Oil is now over $90 a barrel. We are now in Jimmy Carter, 1980 levels.
It has not shown up at the pump for gasoline but I just paid over $7 for TWO gallons (make that 2 x 9/10 of a gallon) of diesel. Diesel now costs more than $3.50 per gallon - the most I can ever remember paying for fuel.
Add to that the stupidity that is corn-based ethanol and you get rising food prices. The highest increase in food prices in years. Plus my ever increasing $350/mo fee to have medical insurance (whether or not I actually need to see a doctor).
Economists dont like to look at fuel or food, but those things represent real costs and real cost inflation for the little people like myself. The same thing with health care and the cost of education
Despite this financial gloom, the President is complaining about the Democrats and how they "never met a tax increase they didnt like." Nice.
The President and the Republican party remain steadfast. They absolutely refuse to ever talk about the cost of the Iraq war or how they plan to pay back the trillions of tax dollars they have spent in the last 8 years. No, their stellar fiscal leadership is going to consist of using the "tax and spend democrats" phrase while borrowing more and more and more.
Which might actually sound good to regular Americans who are finding it harder and harder to borrow. Credit card debt is up but thanks to the housing and bond fiasco, bank lending has become very difficult and home ownership is now falling.
Frankly I am astonished things have gotten this bad. Where is the Concord Coalition? Where are the fiscal conservatives?
Why arent the Democratic presidential candidates talking about the economy every single day? "How are you going to pay for Bush's spending?" Shine a light on that corner, and quit taking questions about whether or not you are a flip flopper because you voted one way in 2003 and another way years later.
Every single day. Ask the President how he is going to pay off the money he has borrowed. Point out how much interest we are now paying and will be paying. We need to get past "tax and spend" and to some kind of fiscal responsibility.
Sheesh.
