Bremer: Iraq Needs a Welfare State

The Road Ahead in Iraq, and How to Navigate it, by L. Paul Bremer (NYT): “We are pouring resources into re-establishing basic services and creating jobs....We are also creating a social safety net for any resulting disruptions. And we believe that a method should be found to assure that every citizen benefits from Iraq’s oil wealth. One possibility would be to pay social benefits from a trust financed by oil revenues. Another could be to pay an annual cash dividend directly to each citizen from that trust.”