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POPS Examples Of What Not To Do at The Heartland Institute. "Not only has it failed to cover many people, but all the false promises surrounding it have distracted Maine from doing anything that would actually help improve the situation." 'Costly, Ineffective Failure' "Maine has one of the highest state and local tax burdens. We should not be adding more taxes for this boondoggle, particularly at a time when Maine families are struggling with record high gas and heating oil prices and an uncertain economy." Past a 'Train Wreck' John Garven, president-elect of the Illinois State Association of Health Underwriters, concurs. "Dirigo is the more 'mature' of the * two programs, and it is already past the train wreck stage ." * Massachusetts 'universal health care' schemes Maine Residents Angered by Expansion of Dirigo Program Subsidy
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POPSPalin: Dollar woes show need for energy independence THIS should be among the top 2 issues that Washington is addressing! How many of our economic problems could be solved just by going full-force on this desperate need? Can someone explain to me (other than the environmentalist's drumbeat) why this is so hard to implement?? I hear the talk but see no movement. Crisis indeed!!
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POPSU.S. Considers Curbs on Speculative Trading of Oil 
I am a little weary of this step in the regulation of futures markets. Though I do not have the complete information before me and I do realize the vital interest there is in price stability I question the role of government to overly regulate the energy futures market as futures markets do serve a function that is beneficial to more than the few. Though what that benefit is escapes me at the moment. In fact the price swings of late I’d say have little to do with futures markets and more to do with expected price fluctuations of a dwindling resource, i.e. this is an indicator that we have reached peak oil. There was a study (hey if you are interested in the details, let me know) that came out a few years back that showed the price curve of a commodity that suddenly reached the point of being a dwindling resource, meaning that new demand was coming on at a higher rate than supply. Contrary to expectations the price did not skyrocket forever but went through wild gyrations
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POPSWho's Really Behind the Rising Prices at the Pumps? This bipartisan cabal created a speculative mechanism that's presently sucking money out of your pocket with every gallon of gas you pump. Meanwhile, every dollar that Goldman, Morgan and the rest use to inflate oil prices is a dollar they are not investing in real economic activity that could create middle-class jobs. Of course, Wall Street culprits are trying to keep their involvement hush-hush. When a McClatchy newspaper reporter approached Goldman Sachs about it, the response was terse: "Goldman Sachs declines to comment for your story."
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POPS Watch What Obama Does, Not What He Says But capacity can be increased only gradually, and that's if more production is being encouraged rather than prevented. To think that wind and solar or other alternative fuels can fill the energy gap requires a belief in what Adriel Bettelheim of Congressional Quarterly has called the "Tinkerbell effect," as in Peter Pan. It consists of believing something will happen just because you wish it would. Wind and solar now provide less than 1 percent of America's energy needs. The likelihood, based on projections by experts, is that oil and gas must be relied on overwhelmingly to meet the country's energy needs for at least two more decades. But amazingly enough, the Obama administration is worried about domestic "overproduction" of oil and gas. So Obama has proposed removing all tax incentives to produce oil and gas, slapping a 13 percent excise tax on all energy derived from the Gulf of Mexico,
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POPS IPCC Global Warming Hoaxers Wrote Cap and Trade! energy-intensive companies, including pulp and paper, steel, aluminum, glass and cement. That includes a 15 percent distribution of free allowances to the trade-vulnerable industries, as well as a clause that allows the president by 2025 to impose tariffs on carbon-intensive goods imported into the United States.” 4.) Pollution that is causing greenhouse gas warming on our planet. 700 scientists, including some current and former UN IPCC scientists, tend to disagree. So not only will our energy costs exorbitantly higher per year, but now everything we import will be more expensive too. "I don't know the details. I don't claim to know everything that's in this bill. We left it very heavily with the scientists." . . . Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) The "scientists", global warming hoaxers wrote cap and trade! Waxman doesn't know what's in it. It's a badge of honor. Don't bother me with these things!
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POPSCap-and-Trade = The Biggest Tax Increase In U.S. History Much of the cap-and-trade tax revenue will be earmarked for the so-called Making Work Pay tax credit, worth $400 for a single-worker family and $800 for a two-worker family. So while the left hand offers $400 or $800, the right hand snatches $4,000 (or more) from the pockets of American families. Some deal. This is not an unintended consequence of the plan–it’s the intended goal. President Obama made it plain as day when he said that he wants to give so-called renewable energies a market advantage. That requires stepping in with heavy taxes to dramatically raise the price of fossil fuels, which are much, much cheaper than renewables and are projected to remain so for a long time, especially since oil prices have come down sharply. And what do we buy, environmentally, with this enormous hit to the economy? Basically, nothing. Cap and trade is already failing to reduce emissions in Europe.
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POPS Obama’s Planned Gas Tax Voodoo 2. The cost of consumables will skyrocket at a time when inflation is already in place. Say hello to $7.00 tomatoes, $6.00 for a gallon of milk. 3. Higher prices for commercial travel, and incidently more airlines forced to shut their doors due to higher fuel cost and lack of passengers due to to the fact they can’t afford to fly. In other words it will have huge negative affects.
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POPSSteven Chu Surprised to Learn He's in Charge of Oil Policy Yikes. As Obama focuses on things other than energy, notice gasoline prices inching higher. How long until they're back over $4? Better get building nuclear power plants and converting the federal vehicle fleet to use natural gas, Mr. President. Sure, you can talk about windmills and solar panels out on your speaking stops. But lets make sure that we're doing something serious about our energy needs, okay?
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POPSHigher Gas Prices Likely On The Horizon more than $4 per gallon for gas on average - helped slash demand for oil. From November 2007 to October 2008, Americans drove 100 billion fewer miles than the year before, according to government figures. The nation's biggest automakers lurched toward bankruptcy as sales of sport utility vehicles and trucks plummeted. "We wouldn't be bailing out the automobile industry today ... had we not had this crazy situation with oil prices," said Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Oil giants like Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips have yet to announce their 2009 capital spending plans, but analysts say most companies are likely to shelve some projects. Already, Royal Dutch Shell has postponed a near-doubling of production in Canada. Marathon Oil says it expects to cut capital spending by 15 percent in 2009.
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POPSGas Prices Shoot Up, Thanks to Another Israeli Middle East War Oil prices are still low yet gas has gone up 20-cents per gallon in the last 2 days. Middle east wars directly effect gas prices at the pump. You can thank Israel's new middle east war for the latest hike as this article mentions. New York Times: Oil prices are up about 25 percent in the last week alone, in part because of the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza Now gas prices fell despite OPEC's last cut, and demand has not changed much, so that leaves the market fears of the impact of another Israeli war (as with Lebanon couple years ago), and war-mongering talk, all supported by AIPAC-controlled U.S. Congress and both incoming and going U.S. Presidents. This is not what the U.S. economy needs, and is the fruits of another unjust war! Just when we were beginning to economically breathe on "main street" more wars come to change all of that. Demand Cha
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POPS Oil Prices Drop Around The Globe Fewer jobs, fewer factory orders and slowing construction have added up to a severe drop-off in energy use, sending crude prices plunging. "People are waking up to the fact that there may not be much demand," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. Prices at the pump continued to decline, falling 1.4 cents overnight to $1.79, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That price is down 60 cents from just last month. The average price in Alaska, $2.74 a gallon, remained the nation's highest. Alaska is one of only three states remaining where the average is above $2. The Alaska average has fallen 73 cents in the past month. The average price in Anchorage was $2.58 a gallon Thursday, down 61 cents in the past month. "We have entered a new era of lower gasoline prices and oil prices," he said.
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POPSBig Oil's Charm Offensive The money grabbers are putting on masks of altruism, hoping we won’t notice their pockets bulging with our dollars – and hoping we won't demand that Congress take away the billions of dollars they get each year in tax subsidies. Oil company image ads aren't fooling anyone. Their attempts to appear touchie-feelie are as hopeless as hanging an air freshener on the tail of a hog. Couldn't have said it better myself. By the way, notice how the gas prices fell after people stopped consumming so much gas. Let's keep this in mind when prices start going up again. It truly is all about supply and demand.
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POPSGas Prices Down, Still Higher Than Last Year This data is thru Oct. 6. Gas prices today are down even more, almost to 3.00 per gallon, but still higher than a year ago. The price average last year at this time was 2.77. Prices were 1.29 pre-Iraq war in 2002. Note the crude stock chart shows that while monthly prices are falling monthly crude supply has remained about the same , busting the "supply is the problem" propaganda.
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POPSAAE Declares Victory over 'Eco-Terrorists' Typical 'us vs them' rhetoric but this group takes it too far. I am all for breaking our dependence on foreign oil, but current oil shale extraction technology is too water intensive, environmentally destructive, and too expensive to be considered a viable alternative to foreign oil. Any oil that is extracted will be sold to the higher profit markets overseas and we Americans will still be faced with high pump prices in addition to ruined landscape. Oil shale production requires lots of fresh water that is currently being used to irrigate food crops and ranch land which means producing oil will come at the cost of food production.
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POPSClubForGrowth Vote Alert - Energy Bill The moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf expires at the end of the year, yet supporters of this bill want to continue that ban on nearly 90% of OCS through this proposal. Along with the tax hikes and the subsidies for alternative fuels, there is nothing pro-growth about this proposal. In addition, we recently learned that an undisclosed, non-germane $2 billion earmark was inserted into this bill in complete violation of House rules. It should be vigorously voted down.
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POPSFed Chairman: Economy Bad, Worst "in Memory" It is not just gas prices. Bernanke talks about how inflation has not yet had its full effect , comparing it to a storm that has not yet fully hit the mainland: "Although we have seen some improved functioning in some markets, the financial storm that reached gale force'' around this time last year "has not yet subsided, and its effects on the broader economy are becoming apparent in the form of softening economic activity and rising unemployment,' Bush and McCain do not acknowledge this, and Obama's policies would never fix it. The role that both Bush and Congress have played in RUINING the economy through government overspending (on unjust wars), devaluing the dollar (which is a key factor in inflation), and causing a rise in oil prices, are not discussed. The Fed is not innocent and causes inflation too by printing more money for government overspending from thin air! The Fed Chairman is using this to try to obtain new powers for th
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POPSOil Supply Increases, Oil Price Increases Proof again supply is not the problem driving prices on oil and gas. Note this happens as the oil laden Caspian region (Russia, Georgia, etc.) comes into play with war and rumors of war--and particularly as Condi Rice (former exec at Chevron) goes around heightening US rhetoric against Russia and signing provocatory missile agreements with its satellite states. It is not actual supply so much as perceived supply which is effected by wars and "geopolitical" tensions and factors . Change the (neoconservative) war policy, prices will drop.
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POPSFrozen Katrina People will freeze to death this winter while republicans ignore assistance in favor of voting for offshore oil drilling. Last year LIHEAP was only able to assist 16% of eligible recipients forcing the poor to choose between food, medicine or heating fuel. And Bush proposed cutting the aid by $379 million. The total annual funding for this program amounts to less than what the U.S. spends every week in Iraq. They way we treat our disadvantaged, poor and homeless is atrocious.
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POPSObama backs some drilling, tapping oil stockpile Putting his finger in the wind. The majority of Americans want drilling, so McCain's 'receptive audience' is the American people. Yes, the policies of the past decades have contributed to this *crisis*, but had he been a part of the Democrat government in Congress all those years, he would have stood with them. But then, he was just a baby and didn't know squat...and now he's an expert?
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POPSWill Reid Bring A Vote To Open New Areas For Exploration
“Some people are just scared of the accusation that not leasing more acres has an impact on oil prices,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, a senior Democrat from Oregon. “It just doesn’t.” Democratic lawmakers say the Reid-Bingaman proposal seems to be gaining momentum, though these same sources questioned whether Pelosi would schedule it for a vote in the House. But Pelosi has balked at scheduling any drilling legislation for a regular floor vote because that would give Republicans an opportunity to force vulnerable Democratic incumbents to vote on difficult amendments. Votes against expanded drilling would open Democrats to accusations that they had blocked efforts to lower record gas prices. Votes for Republican amendments to encourage more drilling, however, would anger environmental activists. Republicans are demanding votes on several amendments and have pledged to block Democrats from moving to other issues until drilling receives floor votes.
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POPSMagical Thinking vs. Reality amount to $1.05 to $1.38 per gallon, or 42 to 55 percent of ethanol's wholesale market price. Ethanol does not reduce gasoline prices. If you lived in urban areas that used reformulated gasoline last summer -- that's the environmentally "clean" gasoline required for areas with air pollution problems -- you might have paid up to 60 cents a gallon more for gasoline. That's because the federal government required oil refineries to use 4 billion gallons of ethanol in 2006, regardless of price, and gas pump prices last summer reflected the fact that ethanol was twice as expensive as conventional gas in wholesale markets, and far more costly to deliver. The truth is that if ethanol has commercial merit, it doesn't need the subsidy. And if it doesn't, no amount of subsidy will bestow it.
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POPSDemocrats And Gasoline that they must have some gall to criticize creationism when they in fact subscribe to its economic equivalent. But as I wrote last week, I don't really think they are this ignorant. They're providing a rhetorical distraction to the fact that they want high gas prices, probably higher ones than we have right now. Meanwhile, in order to deflect and even harness consumer anger in the political arena, they can send out Chuck Schumer to put on this dog-and-pony show about the phantoms that are secretly directing the economy from behind closed doors. It's a smokescreen. As an energy consumer, you should be a lot more concerned about what Democrats are doing in the open Senate chamber. The gas crisis finally hit Capitol Hill with full fury this week, and Senate Democrats have launched a plan that sounds ambitious: Take on Wall Street speculators, OPEC, price gougers and Big Oil. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9967.html
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POPSGore Less Welcome When Gas Costs 4 Bucks Some lawmakers warn that Americans are angry about gas prices and don’t necessarily want to be reminded about the economic sacrifices that may be necessary to reduce the nation’s oil consumption. “People’s anger about a lot of things is crystallized as a result of the gas prices,” said Lautenberg. “The anger is focused by the visibility at the pump.” Lautenberg warned that Americans aren’t eager to hear about the need for more financial sacrifices if there’s not a possible reward in the not-too-distant future. “If it looks like it’s just a continuation of an attack of our economy and family budgets, then its starts getting dispiriting,” he said of innovative yet expensive energy proposals.
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POPS President Bush Discusses Energy The problem is that Congress has restricted access to key parts of the OCS since the early 1980s. Since then, advances in technology have made it possible to conduct oil exploration in the OCS that is out of sight, protects coral reefs and habitats, and protects against oil spills. With these advances -- and a dramatic increase in oil prices -- congressional restrictions on OCS exploration have become outdated and counterproductive. Republicans in Congress have proposed I call on the House and the Senate to pass good legislation as soon as possible. This legislation should give the states the option of opening up OCS resources off their shores, provide a way for the federal government and states to share new leasing revenues, and ensure that our environment is protected. There's also an executive prohibition on exploration in the OCS. When Congress lifts the legislative ban, I will lift the executive prohibition.
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POPSCommodity speculation and the cost of living As high-tech stocks and real-estate investments have started to look less promising, financial speculators have turned to commodities. This is why energy and food prices have shot up so dramatically around the world.
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POPSSomeone Tell McCain: Oil Is A National Security Issue And McCain and his Greeniac buddies in Congress are in no small way responsible for that. But his demagoguery on the energy issue is truly disappointing. They've blocked exploration and drilling offshore and in any part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - likely repositories of some 100 billion barrels of oil and hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. Just the news that America's domestic energy sources were finally being tapped surely would discourage those "evil" speculators, and lower the price of crude. That, in turn, would help strengthen the weakened dollar - another reason for higher prices. And it would create tens of thousands of American jobs in the process. How anyone who understands so clearly the necessity for resolutely fighting terrorism can be so obtuse on this equally critical issue is a true mystery.
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POPSOil Prices Still Higher--No End in Sight "Oil prices have risen nearly sevenfold since 2002"--i.e. since the unjust neocon wars began. Gas will likely be 4.50 per gallon by July 4th, $5.00 by Labor Day. Note the thing they try and belittle, while attempting to blame China for rising demand, the devaluation of the dollar: the weaker dollar also prompting speculative buying
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