Change? How can you call this change?

Our congress is a pathetic bunch of people that have been there forever -and with not sense of reality whatsoever.

The Shock of the Not New OpenMarket.org

Judiciary – Patrick Leahy (VT) 34 years
Foreign Relations – John Kerry (MA) 24 years
Appropriations – Daniel Inouye (HI) 46 years [+4 years in the House]
Budget – Kent Conrad (ND) 22 years
Homeland Security – Joe Lieberman (CT) 20 years
Environment & Public Works – Barbara Boxer (CA) 16 years [+10 years in the House]
Energy & Natural Resources – Jeff Bingaman (NM) 26 years
Health, Education, Labor & Pensions – Ted Kennedy (MA) 47 years
Armed Forces – Carl Levin (MI) 30 years
Intelligence Select – Dianne Feinstein (CA) 17 years
Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs – Chris Dodd (CT) 28 years [+6 years in the House]
Rules & Administration – Chuck Schumer (NY) 10 years [+18 years in the House]
Agriculture – Tom Harkin (IA) 24 years [+10 years in the House]
Veterans Affairs – Daniel Akaka (HI) 19 years [+13 years in the House]
Small Business & Entrepreneurship – Mary Landrieu (LA) 12 years
Commerce, Science & Transportation – Jay Rockefeller (WV) 24 years
Finance – Max Baucus (MT) 31 years [+3 years in the House]
Indian Affairs – Byron Dorgan (ND) 17 years [+11 years in the House]
Ethics Select – Tim Johnson (SD) 12 years [+10 years in the House]
Aging Select – Herb Kohl (WI) 20 years

Exposing the Keynesian Fallacy: The Condensed Version

Exposing the Keynesian Fallacy: The Condensed Version

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Congress Act, Unintended Consequences Follow – Poor are punished by new lead toy law

CPSIA: furor builds over toyless shelves

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Obama’s Big Bet

Obama’s Big Bet

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I repeat: Congress is Responsible for High Gas Prices

and I am getting tired of their finger-pointing CRAP.  Speculators are NOT the problem – CONGRESS is.  Anyway, here’s thoughts I couldn’t share too much better than my own if I had the time – from some of my favorite writers, Investor’s Business Daily:

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=299112795719150

Here are the best excerpts:

Energy: Democrats, in their never-ending search for scapegoats, have had a go at oil company CEOs, industry profits and now oil “speculators.” They’ve looked everywhere but where they should — in the mirror….

…It’s true there’s speculation in the oil market. But then again, there’s speculation in virtually every exchange-traded good — from oil and gold to corn and pork bellies….

…Speculators aren’t evil. They ensure a liquid market for the commodities we need most. They make money by buying low, when the product is in low demand, and selling high, when demand has grown….

…The logical answer to any question about speculation in a market is: What are you doing to boost supply? [my emphasis] In the case of Congress and the solution offered by Obama, the answer is nothing….

…High prices already have curbed demand here in the U.S., the latest data show. What’s left is to drill for the literally hundreds of billions of barrels of oil we have here in this country locked up offshore, in Alaska and in vast shale-oil reserves.  Instead, the Democrat-led Congress has pursued foolish energy policies that lead inevitably to higher prices, less supply and declining standards of living for all Americans…

…As the Commodity Futures Trading Commission notes: “There are almost as many short speculative positions as there are long positions.” In other words, speculators are betting as much that prices will drop as they will rise.

In short, there’s no real evidence that speculators are driving energy prices up. But there’s plenty of evidence that Congress’ refusal to permit drilling is a big factor keeping supplies down.

BASICALLY, CONGRESS IS ASININE AND BOWING TO LIBERAL ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL INTERESTS – THEY REFUSE TO LISTEN TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, AND THEY ARE CHASING DOWN EVERY LAST EXCUSE THEY CAN FIND TO AVOID HAVING TO ALLOW AMERICANS TO ENJOY THE BENEFITS OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES.

Enough Ranting for now,

The Excogitative Farmer

PS -Somebody please tell McCain this as well.  I support the guy but geez Art Laffer or somebody needs to give this guy a basic education on economics.

Congratulations are due to Nancy Pelosi…

NOT!

Let’s have a quick talk about how well Nancy Pelosi & Co’s “common-sense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices.” has worked out.

Price when Democrats took control of Congress with a “common-sense plan” to reduce gas prices – $2.25 per gallon
Price Today – $4.09 per gallon
Price of Political Hypocrisy and Populist Pandering at Its Finest – Priceless? No, in fact it has cost You and Me big time $$$.

Now I am not a big poll guy, but according to a recent Gallup Poll, 57% of Americans favor allowing drilling in the U.S. coastal wilderness areas now off limits. But we all know that Congress listens to special interests and not what We the People think. The sad fact is, as the Wall St. Journal recently noted, the U.S. remains one of the only countries in the world that chooses as a matter of policy to lock up its natural resources. That and the fact that the Government mandates that we turn our food into ethanol in ever increasing amounts have helped put us where we are today.

I guess my takeaway here is that the words “Congress” and “common-sense plan” have nothing in common.

-The Excogitative Farmer

The Law of Supply and Demand is Alive and Well (Except in Congress)

Let me be clear – as it pertains to gas and energy prices, the most fundamental laws of economics, namely supply and demand, have not changed.  Politicians continue to pander to You with DEMAND-oriented “solutions while demonstrating a complete lack of understanding (or perhaps willing ignorance) of the real issue, which is a need to fix our SUPPLY problem.  Let me opine briefly on some recent concepts being floated by the Pols.

McCain and Hillary’s solutions to reduce the gas-tax, albeit temporarily, is actually a nice idea – but to me this is good only in the sense that this would put fewer dollars in the hands of our irresponsible Congress.  Yes, the same Congress who wastes billions upon billions of dollars YOUR tax dollars on entitlement and pork-barrel spending and will continue to waste more if they can get it – so why should we give them more tax dollars?  Are they spending it on infrastructure like bridges or roads?  I wonder sometimes.  So actually, a gas-tax holiday will only have one and only one result, which is of course the exact opposite of what is intended (enter the “Law of Unintended Consequences”, which seems to be a requirement to hold office in Congress these days).  But to my point….reduce gas taxes =  lower cost of gas = gas is more affordable (greater propensity to consume) = MORE demand for gas (not less) = greater gas consumption = higher gas prices.  It’s that simple. Really.

Obama’s “solution”, a “windfall” profits tax, is a magnificently more disastrous idea.  Did you live through the 70s?  You know what I am talking about.  If not, let me again try to simplify…higher taxes on US Energy Producers = higher cost to for Domestic Energy Co’s to produce = DECREASED production of DOMESTIC energy = INCREASED need for FOREIGN energy imports = GREATER dependence on FOREIGN energy (not less) .  But wait a minute…I thought we were trying to….reduce our dependence on foreign oil…hmmm….OPEC could only be drooling at the thought of this.

And as you can read below, of the 21 million barrels of oil we Americans consume every year, 13 million of them are imported.  Why?  Because we do not have enough SUPPLY of our own.  Why?  Well, it is not entirely because we do not have the supply, but rather it is because our politicians and environmentalists and others refuse to let us access it.  We in fact have tremendous domestic reserves of oil, natural gas and coal.  Not to mention plenty of potential for nuclear and even wind power expansion.

In summary, what we as citizens need are solutions that impact the SUPPLY of energy, not the DEMAND.  But our idiotic Congress is ostensibly doing everything it can to limit this very thing.

Without further ado…what you can expect

After a bit of delay, I am finally up and running.  I expect to  cover quite a variety of topics, but my guess is you will see most of the action in these areas:

1. Lawyers and why we need fewer of the (absurd lawsuits, et al.)
2. Government Waste (notably earmarking/pork barrel spending, et al.)
3. Taxes (why they need to be lower, not higher; see #2 above for one major good reason)
4. Politically Contrived Absurdities (“Global Warming”, windfall profit taxes, political correctness)

Speaking of which, am watching Bill O’Reilly (Fox News) right now and sounds like he is finally starting to wise up to the need SUPPLY SIDE energy solution (nuclear, alternative energy, access to domestic reserves).  Gotta say this is a big improvement for O’Reilly who generally shows a very poor and somewhat populist view of economics.  Seems like he is catching up to the “folks”.  About time.

Godspeed,

The Excogitative Farmer

Welcome to The Excogitative Farmer!

What do I do?  I read. A lot. And from as many different sources as possible. I read books, magazines, and newspapers. And I also read blogs, websites and journals. And pamphlets. And leaflets. And inserts, and brochures, and whitepapers, and case studies, and labels, and periodicals and trivial pursuit cards and anything else that might be interesting and thought provoking.

Why do I read? I read to learn. Not just for my own enrichment and benefit, but for those around me as well. And it is the never-ending opportunity to learn that drives me.

So, I thought that you might like to read some of what I read. With an opinion or two of my own on top .

Thanks for stopping by,

The Excogitative Farmer