Pipeline-istan
I highly recommend this article entitled “Pipeline-Istan: Everything You Need to Know About Oil, Gas, Russia, China, Iran, Afghanistan and Obama.” Nothing in it is particularly shocking or new to anyone who was skeptic of the war on terror and its purposes, but the common threads of several chapters of Eurasia over the last few years have been woven together well. A nice supplemental editorial is here.
The subject must have been in the collective unconscious recently because another great article was floating around with the funny title of: “Kremlin says battle over energy resources may lead to wars.” It should have been called “Kremlin says two plus two equals four” or, more accurately, “Kremlin says that two plus two has equaled four several times in the recent past and predicts it will equal four in the future.”
Speaking of wars and oil, isn’t it funny how half of the American population thought that Pepsi Obama would stop the war in Iraq, stop torturing, stop spying on Americans, and stop indefinite detention — in short, start following the Constitution? That is funny, since if he was interested in following the Constitution, he’d be a Libertarian or a Constitutionalist and not a Pepsi Democrat. When, oh when, will the voters reject the two-party system, which is really a one-party system? Old Coke McCain thinks Pepsi Obama is doing a pretty good job. Is this really Obama doing this and this or is it Bush? I’m getting deja-vu.
Well, enough of that subject. Politics is similar to Professional Wrestling in its authenticity. Too bad its effects aren’t similarly ephemeral. Instead, we get the terrorist-hunting boy and girl scouts. Progress!
In other news (and if this is news to you, well… good luck, pal) Medicare is projected by the government’s overly-rosy expectations to run out by 2017. I don’t particularly feel great about all the Medicare money that’s been taken from my paycheck over the years but I’m certain there is some kind of pill that will numb that gnawing sense of anger (hopefully my insurance will cover it once 2017 rolls around).
Today’s article of doom: The worst is yet to come.
Sell Me Your Goods At A Discount Or I’ll Sue You
The British government wants to record the details of every phone call, email, and all activity on the internet. Big brother complete. Assuming the US would like the same (and of course they would) the only relevant questions are whether or not we already have something like this in development and when they’re finally going to announce it. As the US Principal Deputy Director of Intelligence said recently, “Privacy can no longer mean anonymity.” Britain is the most “progressive” society in the world. Based upon history, what happens there generally happens here after a small time delay. Good thing we get to look forward to such enlightened rulings as “children don’t need a father.”
Ah well. It’s hard to criticize Britain when we have genius lawmakers over here trying to sue OPEC over high oil prices. As if it’s OPEC’s fault that the value of the dollar keeps plummeting to new lows. We keep printing more and more dollars and expect the value of each one to remain the same. Last time the Federal Reserve reported the increase to the money supply, we were adding 16% annually. Of course, that was over a year ago and they don’t report the number anymore.
Besides, it makes perfect sense for us to be able to dictate to other countries at what price they should be selling their goods to us. And if you don’t agree, maybe you should be bombed. Oh yeah, and according to Bush, the reason our food prices are high aren’t due to the government miscalculating inflation. They’re due to all those gluttonous Indians.
Today’s article of doom: oil at $133 per barrel.
Oil’s Higher than Ever — Even Considering Inflation
Oil’s current price is even higher, in official inflation-adjusted terms, than it was during the Middle East crisis in 1979 – 1980. Now, of course, I don’t believe the official inflation numbers, but regardless, this is an important milestone. Especially considering there are three pain points; Iraq and Iran, Venezuela and Colombia, and Russia and Ukraine.
In addition to the fact that oil being pegged to the ever-decreasing dollar is important for America’s perception and power influence, oil is the most important commodity. If you took all of the companies that trade on the New York Stock Exchange and American Stock Exchange and added up their value, you’d find that roughly half of all the value was from companies that either pumped oil, processed oil, refined oil, transported oil, made energy or products from oil, or made products that consumed oil.
So, the price of oil is very important. And, of course, this is why every battle we get in happens to be in an area key to oil distribution. It’s our lifeblood. If you’re the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, you get to say that and not be vilified.
Today’s article of doom: Bernanke urges banks to forgive portions of mortgages.
Crashing Down Now! 