Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Gas at $7 a Gallon, and a $3 Trillion Dollar War Tab



Both Qatar's oil minister and the head of OPEC say they can see oil hitting $200 a barrel before the end of the year, and one analyst says gas could reach $7 a gallon -- or more -- within the next four years.

Wonderful.

Meanwhile, George W. Bush says he wishes he had a magic wand .... which is almost exactly what he said two years ago when he also did nothing about energy costs and energy dependency other than to put more troops into Iraq while giving the "big wink" to oil company profiteering.

What, exactly, did we expect when we elected two oil men to the Oval office?

Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to have almost no energy policy. Solar, wind and ethanol research combined are funded at the rate of $1.15 per person per year. Question: How much is that in fluid ounces of gasoline?

John McCain does not seem too concerned, however. He says it's OK for us to be in Iraq for 100 years -- or longer -- and likens such an occupation to our presence in:


  • Japan (after two nuclear bombs and millions dead, including scores of thousands of American soldiers, etc.) or;

  • Germany (after a war that left upwards of 10 million dead, including scores of thousands of American soldiers), or;

  • Korea (a war that left more than 3 million dead, including scores of thousands of American soldiers).

So yes, we have excellent leadership on both the oil and war fronts.

Is there any good news here? Sure.

The good news is that regular people are selling off their heirlooms on Craig's list and EBay so they can buy gas in order to get to work.

That means if you are a cash-rich person who prudently invested in oil and gas stocks before the American invasion of Iraq (and you know who you are, wink, wink) you can get jet skis, old wedding rings, and antique furniture at a steep discount. Lucky you!

On the downside, America's working poor will not only have to pay more at the pump, they will also have to pay more in taxes due to the rapidly rising war debt. Silly them!

How much will the war cost us? Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, an economist at Harvard's Kennedy School estimate the Iraq war will cost the U.S. in the neighbourhood of $3 trillion — six times the current official figure. Of this $3 trillion figure, nearly two-thirds is due to higher oil prices, and the cost of deficit-financing the war.

And be advised that this is just the economic cost and just for the U.S. -- it does not include the costs in human life, or the cost to Iraq or any other country or people.

Of course, the Republican apology-machine says "don't worry, it's just money."

Which is not quite true, is it? It's also about dead and horribly wounded soldiers. Oops! Forgot about them! Damn Walter Reed Medical Center.

But no matter. You've got to break some eggs to make an omelet. And besides, all those soldiers volunteered.

Besides, wouldn't you rather have a pointless and never-ending war in the Middle East than anything else? I mean what good is health care insurance, better roads, better schools, and a stronger Social Security system? Who needs that?

And just think of how cheap this war is compared to Iraq becoming another Muslim terrorist state. Which apparently is something different from what it is now.

Hmmmm. Who knew?

Never content to let the parade of good news end, George W. Bush and John McCain are now saying we might have to do it all over again ... in IRAN.

You see, the GOP Brain Trust tells us, Iran might have "weapons of mass destruction."

Which is, if you recall, where we all came in.

Pardon me if I do not exit laughing.
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1 comment:

Unknown said...

A point never brought up is WHO actually benefits from all these wars? It is not the people of the USA or the countries bombed into oblivion..

Ordinary people pay for war in blood and in the wealth stolen from our paychecks through inflation and devaluation of our money. People pay again through more inflation and devaluation as banker "created on the spot fiat" money is "loaned" to rebuild what was destroyed.

If you look at the inflation caused by the printing of money vs war it becomes clear war is a great way of transferring wealth (not money) from the ordinary citizen to bankers.


Bankers "lend" governments oodles of fiat currency that they create out of nothing to pay for the "War Effort" and afterwards they make loans to the people/governments to rebuild the bombed out areas.


If you do not believe this is a great method to transfer wealth (land and labor) consider the fact 97% of the US money supply is now loans! Think about. In return for writing a fraudulent contract, banks now get interest and principal (your labor) from 97% of $2640 billion dollars US money supply.

So please would someone explain how the heck a bank could ever go "bankrupt" with a deal like this?

Congressman McFadden in his speeches to Congress outlines how the bankers profited from WW I by lending fiat money to Europe and when the loans were defaulted the USA "forgave the loans" The Bank of England (Rothschild) bought up the US banknotes loaned in Europe and presented them to the US government for an exchange into gold. Gold confiscated from the citizens of the USA. Gold that US citizens were forbidden to own.

The other dot most people miss is that the bankers also have OWNED the news media since JP Morgan bought up all the influential newspapers around 1917.

Do not make the mistake of thinking bankers are "Capitalists" they are not, they are fraudsters who see "Socialism" as a great way to convince people to turn larger and larger chunks of their freedom and wealth over to governments run by larger and larger bureaucracies funded of course by banknotes printed by the bankers.



Is it any wonder that Mitt Romney a banker funded Corporate Raider is re-packaged by the media as a "White Knight Venture Capitalist" and shoved down the republican voters throats?

Just to clarify:
A Corporate Raider uses a company as collateral to borrow from a bank to buy enough stock to stage a hostile takeover by sweet talking other stock holders into ousting the people controlling the company. Once in charge they usually gut the company and leave behind a failing corporation groaning under the debt they incurred in buying control of the company.

This New York Times article pin points the damages and who is the winner: LEVERAGED BUYOUTS, AMERICAN PAYS THE PRICE: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/29/magazine/leveraged-buyouts-american-pays-the-price.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all%20%20New%20York%20Times

A Venture Capitalist uses his wealth and the wealth of private investors taking an idea and helping bring it to market.

A Venture Capitalist CREATES wealth. A Corporate Raider STEALS wealth using created out of nothing bank credit funded by the wealth stolen from you and I through money supply inflation/paycheck devaluation.



Andrew Jackson said it best:

"Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none is so effectual as that which deludes them with paper money. It is the most perfect expedient ever invented for fertilizing the rich man’s fields by the sweat of the poor man’s brow. Ordinary tyranny, oppression, excessive taxation, these bear lightly on the happiness of the community compared with fraudulent currencies and the robberies committed by depreciated paper."