In past posts I have touched on this issue. Given the current crisis facing the automobile industry it becomes more pertinent today than ever. For those who have previously read my general argumentation on the subject, my apologies.

On December 29, 1940. Nazi Germany had conquered much of Europe...

This Saturday the Financial Time's front page headline shouted, "Obama to Review Wall St Bail-out." That means Bush's $700 billion plan is to be reexamined.

And no, I'm not Emile Zola, though I've had a few words on the matter ("Mr. Paulson, this is the nation's financial future you...

As never before, in this century of instant communication and the dissemination of information, it is the culture of a people, of a nation that portends its influence and its standing throughout the world. Yes, armaments and weaponry still count, as does economic might, but who we are and what...

The following piece was originally published on July 21, 2008:

Here we go again. Oil prices tumbling "in the steepest four day decline in history."

The sense of relief throughout the land is palpable. For a moment the fact that we are still at levels over 160% above prices of...

In breathtaking example of the manner in which oil has corrupted the Bush administration we have prima facie evidence of the perverted priorities of the last eight years. This is an administration that has left our economy at greater risk than at any time during the great depression, a nation...

With oil prices sliding steeply from their undreamed of heights at $147 a barrel
to under $70/bbl, levels that less than two years ago were considered rapacious, OPEC in its inimical greed called an emergency meeting to staunch the bleeding. To underline their concern and throw a Halloween scare...

A lead article in yesterday's New York Times, "Three Oil-Rich Countries Face a Reckoning," focused on the problems being encountered by Russia, Venezuela and Iran because of dropping oil prices. Not touched upon was the fact that world's largest consumer's -- the United States -- days as the oil...

In November of 1999, in a speech to the Houston Oil Forum, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi bragged that the "all inclusive" cost to the Saudis to produce a barrel of oil was less than $1.50 a barrel. Costing $1.50 then you can make your own extrapolation as to what...

The people with the same rapacious mindset that got us to this dangerous place at enormous cost to the nation and at huge profit to themselves are now being asked by Paulson to serve themselves up to another helping. According to Bloomberg, ("Treasury to Hire Asset Management Firms to...

According to Reuters (Gasoline Shortage in Southeast Prompts Panic-9.24.08) quotes the AAA that the gasoline shortage in the Southeast has hit Atlanta Georgia especially hard.

That being said it may be worthy of note that Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, has made two trips to Moscow these past two...

Talk about setting the fox in the hen house, the New York Times outdid itself today ("For Hire: Bailout Advisor," 09.25.08) in puffing Bill Gross's frightening offer to become the bailout adviser to the Treasury. "And I'd even be willing to say if the Treasury wanted to use our...

CNBC, the broadcaster that so graciously gave Bill Gross near endless airtime to propagandize for an unfettered bailout of all debt holders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, permitting his company PIMCO, the nation's largest bond trader to clear between 1.7 and 1.8 billions in profits on the backs of...

As the outlines of the "bailout" package come into focus, initially limiting the bailout to redeeming assets from American institutions, the fine hand of the influence peddlers are already all over the program. Hardly out the door, as the New York Times reported as of this writing (9/21/08):

No matter the cost, no matter the damage to the public weal, there are always some who through access and sheer financial wherewithal will turn a national disaster to profitable gain, not by contributing to the solution but by positioning themselves at the public trough to rain riches upon themselves...

It is beyond time that all imports of crude oil and major downstream products (i.e., gasoline) coming into the American market should require an import license designating a specific country of origin. For why, and what it means, please read on.

OPEC meets this week to set production quotas....

"Sacre Bleu!" (liberal translation: "Holy Cow!") -- the Wall Street Journal informs us that "Commodity-Market regulators are investigating whether energy market players are injecting false data into the marketplace to influence perceptions about crude oil supply and demand" ("Oil-Supply Data Probed for Manipulation," 09.04.08). That inventory numbers are being...

Watching media reportage of the advent of Gustav has become a classic example of how the media and the oil patch has herded us into sheeplike panic accepting of most any set of events to rationalize ever egregiously higher oil prices.

Gustav is about to slam through the Gulf coast....

Really?! Well maybe. Consider the following. Early yesterday I posted on this site, "Hurricane Gustav and Our Strategic Petroleum Reserve," querying why the Department of Energy had not announced its willingness to release crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in case Hurricane Gustav created a dislocation of oil...

The possible advent of Hurricane Gustav toward the Gulf of Mexico and oil production facilities both offshore and onshore has jumped the price of crude oil by some five dollars a barrel this past week and according to reports on CNBC this morning is already beginning to show up in...

At this time of the nation's economic malaise it would be the highest folly to bring on a
Senator with Biden's record on the personal bankruptcy confronting millions of Americans
on the verge of losing their homes and their personal savings.