Ol’ billionaire Phil Gramm, the economic brain behind John McCain’s presidential bid, thinks that the economy is just damn fine, and if you are feeling pinched then it’s all in your damn head.

You know, if you gasp when the pump clicks off to see that it has cost you 50, 60 or 70 dollars to fill up your tank, or that a loaf of bread that was $1.50 last winter is now $3.50, then you are a whiner.

Apparently, if you made enough damn money, you would just take these things in stride and quit your damn whining, according to Phil. I mean what is your damn problem?

Gramm, who has extensive ties to Enron, served as a lobbyist for the international banking and subprime mortgage giant UBS until April. Gramm played a key role in the subprime meltdown during his time in the Senate.

Apparently, what you are experiencing is a “mental recession”, which is something like depression, but not anywhere near as severe.

From the Baltimore Chronicle, referring to Gram’s complicity in Enron’s rape of the state of California by manipulating electricity prices in 2001. “Clearing the way for that California price gouging, Gramm, as a powerful Texas senator in 2000, slipped an Enron-backed provision into the Commodities Futures Modernization Act that exempted from regulation energy trading on electronic platforms.

Then, over the next year, Enron – with Gramm’s wife Wendy serving on its board of directors – worked to create false electricity shortages in California, bilking consumers out of an estimated $40 billion.”

This is the legislation that has allowed energy companies to invest in “futures” in their own stock prices – essentially betting that they will raise their prices. Heads they win, tails you lose.

McCain, who has famously said that he doesn't know much about economics, will be relying on Gramm and the same folks who got us into the current state of affairs.

Lord help us.

Sorry to whine.

It’s the Fourth of July! Hooray! We’ve won the War on Iraq! Big Oil is moving in to pump more oil our way. Mission Accomplished! Light up those fireworks!

So maybe things are not going so well in Afghanistan, with violence up, the Taliban running the country outside of Kabul, and even the neocons afraid of accidentally toppling Musharraf by venturing into Pakistan to get Bin Laden.

Get ready for this Summer’s blockbuster! The War on Iran is showing trailers on TV screens nationwide. You’ve seen it! Now buy it!

(Why wouldn’t we attack Iran? What, do we have to wait for the Israelis to do it?)

OK, this time it's REALLY not about oil (they don't have any.) This is about… saving you from nuclear attack!

They hate us because we’re free!

Oh hell, believe whatever you want, but we ARE going to fight. In fact, it's already happening.

All of you big-time supporters of the War on Iraq, please prepare your eligible sons and daughters to attempt what a million Iraqis and Saddam’s WMDs couldn’t do.

And this is going to hurt a bit, but in the spirit of making the world safe for democracy, get ready for a little bit more expensive gasoline.

But do NOT worry about increases in your taxes! We’ll pay for this war the same way we’re paying for the other ones. Saudi Arabia has agreed to loan us the cash at a very reasonable rate.

Providing you vote Republican.

It’s obvious that Republican candidate John McCain either does not have a good grasp of the facts from moment to moment, or he simply chooses to ignore them.

Last week the Republican’s campaign theme was energy, and he was on the road trying to capitalize on Americans’ pain at the pump.

(Meanwhile McCain stands shoulder-to-shoulder with George Bush in threatening military action against Iran, which would be another windfall for the major oil companies.)

McCain also demonstrated in his speeches that he has learned the lessons of Karl Rove, and freely misstated the positions of Barack Obama’s energy proposals. It just doesn’t seem to matter what the facts are to McCain, and the press rarely calls him on it.

Factcheck.org, a nonpartisan project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, yesterday published a report titled “McCain's Power Outage - Contradictions and misstatements short-circuit McCain's energy policy pronouncements.”

Follow the link for the details, but a here are the highlights:

• He said that ending a moratorium on offshore oil drilling "would be very helpful in the short term in resolving our energy crisis." But according to a government report, offshore oil wouldn't have much of an impact on supply or prices until 2030.
• McCain tried to paint Obama as an opponent of nuclear power, yet Obama has said he is open to nuclear energy being part of the solution and has supported bills that contained nuclear subsidies.
• He has soft-pedaled the "cap" portion of his cap-and-trade proposal for greenhouse gases, even denying that it would be a mandate. The cap is a mandatory limit, however, and McCain even says so on his Web site.
• McCain's new ad, running this week, rightly says that he bucked his party in supporting action on climate change years ago. But its images of windmills and solar panels are misleading in that he supports subsidies for nuclear power, which isn't pictured, and opposes them for wind and solar energy.
• McCain continues to say that a suspension of the federal gas tax will lower prices for consumers, though hundreds of economists say he is wrong.

John McCain apparently has little use for the facts, which is a disturbing trait in a man who would be president.

It has long been obvious that the U.S. is not fighting Al Queda on Iraqi soil, but the Iraqis themselves, at the cost of as many as a million of their citizens and of course, control of their government and their economy.

We are about to see the confiscation of Iraq's national sovereignty by the Bush neocons formalized in a "security agreement" between the Bush/Cheney cabal and their puppet Iraq regime.

The details of the the so-called "strategic alliance", which have been leaked to Patrick Cockburn of the British newspaper The Independent, essentially sign control of the nation of Iraq over to the United States.

This quasi-legal and open-ended occupation of Iraq will, quite predictably be sold to the U.S. citizens as a "victory" over the forces of terror, and a vindication of the Bush/Cheney doctrine of preventative warfare.

From The Independent; "Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government."

"Washington also wants control of Iraqi airspace below 29,000ft and the right to pursue its "war on terror" in Iraq, giving it the authority to arrest anybody it wants and to launch military campaigns without consultation."

This "agreement " will not be put to a referendum of the Iraqi people for obvious reasons. It will subjugate them to American rule indefinitely and condemn them to an ongoing violent struggle to regain their status as an independent nation, and turn their country into a U.S. base for a war with Iran.

Now you know what we have been fighting for.

I have refrained from writing about John McCain’s pastor problem.

I really resented the way so many people used Rev. Wright as an excuse to unleash their racism and guiltlessly attack Barack Obama for being black – and worse – attack the institution of the black church, which has provided hope and inspiration for African Americans during centuries of slavery and oppression.

Also, I think that mixing religion and politics is just a really bad idea.

Politicians should keep their religion to themselves. As always, Bush provides us a perfect example of how not to lead.

If, in fact, the President of the United States is a born again Christian, this means that he believes that for God’s will to be fulfilled, and for Jesus Christ to return, there needs first to be an Armageddon.

I have wondered if one the factors motivating George Bush, who claims such beliefs, and has also stated that he believes that God selected him to be president, to attack Iraq is that he believes it is his Biblical providence to lead us into the cataclysmic battle between God and Satan.

Personally, I don’t want to see a nuclear war so that the born-agains can get their reward of sitting at Jesus’ hand. Any more than I want to get blown apart by a Muslim fundamentalist so that he can get to his own version of heaven.

I think I’d rather have a clear-eyed atheist with his finger on the button, thank you.

John McCain, who has famously criticized leaders of the religious right as "agents of intolerance", nonetheless has spent the last year currying favor with these same televangelist preachers in order to pander to the religious right, a core constituency of the Republican Party since the days of Ronald Reagan.

Among those is the Pastor John Hagee, who is about as whacked out (or as prophetic) as a preacher can get.

Among his other bizarre statements, Hagee has excused Adolph Hitler for annihilating millions of Jews, claiming that Hitler was acting on God’s behalf, driving the Jews back to Israel so that Armageddon could occur and Christ could come back.

He blames the Jews for the Holocaust. And gays for Katrina. And your sins for 9-11.

John McCain has said that he is “proud” to have this sociopath as a spiritual advisor.

Today, McCain tossed Hagee under the bus. Like the four lobbyists who were his key advisors, but became a liability to his ambitions by being, well, lobbyists.

Considering the endless looping of a 5 second clip of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s most inflammatory remarks over a period of at least a month, and the inference that Barack Obama shared those sentiments, it will be interesting to see how long the media’s attention remains focused on the anti-Semitic rantings of Pastor Hagee.

My guess: one news cycle.

 

It has always been clear that George Bush has had little interest in the difficult work of his job.  Now that the expectations of the American people have been reduced to essentially zero, Bush seems fine with being rid of all that responsibility, and riding out the rest of his term blithely following the orders of his neocon handlers.

The Mideast, with its many factions and tangled relationships, has clearly been too much for the incurious Bush to deal with, and he's been happy to just use the labels they slapped on the parties involved; "good guys", "bad guys".

Bush's farewell tour of the region last week may have dealt the death blow to the withered peace process, which apparently was one of his assignments.

It appears his handlers gave Bush two objectives for the trip. First, to pour fuel on the smoldering Iranian situation and preemptively blow up possible negotiations, providing a pretext for a military strike.

While speaking in Israel, Bush not only managed to submerge the prospects of a peaceful resolution of the longstanding issues with the Palestinians and poison any attempt to negotiate with the Iranians, but was so effusive in his simple-minded praise of Israel, that nothing he said on the remainder of his trip even mattered.

Playing directly into the strategy of the terrorists and the neocons - those anxious to shed blood - or send someone else to do it for them - Bush did his best to insure their success.

Not surprisingly, except apparently to Bush, he was shunned during the rest of his trip by those whom he had so glibly associated with Hitler. It actually appeared that his feelings were hurt.

The second part of Bush's assignment didn't go as well as the first.

His family's personal benefactors, the Royal Saudis, just chuckled when he implored them to increase oil production to help the Republicans in the elections.

Bush came home with his tail between his legs and his legacy as a self-absorbed fool secured.

President Bush had to admit today that his policies have driven the U.S. economy straight into the toilet, threatening to take the entire global economy along for the swirly ride.

Oh, sorry!

This just in - He blamed the Congress.

You know, Congress with a one vote Democratic majority in the Senate for the last five months, for the continuing downward spiral of Americans’ standard of living, the plummet of the U.S. dollar, closure of stores and auto plants, the bankruptcy of several airlines, skyrocketing energy and food costs, the growing specter of inflation, and the unusually cold weather (what global warming?) on the Democrats.

If you are fortunate enough to reside here in beautiful Lake Country, the personal damage is likely limited to the significant drop in the value of your home. I’m sure there are McMansions around here that have been foreclosed, but all in all, we’re still doing pretty well out here.

I have family in Michigan and they are bitter. They are thankful to have jobs, but fearful, as so many of their unemployed neighbors have lost hope and pulled out, like the Okies heading out across the dustbowl, hoping for work in the farm fields of California.

As I left work downtown this afternoon, I saw the man standing on the corner with the hand-lettered sign “I’m Homeless and Hungry. Can you help?”

I avoided looking at his eyes.

 

Senator McCain’s proposal for a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax is not only a terrible idea, but shows the frightening lack of depth of his analysis of the economy.

"I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues," McCain told the Wall Street Journal in 2005. "I still need to be educated."  Apparently.

Senator Clinton’s endorsement of this ridiculous scheme is further proof that she will say anything that might gain her two or three votes.

Economically, the Gas Tax Holiday would be likely to have little effect at all on prices at the pump, which are determined by the fact that demand is running ahead of increases in production. So, any savings realized by you and me would be barely noticeable, if at all.

The loss of revenue to the federal government would be $10 Billion. Gas tax revenue is dedicated to maintaining the federal highway system, including the bridge that collapsed in Minnesota recently. Does that seem like a good idea?

I have not seen an estimate of the cost of administering this off and on again tax, but it would obviously cost millions.

And the bottom line, any temporary reduction in prices would only encourage consumption, which is our real problem.

The supply side of the equation can never keep up with the ballooning demand for fuel, even if we let the oil companies run the federal government. (Oh, yeah.)

The solution to our petroleum dependency, which affects all our economic well being, our foreign policies (Iraq does have a drop or two), our national security (maybe some of “them” hate us because they think we’re stealing their oil) and the looming problem of climate change is to RAISE the gas tax.

Tell me what you think of this idea. The tax at the pump would increase a penny for each 1/10th of a gallon pumped. We’d tax the first 1/10th at about .50 higher than the current level. The next tenth at .51/gallon, and so on.

This would be displayed in such a way that as you filled your tank you could feel the pain.

We need to DISCOURAGE consumption of gasoline if we are ever going to reduce its toxic effects on our lives. We waste millions of gallons of it by driving vehicles that are grossly overweight, by driving too fast, by failing to build mass transit systems. We could use the taxes to alleviate all of these problems, and actually begin to reduce the rate of consumption.

You may remember that during the gas crisis back in the seventies, a few visionary Democrats actually proposed raising gasoline taxes to discourage consumption. I wonder how much more efficient our cars would be, how much money we would NOT have sent to Saudi Arabia, how much cleaner our air would be, how much grain would now be available for feeding the world’s poorest, if we had taken our medicine back then. We should open up and swallow now. Our grandchildrens' future depends on it.

And please, I am serious; can you at least shut your engine off while you are in the coffee shop getting your morning cup? Let’s not be arrogant as well as foolish.

 

A range of factors, including the ongoing waste of everything by you and me, global warming causing droughts, and political instability as a result of centuries of imperialist policies by the “major powers” have resulted in the current run on commodities.

Everything from corn to gold is inflating in price at unprecedented rates. (Water is next.)

The speculators and even ordinary investors like you and me, via the mutual funds in our 401ks, are sucking up commodities like there was no tomorrow.

For many of our fellow humans, there may not be.

While you and I are sending our money to those who, on our behalf, are hoarding metals, oil and, most importantly, grain, millions of people around the world are facing starvation due to our “investments”.

These people will do whatever they have to in order to eat. How this will affect you is that they will hold us accountable for their children’s hunger. They will be “patriotic” to whoever distributes food to them. This is how Hammas, Iraqi militias, and al Queda gain recruits, including those anxious to become “martyrs”.

It is pathetic, but there is an obvious tendency for certain people here in the U.S. (Waukesha County) to grab what they can while it’s still available. How else to explain the gas-sucking pickups and SUVs flying down the freeway at 80 MPH? Towing four wheelers or a giant boat. One can only conclude that these individuals are determined to burn as much petroleum as they can while it’s still “affordable”.

So, get ready for the next bubble to burst. Commodity prices may continue to rise for a decade or more, as did housing prices. You and I make even make a lot of money. But the bubble will burst, just as it did in real estate.

You and I will lose money in the markets.

They will starve.

Is it too much to ask all you “Conservatives” to conserve? Just a bit?

 

A variety of conditions, but particularly the price of petroleum and the increasing devotion of farmland to biofuel substitutes, are driving up the cost of eating all over the world.

I’m not talking about the price of a fish fry and a couple of beers at your favorite local establishment. If you can afford eat in a restaurant, please do count your blessings.

You may have noticed (or not) that the basics – bread and milk – at Sentry or Pick ‘n Save are costing a heck of a lot more than they did a year ago.

I am talking about people so hungry that they are willing to charge a line of armed soldiers in the hope of securing something – anything - to eat. Food riots are a daily occurrence in cities around the world.

Because of our insatiable, and shameful, thirst for fuel for our vehicles, a massive amount of land that formerly was used to raise basic food grains to nourish people is now being used to grow corn and soy for fueling our cars and trucks and SUVs.

On every continent people trying to survive on $2 a day are desperately hungry, because your car is, literally, burning up their food.

Do you think you could at least slow down a little bit, and turn off your engine when you're getting your coffee at Kwik Trip?

 

I had lunch with a friend of mine last Friday, a very smart guy with a degree in Urban Planning, a keen interest in architecture, who is building some kind of “data warehouse” which I’m pretty sure is virtual. Walking back to the office, we were talking about the vast number of potential jobs and great fortunes to be made both in wringing energy waste out of our economy and flip side; the energy-producing industries.

 

Not only refining the existing technologies and designing consumer goods that use less energy, but entirely new ideas and products. The potential is there for the U.S. to jumpstart our fading economy, inject some jobs into manufacturing, increase exports and help reduce climate change all at the same time.

 

This country has practically invented industries before. Automotive, computers, consumer electronics and the film industry, to name a few. We didn’t necessarily do this alone, nor did we always do it in the smartest way, but the phrase “Yankee ingenuity” was coined for a reason.

 

So what’s holding us back? Why are the so-called green industries only now beginning to sprout, when they should be in full bloom?

 

Maybe electing a president and vice-president from the oil business wasn’t such a great idea.

 

The Republicans have been steadfast in preventing the direction of federal priorities towards anything that would reduce our use of oil, insisting that our best strategy was more drilling and refining.

 

Anyone need to have “change” defined for them? There’s a start.