This trend will be interesting to watch. As more money leaves our economy in the form of increasingly expensive oil, our so called recovery will begin to deteriorate.
I’ll have to check back when gas hits $5.00 / gal.
If you read Instapundit you would’ve read this today:
WE’RE NOT TALKING CHAMPAGNE BUBBLES HERE: Chinese Real Estate Bubble Pops: Beijing Real Estate Prices Plunge 27% In One Month. (Via Bill Quick).
However, if you are a regular reader of motorcitytimes.com, you would’ve read about this nearly one year ago. Via motorcitytimes.com (May 4th, 2010 to be precise): China’s Economy May ‘Crash’ in Next 9 to 12 Months
Just wanted to point this out…
What Obama says for public consumption rarely lines up with his actions. For example, look at this quote from Obama:
Mr. Obama said he had ordered a review of why oil companies aren’t producing more petroleum on federal land, and said his administration would monitor “any possible manipulation in the oil markets” and work with state governments to monitor for potential price gouging at the gas pump.
Spoken like a true politician in full on pander mode. But, what Obama says rarely lines up with what Obama does:
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is exploring whether to expand federal oversight of offshore drilling beyond oil and gas companies to rig suppliers, oil field services providers and other contractors now outside regulators’ reach.
Michael Bromwich, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, told reporters Tuesday that the existing system imposes artificial limits on what his agency can do to make offshore drilling safer. Its enforcement power now ends with oil and gas companies that hold leases to drill in U.S. waters.
“That dramatically limits the scope of our oversight,” he said. “It is very important for our regulatory oversight to extend as broadly as possible to all of the entities that are operating offshore and not for us to be artificially limited just to the individual operator that applies for permits and submits exploration plans.”
Bromwich said that approach may have seemed adequate before the lethal blowout of BP’s Macondo well nearly a year ago – which killed 11 and started a multimillion-gallon oil spill – but isn’t compatible with the regulatory agenda that arose from the disaster.
“We are very interested in pushing that in an aggressive and in a responsible way,” he said, “and if that requires us to extend our scope beyond the operator, that’s something that needs to be seriously considered.”
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement is not some obscure Washington agency. They report to directly to Ken Salazar and the Department of The Interior. There is no chance that Director Michael Bromwich is freelancing and Obama has no knowledge of what is going on.
This just rocks!
Grand Rapids (Michigan) Teachers Union President suggested, at a school board meeting, to take the kids out of class to protest proposed state budget cuts. Because, you know, it would be a great civics lesson.
Here’s a novel idea: why don’t we teach our students the importance of civics by giving them the opportunity to protest state budget cuts? That was the suggestion of a Grand Rapids, MI teachers union president last night during a school board meeting.
“We need to demonstrate strength in numbers of real people. Real people who are impacted by the decisions these elected officials are going to make. Real people who vote,” Grand Rapids Education Association President Paul Helder said. His ideas for unity include “voluntary educational civics field trips to Lansing to teach our students about the importance of having a voice in government” and “taking an action of some kind that requires the rescheduling of a day of school.”
The Union President’s idea was shot down unanimously. Not because it is a really bad idea., but because the school bored didn’t like the idea of pulling students out of class for the day.
Extra big tip O’ the hat to Martin @ WWTFT and StumbleUpon friend wseincjudydavid for pointing me to this story.
The treehughers at ‘Smart Planet’ are working overtime trying to hype the month over month sales increase of the Chevy Volt- from February 2011 to March 2011:
General Motors sold 608 Volts in March, a small amount relative to larger brands, but more than double February’s tally. GM sold more Volts in March than it did in January and February combined..
If our green friends picked up a car magazine and read it (without sneering that everyone should be riding bicycles) they would understand WHY car companies publish sales numbers comparing year over year sales numbers for each month. For example, they would understand why they see numbers presented like this:
Strong sales to commercial fleet customers as well as higher sales to retail customers powered Ford truck sales growth in March. Sales of Ford’s F-Series truck totaled 53,272, up 25 percent versus a year ago.
Sales numbers are presented this way because some months are traditionally better for car sales than others. Looking year over year sales figures is a way to account for these differences.
Therefore, an increase of 327 units sold March over February is not a trend. Looking at the changes in sales figures between February 2011 and March 2011 bares this out. For the month of February (2011) Chrysler sold 3,263 Chargers. Last month (March, 201) the number look even better for the new Dodge Charger.
[T]he 2011 Dodge Charger with 8,986 sedans sold (a 44% gain) as the family-sized muscle car was almost able to overtake the Caravan as the brand’s top seller.
Looking at the above numbers takes some of the wind out of our treehugging friend’s sails.
I was perusing The Country Thinkers web site (if you have not visited his site, you should) and he has a post, appropriately timed, discussing the high rate of taxation his home state of Ohio squeezes out of the average citizen.
My family is a middle-of-the-spectrum Ohio “McFamily,” so taxes affect us in a very “typical” way. When I am through, I think you will see that the tax burden on Americans generally, and Ohioans specifically, is onerous and immoral.
First, we pay federal and state income taxes, as well as payroll taxes (around 13%). Our top rate is around 40% from these deducted taxes.
We pay 6.5% in sales taxes on pretty much everything we buy except food.
We pay property taxes (over $3000 a year) on our modest home.
We pay taxes on our monthly utility bills; phone/internet, satellite, cell phone, etc. For example, our phone/internet bundle costs about $68/month, on which we pay an astonishing $22/month in various state and federal taxes. That’s about $264 a year. Because of our 40% deducted tax rate, we need to earn $440 to pay $264 in taxes!
There are also product-specific taxes. For example, every gallon of gas and bottle of wine sold in Ohio is assessed state and federal taxes.
Reading this reminded me of a series of video John Stossel put together a few years ago. Here is one of them.
Keep this in mind when you hear Obama drone on about how we Americans need to pay even more taxes.
Very cool song…
Via space.com:
* Note: Some of the comments on space.com mention that the X-15 flew more than two times. This graphic is only counting the two sub-orbital flights the X-15 flew.
According to Hacking Netflix, every episode of Star Trek: TOS (in HD), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise (in HD) and Star Trek: Deep Space 9 will be available for instant streaming. The roll-out will begin July 1st of this year.
Jason @ MTTM and Right Michigan has received a prestigious Sam Adams Alliance award for his contributions uncovering last years Fake Tea Party candidates in Michigan. Way to go Jason!
On the morning after a midnight deal was reached to keep the federal government from turning off the lights over excessive spending; I stumble upon this little gem of stupidity over at Memeorandum. In an effort to “win the hearts and minds” of the Pakistani people, the US government (through USAID) is set to fund the creation of a Pakistani version of Sesame Street.
Yes, Sesame Street. This can’t be real; can it?
No, our government doesn’t throw our money around. Not at all.
Budget deal reached to avert government shutdown (maybe) – everyone loses
Continuing the ‘Star Trek’ theme…. Trexles.
click for larger version
Ridiculous! Seattle school renames Easter eggs ‘Spring Spheres’- (Note to Seattle Lib’s- Eggs are not spherical in shape)
Maryanne Godboldo’s Fight for Parental Rights
Obama 2008: Yes We Can–Obama 2012: You Do It, I’m On Break
The Country Thinker asks a good question, and adds a chart (you know I like charts): How Long Until We “Go Greek”?
Birthers, Chicken Bones and Sedition: News from Park City, Utah
Video: Meet ‘Dudette 07′
It seems like Matt from Conservative Hideout and I have the same tastes in music / TV and movies: MST 3K, Monster-a-Go-Go
It just goes to show you, no one gets it right all the time: Hamilton Got It Wrong …
Today’s World News: Trump on the Today Show
Copy Machines a Threat to Privacy – Who Knew?
WyBlog: FCC net neutrality mavens impose forced wireless broadband sharing
Liberty At Stake: Various and Sundry