Free Republic

Barack Obama's tax advisers recently posted a piece in the Wall Street Journal about their candidate's tax plans. Their article was designed to triangulate, painting their candidate as a tax cutter and the Republican opposition as a secret tax raiser. It was well written and well argued — not that you can really trust anything you read about what candidates will or will not do once in office. In any case, I was discussing the piece with a person whose politics are certainly left of center. She said to me something along the following lines: I'm really not sure I...

EIA estimates that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) earned $671 billion in net oil export revenues in 2007, a 10 percent increase from 2006. Saudi Arabia earned the largest share of these earnings, $194 billion, representing 29 percent of total OPEC revenues. On a per-capita basis, OPEC net oil export earning reached $1,137, a 8 percent increase from 2006. Through July, OPEC had earned an estimated $642 billion in net oil export earnings in 2008. Based on projections from the EIA August 2008 Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO), OPEC net oil export revenues could be...

At what price will corn be so expensive that the federal government will decide that it is time to stop driving up the price of food? Three years ago, Congress imposed a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) mandate that has forced the gasoline industry to mix massive amounts of corn-based ethanol into the nation's fuel supply. In 2007, Congress nearly doubled that mandate to require nine billion gallons of ethanol be blended into gas in 2008 and even more in 2009. But, as a safety valve, Congress gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the power to waive the new mandates if...

LONDON (AFP) - Crude prices continued their dizzying spiral down on Friday, shedding nearly four dollars to trade below 114 dollars a barrel as the US currency strengthened amid concerns about energy demand, dealers said. Brent North Sea crude for September delivery hit an intra-day low of 113.55 dollars a barrel. It recovered slightly to stand at 114.06 dollars, down 3.80 dollars, at about 1420 GMT New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September stood at 116.28 dollars a barrel, down 3.74. Oil futures have shed more than 20 percent in value since hitting record highs above 147 dollars...

Call Congress back to have an up-or-down vote on a comprehensive energy bill which includes expanded drilling for oil. There is a petition here: http://www.callbackcongress.com/

Charging for checked luggage and legroom isn’t enough for some carriers — starting today, coach passengers flying aboard US Airways Inc. must pay for a drink of water. This morning, US Airways began charging fliers $2 for bottled water and sodas and $1 for teas and coffees. First class members, trans-Atlantic passengers and a select group of others are exempt from the extra fees. “This is another clever way to masquerade airfare increases without increasing airfares,” says Randy Petersen, editor of Inside Flyer Magazine. “Everything has been passed along to the consumer.” (snip) Continental Airlines Inc. — one of the...

As Congress begins a five-week break without passing legislation to address high gasoline prices, Democrats and Republicans are fighting for the political high ground in the energy debate. [Nancy Pelosi] In a flurry of ads and on the campaign trail, Republicans are pounding Democrats for failing to allow votes on lifting a federal ban on oil and gas drilling in offshore areas to boost domestic production. Democrats are accusing Republicans of blocking renewable-energy initiatives and protecting wealthy oil companies at consumers' expense. On Thursday, House and Senate Democrats held a press conference to highlight oil companies' record profits. The Senate...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The downward spiral of U.S. housing prices still has a way to go and homes were overvalued by between 8 percent to 20 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to research by an International Monetary Fund economist published on Friday. In his report "What goes up must come down? House price dynamics in the United States," IMF economist Vladimir Klyuev used several economic techniques to determine by how much U.S. home prices are overvalued. Klyuev drew from a government study of single-family home prices to conclude that values were "around 14 percent above equilibrium...

The average American voter understands no more about the contributing factors of the current price of gasoline, than they do the falling value of their national currency. That makes them easy targets for political manipulation in a very important election year. Simple Supply and Demand Economics Most Americans kind of get this one, though they are often misled about the ups and downs of natural free market cycles and how much impact government has, or should have, on the matter. In short, the cost for one gallon of gas (or one loaf of bread) is dramatically increased when there is...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline prices have fallen more than 10 cents per gallon in a week and could fall another 25 cents by the end of summer, a sign the worst is over for U.S. motorists this vacation season. The decline tracks a record pullback in the price of crude that has come amid mounting evidence high energy costs and an economic slowdown are shrinking American demand for fuel, auto and travel group AAA said Friday. "We expect pump prices below $4 this weekend and we could see the price fall another 25 cents before Labor Day...

ToughTimes, Tough Decisions (MATURE CONTENT) BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - During these tough economic times, many people are struggling to make ends meet. The city's housing market is in a slump, gas and food prices are rising, and some say it's either sink or swim. Now, some women are going to great lengths to make some extra cash right in Baton Rouge. It's a fantasy, an escape for some attempting to close off the outside world. However, for the women inside who are barely clothed and strapped into high heels, exotic dancing can be a way to survive. "All of...

(Ft. Lauderdale)-Our strategic oil reserves are maintained for use during an impending emergency. Speaker Nancy Pelosi's call to divert resources from those reserves shows that she lacks the vision to see beyond a knee-jerk, band-aid response to today’s high oil prices that will only weaken us in the event of a real emergency. And now Congressman Ron Klein, who campaigned on a slogan that he would “lead, not follow,” has once again followed Speaker Pelosi’s ridiculous plan and signed onto this pathetic display of ineptitude. No wonder Congress’s approval rating is at 9%. Speaker Pelosi does seem to understand the...

<p>Before the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission starts scrutinizing the role that speculators may have played in driving up fuel and food prices, investigators may want to take a look at price swings in a commodity not in today's news: onions.</p>

Congress Looks for a Culprit for Rising Oil PricesWednesday June 25, 4:35 am ET By JAD MOUAWAD With Americans growing angrier by the day about high gasoline prices, nobody can accuse Congress of turning a deaf ear. On Wednesday lawmakers will hold their 40th hearing so far this year on the cause of high oil prices. Filing bills on Capitol Hill to combat the problem is becoming a cottage industry, with clever names like the Prevent Unfair Manipulation of Prices Act, or PUMP Act, and the No Excuses Energy Act. Until recently, lawmakers had focused on the traditional suspects: oil...

Oil prices threaten to end Malaysian party's 50-year rule By Thomas Bell in Kuala Lumpur Last Updated: 4:12AM BST 14/06/2008 As oil price protests spread around the world, the government of Malaysia could become the first to fall as a result of the crisis. Lorry drivers and motorists across Europe and Asia are in uproar, with the price of oil at unprecedented highs of about $138 a barrel. In the past few days there have been protests in France, Spain, Holland, India, South Korea and Nepal. Lorry drivers are threatening to blockade the Thai capital, Bangkok, on Tuesday. In Malaysia,...

London —- Americans paying a record $4-plus a gallon for gasoline are feeling the pinch this summer, but it's even worse for Europeans. Angered by soaring fuel prices, Europeans are protesting. And those protests have taken a toll on individuals and companies by creating food shortages, blocking highways and causing the deaths of two people in Spain and Portugal. Motorists are paying the equivalent of $10 a gallon in France, more than $9 a gallon in Britain and more than $8 a gallon in Belgium. Tens of thousands of truckers already are on strike or threatening to strike in Italy,...

With oil prices closing above $125 a barrel of oil on Friday, angry politicians are blaming the higher prices on everything from speculators to greedy oil companies. Last week some Democratic Senators demanded “urgent action . . . to adequately investigate whether speculators are driving up prices.” Democrats are proposing to protect the American people from “greedy oil traders who manipulate the market.” Senator Barack Obama wants price gouging by oil companies to be a federal crime. Everyone wants lower prices, but many politicians seem unable to understand that speculators actually smooth out wild swings in prices. Speculators make profits...

McHenry's gas solution: Drill in AlaskaCongressman discusses alternative fuels, presidential battle and general election BY ANDREW MACKIE Tuesday, June 3, 2008 HICKORY - The time has come to increase oil refinery capacity in the United States and open up oil exploration in Alaska to better deal with wallet-busting gas prices, says U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry. “We must increase our supply in a major way. We should increase capacity and invest in alternative fuels for the long term,” McHenry said Monday in an exclusive interview with the Record. “We can’t allow extreme environmentalists to determine our energy policy. That’s what they’ve...

Red Planet on the Money Will $13 a gallon gasoline change voters' minds in Blue States? [Click on images to enlarge them.] If the voters in Blue, Democrat-controlled states are looking for a culprit for high gas prices, they may look no further than in the mirror. Their representatives in Congress continue to strangle the oil supply--by ruling most of the USA off-limits for drilling. This artificial restriction by the Dem-controlled Congress is a great subject of two great Red Planet Cartoons. The subject: why the Dem-controlled Congress' posturing on the environment is costing every driver, every energy-user in the...

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- High-flying tech stocks crashed. The roaring housing market crumbled. And oil, rest assured, will follow the same path down. Not everyone agrees. In an echo of our most recent market frenzies, some experts pronounce that the "world has changed," and that the demand spikes, supply disruptions, and government bungling we face now will saddle us with a future of $4, $5 or even $10 a gallon gasoline. But if you stick to basic economics, it's clear that the only question is when - not if - prices will succumb. The oil bulls are correct in their...

A cloud-to-ground ligtning strike from a severe thunderstom hit a large gasoline storage tank at the Magellan Petroleum tank farm in Kansas City, igniting 2 million plus gallons of unleaded gasoline, rapidly growing into a huge inferno of flame belching over 200 feet in the air. Local authorities have elected to let the fire burn itself out, which is anticipated to take a day or more. The fire is presently contained to the burning tank. Authorites and company officials feel confident the fire poses no danger to other large storage tanks nearby. Video from local news helicopters shows tank walls...

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index for the first quarter showed prices for existing homes nationwide declined 14.1% from a year earlier, compared with a year-to-year drop of 8.9% in the fourth quarter. A separate S&P index that tracks 20 major metropolitan areas on a monthly basis showed home prices dropped 14.4% in March from a year earlier and 2.2% from February. Meanwhile, sales of new homes last month rose 3.3% from March. But sales remain well below year-earlier levels and, with a glut of unsold homes on the market, any significant improvement in the market remains down the road. The...

House prices force Americans to sleep in cars By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles Last Updated: 12:58AM BST 22/05/2008 Increasing numbers of women and elderly people are taking advantage of a scheme in one of America's wealthiest cities that enables the homeless to sleep safely in their cars at night. Organisers of the programme say they are seeing ever more unlikely people living out of their cars in the exclusive beachfront city of Santa Barbara, where the average house costs more than $1 million(£500,000). Many hold down part-time jobs while bedding down for the night in their vehicles. Barbara Harvey,...

Ready for the Oil Bubble? Source: http://www.star-telegram.com/104/story/651928.html ------------------------------------------------------------ One law is causing prices to go through the roof By Ed Wallace Special to the Star-Telegram "There’s a few hedge fund managers out there who are masters at knowing how to exploit the peak [oil] theories and hot buttons of supply and demand and by making bold predictions of shocking price advancements to come, they only add more fuel to the bullish fire in a sort of self fulfilling prophecy." — National Gas Week, Sept. 5, 2005 as reprinted in the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations’ report, "The Role of...

Don't blame us for prices - oil execsA Senate Judiciary Committee seeks answers from Big Oil execs for rising oil prices on day that crude crossed $130 a barrel. By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer Last Updated: May 21, 2008: 3:47 PM EDT NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Amid increasing public outcry over record-shattering oil and gas prices, senators on Wednesday hauled industry executives in to testify about the recent runup. **SNIP** The executives said it did, and that they are doing all they can to bring new oil supplies to market, but that the fundamental reasons for the surge in...

US Congress moves to bring down oil pricesBy Anwar Iqbal WASHINGTON, May 14: The US Congress has voted overwhelmingly to prevent further rise in oil prices, ordering the government to stop depositing oil in a national reserve. The Senate voted 97 to 1 on Tuesday to stop putting 70,000 barrels of oil a day in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve through the remainder of this year. The House of Representatives later approved a similar bill by a 385 to 25 vote. The move aims at bringing down the price by forcing more oil into the market. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the...

Politics of oil are bubbling amid calls for lower gasoline pricesMidland Reporter-Telegram Published: Sunday, May 11, 2008 3:22 AM CDT The politics of oil are building. Last week, Sens. Schumer, Dorgan, Sanders, Casey and Landrieu sent President Bush a letter. They are demanding he pressure OPEC to add more oil to the market. However, as illustrated by the recent Rome meetings, consumers' calls for more crude are generally falling on the cartel's deaf ears. The Senate Democrats are threatening to stall arms deals with the Saudis, Kuwaitis and the U.A.E. if the White House doesn't take action and get the...

There is a very good reason why most Yankee fans don't care how much their team spends on baseball players. One of the best reasons is that their team keeps asking them - at least the most well-heeled of them - to spend more and more to help pay the freight. There is a guy I know who has tickets behind the Yankee dugout, has had them for awhile. Last season each seat cost $150 per game. This season, because it is the last season at the old Yankee Stadium, the cost went up to $250. Next season, if he...

Food crisis looms for Japan as prices rise By Julian Ryall, in Tokyo Last Updated: 1:04AM BST 02/05/2008 Japan is facing its first food shortages in almost 40 years, with supermarkets close to running short of stocks. In the last month, the price of milk, soy sauce, bread, noodles, pasta and cooking oil have all risen as makers are forced to pass on rising costs. Butter has already begun to disappear from supermarket shelves as surging global grain prices make it impossible for Japan's dairy farmers to increase milk production. Retailers warn that other goods could follow soon. With the...

World food price crisis blamed on government neglect 18:31 29 April 2008 NewScientist.com news service Debora MacKenzie Fund another Green Revolution – or people will starve. That's the message from heads of several international farm research institutes galvanised by the food price crisis. Scientists who run three of the world's leading international agricultural research labs say the worldwide surge in food prices is a predictable result of the neglect of agricultural research over the past two decades. They say the only way to prevent further price hikes, starvation and political instability is to fund more research into increased crop yields....

As the prices of food and energy continue to rise globally and the dollar remains weak, the presidential candidates appear to be haplessly ignoring any practicable solutions which would strengthen the dollar and bring the prices of commodities down, leaving Americans in the fast lane on the Road to Perdition. Instead, they appear to be content campaigning on high fuel costs in order to promote their own agendas, whether that includes decreased taxation or more, less regulation or more, spending cuts or increases. None have promoted a defense of the dollar as the means of bringing down the costs of...

Retail food prices have climbed more than 4 percent in the last year, and a similar hike is projected for next year. Riots have broken out in developing countries over food shortages. Schools are being forced to change their lunch menus. Some consumers, reacting to a rise in the price of rice, have made a run on stores – prompting Costco, Sam's Club and other retailers to limit how many bags they sell to individuals. Consumers are hurting, yes, but growers of corn, wheat, rice, cotton and other crops are loving life these days. Corn has hit a record $6...

Brazil's discoveries of what may be two of the world's three biggest oil finds in the past 30 years could help end the Western Hemisphere's reliance on Middle East crude, Strategic Forecasting Inc. said. Saudi Arabia's influence as the biggest oil exporter would wane if the fields are as big as advertised, and China and India would become dominant buyers of Persian Gulf oil, said Peter Zeihan, vice president of analysis at Strategic Forecasting in Austin, Texas. Zeihan's firm, which consults for companies and governments around the world, was described in a 2001 Barron's article as ``the shadow CIA.'' Brazil...

Families have been warned that the prices of basic foods will rise steeply again because of acute shortages in commodity markets. Experts told The Times yesterday that prices of rice, wheat and vegetable oil would rise further. They also forecast that high prices and shortages — which have caused riots in developing countries such as Bangladesh and Haiti — were here to stay, and that the days of cheap produce would not return. Food-price inflation has already pushed up a typical family’s weekly shopping bill by 15 per cent in a year. A further 15 per cent increase in the...

In March, existing-home sales dropped 2% to a 4.93 million annual rate, (see the article in today’s Journal). Meanwhile, the median home price rose to $200,700 last month from a revised $195,600 in February. Possibly, a sign that home prices may be starting to stabilize — although that’s not how Robert Shiller sees it. In Tampa, we found a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in a gated golf-course community listed for $200,000. In Billings, Mont., we had to go $24,000 over the median price to find a home. For $224,700 there’s a four-bedroom, two-bathroom of 2,513 square feet, located close to the...

Rising food prices 'a silent tsunami' By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent Last Updated: 1:12pm BST 22/04/2008 Rising food prices are a "silent tsunami" which threaten to be as devastating as the worst natural disasters, an international conference has been warned. Josette Sheeran, of the World Food Programme told Gordon Brown and other political and business leaders that the international community needed to respond as effectively to the hunger crisis as it did to the 2004 tsunami which killed 250,000 and left 10 million destitute. "This is the new face of hunger - the millions of people who were not in...

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer, has put on hold any plans to further increase long-term production capacity from its vast oil fields, its most powerful policymakers have said. In a series of statements, including one by the king himself, the kingdom has warned consumers it does not reckon there is a need for further expansion, an assumption disputed by the world’s biggest developed countries.

House prices decline at record levels By Stephen Adams and Andrew Porter, Political Editor Last Updated: 2:08am BST 15/04/2008 House prices are experiencing their most widespread decline since records began because of the fallout from the credit crisis, a report released today shows. Halifax statistics showed house prices tumbled by 2.5 per cent from February to March, the biggest such fall since 1992 Almost four out of five chartered surveyors saw a fall in values in March, research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has found. RICS disclosed that they were the worst figures since it started compiling such...

Grain prices soar globally Rice shortages are appearing across Asia. In Egypt, the Army is now baking bread to curb food riots. By Daniel Ten Kate | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor from the March 27, 2008 edition Bangkok, Thailand - - Rice farmers here are staying awake in shifts at night to guard their fields from thieves. In Peru, shortages of wheat flour are prompting the military to make bread with potato flour, a native crop. In Egypt, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso food riots have broken out in the past week. Around the world, governments and aid groups...

I was driving home from the grocery store today after paying noticeably higher prices for things I generally buy week after week, such mundane things like lettuce, milk, tomatoes, bread, and such and thought to myself: How many people have noticed the rising prices but have no idea of why it is happening rather than some vague notion of the war on terror or global warming or ANWR or something like that? Possibly they don’t even give it much thought because they are too busy replaying in their mind last night's games of the sweet sixteen and how many RBI’s...

GORDA, Calif.- If you're going to be heading down the Big Sur Coastline anytime soon, you'll probably going to want to have a full tank before you leave with the price of crude oil skyrocketing. With gasoline following the same direction, the Americo gas station in Gorda, just south of Big Sur is selling premium unleaded gas for $5.39 a gallon. If you can do without premium regular's a relative bargain at $5.19. Prices in many Bay Area cities remain above the statewide average with the price for a gallon of gas in Oakland at $3.51; San Francisco, $3.64; Salinas,...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government's humanitarian relief agency will significantly scale back emergency food aid to some of the world's poorest countries this year because of soaring global food prices, and the U.S. Agency for International Development is drafting plans to reduce the number of recipient nations, the amount of food provided to them, or both, officials at the agency said. USAID officials said that a 41 percent surge in prices for wheat, corn, rice and other cereals over the past six months has generated a $120 million budget shortfall that will force the agency to reduce emergency operations. That...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Battered by bad economic news, consumer confidence plunged while wholesale food, energy and medicine costs soared, pushing inflation up at the fastest pace in a quarter century. The Labor Department said Tuesday that wholesale inflation jumped by 1 percent in January, more than double the increase that analysts had been expecting. Meanwhile, the New York-based Conference Board reported that its confidence index fell to 75.0 in February, down from a revised January reading of 87.3. A third report Tuesday showed that home prices, measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller Index, dropped by 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter of...

AMMAN, JORDAN — Even as it enriches Arab rulers, the recent oil-price boom is helping to fuel an extraordinary rise in the cost of food and other basic goods that is squeezing this region's middle class and setting off strikes, demonstrations and occasional riots from Morocco to the Persian Gulf. Here in Jordan, the cost of maintaining fuel subsidies amid the surge in prices forced the government to remove almost all the subsidies this month, sending the price of some fuels up 76 percent overnight. In a devastating domino effect, the cost of basic foods like eggs, potatoes and cucumbers...

Dubai: Currency reforms are the key to fighting food prices in the UAE and other Gulf states where inflation is in double-digit territory and the rising cost of food imports is adding to imported inflation, according to economists. "The rise in food prices is part of a global trend which has seen food price inflation over the last few years. The UAE is a net importer of food given its arid climate. It is a case of imported inflation; a problem that could be remedied through foreign exchange reform," said Marios Maratheftis, regional head of research, and Mary Nicola, an...

NEW YORK (AP) — Gas prices jumped Friday to their highest level since June, a possible preview of what many analysts believe will be a record spike in pump prices this spring. But the current price surge could be short-lived. While gasoline has risen sharply in recent days in response to oil's dramatic climb to a new record above $101 a barrel, gas supplies have quietly grown to their highest level in 14 years. "We've got a major supply cushion," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill. At the pump, gas prices rose 2.9...

Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach are battling back by growing their own food. Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies. Although the 2008 planting season is still largely in the planning stages, it appears vegetable seed sales will be up significantly from year-ago figures, said Barb Melera, president of D. Landreth Seed Co., in New Freedom, Pa. "I just came back from the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta and we sold three- to four times the amount of seed packets we did the previous...

It's the biggest jump in 19 months for prices excluding food and energy, a signal that inflation lurks in the economy. The annual pace of inflation rose slightly in January, according to a closely watched government report Wednesday that showed price pressures were a bit higher than Wall Street expectations. The Consumer Price Index, the government's key inflation reading, rose 0.4% in the month, matching the 0.4% jump in December. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a 0.3% rise in January. Core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.3%, representing the biggest jump in this more-closely-watched...

What is the price for America’s new emphasis on energy independence? For beer drinkers, about a buck a six-pack. Across the country, farm fields once used for growing hops and barley for beer are sprouting corn, which has become lucrative because of President Bush’s support of ethanol, a corn-based alternative fuel. And then, basic economics comes into play: With demand for hops and barley outstripping supply, the cost for those commodities goes up. That means lovers of craft beers and microbrews may be seeing red or feeling nauseated — and that’s not the effect of one too many oatmeal stouts....

Get ready for another surge in gasoline prices. Experts are predicting pump prices, which jumped by almost a dollar a gallon in each of the last two springs in many parts of the United States, will spike again this year as refiners and gas stations switch from winter- to summer-blended fuels. The increases, starting as early as February in southern California, could push the average national price to a record $3.50 a gallon or more by June. That would be 17 percent higher than today's average of just under $3 a gallon, which already is about 80 cents a gallon...