You see, people, no matter how besotted I am I always have half an eye open so that even when MDM (My Darling Michele) opens her mouth, and this time not for the purpose of inserting a hotdog, and says something imbecilic then I do not hesitate to chastise her. After all, I'm an old-fashioned chap! According to CNNMoney, MDM has promised to reduce the price of fuel in the USA:
"Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again," Bachmann told a crowd Tuesday in South Carolina. "That will happen."
No it won't, Michele, you silly girl! Or if it does it will only occur because America has slumped into a catastrophic 1930s style depression. It may come as a surprise to you (which is worrying in itself) that the POTUS has virtually no power over the price of oil. It's all those ghastly, smelly, old sheiks and those dreadfully common commodity traders with their spiv-like attitudes - oh, and the Chinese, of course, because they simply cannot get enough of the stuff, they're the ones who control the price of oil and, 'frankly my dear, they don't give a damn' what the POTUS has to say even if it eventually turns out that she is as beautiful as you!
Mind you, she's not the only one with delusions of grandeur. The other day that Texan interloper, Gov. Perry, was quoted as saying that he would create 200,000 'jarbs', as they say 'over there'. Needless to say, I sent him a stiff note reminding him that politicans cannot create any jobs, except possibly amongst the phalanx of publicists with whom they surround themselves. Of course, a politician can simply hand tax-payers' or money-lenders' cash over to zillions of people and call that 'giving them a job' but in the end the money runs out and the productivity having been nil to zilch, nothing productive has been gained. All that politicians can do is to set the national financial, fiscal and legal parameters to their most benign settings and then step back allowing entrepreneurs to do the rest. Perhaps Gov. Perry was simply using shorthand-speak, as politicians frequently do, but I thought it necessary to pull him up over it. I haven't had a reply yet; must be lost in that dreadful American postal system!
"I do not hesitate to chastise her"
Well I wouldn't either, but I'm surprised you get the opportunity.
Posted by: A K Haart | Thursday, 18 August 2011 at 19:46
Of course if she goes the old "Drill baby, drill" route and adds in
"Frack baby, frack", she could well affect the price of oil pretty sharplky, and I don't know what federal taxes the yanks pay on a gallon, but she could cut those too.
And it's my opinion that as soon as Obama is out, the US recession will end and the private sector will start to grow again, so creating a few hundred thousand jobs might follow pretty quickly, especially if Perry keeps his promise to get the feds out of the public's face.
Posted by: Kevin B | Thursday, 18 August 2011 at 20:41
Normally Kevin I'd find myself (actually I do, but only because I know something of geology and the area's history) but that "Frack, baby, frack" probably wouldn't help much even given the deep, deep Red-Statedness of blood-red Arkansas.
Yes, yes, I realize I may be a bit obscure - but really, just familiarize yourself with Arkansas' newspaper blog commentary. Even the truest Tea Partier here isn't too enthusiastic where 'fracking' is concerned. Despite all my best efforts to gently explain on the threads that before there was fracking there was something called The New Madrid Zone.
But not even the gun-totin'est, Tea Partyin' dues payin' voter in Arkansas can't seem to take their eyes off this:
http://www.geology.ar.gov/geohazards/earthquakes.htm
That cluster incidentally, very neatly coincides with the so-called "Fayettville Shale Deposits." But to extract there, fracking is necessary. The voters are replacing the "Yes" to fracking politicians with those shouting, "No."
Posted by: JK | Friday, 19 August 2011 at 02:59
I was going to ask what fracking is but I can't be bothered.
Instead I will say that I think the cost of gasoline in the US of A will be going in the opposite direction to Mz. Deep Throat's tip (if you'll pardon the expression).
Oh to hell with it. It's Friday night, I think I'll go a'frackin' and I hope y'all can join me in the hoe down (or should that be ho' down?)
Posted by: Andra | Friday, 19 August 2011 at 08:20
Kevin, welcome to D&N.
As the reporter notes in his article, even if she lifts all restrictions on oil production of every sort in the USA the amount produced will be minimal. If she removes whatever taxes are levied, and assuming she does other things to allow the US economy to grow, then demand will increase and the price will go up. But of course, the basic price of oil is set far away from the shores of the shores of the USA, as the Saudis know full well every time they either open or close the spiggots..
Posted by: David Duff | Friday, 19 August 2011 at 09:09
Informational purpose only:
"Fracking" is an abbreviation for underground fracturing of substrates. "Substrates = rock layers fairly deep below ground, usuallly not exceeding a thousand meters or so, a bore-hole is drilled and then a pressurized fluid is pumped underground fracturing the sedimentary rock layers. "Fracking" has been in use for over 50 years - but in the early days the pressurized fluid was mostly a salt-water solution. But within oh, maybe the latest 20 years, "emulsifiers" have been added.
Arkansas (and other states alongside which the Mississipi River runs) has a 'delta area' and most private sources of drinking water come from wells - kinda what we all know from our History lessons made Egypt's annual floods make civilization appear there first. Seasonal floods made the soil fertile making it possible to domesticate crops. (Incidentally, Arkansas produces more rice than any other place in the world.)
Unfortunately (though most modern day Arkies aren't aware of the area's geologic history) Arkansas was the epicenter of the US' largest earthquake in 1811. Most people thinking of earthquakes think first of California. Neither are they aware of something called The Enola Swarm - waaay before "fracking began in Arkansas."
Ah, I'm boring ya'll Limeys.
And guarenteed, ol' JK will never, never, ever have a blog of his own.
Posted by: JK | Friday, 19 August 2011 at 13:05
JK: I hope you're not lumping me in with the Limeys.
Australians take a whole truck load of umbrage at being included in Ex-Great Britain's doings.
Posted by: Andra | Friday, 19 August 2011 at 20:08
"JK: I hope you're not lumping me in with the Limeys."
Indeed, I hope so, too, JK, you really mustn't mix us up with all those old ex-convicts!
Posted by: David Duff | Friday, 19 August 2011 at 20:29
No. No, Michelle!!!
Do not say another word until you at least put some fact-checkers on the payroll.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/08/19/michelle_bachmann_s_150_billion_error_on_defense_spending
Posted by: JK | Saturday, 20 August 2011 at 20:22
Sorry, JK, but I do not expect politicians to hold exact and precise budget figures in their heads when they are speaking extempore on a radio show, and to use the expression 'Soviet Union' for 'Russia' is easily done - and may explain why the talking robot in the WH cannot say 'good morning' without an autocue! What is more important is the general thrust of her ideology.
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 21 August 2011 at 09:29