A supply-demand issue?

Sometimes the rhetoric gets so thick I can't take it any more. Then I remember that I have this nice little political blog.

The next time you hear anyone tell you the surge in oil prices (which are at a near-record high $143 a barrel, pushing gas prices to their current level of $4.25 a gallon) is merely "a supply-and-demand issue", demand them to supply you with any piece of credible information that documents a sharp increase in our nation's consumption of oil over the past 26 months. Assuming my information is correct, domestic oil consumption in 2007 averaged 20.7 billion barrels a day, a number similar to totals from the previous year. And projections suggest that consumption will drop by nearly 300,000 barrels a day in 2008. (source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/steo)

So our nation's demand for oil doesn't seem to be sending prices through the roof. But clearly, something is. In April of 2006, oil averaged $70 a barrel, half of where it is today. The cost of a barrel of crude has shot up 100% in just over two years. So if the "experts" want to indirectly spread the blame to us consumers as well, then let's see some evidence.

I don't doubt the legitimacy of reports bemoaning our continually dwindling oil supplies. There are a number of reasons for that, which we know. And as we all remember from our 100-level Econ classes, demand increases as supply dwindles. But throwing one's hands up and citing basic economic principle for the current outrageous state of fossil fuels in this nation is an insult to all on the demand side of the chart, all those not benefitting from the record profits oil companies have enjoyed in recent months.

So when anyone hints that we are part of the problem, stop them right in their tracks and say, "you're only half right." It's a supply issue all right. But the minute they roll their eyes at the sight of anything non-hybrid in your driveway, feel free to bring up the point that high-level executives and politicians have more to do with this crisis than all of us combined. They sure have more to gain from it than we do. Then suggest they focus their outrage instead on the system that enables the monopolistic practices of the oil companies to dictate pump prices thereby allowing them to ignore that cost-controlling capitalistic mechanism every first-term Econ prof tosses out on day one: competition.

From Monroe to Menominee... The Nominee

The line traced the border of Joe Louis Arena and wound itself down the concrete banks of the Detroit River. We followed it past Hart Plaza, behind Cobo Hall and alongside the mighty Detroit Princess steamboat (see above photo), ten minutes after being instructed to find its end. Ultimately reaching the Renaissance Center's General Motors entrance, the quarter-mile pathway to an historic evening welcomed my son, my friend and myself along for the ride.

It was twenty minutes after six o'clock. The city's first public appearance by the nation's first African American nominee--in the arena named after Detroit's Brown Bomber--was still nearly two hours away. Doors would not be open for another ten minutes. Yet as we stood in line, watching it grow behind us, we had no idea whether we had arrived too late. Will we even make it in? we wondered. As word spread that Cobo would open its doors and allow overflow crowds to watch the speech on its jumbotron screen, one thought lingered in my mind.

Too bad Barack Obama didn't win Michigan, huh?

Well we made it through the doors, endured the secret service's version of airport security and found seats with a clear view of the stage. As unexpected as this had been just an hour earlier, it paled to our complete surprise when we saw governor Jennifer Granholm introduce Obama and his invited guest, former VP Albert Gore (pics below are courtesy of an acquaintence of mine, Tom Tomich).





Two historical figures, pointed in the same direction. One, a Nobel Prize and Oscar-winning activist who happened to win the popular vote in the 2000 Presidential Election, endorsing the other, the first African American nominee for the nation's highest office. Gore spoke of Jack Kennedy and the importance of elections. Obama reiterated much of what he's said over the previous nine months, yet most around me were taking it in for the first time. And though I had heard much of it several times before, being in the same room as he ignites and unites tens of thousands of people with the notion that we can make this country of ours a better place, left me tingling. Hell, just three months ago I wouldn't have dreamed of a night like this!

Since becoming the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, Obama has traversed our state three times now, bringing Jon Edwards' endorsement to Grand Rapids and Gore's to the D, and speaking in Flint earlier on this brisk June Monday. Given the importance of winning Michigan in November, we've not seen the last of the Illinois senator around these parts.

And now, for no reason at all...

On the one-year anniversary of The Video That Changed Politics Forever, another look at Amber Lee Ettinger.

Old? Why, he's a Maverick!

He uses a Chuck Berry number as his entrance music. He attacks opponents by attaching them to political figures from over a quarter century ago. His misspeakings include a public moment where he defined himself as a "liberal conservative candidate".

Yet John McCain's backers insist he's not too old; in fact, they say he's a maverick. Fine, then. That helps us paint a better picture at least. But questions still need to be answered. Like, are we talking two-door or four-door?



Or, what about the luxury decor option?



And lastly, if he's doing a Maverick Sprint into this general election campaign, who will his running mate? The more experienced Mustang, or a true agent of change--the Pinto?



One thing for sure. He's the genuine article. Otherwise, people would be labeling him as more of a comet.