Campaign 2010

Countdown to Congressional Elections


The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations.
Noam Chomsky, M.I.T. emeritus Professor of Linguistics

The Rise of Corporate Freedom of Speech

(Surpassed 2008 total on August 18)

See Weekly Spending Totals

$2.9 Billion Spent in 08
on Congressional Race
See Major Contributors

Corporate money in politics is bad enough. Secret corporate money is intolerable.


Primary Election Results
(UPDATED: August 25, 2010)






"The Great 2010 Incumbent (Non-)Revolt"

Senate Primary’s
Incumbent Democrats
1 Loss; 6 Wins of 13
Incumbent Republicans
1 Loss; 9 Wins of 12

House Primary’s
Incumbent Democrats
2 Loss; 182 Wins of 245
Incumbent Republicans
2 Loss; 140 Wins of 158

General Election Candidates

Senate

House of Representatives

Visual Facts

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Click Image for Larger Size.

National Debt Clock

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WHEN Did You Become Fiscally Responsible?
BEFORE Obama or AFTER Obama??
January 20, 2009
$10,838,758,414,164.46 - ↑90%
Discretionary Spending at 48.6%

January 20, 2001
$5,719,124,940,098.04 - 36%
January 20, 1993
$4,192,107,025,882.17 - 62%
January 20, 1989
$2,601,104,000,000.00 - 189%
January 20, 1981
$909,041,000.000.00

Click Image for Full Size


Debt by President

Are You A Tea Party Hyprocrite??

(Click for Debt Details)

United States of Corporations

Thanks to the GOP's Supreme Court
(Click Flag for Full Size)
Corporate Bill of Rights

Quotes and Links

Hover to Pause
(Look for the Listings)

The Decade When the U.S. Lost Its Way

Where Have All the Neocons Gone?

From Neocons to Crazy-Cons

America Builds an Aristocracy

Supreme immodesty: Why the justices play politics

The Biggest Medicare Fraud Ever

Enough Right-Wing Propaganda

Tax Rate for Richest 400 Taxpayers Plummeted in Recent Decades, Even as Their Pre-Tax Incomes Skyrocketed

"The financial reform bill will determine whether Wall Street’s banks will serve the American economy or whether the American economy will continue to serve Wall Street's banks."

"While the economy doesn't function for most of us ordinary workers, it yields considerable reward for those at the top."

Republicans Are Locked in a Passionate Embrace with a Corpse and Won't Let Go

"The most important thing Republicans think is that if there are Americans who can't afford the insurance policies that private insurers are willing to offer, then that's their problem."

"It should tell you everything you need to know that, in lobbying to retain its bank supervisory powers, the Fed's allies include the big Wall Street banks."

"[Texas Republican Jeb] Hensarling told a Texas-size whopper — and then tried to claim Republican credit for Bill Clinton’s budget surpluses."

"The Supreme Court's 5-to-4 decision last week giving American corporations the right to unlimited political spending was an astonishing display of judicial arrogance, overreach and unjustified activism."

"It was wrong because nothing in the First Amendment dictates that corporations must be treated identically to people."

"They backed the truck up to Fort Knox in broad daylight. They emptied it out, we rescued them and they get $150 billion in bonuses."

"A huge, unregulated boom in which almost all the upside went directly into private hands, followed by a gigantic bust in which the losses were socialized."

So You Just Squandered Billions . . . Take Another Whack at It

Banks 'Too Big to Fail' Have Grown Even Bigger

Bankers' bonuses Beat Earnings as Industry Imploded

U.S. Rescue May Reach $23.7 Trillion

The Bank Bailouts — Corporate Welfarism

New Evidence Cheney Swayed Reaction to Leak - Valerie Plame

Once Again, The More You Watch Fox The Dumber You Are

"Over the past year, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury have injected trillions of dollars into frozen financial markets, snapping up unwanted bonds, extending guarantees to banks and slashing interest rates."

Building a Better Capitalism

The End of Supply Side Economics

The Great Wealth Transfer

The Richer

Who Rules America? Power, Politics, and Social Change

Proponents of Estate Tax Repeal Are Resurrecting Old Misconceptions

Income Gaps Between Very Rich and Everyone Else More Than Tripled In Last Three Decades

Ending Plutocracy: A 12-Step Program

Our Gilded Age

The Rich and the Rest of Us

GOP's "Small Government" Talk is Hollow


Distortions, Hypocrisy & More

"I'm not upset that you lied to me; I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you"
Friedrich Nietzsche
[Hover to Pause]

Today is

April 22, 2008

Hedge Fund Managers Earn $2 Billion Last Year In Part Due To Oil Prices

April 22, 2008

The Facts

The price of a barrel of oil is now increasing an average of $1 per day. Oil prices are up 23% this year, 16% in just the first three weeks of April. A gallon of gasoline is going up an average of 12 cents per week. Later reports say gasoline is averaging an increase of 5 cents or more per day. A Lou Dobbs report quotes Public Citizen as saying that the current price of gasoline is 20% higher due to speculation by hedge fund managers, which is helping make these managers rich beyond imagination. The same Lou Dobbs report says these high prices helped earn annual paychecks of $2 billion for some hedge fund managers.

My View

The above 20% quote by Lou Dobbs means that gasoline is over 70 cents per gallon higher because of these hedge fund managers. Even without that 20%, gasoline and oil prices are way out of line. The average cost of producing a barrel of oil off shore in the US averages less than $30 per barrel. I know some reports show that as being much higher, but having a lot of experience in the oil industry, I can tell you that those reports are inflated.

I have written several posts on the subject of oil, including one report on these hedge fund speculators. In the latter, I said that the entire world economy and millions of people’s lives are being destroyed in order for a few speculators to get much richer than they already are. I suppose a $1 billion annual income is just not enough for some hedge fund managers. They want to double-down on a sure thing; for certain a sure thing if you are in complete control of the bet. Even pro-oil man Ali Velshi of CNN says that most experts are reporting that oil should be between $60 and $80 per barrel based on supply & demand. Those figures agree with John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil’s US operations, who said on March 20 of this year that triple digit oil was way out of place. This being the case, a gallon of gasoline should be around $1 less than it is today. So even though the Hedge Fund Association is denying responsibility for the inflated oil prices, they are lying; which makes them this month’s poster child of my personal slogan – Truth is Truth, Lies are Lies.

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