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Steve McIntosh delivers the McIntosh Report on KNSS weekdays at 10:30 am and 5:30 pm. You can review the McIntosh Report in his blog here.
Friday, May 9, 2008
At a town hall meeting in Denver, Republican presidential nominee John McCain said: “My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East”.
By the time his plane landed at his next campaign stop, McCain was waffling … saying he didn’t mean we went into Iraq five years ago over oil. He was talking about the first Gulf War, which we went into to free Kuwait and because we didn’t want Saddam Hussein to “have control over the oil”.
So McCain is saying oil was part of the reason for the first Gulf War, but not the second?
On several occasions, President Bush has said one reason to “stay the course” in Iraq is to keep the huge, untapped oil reserves out of the control of Al Qaeda. Yet, when I quoted the president a couple of years ago in a commentary, saying this war is at least partly about oil, the nasty emails came in a torrent. How dare I say American lives and treasure are being spent for oil, and not to fight terrorism? How dare I quote President Bush?
Note to John McCain: ix-nay on the war-for-oil thing. It really upsets people!
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Our thought for today is from Vera Johnson:
“There’s such a thing as moderation, even in telling the truth.”
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain say they favor a ‘gas tax holiday’ this summer, to give American drivers a break at the pumps. But it’s a really bad idea.
The federal tax is 18-point-4 cents a gallon … 24-point-4 on diesel. Suspending the tax would save the average driver about 28 bucks this summer. It would also cost the federal highway trust fund 10 billion dollars. That’s the money that goes to build roads and bridges, and generates thousands of jobs as well.
At a time when we ought to be encouraging conservation, the ‘holiday’ would do the opposite.
This is an example of everything wrong with our nation’s approach to energy. It attempts to provide ‘relief’ for a problem that has been boiling for three decades. And it demonstrates that energy is a terribly political issue.
The truth is, we have no national energy strategy. It’s not a simple issue: look at the coal plants in southwest Kansas. What the United States needs is leadership to provide a strategy that deals with today, tomorrow, and the next fifty years.
There is no leadership and hence, no strategy.
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Our thought for today is from Bertrand Russell:
“You can never plan the future by the past.”
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
During his news conference last week, President Bush asked … rhetorically, I suppose … for any ideas that might help Americans deal with these “difficult times”. When it comes to the economy, the president has repeated the same phrase for seven years: “cut taxes”. While that may have helped some people, may have stimulated some stock trading and investment, the “difficult times” Americans face are pretty basic.
Prices are going up fast for food, fuel, and health care … the housing market is crumbling in many places … and wages are not keeping up. Add to that a constant fear that a lost job may lead to financial ruin.
In a recent photo op, Senator Hillary Clinton simulated a ride to work with a man, in a truck he borrowed from his boss so they could squeeze in Secret Service agents. At a gas station, the former first lady encountered unfamiliar territory: a gas pump and a cappuccino machine. She couldn’t operate either.
Here’s an idea for the president and any other president wannabe: spend three days living with a middle class American family … with no reporters or T-V cameras around. You might learn something about the real America.
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Our thought for today is from Robert Osborn:
“America once had the clarity of a pioneer axe.”
Monday, May 5, 2008
Last week President Bush admitted that the economy is slumping, but refused to use the “R” word. The president expressed his concern for Americans who face rising fuel and food prices, and uncertainty over their mortgages.
But that’s not his fault. He said he has sent Congress proposals to fix the nation’s economic woes, but they’ve turned him down and taken their own approaches. Democrats say President Bush’s proposals won’t fix the problems and could make them worse.
The president said he is open to any ideas to deal with these “difficult” times. He said he will consider a summer suspension of federal gasoline taxes.
Do you get the feeling that no one in Washington yet understands the economic problems? Where were the president and congress when huge banks were passing out idiotic mortgages? No one could see the potential for disaster in that?
Where were our rulers when crude prices first began to skyrocket many months ago?
There may not be much the politicians can do about rising prices at this point. But they will certainly come up with schemes to make it appear that they are doing something substantial.
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Our thought for today is from Lister Sinclair:
“A frightened captain makes a frightened crew.”
Friday, May 2, 2008
The Kaiser Family Foundation recently surveyed two-thousand American adults, asking them about their biggest economic concerns. Number one on the list is the price of gasoline. About 44% said paying for gas was a “serious problem” for them. Across all income levels, the price of gas was the most frequently cited economic worry.
After that on the list are getting a good-paying job or raise, paying for health care and health insurance, and difficulty paying rent or a mortgage.
No big surprises here. Even wealthy Americans resent paying more at the pump. Generations of Americans have taken cheap energy for granted.
I’m a little surprised that rising food prices didn’t show up as a bigger concern. And for Baby Boomers, what about slipping performances of I-R-As and 401(k)s? My retirement funds have been taking a beating the past few months.
Still, gasoline prices are logically getting the most attention. They are easily observed every time we shove the nozzle into the gas tank.
Americans can adjust family budgets for higher prices for life’s necessities. We’ll just find something to do without. For many Americans, household income is simply not rising fast enough to keep up with higher prices.
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Our thought for today is from William McFee:
“People don’t ever seem to realize that doing what’s right is no guarantee against misfortune.”
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Recently my wife and I rented “Sicko”, Michael Moore’s film about the health care industry. The interviews with Americans who’ve had some serious problems with health care providers … plus actual news video of people testifying before Congress … raise some alarming questions about how our nation does health care.
Moore found people to tell nasty stories about health care companies. Of course, the vast majority of health insurance providers and drug manufacturers are good, honest people … trying to provide the best products and services possible. But if you’re ever had to talk with one of those companies’ representatives about a problem with your bill or coverage, some of Moore’s film is going to hit home.
And those people he interviewed in Canada, Great Britain, and France … were they telling the truth about their national health care?
Michael Moore is a lightning rod for public opinion. You don’t have to look far to find people who hate him. They disagree with his politics and sensationalism.
But some of the basic questions asked in “Sicko” are valid. For instance, are the government health care systems in other nations really as bad as we’ve been told? Should American health care be predicated on what is best for each citizen, or what is best for the profit margin? And are the two in any way compatible?
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Our thought for today is from Gunter Grass:
“The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open.”
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
As part of a 20 billion-dollar program to train Iraqis to provide their own security, the United States Congress requires quarterly progress reports from the Department of Defense. Special inspector general Stuart Bowen looked at the numbers and last week said the Iraqi government has kept thousands of dead, injured, or absent policemen and soldiers on the payroll … to assist their families.
Bowen says it’s difficult to get a fix on how many Iraqi security people are actually on the job. Of course, President Bush has said the Iraqis’ ability to provide their own security is key to reducing U-S troop levels in Iraq.
When the U-S government fired the Iraqi army and most bureaucrats, we put a quarter of a million angry men on the streets of Iraq … with guns. In order to fix that problem, we’ve tried to rebuild the security apparatus. This report shows we have no idea how well we’re doing.
We do know American dollars are helping people survive in Iraq, even if they’re not working for the money, or they’re even eligible to receive it. We are financing an Iraqi welfare state.
But of course, it’s not really money we’re spending. It’s all going on the big federal credit card.
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Our thought for today is from Winston Churchill:
“War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.”
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
The Kansas Legislature is working to finalize a budget, amid projections that revenue is going to be much less than anticipated when the legislative session began three months ago. In other words, we could see a budget shortfall in the coming months. It looks as if the state will spend 13-point-7 billion dollars next year, an increase of 3-point-9 percent.
That’s actually pretty restrained spending for any government body. Over the past few years … with increasing tax revenues … city and state governments have increased spending more rapidly than the inflation rate. The federal government increases spending five to six times the C-P-I.
Meanwhile, taxpayers are trying to make last year’s pay stretch to cover this year’s increases in food and fuel prices. Prices for common brand-name drugs rose an average 7-point-4 percent last year. That’s two-and-a-half times overall inflation. Among the top-25 drug products, the sleep aid Ambien had the largest price increase, 27-point-7 percent.
Apparently, there is plenty of demand for a drug that helps Americans get through sleepless nights … worrying over how we’re going to pay our bills.
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Our thought for today is from ‘anonymous’:
“Why is there so much month left at the end of the money?”
Monday, April 28, 2008
The Associated Press and television networks released the results of exit polls from last week’s Pennsylvania Primary, in which Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama by ten percentage points.
According to those surveys, Clinton won support from two out of three whites with college degrees and whites from families earning less than 50-thousand dollars a year. It was one of Clinton’s stronger performances this year with these groups.
Gun owners, weekly church attendees, and rural residents supported Clinton by margins of about six in ten. Is that the fall-out from Obama’s “bitter” comments?
Meanwhile, Obama won Democrats who had newly flocked to the party for last Tuesday’s showdown, and he scored even stronger than usual with blacks … about 89%.
Remember that not all Democrats are as liberal as some people think. Conservative Democrats may see Obama us just a little too far to the left … some one not really in touch with them. If Obama wins the nomination, will conservative Democrats stay home … or vote Republican?
Can the Democrats unite behind a candidate by the end of summer, and then give John McCain a tough fight in November?
Stay tuned!
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Our thought for today is from Harold Wilson:
“In politics a week is a very long time.”
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