MrBill
I'm not an economist, but I do like looking at a problem from several points of view, cause ya never know when some little tid bit of info can come in handy to solve a problem...
the econ talk site has an archive of a number of discussion
http://www.econtalk.org/archives.html
which I've found interesting and insightful.
The US presidential election this fall is going to be pretty interesting. I was (and am) thinking about voting for Obama because a few months ago when McCain proposed a liquid fuel tax "summer" holiday for petrol (as the british say) and diesel, then Mrs. Clinton kinda tried pandering to prospective voters using a similar liquid fuel tax holiday, the Obama mentioned in the press that he didn't think the idea held any economic merit I started to consider voting for him.
In the past I've voted green just because I view reckless conspectus consumption of natural resources like water and oil as the greatest threat the human race faces to its long term viability. Basically I see the major parties as being too self interested to really adress the big problems. Seems to me while republicans and the religious right rail the uninformed US electorate against issues like gay marrage, abortion and the global warming issue AND the democratics rail their base against issues of corporations, lack of advanced health care, offshore drilling and any kind of social security reform, the country the USA is being run into the ground by idiots who are too damn proud to admit they don't know or understand the big picture.
There was a TV on a few years ago here in the states called the west wing, it was fictious story about a US president who happened to be a nobel prize winning democratic economics who happened to to have a deep "catholic" religious grounding who was quite eloquent.
From what I've seen of President Bush (jr), I'm pretty convinced the guy and most of his policies are the work of the anti-christ.... How else can one explain the inital religious ferver for his support in the republican party.
Anyway I'm still not convinced Obama is the guy I'm going to vote for this November, because in many ways he is business as usual (for example he voted for the for US farm subsidy bill, and to a great extent has paid lip service to the idea of "clean coal" (even though if ya fully understand the technocial side of things clean coal is an oxymoron), and I think Obama is caving into the "guya theory" tree hugging side side of the democratic party that does not even want to consider the technical merits of nuclear power....
Its sad to say but I like many, project onto Obama some kind of hope for benevolent, thoughtful wise political leader who will point the people of the USA and to a great extent the world out a pretty deep hole (that humanity has dug itself into). Now if Dr. Josiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet was a real preson instead of just being a TV character, I'd vote for that guy in an instant (but for now I'm torn between Obama and who ever is the green party candidate)....
MrBill wrote:Thanks phaster. Let me just stick this little item in here instead of starting a new thread. Thanks.
Rising oil and gasoline prices have put energy concerns at the center of the contest between Republican presidential candidate John McCain and presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama in November. McCain has embraced offshore drilling in recent days and proposed a plan to build 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030. Obama has criticized McCain's drilling stance, and instead has advocated a plan to slap new taxes on oil company profits.
Source:
Five questions about U.S. offshore oil drillingI like the man, but
Obamanomics scare me!