I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

I live in an area with almost non-existent public transportation.  I wish we would re-direct the money that goes as subsidies to the oil industry to creating public transportation alternatives. 

White:  You are so right.  I am not so stupid I think Obama has a vendetta on the US and is refusing to help us.  I guess I am angry that for years they knew these problems were coming and no one would have the courage as you said "to bite the bullet" and do what desperately needs to be done.  I want Obama to at least show us "he" has the courage to "bite the bullet".  Everyone keeps waiting for the next President to take charge and we are just sinking deeper and deeper into the hole.  Please don't take my posts as a "I hate Obama" posts.  However he is the leader now and how many more leaders do we have to wait on before someone "tries" to help.  We have to realize he has access to the greatest mines on earth.  There must be some answers out there for us if he can just lead and get the Dems and Repubs to quit playing "I got you last!"    They are more interested in making each other look bad than helping our country and Obama has to call a stop to this, imo.

Lindasa:  Your idea of public transportation in every city could be an answer.  However although it would provide more jobs, it would be at an expense I think worthwhile.  We have a busstop across the street from where we live but it takes so long to wait for the bus and make connections, we have never used it.  It has to be done so that people can get to where they need to go in a timely fashion. It is one conclusion to the problem of raising gas prices.  If people were using more public transit and less gas in their own autos, gas prices may go down.

I'm still sleeping way too much and am way behind on the conversation.  But I can't resist saying YAY BRUINS!!!!!  May a Canadian goose poop on my head or a beaver knaw on my leg, I don't care!  I do think the Habs are a better team and will root for them if they win the series but for now, mouhouhahahaha, I was born a Bruins fan and will always be one.  There's just something about Boston boys...  Oh yeah, go Canucks!  I love Roberto Luongo!

factcheck is not my favorite.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42703813  

Don't Like a Weak Dollar? Might as Well Get Used to It - CNBC

Published: Thursday, 21 Apr 2011 | 2:26 PM ET  

Weakness in the US dollar, which is causing everything to go up-including gas prices, food and stocks-is unlikely to go away soon as a selling frenzy hits the currency market.

The greenback is approaching pre-financial crisis lows and threatening to smash through its all-time low when measured against the world's predominant national currencies.

A combination of factors accounts for the weakness, with the Federal Reserve's easy-money policies, huge national debts and deficits and the consequential possibility of a debt downgrade because of the financial mess in Washington leading the way.

In short, as trader Dennis Gartman noted Thursday, "the rout of the US dollar" is in full effect.

"Panic dollar selling is setting in," Gartman, a hedge fund manager and author of "The Gartman Letter," wrote in his daily commentary. "This may carry farther than any of us dream of or, worse, have nightmares of."

How low can it go?

Rick Bensignor, chief market strategist at Dahlman Rose in New York, said the dollar index [.DXY  74.08      -0.03  (-0.04%) ]   , which measures the greenback against a basket of select other global currencies, has scant technical support "that has any meaning" between its present level and the historical low of 70.70.

That's a widely shared view, even as currency pros wonder how the dollar could be falling against the euro considering the near certainty of sovereign debt defaults in smaller European Union nations.

Gartman described the dollar as being in "serious jeopardy" because of its status against the euro, which was defended recently as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet announced a rate hike in the zone.

No such defense is being offered in the US, where neither Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke nor most of the rest of the central bank's Open Market Committee seems much in the mood to raise rates despite the anemic dollar. Though the Fed is ostensibly apolitical, there is no pressure as well from the Obama administration to boost the dollar's value.

"If things were to somehow go into freefall or there were disorderly markets, or if it is associated with a rise in interest rates, there could be some concerns there," said Josh Feinman, chief global economist at Deutsche Bank Advisors. "But that's not happening at all. Rates in the US are still very, very low. At the margin, (a weak dollar) is a slight easing in financial conditions.

That, of course, is not the case for consumers buying food and energy. Some economists believe that a weak dollar is contributing heavily to the surge in prices at the pump, with one speculating that gas could reach $6 a gallon or beyond by summertime, given certain conditions.

Food prices also are on a steady climb higher. In both cases, a weak dollar is at least somewhat to blame as it drives commodities, which are priced in dollars and therefore cheaper and more attractive to speculators in the global marketplace.

But the stock market has enjoyed the weak dollar.

The Standard & Poor's 500 [.SPX  1337.38  ---  UNCH  (0) ] and the dollar have had almost a perfectly inverse relationship this year, with the stock index gaining just over 6 percent in 2011 and the dollar losing 6.5 percent.

"At the margins it helps US exporters, and the US importers probably also increase profits as they're repatriated," said David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities in New York. "I don't see the dollar as having a significant intermediate-run effect on the performance of the economy."

With Wall Street shaking off the dangers of a possible downgrade from S&P, the market is likely to prevail against any thought that it's time to start enacting policies that defend the currency.

The only thing on the horizon that appears to be dollar-friendly is the end of the second leg of the Fed's quantitative easing program-or QE2-in June.

Even then, the central bank is likely only to stop its $600 Treasury-buying operations. There are no indications that the Fed will be selling back into the marketplace any of the securities it has purchased, so a rise in rates is unlikely until inflation becomes more widespread and indicated through government economic metrics.

"That's probably just a warm-up for a QE 3 program later on. All these things are undermining the fundamentals for the dollar," said Sean Hyman, currency director for World Currency Watch. "It doesn't help anything that commodities keep going through the roof. There are a few dynamics working in a concerted effort all at once, and that's killing it."

This was posted Oct. 2009.  Very interesting.  

Soros: China Must Be Part Of The New World Order  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOjckJWqb0A&feature=player_embedded

Some quotes by Soros in this video:

An orderly decline of the dollar is actually desirable  

you need a new currency system  

it is not necessarily in our interest to have the dollar as the sole world currency  

it is in our interest as well to reform the system  

I think this is a healthy painful adjustment that the world has to go through. 

There's more "blab" in the article if you so choose to read.   Why is he taking the credit?

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-defends-administration-record-oil  

Obama Defends Administration Record on Oil and Energy Production  

The rate of domestic oil production in 2010 is to be credited to the previous administration, not Obama, said American Petroleum Institute Upstream Director Erik Milito.

"Production levels in 2010 are a credit to the vision of previous administrations, which opened areas to development, and to the men and women of the U.S. oil and natural gas industry who have produced more from our resources than anyone anticipated," Milito said in a statement.

He cited Energy Information Administration numbers that show domestic oil production will decline from 5.51 million barrels per day in 2010 to 5.4 million barrels per day in 2011 - and 5.27 million barrels per day in 2012, in part due to the Gulf drilling moratorium.

Milito said the Obama administration has consistently made choices that delay companies' access to domestic oil and natural gas - and to "vilify the American oil and natural gas industry through yearly calls for removing business tax provisions that affect these companies, regardless of the potential impact of higher taxes on production, supply and price."

Shirley, I have a friend whose family owns a support company for the oil industry.  She disagrees that we can drill our way out of this.

There's oil there but not enough.  We really do have to start getting serious about alternatives and incorporate those and try to save on energy too.  Those who just say drill baby drill and think that will take care of things IMHO are mistaken. 

One of her favorite sites, that she hooked me up with is this:

http://www.theoildrum.com/ 

Anybody want to learn about quantative easing?  This is funny and informative. 

Quantitative Easing Explained  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k&feature=watch_response_rev

This is fun also.

Bank Bailouts Explained  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yipV_pK6HXw

Otter -- a "Hab" is an affectionate term for a Montreal Canadiens hockey player.  The Canadiens are sometimes called les Habitants -- a French term for the first settlers of Quebec (then called New France in the 18th century).

Much as I'd like to 'see' a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup, I don't watch NHL hockey -- I'm an Olympics watcher only - men AND women!

blue, Ray's right!