Word: booms
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...would seem likely to resonate in a district that is still around 55% Republican and voted 64% for President Bush in 2004. But DeLay sacrificed some conservatives to scoop up NASA and to boost Republican chances in other districts, leading some Texas observers to suggest those adjustments and a boom in the number of minority middle class voters in the district's fast-growing suburbs may have moved it closer to the middle...
Despite the speed of the oil boom, the price crash has jolted OPEC countries, which appear to have assumed that high prices were here to stay. Nigeria and Iran have both set their national budgets according to prices of about $80 a barrel, and Qatar's expectation has been $90 a barrel. "Producers very quickly got used to $100-plus prices," says Lee. "They thought of it as normal and justified. They seem to have very short memories...
...overhaul the country's land-use policies, still hampered by the unwieldy collectivization policies of the Mao Zedong era. The plan, unveiled Oct. 19, is an attempt to jump-start agricultural productivity and promote prosperity among its restive farmers, who have largely been bypassed by China's economic boom. Currently, farmers are entitled to the proceeds from their sales but do not own the land--a system easily exploited by corrupt officials and developers. Beijing hopes the reforms--enabling farmers to lease, swap, subcontract and transfer land-use rights--will help double the average disposable income among the nation...
There is some good news. A study that correlated Playboy centerfolds with market conditions found that men like fuller-figured women more in lean times than in boom times. The APA study showed that when stressed, women liked to eat. Bingo...
...Syrian art boom is taking place amid an economic thaw. Syria began opening its economy in 2005 under pressure from U.S. sanctions; foreign investment has changed the face of the country. Once the streets of Damascus were filled with 1950s-era American auto-mobiles, kept running by trade barriers and twine; now there's a daily traffic jam of new Asian sedans and German sports cars. Superseding the capital's dictator-chic hotels from the 1970s--massive concrete towers with prostitutes in the bars and spies in the lobbies--modern boutique inns are sprouting in renovated courtyard palaces...