In this recent post, I wondered what Hillary would do as President to address the current high price of oil. As I quoted the Wall Street Journal, quoting Hillary's husband, Slick Willie, he alleged, referring to the oil situation,
"That's why we need Hillary."
Now, thanks to Bill O'Reilly's interview with Hillary this week on Fox News, we know just what Hillary plans to do. And, believe it or not, I correctly anticipated three of them.
First, she will levy a windfall profits tax on oil companies.
Nevermind that these firms are investor-owned. And, being large, are held widely by Americans of all stripes, via pension funds, mutual funds or just simple index funds like the S&P500.
So not only does Hillary plan to punish the average American who holds these equities in a 401K or retirement fund, but she will also disincent the companies to produce, because they will only have to hand over more money to the spendthrift Federal Government.
Next, Hillary plans to lecture, cajole and otherwise make a pest of herself with OPEC.
Nevermind that these countries have legitimate financial needs and plans of their own for their petroleum assets. Nor that they do not 'set' prices- that's done by the interaction of supply and demand for oil.
Hillary will just go over to the Gulf and make everyone see that they must do as she says.
Uh huh.
Then there's a lawyer's favorite weapon- lawsuits!
In order to curry even more favor with those countries which supply oil to us, Hillary plans to sue them for anti-trust violations, after having Congress pass legislation to make that legal. Then she plans to go to the WTO to pursue them there, as well.
Of course, this is the same Hillary who blames our current President for what she feels is an unacceptably low level of regard in which various foreign nations hold America.
So, that's it. Those are our wonk-who-would-be-President's proposed solutions for the current price of oil.
She's going to penalize American companies for finding, pumping and refining the black stuff. Then she's going to go overseas and punish the countries who supply us.
Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?
Does Hillary understand economics, or what?
Friday, May 2, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
The Real Obama Finally Speaks
By now, you, like I, have read and heard countless interpretations of this week's biggest political news cycle. That is, Jeremiah Wright's appearances at an NAACP function, and at the National Press Club, and his one-time mentee, Democratic Presidential candidate Obama's desperate attempt to finally distance himself from this ravingly lunatic, hate- and racism-spewing minister.
As I discussed these events yesterday with my business partner over lunch, I expressed my one signal reaction to Obama's first halting rejection of Wright and his speech. Ironically, my partner had read the transcript, so he couldn't compare his own reaction.
That reaction of mine is this. Unlike every other speech I have seen Obama give, this one bore none of his trademark lilting, rhythmic, preacher-like enthusiasm-building or even clever writing.
Instead, I think we saw the real Obama- groping for words, unsure, shocked, off-balance, unfocused, dazed, overwhelmed and feeling abject desperation.
Gone were the rolling tempos of Baptist preacher-like constructions in his verbiage. Instead, he looked down, up, and around a lot. As if searching in vain for somewhere or someone to supply him with the politically 'right' response, now that his staff's cost/benefit calculations had unmistakably shown that Obama now had to throw his former pastor, Wright, under the bus. And then implore the driver to floor it.
Maybe the insecurity, fumbling and lack of focus we saw on Tuesday and Wednesday in Obama's speeches on the subject reflected his own shock at having been revealed to be just another politician after all.
Sure, some of the usual Democratic strategist suspects championed his speeches and argued that he was 'Presidential,' decisive, and mature. But the truth is, his former mentor/minister deliberately and callously labelled Obama as a politician 'doing what politicians do.'
Thank you for that, Jeremiah. You finally seem to have spoken truth to power-on-the-make.
As I discussed these events yesterday with my business partner over lunch, I expressed my one signal reaction to Obama's first halting rejection of Wright and his speech. Ironically, my partner had read the transcript, so he couldn't compare his own reaction.
That reaction of mine is this. Unlike every other speech I have seen Obama give, this one bore none of his trademark lilting, rhythmic, preacher-like enthusiasm-building or even clever writing.
Instead, I think we saw the real Obama- groping for words, unsure, shocked, off-balance, unfocused, dazed, overwhelmed and feeling abject desperation.
Gone were the rolling tempos of Baptist preacher-like constructions in his verbiage. Instead, he looked down, up, and around a lot. As if searching in vain for somewhere or someone to supply him with the politically 'right' response, now that his staff's cost/benefit calculations had unmistakably shown that Obama now had to throw his former pastor, Wright, under the bus. And then implore the driver to floor it.
Maybe the insecurity, fumbling and lack of focus we saw on Tuesday and Wednesday in Obama's speeches on the subject reflected his own shock at having been revealed to be just another politician after all.
Sure, some of the usual Democratic strategist suspects championed his speeches and argued that he was 'Presidential,' decisive, and mature. But the truth is, his former mentor/minister deliberately and callously labelled Obama as a politician 'doing what politicians do.'
Thank you for that, Jeremiah. You finally seem to have spoken truth to power-on-the-make.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
What Will Hillary Do?
"The economy is in the tank," he told a crowd who waited for two hours in the heat and a rain shower.
"Yeah, in the gas tank!" yells one voter.
"You got that right," Mr. Clinton says, appearing delighted to riff with fellow Southerners.
"That's why we need Hillary."
So ended an article in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal discussing Sick Willie's now-heavier involvement in his wife's campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
So, I am moved to ask the obvious,
"And just what, Bubba, would/will Hillary do about gasoline prices and supply?"
Will she encourage legislation to control price and allocate supply? Our great yellow-stain of a President, Carter, failed with those 'solutions.'
Would Hillary nationalize our oil industry, the better to manage it? That's a laugh- the Federal Government managing anything that is critical better than private enterprise.
Perhaps Hillary plans to simply levy new taxes on US oil companies. Great. That will cause them to lessen their efforts to procure, refine and sell petroleum products, since each gallon of refined oil will net them less money.
Or maybe Hillary plans to retaliate against anyone she feels is involved in runup of energy prices by passing anti-trade legislation and engaging in other actions calculated to 'punish' whom she sees as guilty countries or other parties.
Fine. She rails against how George Bush has allegedly been responsible for other countries holding the US in low regard, but she'll count among her first acts meting out retribution for imagined slights and anti-American energy-related behaviors.
Unfortunately, Bubba Clinton and his wife don't really 'get' economics. As I just wrote in this post on this blog, the recent behavior of energy prices, particularly oil and gasoline, are a direct result of simple inabilities of business people to have perfect crystal balls when forecasting how newly-wealthy Asians would spend their money.
There are no villains. Nobody is directly and singly responsible for oil prices rising as they have.
If anything, liberal Congressmen have contributed to the mess by restricting the search for energy off America's shores by our own oil and gas companies. New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg is running ads this very month touting his role in stopping energy exploration off of the state.
The truth is, Hillary should and can do nothing that will bring oil prices down, unless she plans to change parties and fight for lower taxes, a more hospitable climate for energy companies, and the chance to let higher oil prices signal the need for more onshore and offshore exploration and onshore refining.
About the only thing Government can do now is to try not to screw the situation up any worse than it is, and hope that private enterprises across the world will respond to the $100+/bbl oil prices by finding and bringing onstream, as soon as possible, new energy supplies.
In the meantime, Bubba, his wife, and all Americans would be better served by the couple keeping quiet about the energy situation.
"Yeah, in the gas tank!" yells one voter.
"You got that right," Mr. Clinton says, appearing delighted to riff with fellow Southerners.
"That's why we need Hillary."
So ended an article in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal discussing Sick Willie's now-heavier involvement in his wife's campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
So, I am moved to ask the obvious,
"And just what, Bubba, would/will Hillary do about gasoline prices and supply?"
Will she encourage legislation to control price and allocate supply? Our great yellow-stain of a President, Carter, failed with those 'solutions.'
Would Hillary nationalize our oil industry, the better to manage it? That's a laugh- the Federal Government managing anything that is critical better than private enterprise.
Perhaps Hillary plans to simply levy new taxes on US oil companies. Great. That will cause them to lessen their efforts to procure, refine and sell petroleum products, since each gallon of refined oil will net them less money.
Or maybe Hillary plans to retaliate against anyone she feels is involved in runup of energy prices by passing anti-trade legislation and engaging in other actions calculated to 'punish' whom she sees as guilty countries or other parties.
Fine. She rails against how George Bush has allegedly been responsible for other countries holding the US in low regard, but she'll count among her first acts meting out retribution for imagined slights and anti-American energy-related behaviors.
Unfortunately, Bubba Clinton and his wife don't really 'get' economics. As I just wrote in this post on this blog, the recent behavior of energy prices, particularly oil and gasoline, are a direct result of simple inabilities of business people to have perfect crystal balls when forecasting how newly-wealthy Asians would spend their money.
There are no villains. Nobody is directly and singly responsible for oil prices rising as they have.
If anything, liberal Congressmen have contributed to the mess by restricting the search for energy off America's shores by our own oil and gas companies. New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg is running ads this very month touting his role in stopping energy exploration off of the state.
The truth is, Hillary should and can do nothing that will bring oil prices down, unless she plans to change parties and fight for lower taxes, a more hospitable climate for energy companies, and the chance to let higher oil prices signal the need for more onshore and offshore exploration and onshore refining.
About the only thing Government can do now is to try not to screw the situation up any worse than it is, and hope that private enterprises across the world will respond to the $100+/bbl oil prices by finding and bringing onstream, as soon as possible, new energy supplies.
In the meantime, Bubba, his wife, and all Americans would be better served by the couple keeping quiet about the energy situation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
