An interesting factoid gleaned from an Asian newspaper... (thanks Joe). It's estimated that approximately 15% of China's entire exports go to Wal-Mart. You won't see this in the New York Times.

As I ponder the offshoring of manufacturing, it strikes me that we're putting a lot of folks to work. We're just doing it in different countries. Americans don't have to work so hard anymore. Somebody else is making most of the stuff. And millions of boomers are approaching retirement age. That's an odd coincidence. Think of the potential social effects of full employment in India. That would be weird. It also could happen.

There are two events which could tilt the statistical tie beyond a couple of points and solidify Bush's re-election chances. One, grab Osama in early October. The other one would be some form of 'terrorist attack' that shuts down Madison Square Gardens before the final speech. I'm not suggesting that anything like this will happen. But if I'm thinking of it, you can bet that somebody in the RNC has thought about it as well. They probably even have graphs of the projected point gain.