Free In Idaho!

I think the oil companies are missing the boat on this price of gas thing.  They could be taking advantage of a key fact about the free American market, and the American  consumer.

All it would take is a little initiative, and a good ad campaign, and hordes of Americans would wait in line to pay $8 a gallon for gasoline.  Now.  Seriously.

Think about it.  Starbucks made a huge amount of money selling foofy coffee for ridiculous prices, by making it trendy.  Women pay through the nose for some of the ugliest, foot crippling shoes on the planet.  We won’t mention handbags and purses.  With the right snob appeal, men acquire automobiles for prices that would buy a nice home.  When was the last time you heard anyone bitch about the price of coffee, or purses, or BMWs?  They don’t.  They make sure you know they have them, and they make sure you know what they cost.  Human nature, American culture.

So I figure, instead of asking the American taxpayer to cough it up, or raping the oil companies with a new “windfall profits tax”, one of these oil companies needs to figure out how to market a brand of gasoline for the truly with it/made it segments of our society.  And charge $8 or $10 a gallon for it.  Now.  They just need to put that little hint of “status” to it.  People will wait in line.  Limit the number of stations, and make sure they’re in the trendy parts of town.  After all, Starbucks proves the inadvisability of the “one on every block” model.  By definition, you can’t keep the cachet if it gets too common.

What would this do?  Well for one, they’d have more to spend on research and new wells and refineries, which, face it, we’re going to need sooner rather than later.  It’s much better for the companies themselves to figure out how to do that than to wait for the nanny-staters to take over and do it.  And for another thing, when was the last time you really saw the nannies shake down one of their pet industries?  It doesn’t happen.  So by making designer/status gasoline brands, the industry assures itself of a little more , er, breathing room than they enjoy now (if you know what I mean).

I mean, ideas like the smart car are cute, and hybrids are pretty trendy, but they aren’t accessable to the common man.  But $8 a gallon designer gas, guaranteed to bring you status, coolness, love, happiness, respect… they’d line up for miles.  Just like they do now for snooty burnt coffee at $4 a cup, designer sunglasses at $300 a pop, and handbags for $youpaidWHAT?!

And, since I’m not into money and status, you can steal this idea.  Live long and prosper.  Hope.  Change. But quit yer whinin’ about gas prices.  What are you going to do, take the bus?  That’s cool. 

This is not freedom, this is robbery.  Candy from babies, inheritence from the children…

Ryan asked the Congressional Budget Office to determine what the tax rates would need to be to cover federal spending at that level.
 
“What they told me was really startling,” said Ryan. “They said that the current low rate, the 10-percent bracket for low-income Americans, would have to go up to 25 percent.  The middle-income tax rate for middle-income Americans would have to go up to 66 percent, and the top rate, which is what small businesses pay, would have to go to 88 percent.

Ryan is Representative Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican.  He is a member of the House Budget Committee, and he is warning that the U.S. is headed towards bankruptcy, sooner rather than later.  Both parties deserve condemnation for this, after the past 30 or so years of porking it up.

America’s addiction problem isn’t just oil, it’s pork.  As far as I’m concerned, most of what government spends now, including social security, Medicare, and Medicaid is pork.    Very few in government have the stones to try to change it.  And just like the guy who’s retiring in January, neither of today’s bumpersticker guys have a plan to stop it either.  Criminally stupid.

Another great Democrat election year fear meme flushed down the toilet.  “Worst economy ever” and “we’re already in a recession”, the whole story is nothing more than Democrats trying to scare the rubes into voting for the Barack The Savior Obama.  This, from Yahoo Finance

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product, or GDP, increased at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the April-to-June period.

Bummer. Guess that means the Obamameister will have to fall back on his other tried and true scare tactic, “John McCain will try to scare the rubes by saying “I don’t look like the guys on our money”… yeah, that one scares me.  Alot. Who the hell is this guy, if he thinks that is an issue for Americans?  Like I want my next president to look like Ben Franklin?  Or George Washington?  Hmmm… this must be a race thing.  I thought Barack Transcends Race Obama was the man who elevated politics in America above race issues.  Oh yeah, that was before the whole Rev Wright thing, wasn’t it?  Sorry.  I’m having a hard time catching up to the whole race issue.  I’m still stuck on the inexperienced, arrogant, pompous, flip-flopping, bigger government, higher taxes, socialist thing.  But maybe that’s just me.

Next thing you know he’ll be trying to apologize for slavery, asking for reparations for African-Americans and Native Americans, and wacky stuff like that.  What?  He did that already?  Oh.  Never mind.  I guess that means I’d better vote for him then. 

Speaking of political bullcrap that doesn’t solve the problem, did you notice this little piece of news this morning?

Spiraling corn prices have squeezed profits and stressed the U.S. ethanol industry in recent months - a phenomenon that threatens to destroy hope that American farmers could help end the country’s dependence on oil imported from hostile nations.

So let’s see now, the government meddled in the corn market, promising the people it would solve the oil crisis, and promising Big Corn scads of money and favors.  Only now, the law of unintended consequences comes and bites them all in the butt, because it doesn’t change the oil situation and the Big Corn isn’t making money anymore (despite all the taxpayer dollars they’re sucking in).  Imagine that.

In June, VeraSun Energy, one of the country’s largest ethanol producers, recently delayed opening three new ethanol plants because of “volatility in the market,” and a Citigroup analyst predicted last month that nearly three-quarters of U.S. ethanol plants could face a possible shutdown in coming months as profit turns negative.

“One of the main reasons for high ethanol prices is that the cost of the feed stock has been soaring,” said Jerry Taylor, senior policy analyst at the D.C.-based Cato Institute. “When corn prices go up, its going to make it more expensive for an ethanol processor to make ethanol from corn.”

By the way, it makes food more expensive too.  But what the heck, the world runs on fuel not food.  Be quiet you whiners.  The government has this all figured out

“If you’re dependent on oil from overseas, you have a national security issue,” Mr. Bush said at the International Renewable Energy Conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil. “The vast majority of ethanol is coming from corn, and that’s good. That’s good if you’re a corn grower. And it’s good if you’re worried about national security. I’d rather have our corn farmers growing energy than relying upon some nation overseas that may not like us.”

The government spends roughly $7 billion in ethanol subsidies annually. Yet as food prices skyrocket, the prospect of corn ethanol becoming a significant alternative to foreign oil is diminishing.

That’s a problem.  I’ve got an idea.  Let’s start importing  ethanol!  Yeah!

As corn and ethanol prices skyrocketed, cheaper sugar-based ethanol from Brazil has become competitive in the U.S. market, despite a 54-cent-a-gallon import tariff.

“After the price of ethanol gets over about $2.50 per gallon, it still pays for Brazil to export ethanol to the United States,” said Joel Velasco, chief U.S. representative of the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association.

“With prices in the U.S. approaching $3 per gallon, despite the fact that we have to pay about 50 to 60 cents of tariff coming in, it is still worthwhile to export.”

Current prices for ethanol in the United States average roughly $3 per gallon. Mr. Velasco said that if prices remain high, Brazil will boost its production with the expectation of exporting to the United States.

They can make it in Brazil, have a big tariff added to it, then ship it thousands of miles and still make a profit?  And we can’t grow it here and make a profit?  Hmmm… I smell the heavy hand of Big Government screwing up yet another part of the American economy. Who would’ve imagined we’d become dependent on foreign ethanol too?

All snark aside, this is an eye opening article, and if you’ve never paid much attention to the whole ethanol thing you might look at it.  I doesn’t matter which party is waving the magic wand passing the laws, saying the magic words making promises to the American people, and spreading the fairy dust big gobs of taxpayer money around.  If the answer is Big Government, the answer is WRONG.

Speaking about gas and energy prices, here’s a couple news stories for you.

(CNSNews.com) - An environmental group on Wednesday filed a lawsuit intended to stop the expansion of a BP oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana. A shortage of oil refining capacity is often mentioned as one reason for soaring gasoline prices.
 
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is challenging air permits granted to the refinery by the State of Indiana. It’s part of the “ongoing fight against excessive pollution in northwest Indiana and Chicago,” the NRDC said in a news release.

And there’s this one

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A federal judge has overturned a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to allow oil and gas drilling near a forest and a river in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson of Detroit ruled Thursday the agency had acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in 2005 by giving Savoy Energy LP of Traverse City a permit to drill an exploratory well near the Au Sable River’s south branch.

The proposed wellhead would be located in the Huron-Manistee National Forest about three-tenths of a mile from the Mason Tract, a 4,679-acre wilderness area prized by anglers and other outdoor recreationists.

Forest supervisor Leanne Marten said when approving Savoy’s application that the project wouldn’t significantly harm the environment and the company would be required to keep noise to a minimum.

But the judge ruled the Forest Service didn’t consider how degrading the area could harm tourism, and said the agency did a “woefully inadequate” job of evaluating how the drilling might affect the Kirtland’s warbler, an endangered songbird that nests in the area.

Two environmental groups, the Sierra Club and Anglers of the Au Sable, sued the government to halt the drilling.

And then there was that harpy from the Bay

WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said calls to drill in protected, sensitive areas is “a hoax” perpetrated by Republicans and the Bush administration.

“This call for drilling in areas that are protected is a hoax, it’s an absolute hoax on the part of the Republicans and this administration,” Pelosi said. “It’s a decoy to punt your attention away from the fact that their policies have produced $4-a-gallon gasoline.”

Let’s see… we have environmentalists.  We have judges.  And we have politicians.  See any forward thinking, bright new ideas, or leadership from any of those groups?  Nah, didn’t think so.  Nothing but whining and finger pointing, as usual. How about we try the free market, good old capitalist, “let somebody make a ton of money by fixing the problem” way?  Here’s a little taste of T Boone Pickens (there are more videos available if you want to learn more). 

Still no recession yet.  I mentioned it a few weeks ago, but it’s always good to be able to mention it again, and Hot Air has a nice chart of the last few years GDP growth numbers to put it all into perspective.

A 1% annual growth rate won’t excite many people. It follows a quarter with 0.6% growth, making it the weakest two-quarter period in the last four years, as the chart demonstrates. However, this is hardly the worst economy we’ve seen in memory.  The 2000-2001 recession and the damage done to the economy after 9/11 was far worse than what we see now.  In fact, the slight rebound may indicate that the worst of the slowdown is over and that we may start seeing a return to the stronger growth we have experienced since 2003.

Last night after dinner I was sitting around just really hoping something would change, and I was particularly focused on gas prices.  After all, that is about all anyone is talking about these days.  On my way home from some business in town I noticed that my favorite gas stop had gone to $4.02… sigh… they did pretty well, holding it below four bucks, but they finally succumbed.   I was really bummed, so you can imagine how hard I was hoping for some change. 

Can you believe that?  Me?  I know, it’s a good thing my Dad doesn’t read my blog, because he always said “Brother, if you want something to change you’re going to have to get off your ass and change it, because sitting there hoping isn’t going to do it.”  Or something like that, I don’t remember.  He said stuff like that about 40 years ago, and back then I wasn’t listening very hard.  Yeah, I had to reinvent the wheel.  Come to think of it, I had a Che shirt, a Harley, and a dope pipe then too.  Not much culture change the past 40 years, eh?  Or are they just reinventing the wheel? 

But this hope thing is actually a pretty attractive idea, so last night, when nobody was looking (my Sweetie was watching “John and Kate +8″) I gave that hope thing a good shot.  Hope. Gas Prices. Change.  Hope.  Gas Prices. Change.  No, I didn’t go “Ooooommmmbaaaaamaaa”.  That’d be creepy.

Well, this morning on my way in to town I drove by my favorite gas stop again and damn!  that sign had changed!

$4.05

So, sue me.  I’m just a rookie at this hopey changey thing, and I don’t know how to steer it yet.  Guess that’s why we need the Obamessiah, you think?

Stumbled on an interesting website this morning that you might enjoy spending some time poking around on.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I dare say a good chart is worth it as well.  Go check out Ross Perot’s Charts.  He’s got a bunch of charts that illustrate the past 40 or so years of the Federal Government’s collection and use of our money.  Here’s a sample

So, all you “I love my country more than I hate Obama-vote McCain” kool-aid drinkers…amnesty, McCain-Feingold, McCain-Leiberman, the whole glowball warming nonsense, past threats to not only switch parties but consider the Dem VP spot, unreliable at best on the Second Amendment, and lately, floating the Bloomberg name for his own VP… if all that hasn’t been enough for you, try this on

“I believe there needs to be a thorough and complete investigation of speculators to find out whether speculation has been going on and, if so, how much it has affected the price of a barrel of oil,” Mr. McCain said in response to an audience member’s complaint about investors driving up the price of fuel and other commodities. “There’s a lot of things out there that need a lot more transparency and, consequently, oversight.”

Investigation?  And oversight, eh?  That’s big government, lose more freedom talk if I ever heard it.

“I am very angry, frankly, at the oil companies not only because of the obscene profits they’ve made but at their failure to invest in alternate energy to help us eliminate our dependence on foreign oil,” the senator said. “They’re making huge profits and that happens, but not to say, ‘We’re in this so we can over time eliminate America’s dependence on foreign oil,’ I think is an abrogation of their responsibilities as citizens.”

That’s the way Hillary Clinton was talking on the campaign trail but a week or two ago.  Obscene profits, eh?  That’s a socialist word if I ever heard one.  The man sounds like Barack Chicago Mob Obama, Harry Reid, or Nancy Pelosi.  I won’t bore you with a rundown on the different profit percents for various industries in America because I’m sure you’ve all heard them before.  The profits made by the oil companies are actually below what many other American companies make (check out what the banks, the IT, and the high tech companies make, if you want some comparisons).  But to suggest that their profits are somehow obscene, and that they have some kind of civic duty to invest in other technologies is absurd.  Hey Maverick, profit is NOT an obscene thing.  And they’re OIL COMPAINIES!  They do oil, not solar, not wind, not buffalo chips.  For crying out loud, get a clue.

Might I suggest that it is YOU, and Congress, that have abrogated your responsibilities as representatives in locking up American resources and American industry to the point that we cannot even use our own resources and technologies to solve this “energy crisis”.  Our resources, meaning the ones owned by the American people.  All you big government  people have done is bitch, and make laws that have hamstrung American businesses (and driven them out of the country in some cases).  Big government power used by big government politicians in a way that harms the American economy, American business, and the American citizen.  I’m up for more of that, you bet.

And back to you folks who keep telling me I HAVE to vote for McCain… really?  You really think he’s DIFFERENT from Obama?  No.  Not. One. Ounce. Better.  You’d better quit trying to enlist my vote for John McCain, and start working your tails off to get some conservative/small “l” libertarians on the down tickets in your states, because John McCain isn’t going to change squat.  The only difference we can make is to promote and elect better choices in the other slots.  If you have a decent candidate running for Senator or Congressman in your state, screw McCain and concentrate on getting the good candidate elected.  If you have someone running locally who believes like you do, then you’d better spend time getting your neighbor involved in voting for that person, and quit telling me I need to vote for John McCain.  That isn’t going to happen.

Do you believe in freedom?  In liberty?  Then convert your friends, your family, your children, your co-workers to the ideals of liberty.  Tell them about individual rights and freedom.  Teach them about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  Explain to them about responsibility, and why John McCain’s idea about “their responsibilites as citizens” is just plain wrong.  Show them that big government, whether big socialist Democrat government or big conservative Republican government, is unworkable at best and downright dangerous to everyone’s freedom at worst, and try to explain that there hasn’t been much difference between the two lately.

Forget John McCain and Barack Guevara Obama.  That is not where we are going to make a difference this year, or the next four.  You won’t turn the machine that gave us these two candidates by voting for the “least nasty candidate”.  But you can try to throw a small monkey wrench into that machine by converting and trying to activate your friends, family, and neighbors.  You can’t change Washington, despite what Barack American Idol Obama and John Angry Maverick mcCain are telling you.  But you can change your neighborhood.  And isn’t that what citizenship is really all about?

But I do have to laugh a little bit.  All the people telling me to just hold my nose, ignore how OBVIOUSLY WRONG John McCain is on so many issues, and just vote for him anyway… yet not many of you big “L” Libertarians (or small “l” for that matter) are similarly telling me to just ignore the dope issue and vote for Bob Barr, who is clearly more correct on most of the other issues.  Heck, I’m already there, I already believe, you don’t have to convince me that individual freedom and tiny government are the correct way to go.  But if you won’t even try to enlist MY vote, how are you going to sell it to your family and friends?  Just asking.

I’m sure you all have heard the weeping and gnashing of teeth about the horrible economy and the United States being in a recession already.   Why, didn’t Warren Buffett say so on Sunday (while he was looking to spend 35 Billion devalued American bucks on European companies for his portfolio)?  The market today is bouncing up and down, confused it seems, because the GDP numbers for the first quarter came out this morning… up.  Yes, up. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy plodded ahead at a 0.9 percent pace in the first quarter — slightly better than first estimated — but still underscoring caution on the part of consumers and businesses walloped by housing, credit and financial problems.

They had expected anywhere from 0.6 to slightly negative.  May I conjecture that the “slightly negative” economists tend to be Democrats?  Or is that just me being an evil conservative blogger reading my own beliefs into the news (you know how we are)? 

Whatever.  If the “official” definition of a recession is three two quarters of negative GDP growth (?), we aren’t there yet.  But then, these numbers are “government” numbers, so who really knows?  After all, these are the same folks who keep telling us that inflation is stable at 2%.  What?  Food prices and energy prices?  Fuel costs?  Oh no, much too volatile, so we can’t count those.  Just trust us.