Today’s crunch feels like ’70s

By Michael E. Kanell
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/13/08

High oil prices, a sluggish economy, persistent inflation, an unpopular president and the Eagles are out on tour.

Sounds like a rerun of the 1970s.

But it is also a snapshot from the summer of 2008 —- even if it does conjure images from the past.

“The similarities are there,” said economist Gerald Lynch of Purdue University. “That was a miserable time for the economy. And the clothes were ugly, too.”

Wide ties may not be making a comeback, but hints of the era’s economics are in the air.

One of the stars of that original ’70s show was stagflation, a term invented to describe a mix of rapid inflation and near-stagnant growth. The word has re-entered the economic vocabulary of late.

“As far as I can see, the wheels have fallen off the wagon,” said Peter Miralles, president of Atlanta Wealth Consultants. “This is as close to the ’70s as we have seen in the past couple of decades.”

First, the sluggishness: Gross domestic product the past two quarters has expanded by less than 1 percent. The economy shed 438,000 jobs in the first six months of the year, while the official unemployment rate has climbed to 5.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the official measure of inflation has been running slightly higher than 4 percent per year —- while energy prices have more than doubled.

Yet comparing the current moment to the 1970s can offer some reassurance: Today’s numbers pale beside the Hotel California Era.

In 1975, unemployment peaked at 9 percent, fell for a while and then climbed to 7.8 percent in 1980. Inflation hit double digits in 1974 and 1975, slipped back and then roared up, cresting at more than 13 percent in 1979 and 14 percent in 1980. It was a time, too, when the nightly news rattled the American psyche.

The first half of the decade saw the revolution-promoting Weathermen, Watergate, the bitter, bloody end to the Vietnam War and the Arab oil embargo. The second half of the ’70s brought the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iranian Revolution.

“There was a kind of extremism in the air,” said Herb London, president of the Hudson Institute, a conservative, Washington-based think tank. “Conditions now are also kind of frightening. But the situation is not as extreme.”

Still, today’s list of potential villains sounds like a cast from the past.

The most obvious repeat offender is oil. Oil prices quadrupled in the mid-1970s, then soared again after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

Now, U.S. troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is renewed talk about a U.S. conflict with Iran, and oil prices are at it again. Crude has doubled in the past year, and the economy again is struggling.

“Oil was at the scene of the crime in both cases,” said Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the liberal Economics Policy Institute in Washington. “If you have a police lineup, you really want to have oil in it.”

And it’s not just oil —- global demand has shoved prices higher on a range of commodities from rice to steel.

But inflation this time has some brand-new accomplices: the housing crash; the subprime meltdown that followed; and the crunch in credit that the meltdown triggered.

“This is a very different world,” Bernstein said.

For starters, the sources of inflation are different. During the 1970s, workers —- often through powerful unions —- insisted on raises that matched higher consumer prices.

Those higher payroll costs were then added to the prices businesses charged, which were then used by workers to demand higher pay.

“You can’t have a wage-price spiral without wage pressures, and we ain’t got wage pressures,” Bernstein said. “That is a huge difference.”

It’s not just that business costs don’t rise as much. Companies are also less likely to pass them along.

Many are so afraid of losing customers, they don’t dare raise prices as much as their costs. Instead, they slash their own costs or accept a smaller profit margin —- and potential inflation never gets to consumers.

What worries some economists is that, eventually, companies must pass along costs. Other economists argue that the official inflation numbers are wildly understating the pain consumers already feel.

“The part that concerns me the most is that the government numbers do not actually represent what’s going on,” said Miralles of Atlanta Wealth Consultants. “I just don’t buy it.”

If the plot of the rerun does mimic the original, then the pain is only getting started.

Led by then-Chairman Paul Volcker, the Federal Reserve decided that inflation was so dangerous it had to be stopped —- even if that meant choking off growth. So in 1979, interest rates were raised dramatically.

The economy spun into back-to-back recessions starting in January 1980.

As the economy stalled, the inflation rate leapt to a high of 14.6 percent. After the second recession, unemployment climbed to a peak of 10.8 percent.

But the Fed won its war: Inflation was dormant for the next two decades.

Even now, inflation —- at least the official measure of 4 percent —- seems modest enough to let the Fed keep rates low.

In the past two years, the Fed has cut the benchmark rate from 5.25 percent to 2 percent.

Any inflation-fighting would mean moving them upward again, which would likely slow the economy more.

At least some inflation may be coming from a “bubble” —- speculation that could pop if demand slackens.

“If oil is a bubble, and there’s a good chance it is, then its bursting would lessen the inflationary threat a lot,” said Doug Henwood, author of the book “Wall Street: How It Works and for Whom” and editor of the economics newsletter Left Business Observer.

Waiting for the scenario to play out, consumers and companies alike must do their best to plan, hoping to protect and nurture their assets.

“There are quite a few parallels to the ’70s, and that is a concern,” said Frank Butterfield, principal with Atlanta-based wealth managers Homrich & Berg. “The ’70s were a bad time for financial assets. Stocks did poorly, bonds did poorly. That could happen again.”

To navigate long term, Butterfield suggests diversifying portfolios, buying inflation-protected securities, using hedge funds and “rebalancing” investments as you go.

The economic trouble so far has been manageable, he said. “Things were worse in the ’70s than they are now.”

Most experts say the U.S. economy seems stronger than it was in the shaky ’70s, more flexible and —- most important during an energy crisis —- more efficient.

The economy is about half as dependent on oil as it was at the time of the first oil shock in 1973, said Robert Whaples, chairman of the economics department at Wake Forest University.

“The ’70s were a period of pretty slow productivity growth,” he said. “There are important parallels between the two periods, but I don’t think we will get double-digit unemployment or double-digit inflation rate.”

Some things do return. The Eagles, after all, are playing summer concerts and promoting their latest album. But no amount of hindsight can truly tell the future.

As the Eagles themselves put it: “Who is gonna make it? We’ll find out —- in the long run.”

That was 1979.

GASOLINE

Now: Gas prices have doubled in a little more than three years. They are up a little more than one-third in the past year. Gas is costly but plentiful.

Then: Gas prices tripled during the decade, rising almost 50 percent from 1973 to 1975, and by 80 percent in 1979 and 1980. Shortages forced restrictions on sales.

PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL

Now: 28 percent

Then: 29 percent

IRAN

Now: Tension between the United States and Iran over nuclear programs and U.S. involvement in Iraq has led to higher oil prices.

Then: Iranian Revolution in 1979 overthrew a U.S. ally, led to a long hostage crisis and sent oil prices skyrocketing.

UNEMPLOYMENT

Now: In the past year and a half, official unemployment has increased 25 percent. It remains historically modest: 5.5 percent.

Then: After the Arab oil embargo, unemployment rose by more than 80 percent.

INFLATION

Now: Consumer prices are up 4.1 percent in the past year, the government says, but critics say the data understates reality.

Then: Consumer costs were up an average of 8.12 percent a year through the decade, peaking at 13.3 percent in 1979.

PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH

Now: 2.58, average, 2000-07

Then: 1.73 percent, average 1971-80

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Energy Information Administration, Gallup Poll, PollingReport.com.

The Air Car & Other Green Stuff???

Posted on June 24, 2008 - Filed Under Current Events, imagination, possibilities

Well, it’s been a busy week for new green solutions for the price of gas. Though I hate that term green solutions - how about non-tyranical, got you by the balls, solutions? Yeah, I like that better. Anyway, I give you the Air Car! Tada!

(here’s the scoop) The Compressed Air Car developed by Motor Development International (MDI) Founder Guy Negre might be the best thing to have happened to the motor engine in years.

The $12,700 CityCAT, one of the planned Air Car models, can hit 68 mph and has a range of 125 miles. It will take only a few minutes for the CityCAT to refuel at gas stations equipped with custom air compressor units. MDI says it should cost only around $2 to fill the car up with 340 liters of air!

The Air Car will be starting production relatively soon, thanks t o India’s TATA Motors. Forget corn! There’s fuel, there’s renewable fuel, and then there’s user-renewable fuel! What can be better than air?

For more info, check out the website here. (HT to Marli)

And Zelda sent me this:

From The Times
June 14, 2008
Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol
Silicon Valley is experimenting with bacteria that have been genetically altered to provide ‘renewable petroleum’
Some diesel fuel produced by genetically modified bugs

Some diesel fuel produced by genetically modified bugs
Chris Ayres

“Ten years ago I could never have imagined I’d be doing this,” says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive, as he squints into the late afternoon Californian sun. “I mean, this is essentially agriculture, right? But the people I talk to - especially the ones coming out of business school - this is the one hot area everyone wants to get into.”

He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs - very, very small ones - so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.

Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”.

Mr Pal is a senior director of LS9, one of several companies in or near Silicon Valley that have spurned traditional high-tech activities such as software and networking and embarked instead on an extraordinary race to make $140-a-barrel oil (£70) from Saudi Arabia obsolete. “All of us here - everyone in this company and in this industry, are aware of the urgency,” Mr Pal says.
Related Links

* Biofuel: a tankful of weed juice

* The arithmetic of crude oil

What is most remarkable about what they are doing is that instead of trying to reengineer the global economy - as is required, for example, for the use of hydrogen fuel - they are trying to make a product that is interchangeable with oil. The company claims that this “Oil 2.0″ will not only be renewable but also carbon negative - meaning that the carbon it emits will be less than that sucked from the atmosphere by the raw materials from which it is made.

LS9 has already convinced one oil industry veteran of its plan: Bob Walsh, 50, who now serves as the firm’s president after a 26-year career at Shell, most recently running European supply operations in London. “How many times in your life do you get the opportunity to grow a multi-billion-dollar company?” he asks. It is a bold statement from a man who works in a glorified cubicle in a San Francisco industrial estate for a company that describes itself as being “prerevenue”.

Inside LS9’s cluttered laboratory - funded by $20 million of start-up capital from investors including Vinod Khosla, the Indian-American entrepreneur who co-founded Sun Micro-systems - Mr Pal explains that LS9’s bugs are single-cell organisms, each a fraction of a billionth the size of an ant. They start out as industrial yeast or nonpathogenic strains of E. coli, but LS9 modifies them by custom-de-signing their DNA. “Five to seven years ago, that process would have taken months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he says. “Now it can take weeks and cost maybe $20,000.”

Because crude oil (which can be refined into other products, such as petroleum or jet fuel) is only a few molecular stages removed from the fatty acids normally excreted by yeast or E. coli during fermentation, it does not take much fiddling to get the desired result.

For fermentation to take place you need raw material, or feedstock, as it is known in the biofuels industry. Anything will do as long as it can be broken down into sugars, with the byproduct ideally burnt to produce electricity to run the plant.

The company is not interested in using corn as feedstock, given the much-publicised problems created by using food crops for fuel, such as the tortilla inflation that recently caused food riots in Mexico City. Instead, different types of agricultural waste will be used according to whatever makes sense for the local climate and economy: wheat straw in California, for example, or woodchips in the South.

Using genetically modified bugs for fermentation is essentially the same as using natural bacteria to produce ethanol, although the energy-intensive final process of distillation is virtually eliminated because the bugs excrete a substance that is almost pump-ready.

The closest that LS9 has come to mass production is a 1,000-litre fermenting machine, which looks like a large stainless-steel jar, next to a wardrobe-sized computer connected by a tangle of cables and tubes. It has not yet been plugged in. The machine produces the equivalent of one barrel a week and takes up 40 sq ft of floor space.

However, to substitute America’s weekly oil consumption of 143 million barrels, you would need a facility that covered about 205 square miles, an area roughly the size of Chicago.

That is the main problem: although LS9 can produce its bug fuel in laboratory beakers, it has no idea whether it will be able produce the same results on a nationwide or even global scale.

“Our plan is to have a demonstration-scale plant operational by 2010 and, in parallel, we’ll be working on the design and construction of a commercial-scale facility to open in 2011,” says Mr Pal, adding that if LS9 used Brazilian sugar cane as its feedstock, its fuel would probably cost about $50 a barrel.

Are Americans ready to be putting genetically modified bug excretion in their cars? “It’s not the same as with food,” Mr Pal says. “We’re putting these bacteria in a very isolated container: their entire universe is in that tank. When we’re done with them, they’re destroyed.”

Besides, he says, there is greater good being served. “I have two children, and climate change is something that they are going to face. The energy crisis is something that they are going to face. We have a collective responsibility to do this.”

Power points

- Google has set up an initiative to develop electricity from cheap renewable energy sources

- Craig Venter, who mapped the human genome, has created a company to create hydrogen and ethanol from genetically engineered bugs

- The US Energy and Agriculture Departments said in 2005 that there was land available to produce enough biomass (nonedible plant parts) to replace 30 per cent of current liquid transport fuels

***

Now, I don’t know if any of this spells solutions but I do think it’s nice to know that there are those out there looking for solutions and trying to get us there.

UPDATE: Ger sent me a link to a vid for another company called Tessler Motors they offer this car:

Which is fully electric, power efficient and fast - plus there is a solar option which means it is energy positive - and according to their website they have already worked out the recylcling issues for both the tires and battery which is built into the purchase price. Though, I’d be curious to know if they have included the safe disposal of the battery acid as well, since that is my particular concern with electric vehicles. If they have managed to find a way to reuse the batteries, as is the case with current standard car batteries that would make me happy. There isn’t enough data on their website to answer this question, however.

Something in the Air?

Posted on June 13, 2008 - Filed Under Current Events, clueless, in my head

Every now and then, you hit a rough patch in life. It always seems to come out of nowhere and often comes when it seems you are just about to hit your stride. Whenever that happens I find myself getting wound up into the twisty road of ‘why’.

In the last few weeks, lots of stuff has been swirling all around. A friend of mine is very concerned about their parent, my friend Kelly, as most of you know, was in a very bad car accident, Roomie’s friend was just diagnosed with cancer and still other friends are having difficulties too, to a lesser degree. It makes me wonder, is there something in the air?

I tend to be a little supersticious, or maybe just paranoid - but this is very unsettling to me. Although, this year has been filled with lots of changes, some good, some bad, generally speaking my life tends to be even and calm. When something gets in the mix that riles that up, I look inward to see if there is something I’m doing that is causing it. In this case, it wouldn’t seem so, since most of it is happening around me and isn’t specifically about me. Which makes it worse because there is precious little I can do about it, except watch it unfold.

Since Kelly’s accident, it is nearly impossible for me to not to think about it and her most of the time. I find it hard to concentrate on the rest of my life but know that I must. I will be no good to her or anyone else if I steep myself in worry and concern and don’t focus on the daily tasks that are necessary to get on in life. Yet, when I do this, I feel guilty as though I am letting her down. Truth be told, I felt that way the entire time I was in Seattle. Not only could I not fix things (an unrealistic goal, of course, but that has never stopped me) but I was so distressed and upset personally, that I spent much of my time there trying not to fall apart around Kelly and her family - especially her children. Consequently, I spent a lot of time out on their deck, late at night, crying when everyone else was asleep.

Maybe that is the normal response to situations like this, I really don’t know - the last time I had someone in my life in a critical and dire condition was when I was twelve years old and my grandfather was in and out of the hospital. From that standpoint, I should count myself as lucky, because most of the people in my life are healthy and happy and doing well.

I could just adopt the view that sometimes things just happen. That is true enough, yet still, with Kelly it shouldn’t have happened - not because she is my friend or because she is a good person - but because it just doesn’t fit. She is an adventurous woman, an excellent driver, very perceptive and intuitive and doesn’t fit the profile of someone who would get into an accident. I just can’t get that out of my mind. I just can’t stop wondering what happened - was she upset just before the accident, did something get her so riled up that she wasn’t paying attention? These questions and many more swirl around in my head whenever I think about it but I find no answers - and may never.

As far as I can tell, Kelly wasn’t aware of my being there and/or if she was, she didn’t know me. It’s possible that that part of her memory is gone and she may never know me again - except in the context of now. As though life came along and decided to pluck parts of her life away from her and is holding them hostage for an unknown ransome.

And though it’s futile and not well-advised I can’t but help to ask, why? Why Kelly? Why now? Maybe someday I’ll find the answer but for now, I am stuck with only the the continuous and never ending winding road of questions.

Pain at the Pump?

Posted on June 1, 2008 - Filed Under Current Events, free speech, my opinions

Okay, most of you know that I’m a capitalist at heart and believe in the free market. I do, however, make a qualified exception when it comes to the price of gas and heating oil.

My buddy, PG, sent me this link and I highly recommend you check it out. They make a good point and if nothing else, give us some sort of forum to maybe have our voices heard. One of the nice features on the site is that it gives you the opportunity to vent. This is what I said to them:

It costs over $60 to fill my tank and that’s an economy car. And of course, you have to forego, small luxuries if you need to get around. I live in California, so we have one of the highest costs for fuel in the nation and there is no way to get around the L.A. area without a car - the public transportation system is inadequate and walking or taking a bike is not an option when you work 20 miles from home.

Though I am not in favor of regulation generally speaking, the utility companies are regulated because people must use their services to survive - that is also the case with gasoline and heating oil - therefore, I do think some sort of regulation or price cap is in order.

The thing of it is, that there is no shortage of oil in this country or any other and that speculators are being allowed to drive the cost of oil up is ridiculous, especially since the oil industry with the help of Congress, works laboriously at keeping competitive fuel sources and energy sources off the market - that my friend, is called a monopoly - which is supposed to be a no-no in this country.

Congress needs to get out of its Hippie/Boomer/60’s mode and look at the situation today - we need more refineries, drilling and clean nuclear power. They don’t seem to mind zipping around in their private jets and suv’s - while letting the taxpayer foot the bill - yet, we practically have to shoot ourselves to get our own government to provide the services we want, as opposed to what they think is best for us.

If we are indeed, living in a free market society, then let all the other sources of alternate energy/fuel inventions and innovations, etc. onto the market and to compete freely and give us a choice about whether or not we want to line the pockets of the oil industry and middle east despots.

You can click on the banner in my sidebar or the above link to check out the site and sign the petition. I don’t know how much good it will do, but it sure can’t hurt.

Angry Renters Unite

Posted on May 31, 2008 - Filed Under Current Events, dasterdly deeds

A couple weeks back, my chum sent me this link - for the Angry Renters in America. An excerpt from the site explains their beef:

I have to say, they do seem to have a point. I’m a renter myself and it’s bad enough that every cent I pay in tax dollars goes to something that I’m not really interested in supporting - well, mostly anyway. I guess it boils down to this - if a group, no matter how small a fraction of the population screams loud enough or makes a good enough victim, it seems our government is more than happy to pander to them. And this isn’t a partisan issue either - it happens recklessly and frequently on all sides of the political spectrum and personally, I think it boils down to buying votes. Which in a word, sucks.

I highly recommend you check out the website and sign the petition if you’ve a mind to. As they say, ‘It can’t hoit.’ And the vids are pretty good too.

A Day to Remember

Posted on May 25, 2008 - Filed Under Current Events, History, honor, recipe

Memorial Day is that first big picnic and three day outting holiday of the year in the states. And I have many fond memories of the family gatherings at local parks, the smell of burgers and hot dogs on the grill - juicy watermelon dripping down my chin, mom’s macaroni salad and of course the waiting for nightfall so we could light our sprinklers. It’s all part and parcel of this holiday.

Though, I would ask, that we all take a moment of silence to thank God for those who have spilled blood and given their lives so we can celebrate this holiday. And to say a prayer of thanks and Godspeed to all our troops worldwide - who carry on the tradition of standing the watch.

It’s days like these that I wish I had the wherewithall to send a home made bbq to Iraq and Afghanistan - with vat’s of mom’s special macaroni salad on ice. Unfortunately, I haven’t so…I offer the recipe instead. I suppose it is possible that one or two of our troops might find the recipe and be able to convince somebody to make it for them???

Okay -

2lbs of large elbow macaroni

1/2 small brown onion, minced fine

3 stalks minced celery

1 very small jar of pimentos

2 large dill pickles, minced fine (are you sensing a trend here?)

3 large hard cooked eggs minced fine

1/4 cup of dill pickle juice

3 TBS yellow mustard

paprika

1 can of tuna (optional)

1-2 cups of whole egg mayo (depending on how dry or wet you like your mac salad)

Cook elbow macaroni and drain and rinse. Place in large bowl in fridge and let completely cool. Once mac is cooled pull out of fridge and set aside (it works well if you make the mac the night before and leave in fridge over night - cooled mac does not absorb the liquids as much and keep the salad much more moist). Take mayo, mustard, pickle juice and mix in separate bowl, set aside.

To the mac, add the celery, onion, egg, pimentos, pickles and tuna (if you are using) and toss thoroughly. Then again, put in fridge for about an hour. This lets the flavors marry and seep into the mac first.

Then pull out of fridge and add ’sauce’, again tossing thoroughly. Sprinkle with paprika on top, cover with plastic wrap and keep cool until ready to serve. If you find that the mac has absorbed the liquid too much and is a little dry, just add a little water to bring it back up. Quite yummy.

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day.

WC

Our Brother’s Keeper - Or is That Somebody Else’s Job?

Posted on May 15, 2008 - Filed Under Current Events, Dear Readers..., hope, my opinions

Lately, this question has been circling my awareness and it seems to be screaming at me from all places. From the whole Obama/pastor snafu to my own personal life, it seems our connections to others or lack thereof are up for scrutiny.

It begs the question, is one responsible for those they know and what they do? I’m a bit on the fence about this because I can see both sides of the coin. On the one hand, every person is accountable for their own actions and words. Absent any kind of physical or emotional force (at least in America) people are not made to do or say things - in fact, we are the land of freedom of speech - no country has more personal freedoms than ours. So, from that point of view, no, we’re not responsible for the actions of others. On the other hand, no man is an island - despite the latest craze of cocooning and sort of running our worlds from the one-stop shop of our computer hubs - there actually are other people out there and we come into contact with them everyday. Whether through physical or cyber means. We all have a voice and our own brand of influence - we can change people’s minds and actions. We do it all the time. Don’t believe me? You see a little child about to run into the street - you stop them just as a car zooms by. A friend is distraught over a recent breakup and maybe thinking suicidal thoughts, you stay up the night talking them down from the ledge. Or even….you write a post about something that is bothering you on your blog - a stranger halfway around the world reads it and rethinks something they were going to do, perhaps even gains some insight or perspective on the situation and decides not to do something rash or decides to do something that ends up really helping someone. See where I’m going with this?

The world and life is full of choices, some good, some bad. We can bury our heads in our butts and pretend we don’t see things or recognize cries for help or we can open ourselves up to all and everything out there. And it’s the little things too that I think that sometimes mean the most. Sure, we like to all get involved in ’causes’ help fight drug abuse, breast cancer, MS, oppression in China, imprisoned bloggers, expose nasty politicians or corporate malfeasance and there’s nothing wrong with it. But there is so much going on right outside your own doorstep that I wonder if tending to that, doesn’t have a greater overall effect. Maybe it’s the trickle down effect - know what I mean? Where that one little action you take can change a whole sequence of events of which you are not even aware?

Today, Blog Catalogue is doing a blogger human rights event. The idea is to get all the bloggers to unite and discuss human rights across the world. A lofty goal and worthy too. And I thought about finding some big issue and writing about it - but instead I thought that big issues only become big because the little issues are ignored and left to fester. I wonder, if we all just did whatever we could to stop injustice and enhance the quality of life for all those around us (including ourselves) if the big issues would ever come to be. Don’t you?

I guess in the end, I do believe we are our brother’s keepers. And we wear that responsibility by the way we treat others and ourselves. By the way we reach out or pull back. By the way we view the world. By our attitudes and philosophies - by our inclinations to help or to harm - to share or compete. To me, human rights aren’t about some big issue ‘out there’ it’s about all the many little things in our own backyards.

What do you think?

WC

Mywireless.org Update

Posted on February 5, 2008 - Filed Under Current Events, Dear Readers..., dasterdly deeds, my opinions

I just received this in my inbox - I highly recommend you check it out. It is something that will affect us all unless we put our collective foot down. WC

CONGRESS - Say NO to ALL UNFAIR, NEW State and Local Wireless Taxes - For Three Years! Support a Cell Phone Tax Moratorium Today Congress is now back in session for 2008 and is again working to forge consumer-friendly telecom policies that will impact more than 253 million American wireless consumers just like you. Already, there is important legislation being considered in Washington, D.C., and you can make a difference by letting your U.S. Representative and your Senators know where you stand. Please act now to support a 3-year freeze on any new, discriminatory state and local wireless taxes. Today’s American wireless consumer faces a tremendously unfair financial burden: Wireless taxes are currently DOUBLE or TRIPLE that of other goods and services. Nationally, the annual wireless tax consumer debt is now a whopping approximately $20 billion dollars! Consumers already pay an average of 15% in combined federal, state and local government taxes and fees on their monthly wireless bills. Because unfair, new state and local taxes, fees and surcharges on wireless are regressive, the burden often falls especially hard on fixed-income users such as seniors, working families and small businesses. Too often, this tax responsibility puts wireless out of reach for far too many who have come to rely upon its value, convenience and safety as a preferred communications tool for their daily lives. Legislation has been introduced in the 110th Congress providing for a 3-year freeze (or tax moratorium) for wireless, which would put a stop to all new, discriminatory state and local wireless taxes. You can help today by urging your Congressman and Senators in Washington to pass a Cell Phone Tax Moratorium, placing a 3-year freeze on all new, discriminatory state and local wireless taxes. Please urge your national lawmakers to Support a Cell Phone Tax Moratorium today!

Super Tuesday

Posted on February 3, 2008 - Filed Under Current Events, Election 2008, candidates

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t absolutely obsessed with politics right now. I am. Poor me, because really the long and short of it is, what will be will be. Not that I’m fatalistic really, but I do realize that all I can control are my own actions - not those of others and I suppose we will see what in fact, the American people really want.

While all of the candidates leave much to be desired, some are much worse than others.

Since most of you know that I am a conservative, it’s not likely I would vote for a liberal and if I were a liberal I would cringe at my choices. Hillary is like coffee, either you love it or you hate it. And while Barack Obama scores high marks in the personality department and the presence department and the intelligence department - he still has a nearly identical platform as Hillary. If you removed the personality factor - in terms of the issues there really isn’t much difference. And while I know that there are those who feel this is a very important election because it may result in either the first woman or the first African-American to hold the office - I honestly don’t believe that is a significant enough reason to vote for either of them. That being said, I would vote for Barack, if he were a conservative - I actually like the guy and think regardless of what happens has a definite future in politics in a big way.

As to my side of the aisle - I haven’t been excited about any of them very much. Except McCain and that is in a bad way. Read this. Frankly, I don’t understand why he isn’t running against Hillary and Barack right now -because if you close your eyes - again one doesn’t see much difference.

But now that the field has thinned considerably for the conservative side I am on board with Romney. While he has things that don’t thrill me - he is intelligent, well mannered, has proven track records in management, turning deficits into surpluses and something else I can’t really put my finger on. There is something about the man that makes me feel he can be trusted in the important issues. I don’t know why - perhaps it is the fact that he is even tempered, seems virtually unflappable and seems presidential. Or maybe it’s something else. At any rate - I can’t vote for McCain, Huckabee is a poor imitation of Clinton and Ron Paul is just to loopy to take seriously. So there you have it.

Who are you pulling the lever for on Tuesday and why? I’d really like to hear people’s thoughts on this if you care to share.

WC