The main reason that California’s fires are such a problem is because of the proximity of housing enclaves to the repeat burn zones. Firefighters do extraordinary work saving homes each and every year in California. But should they have to? It might be time to decide. Fire season seems to be starting early in the…
Category: Finance
Obama and Racist Voters
Barack Obama’s youthful volunteers have met more than a few of America’s less savory characters while on the campaign trail, according to a story in the Washington Post. Obama’s skin color – he’s black – if you weren’t aware, is for some voters the most important thing about the man. Sad, but that view is…
Hillary Ignoring Economists on Gas Tax Holiday
Robert Reich, a former Clinton Secretary of Labor who now favors Barack Obama, says that the gas tax holiday Ms. Clinton supports – as does John McCain – is "economically stupid" and would increase demand for gas while costing the government $9B to finance. And he’s not alone. …when economists tell a president or a…
Using Oil Reserves to Lower Gas Prices
Texas Congressman Chet Edwards (D) wants to use the U.S.’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower prices at the gas pump. Needless to say, I think this is a bad idea, for reasons I list below. He says the increased supply would help halt rising gas prices which are predicted to hit $4 per gallon by…
In Favor of Keeping Gas Tax
Federal gas taxes help support America’s transportation system, one in which roadways all over the nation are being repaired and upgraded after a period of significant neglect. It’s unpleasant to pay the $0.18 extra per gallon, yet there are worse things. Thomas Friedman has this to say about the unholy alliance of McCain & Clinton…
Phil Gramm a Terrorist?
That’s what Shaun Mullen of the Moderate Voice says. His justification? Gramm, the former Senator from Texas, played in instrumental role in dismantling decades-old banking regulations during the Clinton administration. Terrorist. We’d better lock Gramm up as a matter of national security. Imagine the gall, doing away with obsolete rules from a by-gone era. Evidently…
No Defense for Consumers
If you’re in the mood to get good and hacked off at Congress for failing to live up to its responsibility to ensure that citizens’ views are aired to in its chambers, read Elizabeth Warren’s piece on the House’s credit-card hearings. The first panel was four regular people who wanted to give first-hand information about…
Testing John McCain, Pork Buster
Robert Novak brightened my day by writing that John "I’m the Sheriff" McCain and his Republican colleagues will be at odds this week over the practice of earmarking, which big-name Republicans decry even as they rack up massive amounts of pork for the voters back home. Sen. Jim DeMint, a first-term reform Republican from South…
Freshman and Pork
Most of us know about the “Freshman 15“, a colloquialism that refers to the amount of weight many college freshmen gain during their first year in college as a result of not exercising proper dietary discipline (and gaining easy access to beer, no doubt). Given that Congress typically lacks even the most rudimentary sense of…
No Stimulus From Senate
Senate Republicans held together, mostly, to stop the Democrats’ stimulus package from passing, according to the NY Times: The measure was opposed by Republican leaders who said the Democrats added too many costly provisions, including an extension of unemployment benefits, tax credits for the coal industry and increased subsidies for home energy costs. The total…