I should write something, but I am not really in the mood... except maybe I won't have to eat my chocolate crow.. I have gone back to my first thoughts of voting for McCain.. I don't think I can do it. He seems to think all conservatives are stupid and owe him... I really believe all the real fight has gone out of him and he wants us to fight his battles for him and then he can take the credit for winning the Presidency because the people love him so.. and then continue to do his dumping on us again as he has been doing the past almost 8 years with his McCain Finegold or what ever the name, and the something or other 14, and the McCain Kennedy and all the other "across the isle" stuff he has been doing..
Yet I cannot bear the thought of having Hillary or O'Bama in that office.. bunch of trash both of them..
I have also been mulling over the gas price deal and the high price of food stuff... I am forming the opinion that there is a hidden conspiracy to really make the people ticked off and "make" congress repeal the laws that stop the drilling of oil in this country, stop the nuclear power plants, the building of more refineries, and enlarging the ones we have and up dating them.. then whether there is the same conspiracy or a side by side one on the food stuff.. that is because of Global warming... or are they both connected and want to put us back in covered wagons or even further back... to slaves and surfs.. The elite might really enjoy that..
See why I am not in the mood to write.. am I depressed... yes, somewhat.. I do have faith in the American people to raise to the cause and eventually switch it all around.. it might take awhile for them to see the light.. but they will. Wish I could throw in something more positive..
Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
There's No Such Thing as a Gas or Oil Shortage
First the good news: Automotive expert Ed Wallace says there's no gasoline or oil shortage in the U.S. today and near-record reserves are on hand.
Now the bad news: Not only has the congressional mandate for ethanol jacked up the price of food, but Washington, Wall Street and fuel producers all want you to think the gas and oil shortage they keep talking about is real.
Washington, Wallace says, appears to be protecting oil speculators and ethanol producers rather than the interests of U.S. citizens who will ultimately pay higher prices for food and U.S. farmers, who are already staggering under increased animal feed costs.
Just one example: Pilgrim's Pride, the country’s largest poultry processor, recently announced it must lay off 1,100 employees, close one processing plant and six of its 13 distribution centers, all because its costs for chicken feed went up $600 million last year and was on track to increase by even more this year.
"They see speculation in the market, I see decline in global inventories,” Energy Secretary Sam Bodman told Bloomberg, adding that pushing up the prices of corn and animal feed for farmers is "nowhere near as important as trying to relieve pressure on [gasoline] supplies.”
The fact is, Wallace counters, that U.S. gasoline reserves are at their highest levels since the 1990s and have risen steadily since last October and oil reserves have gone up virtually every week this year.
That’s pretty amazing when you consider refineries have been scaling back production as their profit margins decline.
Editor’s Note: Why Oil Prices Will Go Much Lower After November Election. Best Ways to Profit Now.
According to Valero Energy CEO Bill Klesse, poor margins in recent months caused Valero to cancel planned refinery expansions that would have produced 500,000 more barrels per day.
"Refiners cut gasoline production, yet gasoline reserves have grown to their largest since late 1992,” Wallace comments. "Why is Washington insisting there’s a supply and demand problem when none exists, and that speculators aren’t responsible for the rapid oil and gasoline price rises when it’s clear that they are?”
Gas prices continue to rise even though petroleum usage has been declining since last July.
The U.S. used 4 percent less petroleum this January than in January 2007. Oil demand dropped by 3.2 percent in February. Worldwide oil production rose 3.5 percent during the first quarter — outstripping growth in worldwide demand by 1.5 percent — and is expected to increase by 3.3 percent during the second quarter by as much as 4.1 percent during the third.
Investment in oil futures, Wallace notes, has risen from $9 billion in 2000 to $250 billion today. Any publicly traded company with $241 billion more share investment would see its value soar even if it had no where near that much in market cap.
In addition, even though the dollar has dropped 30 percent since 2002, the price of oil has risen by 500 percent.
"Is it the weak dollar that has caused a 500 percent increase in the price of oil, or is it the extra $241 billion worth of speculation?” Wallace asks. "You can make the call on that one.”
Now the bad news: Not only has the congressional mandate for ethanol jacked up the price of food, but Washington, Wall Street and fuel producers all want you to think the gas and oil shortage they keep talking about is real.
Washington, Wallace says, appears to be protecting oil speculators and ethanol producers rather than the interests of U.S. citizens who will ultimately pay higher prices for food and U.S. farmers, who are already staggering under increased animal feed costs.
Just one example: Pilgrim's Pride, the country’s largest poultry processor, recently announced it must lay off 1,100 employees, close one processing plant and six of its 13 distribution centers, all because its costs for chicken feed went up $600 million last year and was on track to increase by even more this year.
"They see speculation in the market, I see decline in global inventories,” Energy Secretary Sam Bodman told Bloomberg, adding that pushing up the prices of corn and animal feed for farmers is "nowhere near as important as trying to relieve pressure on [gasoline] supplies.”
The fact is, Wallace counters, that U.S. gasoline reserves are at their highest levels since the 1990s and have risen steadily since last October and oil reserves have gone up virtually every week this year.
That’s pretty amazing when you consider refineries have been scaling back production as their profit margins decline.
Editor’s Note: Why Oil Prices Will Go Much Lower After November Election. Best Ways to Profit Now.
According to Valero Energy CEO Bill Klesse, poor margins in recent months caused Valero to cancel planned refinery expansions that would have produced 500,000 more barrels per day.
"Refiners cut gasoline production, yet gasoline reserves have grown to their largest since late 1992,” Wallace comments. "Why is Washington insisting there’s a supply and demand problem when none exists, and that speculators aren’t responsible for the rapid oil and gasoline price rises when it’s clear that they are?”
Gas prices continue to rise even though petroleum usage has been declining since last July.
The U.S. used 4 percent less petroleum this January than in January 2007. Oil demand dropped by 3.2 percent in February. Worldwide oil production rose 3.5 percent during the first quarter — outstripping growth in worldwide demand by 1.5 percent — and is expected to increase by 3.3 percent during the second quarter by as much as 4.1 percent during the third.
Investment in oil futures, Wallace notes, has risen from $9 billion in 2000 to $250 billion today. Any publicly traded company with $241 billion more share investment would see its value soar even if it had no where near that much in market cap.
In addition, even though the dollar has dropped 30 percent since 2002, the price of oil has risen by 500 percent.
"Is it the weak dollar that has caused a 500 percent increase in the price of oil, or is it the extra $241 billion worth of speculation?” Wallace asks. "You can make the call on that one.”
Friday, April 4, 2008
Senator, Financier Want 'National Infrastructure' Bank
On first reading this sounds good to me... will have to think about it some more
Margie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Financier Felix Rohatyn and former Senator Warren Rudman are urging the establishment of a national bank to fix the country’s aging infrastructure — roads, bridges, schools, water pipelines, ports, air control systems, dams and railroads.
They figure the spending on infrastructure should be $1.6 trillion over the next five years.
Rohatyn is credited with saving New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s, and Rudman made himself famous as the co-author of a budget deficit reduction bill in 1985. The $1.6 trillion figure comes from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
With the economy apparently entering a steep recession, the timing is perfect to "improve the country’s crumbling infrastructure,” the duo wrote in the Financial Times this week.
"A government-backed, long-term infrastructure investment program might provide some of the belief in our economy that has been under pressure as a result of the credit crisis,” Rohatyn and Rudman maintain.
These improvements would be paid for with borrowed private capital rather than new government spending, the duo argues, hence the need for a $60 billion national infrastructure bank.
Effectively, the bank idea would at least partially privatize many now public properties.
"Although the infrastructure bank’s initial ceiling to issue bonds would be $60 billion, it would bring in billions of additional dollars from outside investors,” Rohatyn and Rudman wrote.
"The bank would have any number of ways to finance itself, such as government guarantees and access to potential revenue streams as well as the sale of government assets.”
The bank should be able to issue bonds with maturities up to 50 years, matching the actual spending on the infrastructure with the benefits that spending creates, the pair recommend.
Repayment of bonds should eventually make the bank self-financing.
In terms of fighting off recession, the bank would ultimately produce hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs, according to Rohatyn and Rudman.
They support the National Infrastructure Bank Act authored by Senators Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). The bill was introduced last year, the same day that a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, killing 13 and injuring hundreds.
The bank would be modeled in part on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), keeping it free of congressional interference in the form of earmarks.
"The American people deserve railways as good as Europe’s, ports that work as efficiently as modern Asian port facilities and public schools that are not in ruins,” Rohatyn and Rudman wrote.
While China spends for massive infrastructure improvement, "here, according to the Brookings Institution, congested roads, in 2005 alone, cost $78 billion in lost productivity and higher freight charges,” the pair wrote.
Margie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Financier Felix Rohatyn and former Senator Warren Rudman are urging the establishment of a national bank to fix the country’s aging infrastructure — roads, bridges, schools, water pipelines, ports, air control systems, dams and railroads.
They figure the spending on infrastructure should be $1.6 trillion over the next five years.
Rohatyn is credited with saving New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s, and Rudman made himself famous as the co-author of a budget deficit reduction bill in 1985. The $1.6 trillion figure comes from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
With the economy apparently entering a steep recession, the timing is perfect to "improve the country’s crumbling infrastructure,” the duo wrote in the Financial Times this week.
"A government-backed, long-term infrastructure investment program might provide some of the belief in our economy that has been under pressure as a result of the credit crisis,” Rohatyn and Rudman maintain.
These improvements would be paid for with borrowed private capital rather than new government spending, the duo argues, hence the need for a $60 billion national infrastructure bank.
Effectively, the bank idea would at least partially privatize many now public properties.
"Although the infrastructure bank’s initial ceiling to issue bonds would be $60 billion, it would bring in billions of additional dollars from outside investors,” Rohatyn and Rudman wrote.
"The bank would have any number of ways to finance itself, such as government guarantees and access to potential revenue streams as well as the sale of government assets.”
The bank should be able to issue bonds with maturities up to 50 years, matching the actual spending on the infrastructure with the benefits that spending creates, the pair recommend.
Repayment of bonds should eventually make the bank self-financing.
In terms of fighting off recession, the bank would ultimately produce hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs, according to Rohatyn and Rudman.
They support the National Infrastructure Bank Act authored by Senators Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). The bill was introduced last year, the same day that a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, killing 13 and injuring hundreds.
The bank would be modeled in part on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), keeping it free of congressional interference in the form of earmarks.
"The American people deserve railways as good as Europe’s, ports that work as efficiently as modern Asian port facilities and public schools that are not in ruins,” Rohatyn and Rudman wrote.
While China spends for massive infrastructure improvement, "here, according to the Brookings Institution, congested roads, in 2005 alone, cost $78 billion in lost productivity and higher freight charges,” the pair wrote.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Greater Inclusiveness of Minorities
No Gym For Dhimmis ====
== by Marilyn Penn==
http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2008/04/02/no-gym-for-dhimmis/
Most of our civil rights legislation and judicial opinions have been
designed to encourage greater inclusiveness of minorities into the
mainstream. We have insisted on integrating buses, schools, the military,
jobs, housing - even private clubs. Any group that gets a government grant
has an obligation to eschew discrimination. So it is with particular interest
that we should look at Harvard's recent retrograde decision to set aside certain
gym hours for the exclusive benefit of Muslim women. Twice a week, for two
hours one morning and two hours one afternoon, all men must be excluded from
the gym so that female Muslim students will not be seen in what their religion
considers compromising positions or inappropriate dress.
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