Top U.S. military brass, once again showing how little they understand the ideals they purportedly work to preserve, are trying to suppress publication of a book that might give the American public a bit more information on what's going on over there. Do they not understand that working to keep information out of the public's hands is an affront to every soldier who has fought, been injured, or died, not just in this war, but in every war America's involved itself with? This action is tantamount to spitting (or worse) on the graves of soldiers who thought they were fighting for liberty, be it their liberty or some foreigner's.

What, by keeping this book out of the hands of Americans we're going to turn the corner towards victory on this (intentionally) unwinnable war? The wars the U.S. government chooses to involve itself in are no longer fought to be won, and they haven't been since the Korean conflict/war. If this war was a business (it is, actually, but just follow me here), the way it is being run would have not only bankrupted any company, but also would have (rightly) put its executives in the unemployment line due to their own gross incompetence.

Then again, perhaps it's not just the Pentagon's incompetence, for I have a suspicion that no one group can be that wrong so often for so long. The longer I live and learn, the more I see clearly that whoever is pulling the strings way behind the scenes, those who have picked and paid for our so-called leaders, don't really want victory. There's paltry profit in peace.

I haven't read the book, and I doubt I will, even if it is published, and the book may just be another over-hyped molehill, but Americans need to decide that for themselves, not the powers that be.

Take care.
DAL357

Trendsetter?

Man angry at IRS crashes plane into Texas building
Feb 18, 2010 (5:18p CST)
By JIM VERTUNO (Associated Press Writer)

AUSTIN, Texas - A software engineer furious with the Internal Revenue Service launched a suicide attack on the agency Thursday by crashing his small plane into an office building containing nearly 200 IRS employees, setting off a raging fire that sent workers fleeing for their lives. At least one person in the building was missing.

The FBI tentatively identified the pilot as Joseph Stack. A federal law official said investigators were looking at a long anti-government screed and farewell note that he apparently posted on the Web earlier in the day as an explanation for what he was about to do.

In it, the author cited run-ins he had with the IRS and ranted about the tax agency, government bailouts and corporate America's "thugs and plunderers."

"I have had all I can stand," he wrote in the note, dated Thursday, adding: "I choose not to keep looking over my shoulder at 'big brother' while he strips my carcass."

So a man who's fed up with it all decides to off himself and, he hopes, take a few IRS employees with him. Is this the start of a trend of Americans pushing back against a tyrannical government? I seriously doubt it, at least when it comes to this course of action. Generally speaking, Americans don't have the stomach for what it would take for a real revolution. Sure, we talk about a second American Revolution, but it ain't going to happen. Instead, we content ourselves with Walter Mitty fantasies, stockpiling ammunition, and swallowing pointless political rhetoric.

But who can blame us? TPTB are far too strong and insidious to even think of prevailing against. To try is to do what this man did: commit suicide. No, this production will have to play until its final act, where the lead actors--the Federal government and various state governments--become so thoroughly weakened through fiscal ineptitude, not to mention moral turpitude, that they can no longer meet their obligations to their minions who use force to keep it all functioning. At that point, the entire system will come to halt, and that is the place for a revolution for liberty. Until then, we'll just have to persevere and savor the (very) occasional victory/triumph for liberty.

Take care.
DAL357

Cali going to pot?

Now here's some outside-the-box thinking that makes sense:

Calif. Assembly Bill Would Legalize, Tax Marijuana

A state legislator is reviving the debate about legalizing marijuana as a way of raising money for cash-strapped state and local governments.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, introduced legislation Monday, that if approved by the California Legislature, would put pot on the same legal footing as alcohol — legalizing its sale and having the state tax it.

Under AB 390, adults over the age of 21 would be allowed to buy marijuana from licensed sellers, and driving under the influence of it would be prohibited.

Ammiano said massive eradication efforts have failed [YOU THINK?!?!] to make a dent in this underground industry, so it's time to bring what he calls "a major piece of our economy into the light of day."

His proposal, which has been endorsed by some law enforcement officials, would tax all pot sales at a rate of $50 per ounce.

Ammiano called it "simply nonsensical" to keep marijuana, the state's top cash crop, unregulated and untaxed in light of the state's massive financial problems.

"With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense," Ammiano said at a news conference at the state building on Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco.

I in no way advocate drugs or their use, including alcohol, but neither do I wish to prohibit them from the people that want them. As long as a person is not directly endangering others by their use/abuse of drugs, they can mainline Drano for all I care.

Of course, this isn't going to get even close to being signed into law. Too many drug warriors, those beefy, brush-cut boys in paramilitary garb who think they somehow aren't civilians, et al, not to mention idiot politicians, have a vested interest in keeping the already-lost War on Drugs going. So precious, dwindling resources will continue to be wasted on a lost cause.

It impovrishes the imagination.

Take care.
DAL357

Now that's teamwork!

Here we go. How coincidental is this news story, you know, with more government meddling into healthcare in the offing? Not very coincidental at all. This is part of what will likely become a blitz of stories by the MSM meant to soften resistance to what will essentially be ever-increasing controls and restrictions on healthcare. Isn't teamwork, in this case the MSM and government, great?

-----

Medical bills underlie 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies: study
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Maggie Fox, Health And Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Medical bills are behind more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, U.S. researchers reported Thursday in a report they said demonstrates that healthcare reform is on the wrong track.

More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by their medical debts, the team at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University reported in the American Journal of Medicine.

"Unless you're Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," Harvard's Dr. David Himmelstein, an advocate for a single-payer health insurance program for the United States, said in a statement.

"For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection," he added.

The United States is embarking on an overhaul of its healthcare system, now a patchwork of public programs such as Medicare for the elderly and disabled and employer-sponsored health insurance that leaves 15 percent of the population with no coverage.

The researchers and some consumer advocates said the study showed the proposals under the most serious consideration are unlikely to help many Americans. They are pressing for a so-called single payer plan, in which one agency, usually the government, coordinates health coverage.

"Expanding private insurance and calling it health reform will fail to prevent financial catastrophe for hundreds of thousands of Americans every year," Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the Health Research Group at Public Citizen said in a statement.

About 170 million people get health insurance through an employer but President Barack Obama says soaring healthcare costs hurt the economy and force businesses to drop medical insurance for their workers.

CANCELED COVERAGE

"Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year," the report reads.

Obama told Congress Wednesday he was open to making mandatory health insurance part of the overhaul.

Neither Congress nor Obama are considering the kind of single-payer plan advocated by Public Citizen, Himmelstein and his colleague Dr. Steffie Woolhandler.

"We need to rethink health reform," Woolhandler said. "Covering the uninsured isn't enough.

"Only single-payer national health insurance can make universal, comprehensive coverage affordable by saving the hundreds of billions we now waste on insurance overhead and bureaucracy."

The researchers studied 2,134 random families who filed for bankruptcy between January and April in 2007, before the current recession began.

They used public bankruptcy court records and surveyed 1,032 people by telephone.

"Using a conservative definition, 62.1 percent of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical; 92 percent of these medical debtors had medical debts over $5,000, or 10 percent of pretax family income," the researchers wrote.

"Most medical debtors were well-educated, owned homes and had middle-class occupations."

The researchers, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said the share of bankruptcies that could be blamed on medical problems rose by 50 percent from 2001 to 2007.

Patients with multiple sclerosis paid a mean of $34,167 out of pocket in 2007, diabetics paid $26,971, and those with injuries paid $25,096, the researchers found.

-----

I'll paraphrase P.J. O'Rourke here: If you think U.S. healthcare is expensive now, what 'til the government gets involved to make it more affordable.

I believe that government intervention at all levels is already the reason healthcare costs have become so outrageous. To drink more of that Kool-aid is asking for even more problems.

This subject, more than anything else the government does, reminds me of the wisdom of the saying "Government: A disease masquerading as its own cure."

Take care.
DAL357

Casualty of the times

According to an e-mail I just read, it looks like Knight Rifles is going belly up. I don't own, nor have I ever fired, one of their products, not being too terribly interested in black powder guns at this point in my life (especially in-line black powder guns, which I consider a travesty, but to each his own) , although that could change someday.

This latest casualty of the times started me thinking about the hunting firearms industry as a whole. When you stop to think about it, aside from the collector who feels compelled to acquire multiple guns in multiple chamberings, how many customers can the hunting firearms industry count on? The average hunter, unless he is a habitual shooter, looks at his rifle as a tool, a part of the total picture of hunting, a means to an end. He has little need for a slew of rifles, even if he can afford anything he wants. It's my position that this type of customer makes up a substantial part of the hunting firearms market. So, in good economic times companies like Knight rifle can depend upon the collector to keep them in business, but when things turn downward, collectors cut back and average hunters already have their guns, so the whole market for hunting guns sours.

Realistically, once you have a good deer/elk rifle, you don't really need much else if you're a big-game hunter. Barring theft or act-of-God destruction, and assuming reasonable care and maintenance, you could hunt with that same old friend from womb to tomb and likely never wear it out. Gun companies know this, which is why they continually come up with new chamberings that do little more than gild the lily and goad folks into buying their latest and greatest offerings. A wise person/hunter sees through this barrage of advertising and turns a blind eye towards it. Perhaps this, coupled with a severe recession, had something to do with Knight Rifles's demise.

Take care.
DAL357

P.S. When Remington stepped into the AR15 field, I wondered about the wisdom of the move. Now, however, I realize it was a good decision for the company's survival. To the best of my knowledge, Remington was heavily tied to the hunting firearms field, which has been static for some time. By encompassing the red-hot black rifle market, Remington is able to stay afloat and not end up like Winchester. A shrewd move, I'd say, even if the world doesn't need another AR15 maker/marketer. (The world could use a few more ammo makers, but I digress.)

Infinite hubris coupled with economic ignorance

Does it ever end? I suppose it will someday, but for now the attitude of the current idiot administration/party in power, as opposed to the last idiot administration, seems to be "in for a penny, in for a pound." They can't wait to display the depths of their economic illiteracy to the world. Check out the following hyper-moronic plan to stimulate U.S. auto sales.

*****

Obama, lawmakers agree on "cash-for-clunkers" bill
Tue May 5, 3:49 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama and Democratic lawmakers reached agreement on Tuesday on a legislative proposal designed to stimulate U.S. auto sales, which have fallen to near 30-year lows.

The one-year plan crafted by members of the U.S. House of Representatives would offer vouchers worth up to $4,500 for owners to replace their less fuel efficient vehicles for models that get better gas mileage.

The goal of the "cash for clunkers" legislation is to sell 1 million vehicles.

"By stimulating consumer demand for new vehicles, this proposal will directly benefit domestic autoworkers and automotive manufacturers, which have arguably been hardest hit by the current economic downturn," said Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat and staunch industry ally.

House Majority leader Steny Hoyer has embraced the proposal and said in an interview with Reuters in April that the measure would be acted upon quickly once proposed.

*****

Why only $4500 towards a new car? Why not give the things away to everyone (citizen and illegal alike) and make those factories really hum?

Truthfully, I don't really care anymore. As someone I read recently said, it's all the Democrats' baby now; they can't blame the impending fiscal ka-boom on those worms known as the Republicans, who stand for nothing except a different version of big government. In fact, I implore all idiotic ideas be not only proposed, but adopted, thereby hastening the day of reckoning.

Take care.
DAL357

Sportsman's Warehouse

Last week, Sportsman's Warehouse filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Apparently the chain is yet another victim of a shrinking consumerism-based economy. Judging merely by the scarcity of reloading components on the shelves of the Colorado Springs store, I am not surprised. The scarcity makes me believe they should be called Sportsman's Wherehouse.

I first became aware of Sportsman's Warehouse after I stumbled upon one in Denver about five years ago. The store had a fantastic selection of shooting goods, as well as many other things outdoors related. When Colorado Springs finally got a store, I looked forward to it with anticipation and, for a while, I was not disappointed. But after a couple of years, some cracks started to show. Reloading supplies began to be stocked with increasing irregularity and spots on the shelves for the more popular items would stay bare for weeks on end, and this was long before the current buy-it-all-now-'cause-they're-gonna-ban/hyper-tax-it ammo hysteria.

I'm not sure who was handling the supply logistics for the store/chain, but their incompetency during the good times was painfully evident. As everyone with even a cursory understanding of how to run a business knows, keeping a ready and steady supply on hand of products, especially popular ones, is crucial to the bottom line and to the long-time survival of the concern.

Maybe this bankruptcy reorganization will help SW get its act together and, once the ammo hysteria dies down a bit and ammo makers can catch up on backorders, become a successful retailer. But the pessimist in me says that is unlikely, particularly if some changes are not made in upper management and the usual way of doing business.

There, see how easy that fix was? I'll tell you, the problem with the world is that it doesn't have me to run it. For example, I can fix the US economy with just the few following words: STOP SPENDING MORE THAN YOU MAKE, AND ALWAYS VOTE FOR LIBERTY FIRST (making the huge assumption that you have a clue what liberty is), NOT A PARTY, MORONS! (Actually, there's a bit more to it than that, but those are the roots of most of the problem.)

Take care.
DAL357

Paulson, Paulson, Paulson

"Paulson pulling more tricks to bolster US economy"

Finally, an honest headline about the parlor games and sleight of hand tricks that are being implemented to maintain the facade of never-ending growth and good times. I saved it, so here are a couple of excerpts I find particularly telling.


"With the economy showing further signs that it is headed into a steep swoon, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is pulling more tricks out of his bag to try bolster the country's battered financial sector."

"To revive the economy, President-elect Barack Obama has said a top priority will be working with Congress to enact a stimulus package with the goal of creating 2.5 million new jobs over the next two years. Analysts believe such an effort will require spending between $500 billion to $700 billion, a figure that would be on top of all the money being spent to stabilize the financial system."


Ah, the old stimulus package, as if the economy somehow just forgot to work and needs to be prodded to get back to business. You know, if it wasn't for the wisdom of governments here and abroad, concepts like an economy just couldn't exist. At least that's apparently the thinking behind the philosophy of government stimulus (aka interference). Oh, and that 2.5 million new jobs should really help alleviate the pain of the 10 million+ jobs that will be lost over the same period.

Will governments ever learn? I doubt it. It's not in their nature to let markets operate independently, only insuring that force or fraud are not present (something they haven't been doing, which is part of the reason we're in our present pickle). If they did that, people would soon see that very little government is needed to live a full, productive life, and where is the advantage for politicians and bureaucrats in that?

The only way the US government will stop (temporarily, at least) is when it has so thoroughly bankrupted and discredited our economy and, by extension, itself, that it has absolutely no more credibility with anyone anywhere in the world, much less its own citizens. Will our present crisis lead to that apocryphal event? I do not know, but it looks to be a good start.

Good luck in the future. I'm not going to let this stuff bother me because, as I've always said, "living well is the best revenge" (on your enemies). With that in mind, I believe I'll steal a few hours and head to the range to try out some new loads I made up (range report to follow, if I go).

Take care.
DAL357

Bailout, shmailout

As is often the case in life, intelligence is no guarantee of making the right decision. Take the debate on the automobile industry bailout for example. I've recently heard more than one otherwise intelligent person pontificate that the government should give money to that ailing industry, but only with strings attached. Those strings would include governmental oversight that the industry was using the money correctly and somehow, via the wise hand of the governmental guidance (BWAHAHAHA!), miraculously seeing the light and changing the deeply entrenched, decades-long, error of its ways.

HUH?

Note to the power brokers in DC, aka elected politicians and appointed bureaucrats: Why would you want to complicate your life like that? And who are you to give advice to anyone on the judicious use of money and organizational management? You've been spending more than you bring in for many, many years, so you have absolutely no standing to be giving advice to anyone. Let me help you to make your collective lives easier so you can concentrate on what you do best: bamboozling enough of your constituents to win your next term.

Okay, here's what you do, political creatures. Let the auto industry sink or swim on its own without one penny of taxpayer money. No special committees, commissions, or agency need be created to direct or give advice to the industry. This will free up plenty of time to hire prostitutes (male or female, as your preference dictates), diddle pages (male or female, as your preference dictates [right, Barney?]), make the party circuit, play in bathroom stalls, perform clandestine dope deals, fight the war on drugs, lard unneeded bills with pork (gotta keep those porkers at home happy), polish your lies, secretly siphon off ill-gotten money (taxes) for personal use, incite class warfare and envy, curry and grant favors to industries who kowtow to you, and generally be the log-in-the-eye slobs, sybarites, and sycophants you've always been.

That's a lot of activity and we are all only given 24 hours in a day, so don't complicate your life by taking on tasks that another system, the free market, can handle; you'll need your time and rest for the above exhaustive pursuits. Enjoy your life now, for if there is one after this, you likely won't. Don't worry, the free market excels at taking care of businesses that have become bloated and inefficient as a result of bad decisions. Let the free market take that wheezing, sweating, obese industry for a trip to boot camp and watch the lean, mean fighting machine that returns. That's right, the industry will survive in one form or another, perhaps not in Detroit, but it will survive. The phoenix that arises from the ashes will be able to compete with any other car maker on the planet. And the best part is you won't have to lift a finger for any of this to take place.

Sound like a deal? Good! Now get on out there, tiger, and pursue the illicit activities you were bred for!

Take care.
DAL357

Burning down the house

I know it's cynical of me to say this, but I actually hope that economic conditions continue to worsen. Why? Simply for this reason alone: Every time the fed/congress makes a move that is ineffectual in improving the US economy, which essentially means every move they make, they further expose themselves as the charlatans they are. Eventually, even the thickest US citizen will come to see that those in DC are nothing more than the equivalent of "that man behind the curtain."

*****

No one person, group, or country can evade reality forever. Reality states that consuming more than you produce is, eventually, a one-way ticket to ruin. In fact, the only possible way one can consume more than they produce is by taking it from another who has produced more than they can, or care to, consume. This is the state of our economy today. We, as a nation, are consuming more than we produce. The way we can do this is via foreign investment of around two billion bucks a day in promises to repay with future taxes. Without that daily infusion of money, we wouldn't be able to function in the way we have been conditioned to expect. Take it away and things get ugly fast. Reality will reassert itself and demand to be heard, and its message will be this: Live within your means or perish.

This does not mean that I think credit and borrowing are bad, for under the right circumstance, they are not. The right circumstance means one would use that money in a way that helps to produce more income, such as when a business buys a piece of equipment that makes them more productive. If the loaned money won't help one become more productive, it shouldn't be asked for. Borrowing should not be looked at as another income stream, as it is with the US government, and too many US citizens, today. Using borrowed money to finance consumables that produce nothing but an obligation is irresponsible, immature, and immoral.

It is impossible to get something for nothing in this universe, but that's exactly what the electorate has come to believe, and it shows via the representatives they elect and keep in office. Somewhere along the line, this something-for-nothing fantasy will answer to reality. I believe we are seeing reality's preliminary questioning of the fantasy now, with a full-blown interrogation to follow.

*****

All of the babble we are hearing today about this or that financial shenanigan is merely obfuscation for the undeniable fact that we have violated the key principle of living within our means and not spending more than we make. Until we, as a nation, face our profligate ways soberly, the kindling for the eventual fiscal meltdown will continue to pile higher and higher and make the coming conflagration more and more destructive.

Take care.
DAL357

The 700 Billion (plus) Club

If you have even the slightest sense of history and a working brain in your head, the following story could not be a surprise to you.

-----

Credit markets to Washington: Bailout isn't enough
By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer

The credit markets finally got a bailout bill, but the stranglehold hasn't let up — a troubling sign that lenders and investors believe the package will only be a baby step in the long road to economic recovery.

The credit markets, where companies go to get cash loans, have seized up since the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and in anticipation of the $700 billion plan initially voted down by the House. The House passed a revised version of it Friday following the Senate's approval earlier this week, but anxiety about its effectiveness kept demand for Treasury bills high and nearly nonexistent for other types of debt.

Overall, market participants have begun regarding the rescue plan as a medicine for what's ailing the financial system, but not a cure-all.

"At best, we can hope that it stems some of the more intense risk from the credit crisis. It prevents things from spiraling out of hand here," said JPMorgan Chase economist Michael Feroli.

Some are worried, though, that the plan will not work at all.

"Nobody knows how it's going to succeed," said Howard Simons, strategist with Bianco Research in Chicago. "It seems the American public had better sense than Wall Street and Washington — the American public said, don't throw good money after bad."

The Treasury will buy banks' risky mortgage-backed assets in an effort to alleviate investors' worries about the institutions' solvency and free them up to do more lending. Even if those efforts succeed, the effects will be far from instantaneous, and borrowing could remain very expensive for some time. With the economy in such a weak state, lending to consumers and businesses will still appear risky until certain factors — particularly employment and the housing market — improve.

-----

To paraphrase an old Carpenter's song (I guess all Carpenter's songs are now old): "We've only just begun, to give." I wish I could offer some sage advice, but I'm fresh out. Just be ready for one hell of a ride over the next few years, or decades.

Take care.
DAL357

You want real economic damage?

Here's an excerpt from the Hurricane Ike saga.

*****

Economic damage from Ike may be less than feared

By DAVID KOENIG and ELLEN SIMON, AP Business Writers
Sun Sep 14, 12:34 AM ET

A small change in Hurricane Ike's course just before it crashed into the Texas coast Saturday may have spared the state and the nation from significantly worse economic damage...

*****

Damn! Better luck next time, newshounds. I know you were hoping for catastrophic destruction and a high body count, but they didn't happen. Darn that old Mother Nature! Oh well, we still have plenty of time left in the hurricane season.

In the meantime, reporter-folk, I suggest you put at least as much effort as you did reporting on Ike into reporting on how the American taxpayer is being forced to bail out institutions that, because of stupidity and outright venality, are fiscally and morally bankrupt. Sure, it's not as fun and glamorous as tracking a storm, mainly because it takes what many of you seem to lack, a modicum of intelligence, but its economic damage will be many times what any hurricane can muster. If you really want to report on economic damage so deep and wide that it'll hamstring America for decades, you'll find it there.

Take care.
DAL357

Do you smell that?

I found this blog post too good not to share. Give it a look-see and draw your own conclusions. Not that I'm an expert in any way, shape, or form on most of what he speaks to, but I am aware enough of basic economics and life in general to detect a rotten smell.

Take care.
DAL357

Don't be a dipstick: it's supply and demand

To those woefully ignorant of basic economics, please read the excerpts of the following essay with as open a mind as you can muster. In fact, you should probably read it in its entirety.

*****

Wishful Thinking, Speculation and Oil (May 30, 2008) by Charles Hugh Smith


Everyone and their sister seems to have jumped on the "oil prices are being driven by speculation" bandwagon, but perhaps that is nothing but wishful thinking. From the very beginning of futures trading--back in the 1600s when traders in Antwerp would buy and sell contracts on the cargo coming from the East Indies--the easiest game in town has been to blame speculators for price movements.

If the price of a commodity is rising, then the villains are speculators. If the price is dropping, it's the short sellers' fault.

Speculators are active wherever and whenever speculation is allowed. It's wishful thinking to expect oil will fall from $130/barrel back to $70/barrel if only those darned speculators would leave the market alone.

Note to hand-wringing, finger-pointing pundits: those darned speculators are the market.

*

As for the "solutions" to supply:

1. The Iranians have 20 supertankers filled with oil floating around somewhere. Nice, but it's heavy crude, and the few refineries able to process it are already running flat out. Also, 20 supertankers is a drop in the bucket of global demand.

2. Deep abiotic oil is abundant. The Russian have the technology. If the Russians have the technology, why is their production declining so rapidly? Where are the pipelines from their deep wells?

3. It's all the weak dollar. Once the dollar starts rising, the bubble in oil prices will pop. Then how come oil is rising in all currencies and even when priced in gold?

4. Canada and the U.S. have nearly unlimited supplies of shale oil and tar sands. Great, but real-world production will top out at 2.5 million barrels a day, about 10% of North America's consumption, and the process uses vast quantities of natural gas.

5. If only the tree-huggers would let us drill in the Alaska Wilderness. The U.S. consumes 22 million barrels a day or 8 billion barrels a year. The Alaskan North Slope everyone talks about contains about a billion barrels--a whopping 45 days' supply for the U.S. Whoopie.

In other words--it's all wishful thinking, folks: that it's all the speculators' fault, that new supplies will magically come on line and save us--there is simply no credible evidence for either supposition. It's supply and demand. Prices are set on the margin, and as a result a shortfall of a few percent has an amazing leverage on price.

Go ahead and ban speculation, and see what happens then. Prices will not drop, they will simply become more disorderly/chaotic.

As for demand destruction--let me know when China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria, Mexico et al. stop subsidizing the price of fossil fuels for their hundreds of millions of consumers.

And as for supply, let me know when global production of oil from any source exceeds 90 million barrels and day and keeps climbing as producers take advantage of the high prices.

*****

Those same people who believe this is a contrived crisis for the purposes of extracting the maximum amount of moola from the pockets of Americans often are also the ones who simultaneously detest government intervention and yet want government to do something so that they can continue living their cheap-oil lifestyle. One thing to remember is that "Big Oil" companies actually control a relatively small share of the marketplace relative to several decades ago, approx. <20%. The real players in the market are national oil companies where countries own the oil wealth: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, etc. They don't answer to shareholders, so they can do as they please, even if their actions contradict rational economic principles. Couple this with the apparent fact that there just isn't that much easily-pumped crude to meet demand (that's WORLDWIDE demand, not just American demand, which may see demand destruction due to a faltering economy, but there are a lot of folks in India and China who are becoming first-time car owners and each vehicle will need fuel) and you have a recipe for upward-spiraling prices. Don't look for this to change anytime soon, if ever.

Take care.
DAL357