Right on the Mark

Thieves

Today, I find myself disgusted with certain people. By the title you can correctly guess that it's thieves who disgust me. There are all kinds of ways to become a thief. You can steal time from your employer, you can take things without paying for them or you can sneak onto someone else's property & take things that don't belong to you. It's the latter that's really got me cranked up this morning.

Just after my wife left this morning to take our son to school she called & told me to look outside & see if something was missing. Not being in the mood for such a game I said "just tell me." She then informed me that our campaign sign was missing. Big deal, I know. The sign was free. But, that's not the point. It wasn't their's to take. It probably wouldn't have prompted me to write about it today had I not had my American flag stolen a few months ago. Yeah, that's right. My American flag was taken right off my front porch.

I'm sure with my conservative view you've probably guessed that the campaign sign was for John McCain. I wasn't going to endorse him on the blog until we were much closer to the general election. However, I didn't figure it was a big secret. And, I wanted to let everyone know that we have a thief running around Flag City USA. I don't know if the thief took sign because they support Senator McCain or because they don't like him. It also makes me wonder if it was the same thief who took my American flag. And, did they take it because they want to proudly display our colors or do they dislike our country & it's images?

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UPDATE:

I figured out what the thief thinks of John McCain. One can only guess that if it's the same thief who took my American flag that they likely feel the same way about this nation & it's symbols.

The campaign sign was found down the street in a vacant lot; the wire frame twisted & the sign a little wrinkled. It has been recovered, straightened & re-planted in it's rightful place in my front yard.

Now, if I could only hook it up to my electrical box...HHHhhhMMMmmm...

Fist Full Of Dollars

With the economy seemingly on everyone's mind I thought I'd take a moment & talk about money. Whether you believe we're in a recession, depression or if things are skipping right along just fine for you the value of the money in your wallet or purse is likely of concern to you.

You may or may not know it but our currency hasn't been backed by gold in years. The value of the dollar is based on our GDP. And, the value of some other world currencies are based on our dollar. Thus, much of the world trading takes place in a U.S. dollar market. You may have seen on the news where Iran wants to change what currency they sell their oil in. With the value of the U.S. dollar continually dropping (in part due the fed dropping the interest rate) that would be a serious blow to our economy.

Some folks believe valuing currency against a commodity such as gold keeps that currency from high inflation, deflation or stagflation. Others believe the value of a currency should be based on how long will it take you to earn enough money to purchase goods & services. With these varying views on money we have alternative currencies popping up. A couple of popular currencies are the Ithaca Hour & the Liberty Dollar who makes the Ron Paul Dollar.

What do these new currencies do to the the U.S. dollar? Probably nothing. The Liberty Dollar has apparently been around for ten years. It obviously hasn't had an impact on the U.S. dollar or our economy; or has it? Again, probably not. These alternative currencies are more like novelties at this point. However, if our economy & the value of our dollar really tanks, these alternative currencies could become quite useful. You're probably wondering what the heck good is an Ithaca Dollar to us here in Ohio? It doesn't mean anything to us but, there are other local currencies a little closer. We have the Equal Dollar in Pennsylvania & Bay Bucks in Michigan. As far as I know, we do not yet have an alternative currency established here in Ohio. But of course, bartering has been & will always be acceptable.

This isn't some sort of doom & gloom; oh my, the world is coming to an end post. I am hopeful that our economy won't completely tank & our dollar will recover from it's recent fall. However, these alternative currencies give us an option if the world decides to abandon the U.S. dollar & we find ourselves with a fist full of kindling.

Got Gas?

Light, sweet crude has jumped up over $121 a barrel & the best our politicians can come up with to alleviate the rising cost to us is a temporary gas tax holiday. Although, not all them even want to do that. Instead, some of them want to raise taxes on gas. Maybe I'm just a little slow but I haven't figured out how that would help us at all.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of alleviating us from any tax. Actually, I'd like to see them eliminate gas taxes all together. However, that cannot be the only thing that gets done for gas prices to come down. With the federal gas tax at 18 cents & the state gas tax at 26 cents (at least in Ohio) what will this actually do for us; the consumer? Lowering the price by 44 cents will do nothing but drive up demand. A rising demand without production keeping up with that demand is what got us to where we are right now.

John McCain & Hillary Clinton have both talked about a temporary holiday from the federal gas tax. Talk is about all we're going to get. Clinton would also, at the same time, like to institute a windfall profit tax on the oil companies. Barack Obama has criticized the tax holiday as pandering but supports the windfall profit tax. Let's see...the last time we had a windfall profit tax on oil companies was the 1970s. Oh, what a grand time that was for consumers of gasoline. Shortages, odd/even days & long lines.

The way to bring down the price is to increase production. Since we can't force OPEC to do it, we need to do it ourselves. Yet, this isn't even being considered by the politicians that could get it done. In fact, all three of the leading presidential candidates voted against drilling in ANWR. Raising the world's oil supply by 5% would go a long way in reducing the price of oil futures.

Opening up our strategic oil reserves &/or stop putting oil into that reserve is a popular idea. However, that oil has a high sulfur content & wouldn't meet the environmental standards in many states. Besides, it's only about a 50 day supply. Then where would we be?

Obviously we need to increase supply. We also need to reduce the amount of grades & blends. We see an increase in price every time the oil companies switch from winter to summer blends & back. Having a single blend & grade would mean all gasoline is transferable from state to state. Currently, that's not the case.

Of course, alternative fuels are a great idea. However, mandating a certain amount of ethanol in our gasoline without the ability to meet that mandate domestically just contributes to the rising cost. And, promotes yet another foreign dependency.

I wouldn't look for anything positive out of Washington. I'm guessing the only thing that will be agreed upon is raising taxes. Whether it be the gas tax itself or a windfall profit tax that would certainly be passed on to us, the price isn't coming down until we reduce consumption or increase production.    

Catching Up

The baseball season is about to get underway. I think I'm ready to start paying attention to politics & news again. Today I'm just going to point out a few things that stuck with me over the past week or so.

First, we have the democratic primary still in full force. Senator Obama still leads in delegates & states won. However, Senator Clinton makes a compelling argument for herself to get the nomination by pointing out that she's won all the big states & leads in the popular vote if you include Michigan & Florida. When it's all said & done is it possible we may see the creation of a new "Bull Moose" party?

Both of the democratic candidates have stayed in the news. Obama is still dealing with the Pastor Wright fallout & Clinton has been talking tough with Iran. I heard one D.J. on a Toledo radio station claim that white people have turned blacks against each other because Obama recently threw Pastor Wright under the bus. While this seems like a move to save himself politically, I don't believe most people really care at this point. Most minds have probably already been made up concerning Pastor Wright's & Barack Obama's relationship. Clinton, on the other hand, sparked some controversy with her "...totally obliterate..." Iran comment. The question is whether or not she means what she says or was this just the same type of empty threat that was tossed out during much of the 1990s?

Not to be outdone with spending proposals, John McCain has promised a $5,000 tax deduction for families to purchase health insurance in a new campaign ad.

It seems like the candidates aren't trying to separate themselves as much as they're trying to be like each other. From tough talk to costly campaign promises to throwing a long time personal friend & mentor under the bus, these presidential candidates look more alike the closer we get to the general election.

In other news: Michigan recently celebrated six successful years of a right to carry law. By success I mean that crimes such as murder, rape & aggravated assault have dropped in the last six years compared to the six years prior to the new law. At the same time, gun ownership rose six-fold.

And, for something not so heavy --- "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" recently turned 100.