Our "black Monday" for oil | Salon News
The fact remains that the United States government has ignored these obvious facts for decades. John Anderson, who ran for president many years ago, was laughed at and ridiculed for proposing a very modest 50 cent per gallon tax on oil that would be used to build public transportation infrastructure and to help drive down demand. Our current leaders -- including all the candidates this year -- fail to even talk about energy policy.
What we really need is a $4.00 to $5.00 per gallon tax that would be used to fund a Manhattan Project-sized research initiative into alternatives and to build public transportation. Building enormous homes for single people in the suburbs should be taxed into oblivion, and truly essential services like food production and delivery subsidized. We will never do it however, because we remain greedy and myopic, and because we erroneously believe that we can overcome everything by shooting. Well, if Iraq is an example, we're in for a very long and dark cold spell.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Saturday, April 05, 2008
James Dobson Admits to Being an Islamic Terrorist
(AP) James Dobson today admitted he was a covert operative for the government of Iran and dedicated to the overthrow of the United States. He made the admission after being water boarded. He had agreed to subject himself to this interrogation technique to show how harmless it was, but ended up surprising everyone by admitting his real nefarious objective. He was immediately arrested and sent to Guantanamo where he awaits trial in the year 2031.
The Great Clinton Years
As Hillary tries to return us to the yesteryears of the 90's:
Let's see, the great Clinton years: failed health insurance try, impeachment, embarrassment, disbarment, lying, travelgate, NAFTA, a tax cut to the super-rich that dwarfs anything Bush has done, a second term that virtually guaranteed a Republican takeover of Congress.
Actually, I'd be a lot more favorably inclined toward Hillary if she had divorced Bill and been running by herself. The idea of him hanging around in the White House with nothing to do - or worse - making things for himself to do frightens me. He's a loose cannon and albatross around her neck. And frankly Chelsea, if she is really representing the campaign, will have to answer the question about how Bill's actions in the White House affected her family's relationship. She cannot just say it's none of our business because we have to know how those two will interact.
I heard one pundit -- not that we should pay any attention to them -- suggest that Hillary knows she cannot win this year, wants the race to go to the convention, wants Obama to lose to McCain so she can run in 2012. Personally, I think the only hope for a Democratic win this fall is if the convention deadlocks (which it probably will) and then turns to a compromise candidate in the wings: Gore. A Gore/Obama ticket would be unbeatable. (BTW, I am a huge Obama supporter and hope I am wrong and he wins both the convention and the election, but I just don't see that happening, unless the mess is sorted out early.)
Let's see, the great Clinton years: failed health insurance try, impeachment, embarrassment, disbarment, lying, travelgate, NAFTA, a tax cut to the super-rich that dwarfs anything Bush has done, a second term that virtually guaranteed a Republican takeover of Congress.
Actually, I'd be a lot more favorably inclined toward Hillary if she had divorced Bill and been running by herself. The idea of him hanging around in the White House with nothing to do - or worse - making things for himself to do frightens me. He's a loose cannon and albatross around her neck. And frankly Chelsea, if she is really representing the campaign, will have to answer the question about how Bill's actions in the White House affected her family's relationship. She cannot just say it's none of our business because we have to know how those two will interact.
I heard one pundit -- not that we should pay any attention to them -- suggest that Hillary knows she cannot win this year, wants the race to go to the convention, wants Obama to lose to McCain so she can run in 2012. Personally, I think the only hope for a Democratic win this fall is if the convention deadlocks (which it probably will) and then turns to a compromise candidate in the wings: Gore. A Gore/Obama ticket would be unbeatable. (BTW, I am a huge Obama supporter and hope I am wrong and he wins both the convention and the election, but I just don't see that happening, unless the mess is sorted out early.)
Spray bottles
We have sent people to the moon, created marvelous little electronic devices and all sorts of other goodies, but we can't seem to create a spray bottle that doesn't leave at least an inch of product in the bottom of the container. Now if I were a conspiratorialist....
Real Lessons of Bear Stearns
1. If you are big enough, you will not be allowed to fail, no matter what you do. The stockholders may have taken a hit (more about that later), but the bond holders were bailed out.
2. Just imagine if you were savvy enough to purchase Bear Stearns at $2, and just maybe guessed!? that JP Morgan might come back with a higher offer, and you bought a million shares at $2 and then 5 days later saw it rise to $10. You would have made a hell of a lot of money. Now we all know those folks know and talk to each other..... The fact is some people made a killing.
3. The Fed is not bailing out the economy; it's bailing out its friends in the guise of bailing out the economy. There's a big difference.
4. Capitalism requires that risk takers get hurt on occasion to keep things honest, i.e., the so-called moral hazard. The Fed is removing that risk from the system. In the meantime, the dollar has tanked and the only real benefit is that the interest on our debt is lower - that makes the administration numbers look better. And again, these folks are all friends and bailing out each other.
2. Just imagine if you were savvy enough to purchase Bear Stearns at $2, and just maybe guessed!? that JP Morgan might come back with a higher offer, and you bought a million shares at $2 and then 5 days later saw it rise to $10. You would have made a hell of a lot of money. Now we all know those folks know and talk to each other..... The fact is some people made a killing.
3. The Fed is not bailing out the economy; it's bailing out its friends in the guise of bailing out the economy. There's a big difference.
4. Capitalism requires that risk takers get hurt on occasion to keep things honest, i.e., the so-called moral hazard. The Fed is removing that risk from the system. In the meantime, the dollar has tanked and the only real benefit is that the interest on our debt is lower - that makes the administration numbers look better. And again, these folks are all friends and bailing out each other.
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