By Robert Singer

Click here to read why “this article is not currently available” at OpEdNews.

October 8, 2008

2008 Debate: "It's the economy, stupid"

Barack Obama and John McCain clashed over the causes and cures for the worst economic crisis in 80 years in the debate last night.

Republican McCain called for a sweeping $300 billion program to stop mortgage foreclosures so they could continue the American Dream and get back to shopping. Yes, national politicians are still suggesting that if we just shop some more for stuff made in China, our economy will get back on track. What part of import/export economics do our elected officials not understand?

The current economic crisis, according to Barack Obama, is the result of the last eight years of the Bush administration. Not true, it is the final verdict of United States economic policies of the last six decades. Americans enjoyed the highest standard of living in the Western world based on our ability to import cheap, raw materials (thanks to the CIA) and ship refrigerators, cars, airplanes and military hardware to the rest of the world. When the rest of the world caught on, and the refrigerators, cars, airplanes and even our socks started to be produced elsewhere, we still had one more product to ship offshore, and, beginning in 1980 the Reagan administration embarked upon the greatest export of all: OUR DEBT. What we are witnessing in the economic crisis today is the final death march of the dollar. After the government printed an extra trillion dollars over the weekend, the huge drop in markets worldwide shows the extent to which people no longer believe the safest place to be is in U.S. dollars. Our economy also hinges on understanding our dependence on foreign oil. Both Obama and McCain were sure that if we just get out and start drilling we can get the economy out of trouble and back on track for everyone to experience the American Dream. Although drilling offshore or onshore is on the bridge to nowhere, there is a solution to our economic problems related to energy.

Does the following analysis sound familiar?

A weakening U.S. dollar is putting upward pressure on oil prices. The shock produced chaos in the West. In the United States, the retail price of a gallon of gasoline rose 50%, consumption dropped by 6.1% from September to February. Underscoring the interdependence of the world societies and economies, oil-importing nations in the noncommunist industrial world saw sudden inflation and economic recession. The energy crisis led to greater interest in renewable energy and spurred research in solar power and wind power as well as increased interest in mass transit.

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By Robert Singer

Click here to read why “this article is not currently available” at OpEdNews.

September 26, 2008

Will the bail-out really matter?

I will give you odds Congress will vote in favor of the bail-out. And that’s not just because Warren Buffet told Congress to act swiftly. Buffett said, “Wall Street's troubles were inseparable from the finances of everyday US consumers.” The key to figuring out how to bet on the bail-out is the word “consumer” AKA “shopper”. The highest priority for the Bush or for that matter any administration is shopping. Consider the following:

The Economic Stimulus Package was a plan to help the economy. Last spring, the IRS sent checks of up to $1200.00 to over 130 million households. Did it help? Of course not. Why would buying stuff from China that we don’t need and are apt to throw away as fast as possible help the “economy”?

Surely you remember December, 2006, when this nation teetered on the brink of a national economic recession. At that time the President implored Americans to shop more. He said: As we work with Congress in the coming year to chart a new course in Iraq and strengthen our military to meet the challenges of the 21st century, we must also work together to achieve important goals for the American people here at home. This work begins with keeping our economy growing. … And I encourage you all to go shopping more.”

And of course, no one will forget that after 9/11, when our country was in shock, President Bush could have suggested any number of appropriate things: to grieve, to pray, to hope. NO. He said to shop. TO SHOP?

Finally, you can’t lose money betting on the architect of the bailout, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve. In 2002, he gave a speech about deflation. In that speech, he mentioned that the government is a fiat money system that owns the physical means of creating money. Control of the means of production for money implies that the government can always avoid deflation by simply dropping more money out of helicopters, so that is why he is known as "Helicopter Ben" with his "helicopter printing press”.

Bet the farm on the bailout.

You can find the article I wrote on 9-14 about shopping: "Give Us the ANWAR and Keep Shopping"-They Found They Can't Have Both

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By Robert Singer

Click here to read why this “article is not currently available” at the OpEdNews link: http://www.opednews.com/articles/-Give-Us-the-ANWAR-and-Kee-by-Robert-Singer-080914-244.html

September 14, 2008

"Give Us the ANWAR and Keep Shopping"-They Found They Can't Have Both

Associated Press (AP) reported on September 13th, 2008 that the unprecedented rise in gas prices has brought a change to the American way of life that even a drop in oil prices below $100/barrel won’t erase. As AP put it, “Public transportation is in. Hummers are out. Frugality is in. Wastefulness is out.”

Apparently, the worst gas price hike has produced the worst-case scenario for the select group of people who raised the price of gasoline to almost $5.00/gallon smug in their belief they could get Americans to give up their last Arctic wilderness while continuing to buy useless, wasteful consumer goods.

Two significant things happened recently after gas approached $5 a gallon and oil was selling for $142 a barrel.

• Retail sales fell in July as shoppers shunned autos and other big-ticket items. In spite of government stimulus payments to U.S. households retail sales dipped 0.1 percent last month when a variety of economic woes including skyrocketing gas prices combined to blunt America's shopping habits—habits which wreak havoc on the environment.

• August 14, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) signaled her willingness to consider opening up more coastal areas to oil and gas exploration. Just weeks before Pelosi was resolved to block any votes to allow offshore drilling.

Once the environment's last bastion of defense (Congress) had fallen, and gasoline prices rose so high, it tremendously curbed American buying habits, gasoline prices mysteriously came down almost a dollar and oil is now under $100 a barrel.

Really? Just because a month ago we agreed to consider more drilling? Oil drops by $45 a barrel, is that possible?

No. It appears the price of gasoline stayed high too long. A $45/barrel drop in oil isn’t enough to fool anyone into thinking the “economy” is back to normal. You can’t cover up bank failures, home foreclosures, high unemployment and the experts like Warren Buffett predicting major disruptions in financial markets.

Even with the recent drop in gas prices, Americans seem to have realized they can live comfortable lives by returning to a time when they valued stewardship, resourcefulness, and thrift…and that just might be good for everyone who has to live on this planet.

So the same select group of people who were betting on trashing the ANWR and on trashing the planet by getting the public to shop for billions of dollars of useless, non-recyclable consumer goods appear to be losing. As the AP press said, “Americans have changed; being frugal is the thing.” And that makes winners of the rest of us, for now.

There's a 20-minute documentary storyofstuff.com that lays this all out in a manner that even a child could understand and shows the path to saving the planet is no more complicated than controlling our addiction to all that "stuff."

Authors Bio: Robert Singer is a retired information technology professional and an environmental activist living in southern California. In 1995 he and his cousin Adam D. Singer founded IPC The Hospitalist Company, Inc., where he served as chief technology officer. Today the company manages more than 130 practice groups, providing care in some 300 medical facilities in 18 states. Prior to that he was president of Useful Software, a developer and publisher of business and consumer software for the personal computing Industry.

By Katherine Smith

Headline today (August 8, 2010) [Notice the word "apparently" in the title]

Matt Simmons “apparently” drowned at his home Sunday night

NORTH HAVEN, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - The Knox County Sheriff's Department says Matthew Simmons, the founder of the Ocean Energy Institute, drowned at his house on North Haven late Sunday night.

Simmons was a leading investment banker for the energy industry and had recently retired to work full time on the new Ocean Energy Institute.

He was a leading proponent of offshore wind power and had started raising money to develop and build offshore turbines.

The news release fails to mention Simmons was the leading proponent of sending a small nuclear bomb down the BP leaking well:

May 29 – Simmons, a “prominent energy expert” and investment banker known for predicting the oil price spike of 2008, tells Bloomberg News on Friday, sending a small nuclear bomb down the leaking well is "probably the only thing we can do" to stop the leak.

I have been working with Dr. Tom Termotto, the National Coordinator of the Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference to ensure that the BP oil spill didn’t become

"A radioactive oil spill."

Below is an expose on Matt Simmons, which was ready for publication when the BP well was finally capped without resorting to a nuclear device.

The material was useful to Dr. Tom Termotto when he was interviewed on Rense Radio July 19 just four days before the BP well was finally capped.

Jeff Rense' first question was, if Dr. Termotto would consider Matt Simmon’s nuclear option to cap the well? Tom immediately interjected and made it clear that we should never, never ever consider a nuclear option to cap the well, and went on to relentlessly discredit Matt Simmons throughout the interview.

Here is the expose provided to Dr. Termotto:

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