Maybe he just didn't earn that capital that is necessary to "convince" people to go along with him? Maybe he's just a greedy bastard? Maybe both?

http://www.serveoutloud.blogspot.com

That the "capital" was to be invested in persuading feudal lords to produce was, and is, plan A. A strengthened dollar, Plan B, is pending and will yield a gigantic "capital" gain for accumulated dollars.

Plan B is the pending executive realignment, reduction of the debt, and appreciation of the dollar.

Plan B is just an adjunct to plan A.

Over time, the general welfare is a net loser.

Very best wishes.

Jimmy Carter a great President had enough forsight to see this coming 30 years ago. He tried to get this country independent of foriegn Oil by offering tax incentives for insulation, and other energy efficient credits. The big Oil companies conspired to get rid of Jimmy and get their boy Ronnie in. Saudi Arabia cut the price of oil overnight to 12.00 from 43.00 in order to put all the small independent Oil producers out of business. Now we only have 5 Major Oil companies that control all phases of production. You can thank Ronald Reagan for this mess.

These rising gas prices is Bush's, "Swan Song" before he leaves office. He wants to make sure that he and his friends get filthier rich and have many generations of their families never ever having to work a day in life. He should not fret. If McCain gets in there, he will continue making sure that Bush and his buddies get paid.

Don't forget that "surprise" that may come this fall: JEB for President. He can't run as a republican because McCain is the nominee. Don't worry, the Bush's will create a party.

Everything out of the mouths of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney are nothing but lies to the American public. They are spending Trillions of our tax dollars to obtain Iraqi oil for US Big Oil Corps to keep money flowing back into the Republican Party in so-called "Campaigne contributions" but we the public, know it as "Kickbacks". High prices at the gas pumps is letting us know who is REALLY controling our county.

Everything out of the mouths of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney are nothing but lies to the American public. They are spending Trillions of our tax dollars to obtain Iraqi oil for US Big Oil Corps to keep money flowing back into the Republican Party in so-called "Campaigne contributions" but we the public, know it as "Kickbacks". High prices at the gas pumps is letting us know who is REALLY controlling our county.

Our addiction to foreign oil is the number one threat to national security and to our economy for the foreseeable future. So much of the Bush Administration's energy policy is wrong, it's hard to focus in on just one aspect that is flawed.

By now, most rational US citizens have acknowledged that the invasion of Iraq was primarily driven by the desire to secure oil supplies in the Mid-East. If the Bush administration wants to refute that, they can start by making the proceedings of their closed-door energy policy meeting in 2001 openly available to all. [They won't, though, citing "national security", which really means "we don't want the electorate to know how we are manipulating geo-political forces around the world to feed our addiction to foreign oil".]

The removal of Saddam was intended to pacify the Saudi's, Kuwaiti', and other oil emirates by eliminating a military threat. Although Saddam had been largely neutralized in the first Gulf War, containment of Saddam required a continued US military presence on Saudi soil, which was problematic for the Saudi family, in light of increasing Islamic Fundamentalism, fueled by Wahabhism. The only way to withdraw US troops form Saudi Arabia without inviting Saddam to invade his neighboring countries again was to get rid of Saddam altogether.

However, the Bush administration sorely underestimated the challenges in rebuilding Iraq after militarily deposing Saddam. Their simplistic notions of the region led them to rely almost entirely on a military solution, without consideration for the ethnic and sectarian divisions that bubbled under the surface. They also grossly underestimated the level to which the Iraqi infrastructure had/would have fallen, and thus the investment required to build it to a level where normal Iraqis would see the benefits and welcome the change that the US presence brought. This also included the rebuilding of Iraq's oil industry, which today pumps less oil than it did prior to the US Invasion.

After several years, we now have greater instability in the Mid-East than we did in 2003. Iraq still requires a huge US military presence to keep the country from tearing itself apart. The Iraqi oil industry is weaker. The US's continued presence in Iraq has been a rallying point for Islamic extremists around the world (with Iraq serving as a training ground for such extremists). Iraq's weakened position in the Middle East has only encouraged Iran to stir up unrest while pushing Islamic Fundamentalism, and to thumb their noses at international bodies attempting to contain their nuclear program.

This capital that Bush was supposed to build has shown to be empty rhetoric and a failed policy to the Saudi's. Small wonder that the Saudi's rebuffed Bush's pleas to increase production so as to drive crude oil prices down. Bush and the GOP have left this country impotent to affect international oil production and pricing. Today, we saw a larger than expected increase in the US crude stocks and in gasoline inventories. In a rational economy, this should have driven the price of crude down. Instead, the price of crude increases, led by speculators whose motivation is greed. [I hope that the Democratic Congress starts looking at the rampant speculation occurring, because everyone knows Bush and the GOP won't. Do it for the good of the middle class and for the health of the economy.]

Finally, Bush and the GOP have mortgaged the short term future of the country by not having the forsight and fortitude to invest in alternate energy. How can anyone justify the huge tax breaks for the oil companies at the same time that they are raking in record profits? They can't even spend their profits fast enough in R&D for future energy development - which is where they should be investing. Those tax breaks would be better spent in developing alternate energy sources. If we had invested those tax breaks and the hundreds of billions of dollars we have spent on the Iraq war on alternate energy research and building the infrastructure to deliver energy from those new sources, we'd be much further along in weaning ourselves off the addiction to foreign oil.

Short term, I look for the price of oil (and all refined fossil fuels) to continue to rise, even against simple supply-demand rules until the Congress (or a Democratic administration) looks into the speculative nature of oil futures market. Longer term, we must mount an equivalent of a 1960's space race mentality to channel our efforts as a nation to transition us from fossil fuels to an economy based mostly on renewable energy. This is the way we gain our national security back and form the energy foundation for a healthy economy. Bush and the GOP have used our addiction to foreign oil to fatten fat-cat's wallets at the expense of the middle class, and has jeopardized our national security not doing enough to get us off our addiction. It's time for America and the Democratics to take back our future and our security.

Our addiction to foreign oil is the number one threat to national security and to our economy for the foreseeable future. So much of the Bush Administration's energy policy is wrong, it's hard to focus in on just one aspect that is flawed.

By now, most rational US citizens have acknowledged that the invasion of Iraq was primarily driven by the desire to secure oil supplies in the Mid-East. If the Bush administration wants to refute that, they can start by making the proceedings of their closed-door energy policy meeting in 2001 openly available to all. [They won't, though, citing "national security", which really means "we don't want the electorate to know how we are manipulating geo-political forces around the world to feed our addiction to foreign oil".]

The removal of Saddam was intended to pacify the Saudi's, Kuwaiti', and other oil emirates by eliminating a military threat. Although Saddam had been largely neutralized in the first Gulf War, containment of Saddam required a continued US military presence on Saudi soil, which was problematic for the Saudi family, in light of increasing Islamic Fundamentalism, fueled by Wahabhism. The only way to withdraw US troops form Saudi Arabia without inviting Saddam to invade his neighboring countries again was to get rid of Saddam altogether.

However, the Bush administration sorely underestimated the challenges in rebuilding Iraq after militarily deposing Saddam. Their simplistic notions of the region led them to rely almost entirely on a military solution, without consideration for the ethnic and sectarian divisions that bubbled under the surface. They also grossly underestimated the level to which the Iraqi infrastructure had/would have fallen, and thus the investment required to build it to a level where normal Iraqis would see the benefits and welcome the change that the US presence brought. This also included the rebuilding of Iraq's oil industry, which today pumps less oil than it did prior to the US Invasion.

After several years, we now have greater instability in the Mid-East than we did in 2003. Iraq still requires a huge US military presence to keep the country from tearing itself apart. The Iraqi oil industry is weaker. The US's continued presence in Iraq has been a rallying point for Islamic extremists around the world (with Iraq serving as a training ground for such extremists). Iraq's weakened position in the Middle East has only encouraged Iran to stir up unrest while pushing Islamic Fundamentalism, and to thumb their noses at international bodies attempting to contain their nuclear program.

This capital that Bush was supposed to build has shown to be empty rhetoric and a failed policy to the Saudi's. Small wonder that the Saudi's rebuffed Bush's pleas to increase production so as to drive crude oil prices down. Bush and the GOP have left this country impotent to affect international oil production and pricing. Today, we saw a larger than expected increase in the US crude stocks and in gasoline inventories. In a rational economy, this should have driven the price of crude down. Instead, the price of crude increases, led by speculators whose motivation is greed. [I hope that the Democratic Congress starts looking at the rampant speculation occurring, because everyone knows Bush and the GOP won't. Do it for the good of the middle class and for the health of the economy.]

Finally, Bush and the GOP have mortgaged the short term future of the country by not having the forsight and fortitude to invest in alternate energy. How can anyone justify the huge tax breaks for the oil companies at the same time that they are raking in record profits? They can't even spend their profits fast enough in R&D for future energy development - which is where they should be investing. Those tax breaks would be better spent in developing alternate energy sources. If we had invested those tax breaks and the hundreds of billions of dollars we have spent on the Iraq war on alternate energy research and building the infrastructure to deliver energy from those new sources, we'd be much further along in weaning ourselves off the addiction to foreign oil.

Short term, I look for the price of oil (and all refined fossil fuels) to continue to rise, even against simple supply-demand rules until the Congress (or a Democratic administration) looks into the speculative nature of oil futures market. Longer term, we must mount an equivalent of a 1960's space race mentality to channel our efforts as a nation to transition us from fossil fuels to an economy based mostly on renewable energy. This is the way we gain our national security back and form the energy foundation for a healthy economy. Bush and the GOP have used our addiction to foreign oil to fatten fat-cat's wallets at the expense of the middle class, and has jeopardized our national security not doing enough to get us off our addiction. It's time for America and the Democrats to take back our future and our security.

Exceedingly Greedy Usury by Wall Street Bankers and High End Capitalists have put the United States economy in a recession giving the lower 70% of the population of the United States, the Common Population the Right to "NEVER" HAVE Happiness -- ONLY to Pursue Happiness.

The United States government should be supporting the population, rather than the Wall Street Bankers --- Bear Stearns Bank, being the 1st collapsed domino.

The United States government is using the tax resources of the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION to bail out the Wall Street Bankers, and saddle the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION with paying for the bail out, plus the effects on the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION from a recession caused by the free market schemes of the Wall Street Bankers, without benefit to the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION whatsoever, and burdening the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION with ALL the resulting principal and interest losses from the greedy free market schemes of the Wall Street Bankers.

The extremely over priced assets of the over-inflated economy that have been sold to the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION, for which the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION is obligated to pay --- are going to be maintained by the government as an obligation by the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION to have to pay, while the losses suffered by the Wall Street Bankers, who originated the problem are being absorbed by a policy of United States government CORPORATE WELFARE; burdening, subduing and forcing the taxpayers of the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION to suffer paying for the Wall Street Bankers' greedy free market losses. The 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION'S taxpayers will get soaked from both ends --- from their own losses as well as the losses of the Wall Street Bankers' free market schemes.

It is ludicrous that the people will allow themselves to carry the burden of both the Wall Street Bankers as well as their own losses as a result of the majorly greedy "usury actions" of the Wall Street Bankers without any help from the government for the people of the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION.

The Wall Street Bankers have life, liberty and happiness, while the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION have ONLY the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness. The 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION have the freedom of the field, the freedom of cows in the field without the liberty to go outside of their field that is owned by capitalists and Wall Street Bankers, but when it comes time to pay, the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION, with only the freedom of cows in the field, are always sent the bill for the GREEDY ACTIONS of the capitalists and the Wall Street Bankers that own their field. What more could the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION want than freedom of the field with the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness? Can you say, "moo"?