The brouhaha of the moment revolves around Phil Gramm’s accusation that American leaders are a bunch of “whiners” and that there really isn’t a recession. If by “recession” he means negative growth, he’s technically correct at this moment. And as for the former, who could dispute him?
So what’s the brouhaha about? Slow news day apparently. People tire quickly of Jesse Jax (not Phil Jax). Of course there’s this: The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries warned Thursday that oil prices would see an “unlimited” increase in the case of a military conflict involving Iran, because the group’s members would be unable to make up the lost production.
“Unlimited,” eh? Good thing I bought that Prius.
Apropos: Is there anyone out there who still doesn’t think we better start drilling – and fast!
Oil will run out sooner or later.
Running out sooner is worse than running out later.
High prces now mean that developing alternative energies gets more economic. If we try to increase production to keep prices low then when the end of oil comes it will be like hitting a brick wall. If we wean ourselves off of oil while there is still some in the ground then we will climb a hill instead.
Lets keep the oil in the ground for now.
Is there anyone out there who still doesn’t think we better start drilling – and fast?
Yes.
It’s called Congress
Hmm, NJ Gov. Corzine, Senators Lautenburg and Menendez, and Congressman Pallone stood on the beach on Monday and essentially said we’ll never drill off NJ. So yea, Roger, there are a number of Ostriches still out there — and the idiots in NJ will reelect each and every one of them too.
Gramm is right. Bitch Bitch Bitch.
I doubt if it is unlimited. The world economy would collapse eventually. But I bet people would be surprised at how fast the US Navy could clear the way for oil if need be.
In truth Iran is not a huge oil producer, its production is mostly natural gas. I think this is why Bush does not want to release the oil reserves right now. He is afraid we might need them in the not too distant future.
“Is there anyone out there who still doesn’t think we better start drilling – and fast?”
Everyone who believes food comes from a Whole Foods store and not from farms….
You don’t get it that the Left loves the energy fix we’re in?
ricpic:
They might love it, but then again, it might end up causing them some problems too.
Nancy Pelosi does not understand economics, no surprise considering her party. Releasing oil from the Strategic Reserve would signal that we are not going to resume production but use gimmicks to try to reduce gas prices. It would have the opposite effect on oil prices. Maybe we should build some refineries. That would help, too.
ricpic is right: The Cold War served up a multi-course meal of crow to the left and they’ve been resentful ever since.
I agree with Terry.
This is Straight Talk from Gramm. Is no coincidence he’s not running for anything.
The world is not coming to an end, despite the gloom and doom of the 24 hours news cycle.
When demand comes down, prices will come down. Drilling, looking at wind (T. Boone) and other schemes will help bring it down further.
As for Iran – My bet is Bush punting.
Iran needs to sell oil way worse than we need to buy it. Same with Chavez the Saudi’s etc. High prices are a pain in the ass for us.It’s life or death for them. None of them would remain in power 6 months without oil sales.They all spend money like democrats.And yeah, Gramm is right, the boomer’s(my generation) are the most whiny,entitled crybabies the world has ever seen.Hell, our parents did the depression and WW2 without whining or shrinks.
“As for Iran – My bet is Bush punting.”
Of course he’s not the full story, is he?
The commentary about this I’m seeing in the media is actually kind of hilarious, but McCain’s gutless reaction is merely sad.
We are NOT in a recession–FACT.
A recession has a clear and specific meaning, and the media’s need to claim that we’re in one (for the sake of hope/change) does not make it true when it’s demonstrably not.
As far as I’m concerned, this represents the ultimate triumph of the Oprah-fication of America. Only feelings matter, and if facts don’t match the feelings, it is inexcusable to point them out.
Nancy Pelosi doesn’t seem to think drilling has any effect on oil prices. In other news, the planting of crops doesn’t have anything to do with food prices, and sex is unrelated to babies.
Of course he’s [Bush] not the full story, is he?
Of course not. Israel is closer to imminent and present danger.
On the other hand, a recent military setback coupled with a bleak internal politics, I’m not sure how confident Israel is going it alone. Close to our situation come to think of it.
To attack, Israel may need a trigger, a provocation, other than photoshopped pics of low range missile test.
It looks as if the threat of WMD is no longer enough of a casus belli. I sure dont hear anybody (other than the blogs) saying so.
Roger, I don’t want Iran to have the bomb as much as the next guy, but when I saw those guys in that photo op in Japan the other day, I only saw Zarco and Brown (maybe) other than Bush willing to do something about it.
If they are planning military action, they’re keeping it very close to the vest.
Paul:
I don’t think McCain’s reaction is gutless, it is politick. That is what people expect. Just read the comment sections of the rightie blogs. Most people are more angry with McCain for having a guy like Gramm advising him than they are with McCain for backing away from his remarks. They bitch too you know.
They bitched when McCain got the nomination. They bitch about the way he runs his campaign and who he talks to and his age. blah blah blah.
If someone else had won the nomination, they would have bitched about that person too. And if that person did just what so many of the complainers wanted him to do and lost anyway they would bitch about losing.
It never ends. This is why so many people just refuse to pay attention to politics or watch the news.
Whining to the left of me, whining to the right of me..
‘Israeli warplanes practice in Iraq’ reads a headline.
Now, that’s more like it.
Watch to see if and when McCain and Obama are summoned to the WH.
I don’t think this is something that would be communicated over the phone.
I worries me when the far right and the far left start whining about the same things. Bad laws are created in that kind of climate. Each side may hate the other side’s people, but work together to create the war on drugs, war on poverty, no child left behind, etc (for right moral behavior, for the left social engineering).
To Senator McCain,
Our nation faces an extraordinary election this year. It is not your job to attack your allies and supporters. Just recently you could have pointed out the reality of how artificially high gas have exacerbated economic pain, instead you attacked and made jokes at an allies expense, pretty much everything you should be doing in regards to the Democrats. You will not win this election if you accept the Obama campaigns narrative. Playing by the rules of Pundits and media elites is a recipe for defeat. What kind of America do we want? For the Democrats it will be the affluent, connected and fashionable living out their dreams. While the rest of us are put on waiting lists for goods and services. And they will call it equality. Or will we get an America where people have a chance to rise and maybe fall, and America where opportunity and freedom are allowed to flourish. The Republic will not collapse because of the Democratic party, I have no paranoid doom and gloom over seeing politicians I support losing an election, I leave that to the rage filled fools on the left who define themselves in opposition and hatred to American institutions and values. But we can do better then the Democrats, and step one is being in this thing to win it. And you can win this.
Robert C. Verdi
“We are NOT in a recession–FACT.”
Actually, we don’t know whether we’re in a recession. The blather about recessions being “defined” as two consecutive negative quarters of GDP growth is, well, blather. The accepted definition of a recession is, in fact, “whatever time period the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research labels as a recession after the fact.” The Committee is currently headed by Martin Feldstein, who was the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the early Reagan years. They don’t use the “two negative GDP quarters” definition. As Feldstein points out regularly, they look at a variety of factors, such as the level of industrial production and changes in employment. Unfortunately, industrial production has been falling for four months (so far down about 1.4% from the recent peak), and payrolls have been falling for six months, with a net decline of over 400,000 jobs so far. My bet would be that there is a better than even chance that the Committee will eventually declare that a recession began late last year or early this year.
Incidentally, if you use the “two negative GDP quarters” definition, we never had a recession in 2000-2001. The final revisions to the GDP numbers indicate that we had three negative quarters in a period of five quarters, but they were interspersed with two positive quarters, so we never had two consecutive negative quarters. But industrial production was down 6% from peak to trough, and payrolls fell by more than 2.5 million. (Not to mention the fact that the stock market fell 45%.) I would call that a recession, regardless of the GDP data. And so does the NBER.
robert verdi:
And that post was a good example of the point I made above. When did McCain attack his allies and supporters? When did he accept Obama’s narrative? I just got a lecture from someone on a rightie blog who said that McCain is in the pocket of the big plantation owners who use slave like immigrants…you get the picture. And that was not some Democrat either. It seems to me the largest problem is that McCain’s allies and supporters will not stop attacking each other.
Steven:
Exports have remained high and that has helped with growth. I have no idea whether we are going to end up in a recession or not. I really did not think that the economy could tolerate such high oil prices. But I remember the recession back in the late 70′s and early 80′s and trust me, things were much worse then. It could be that the economy has just gotten so large that some parts of it remain in expansion. The big highs and lows we used to see just do not seem to be part of the equation anymore.
Terrye,
The Senator reccomended that Gramm might be his ambassador to Belarus. What do you call that? I do not want orthodoxy from McCain, I want him to set the tone of the election.
The problem seems to have far more to do with a weak dollar (sending investment into safe areas like Oil) rather than lack of product. More drilling is a good idea, but its not gonna help at the pumps. It will just produce MORE Oil for the investors to safely hide their capital in. I don’t have a problem with that, its how capitalism works, but let’s not get confused about the situation were currently in.
Now, give China and India another two years with oil production where it is now and we can talk about supply driving costs.