What the #$&*!

With gas prices soaring to over $4 a gallon in some places, it turns out that the big oil companies are receiving billions of dollars in subsidies. About 4 billion, at the same time that they are making unprecedented profits. The response in Washington has been "ahem, ahem." The Obama administration is "talking about it," as is Boner Boehner. Whether they actually do something about it remains to be seen.

If the Obama administration wanted to bring gas prices down it should release oil from the petroleum reserve. So far it hasn't. High oil prices, combined with a weak real estate market, could easily send the economy into a new recession. My message is "Keep it up, dumb dumb. You'll be a one term president yet."

Where Do We Go From Here

The Obama administration has concluded that the best way to get re-elected in 2012 is to run as "pro-business" Clintonites. They are encouraged because no credible threat seems to emerge from the GOP. They are wrong on both counts. If the economy slows down once again Obama will not be Clinton but Jimmy Carter. The chance of a new recession are worse than most people expect; the recent budget deal, which cuts $38.5 billion dollars from the Federal budget, combined with sky high fuel prices and a weak real estate market, could send the economy back into recession.

The deeper problem is that progressives have spent much of the past 3 decades dreaming of a great charismatc leader to lead some great progressive revival. What we've seen with Clinton and Obama is that personal charisma can't substitute for the hard work of grass roots organizing. The recent protests in Wisconsin show that there is widespread resistance to the Repub pro-corporate program. What we need is to organize a nationwide progressive movement.

The Comedy Must End

Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Repub and Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, has emerged as the GOP point man on the budget battle. Ryan, with his plastered down hair, greenish complexion, and gray eyes, look like a vampire. Not a "sexy" vampire from Twilight but a creaky old vampire from a 1950's B-movie. Appearances aside, Ryan is using the budget battle to push his own agenda: eliminating corporate and inheritance taxes, while ending Medicaid & Medicare.

Once again, we have the Repub double game; making all kinds of noise about eliminating the deficit and the national debt, while insisting on tax cuts for corporate interests. More evidence, not that we needed it, that the Repubs are just exploiting the deficit issue to push a pro corporate agenda.

Thinking Straight on Libya

In an article on Politico dated 3/29/2011 Joe Scarborough accuses Liberals of hypocrisy for criticizing GWB's invasion of Iraq while supporting the Obama adminstration's intervention in Libya. The point is that the situation in Libya is not like that of Iraq. In Libya there is an active uprising against a regime, but in Iraq the Bush administration invaded a country that posed no threat to the U.S. If Scarborough can't see the difference then he must be stupid.

The larger question though is whether we can really promoted democracy around the world. The best way to promote democracy would be by serving as a good example; but we haven't been doing so well in that regard. That is not the same as engaging in a reckless campaign of "revolution mongering" or worse still, invading other countries in the thought we can solve their problems.