefs.

And still, Dean claims that "their standard of living is a whole lot worse now than it was before."

Huh?

Look at this description from Thomas Foley, the man in charge of rebuilding Iraq's economy (link via Electric Venom):

there is pent-up consumer demand in the nation. Iraqis are buying everything from cell phones to satellite dishes. New stores are opening with goods flowing onto the street and trucks frequently making deliveries (emphasis mine)

So tell me, is that the sign of an economy in decline? Not by any traditional means of measurement. Is it the signal of a declining standard of living? Absolutely not.

Even if his argument was something along the lines of the Americans mismanaging the oil economy of the nation, take a look at this article from AMEInfo (again from Venomous Kate):

The fiscal deficit of Iraq in 2003 is expected to increase sharply due to the sharp decline in oil production and exports, according to Global Investment House. But with the expected restoration of oil production levels, Iraq is expected to report a fiscal surplus in 2005.

Life in Iraq still isn't up to the standards that we expect in the United States. But it is by no means worse than it was before. For Dean to claim it is is completely preposterous.