The Political Voices of Women

On Labor Day, the news for U.S. workers is bleak. A new study by Rutgers School of Management shows that 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, that number is an increase of 25 percent from just last year. Here is more information on these labor findings, as well as video clips you may find interesting. If you had to give the Bush administration a report card on their labor policies, what would it be? What presidential candidate do you think can make a difference in the lives of U.S. workers? Let me know in comments.

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The Onion has made a video that takes a serious (yet satirical) look at the Bush presidency. It would be a lot more funny, if it wasn’t so true. But, I guess it is important to lighten things up from time to time. So, here goes.

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency


You can see more videos from The Onion here.

Why Did Consumers Spend More Money In June?

So…Why did consumers spend more money in June? Unfortunately, it’s not because consumers are feeling confident in the economy (nor should they). It seems that the reason consumers spent more, was because the prices of just about everything has increased.

Here is a clip from The Associated Press…

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Have you been spending more money? Why is that? Is it because you have more money to spend, or because the things you have to buy cost more money? Let me know in comments.

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Pain At The Pump & Record Profits For Exxon/Mobil

More record profits for the oil companies. Shocking! While everyday people can’t even afford the gas it takes to get to their jobs, Big Oil continues to celebrate high prices at the pump, with record profits.

From The New York Times - Rising Oil Prices Swell Profits at Exxon and Shell…

Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, reported on Thursday that second-quarter income rose 14 percent, to $11.68 billion, the highest-ever for an American company.

Net income of $2.22 a share compared with $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, in the quarter a year ago.

Revenue rose 40 percent, to $138.1 billion, from $98.4 billion in the quarter a year ago.

Excluding an after-tax charge of $290 million tied to an Exxon Valdez court settlement, earnings were $11.97 billion, or $2.27 a share.

From ABC News - Money Beat…

For big oil, 2008 has been a very good year. How good? Well, it’s even better than last year, when the combined sales of the top five oil companies added up to $1.5 trillion — that’s greater than the GDP of Canada.

Since then, the price of crude has soared by as much as 50 percent while the price of natural gas has also taken off. And though oil has had a significant drop from its high of above $140 a barrel for the second quarter, the benefits of high oil are clearly noted in balance sheets of the world’s largest oil companies.

And if that doesn’t make your blood boil…

Massive Profits, High Gas Prices and $33 billion in Taxpayer Giveaways to Big Oil…

Over the next 5 years oil companies will receive $33 billion in taxpayer funded giveaways.According to the report set to be released tomorrow morning by the Friends of the Earth, (pdf) the $33 billion in taxpayer dollars will come to Big Oil through tax loopholes, royalty rollbacks and research and development subsidies.

I wrote a post a few months ago about Gas Prices, it also included tips on saving money at the pump. My friend and Contributing Editor to The Political Voices of Women, Pamela Lyn, wrote a very popular post on What is the Real Reason Gas Prices Are So High?

What do you think about Big Oil reporting record profits? It seems to me, there is really no reason for oil companies to do anything to help lower gas prices. Let me know what you think in comments.

McCain Flip-Flops on Offshore Oil Drilling - by Catherine Morgan 

John McCain is using our sky-high gas prices to justify his flip-flopping on the issue of offshore oil drilling. I mentioned this yesterday in a post, and questioned why the MSM didn’t seem to notice. Today, they have noticed.

However, there is no evidence that allowing more offshore drilling will help in reducing the price of gas in the near future (as McCain is suggesting), or even the far future. But, I guess the McCain campaign is hoping you will be fooled, and vote for McCain in the hopes of lower gas prices.

Here is an interesting clip from The Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer…

SEE VIDEO AND READ FULL POST AT THE CARE2 ELECTION BLOG

McCain Want To Lift Federal Ban on Offshore Drilling — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog)

McCain announced today, that he wants to allow states to drill for offshore oil. You have got to be kidding me. The only clip I could find about this (below) is focusing on another one of his campaign supporter controversies. But, I think the real story here is his desire to lift the federal ban on offshore drilling.

From The Washington Post - The Trail…

Republican Sen. John McCain today called for an end to the federal ban on offshore oil drilling, a move that would let states decide whether oil rigs would sprout up along the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines.The move is a dramatic break with the environmental groups McCain has been courting for months, but is designed to reassure voters angry about rising gas prices. McCain said he would push for new incentives to help convince state officials to allow the drilling once the 27-year-old federal ban is lifted.

From Politics Junky…

With gasoline prices rising and the United States chronically dependent on foreign oil, the Republican presidential contender said his proposal would “be very helpful in the short term resolving our energy crisis.”

That of course is horseshit as oil is traded on a global market and any oil tapped from the ocean (or ANWR, for that matter) would have little if any influence on the price of oil. Even if it had a nominal effect it would be at least five years before US consumers saw it. It’s not like US oil companies would find new oil reserves and only sell it to Americans for a discount. They sell it to the highest bidder, which may be China or India. And then there’s the problem of refineries…But that’s a more complicated message than telling the American people that crazy environmentalists are keeping gas prices high by blocking exploration on our own shores. So much for straight talk.

From Michelle Malkin’s blog…

Just a recap: McCain was AWOL on the windfall profits tax debate in the Senate (a failed Carter relic that he says he’d be “glad to look at”). He had nothing to say about Rep. John Peterson’s effort to lift the offshore drilling ban when it was up for a vote last week. And as I noted back on May 22, he has channeled the entire Democrat presidential field’s class warfare rhetoric and repeatedly referred to the oil industry’s “obscene profits.”

Now, he’s announced he wants to lift the offshore drilling moratorium and will give an energy speech tomorrow. He was for it before he was against it before he was for it again. Positively Kerryesque:

From Tammy at Tammy’s Blog…

In light of our soaring energy costs, John McCain wants the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling to be lifted, and individual states given the right to pursue energy exploration in waters near their own coasts. With gasoline prices rising and the good old US chronically dependent on foreign oil, McCain said his proposal would “be very helpful in the short term resolving our energy crisis.” He even wants to go so far as to offer the states incentives, including a greater share of royalties paid by companies that drill for oil, as an incentive to permit exploration. Asked how far offshore states should be given control of drilling rights, he said that was a matter for negotiation. Wow, imagine how delightful our beaches will be?! He offered no other details for his proposal, which he is expected to describe more fully on Tuesday in an energy speech. Stay tuned for that.

What do you think? Is this the most ridiculous thing you have ever hear?

Economy: Housing Crisis and a Sharp Increase in your Utility Bill — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog)

It’s costing American’s more and more money just to get by these days. The dollar is down, gas prices are up, and the cost of just about everything we buy is increasing. How did we get here? What’s next? When will it end? I wish I had the answers and I could predict that all would be well very soon. Unfortunately, I cant.

How did we get here? For many people it was the housing bubble that pulled the rug out from under them. Here is an interesting clip I found on CNN today…

What Caused the Housing Bubble?

What’s next? Here is more troubling economic news…

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Here is a guest post from Frances at Frances Ellen Speaks.

(If you would like to be a guest blogger on this site, please join our community)

Have you noticed whether your gas station is putting ethanol in their gas? Have you noticed that your gas mileage has decreased?

I get my gas at a Shell station and right there on the front of the pump is a sticker that says, Contains 10% Ethanol. My gas consumption has been rising by leaps and bounds lately, but I’m not driving any more than usual. Actually, because of the gas prices, I’m more selective about where I go and how I get there.

While I was pumping, I looked up at the sign to see if the price had come down since my gas was now being spiked with ethanol. What a joke! What made me think a gas company would dream of giving the consumer a break.

It appears I’m not the only person that’s miffed. Here’s an excerpt from Slow Food Waltz

Ethanol, isn’t it’s use supposed to lower gas prices? Huh??

Help me out someone, what am I missing here. I just noticed this Shell gas station uses 10 percent ethanol, but the gas prices are exactly the same as they are at other places. Will ethanol ever translate to a cost savings for the consumer??

Okay, so the price hasn’t come down. It’s still up there at $3.90 a gallon in my neck of the woods. To top that off, I recently purchased a fuel economy car, but now I’m getting less gas mileage. That’s a fact and I’m not the only one who’s noticed. See information from Punny Money.

It lowers fuel economy. That 10% ethanol being mixed into your gasoline might be helping to keep it 10 cents a gallon cheaper, but you’re probably getting 10-30% fewer miles per gallon because of it. Since all the gas stations around here switched to a 10% ethanol blend, my gas mileage has dropped by about 15%!

What is going on? I understand it’s imperative that we cultivate some type of alternative fuel, but why am I suffering while the gas companies are reporting record-breaking profits? Oh yeah, I forgot–I don’t have a lobbyist. Drat!

So, it appears that you and I will be at the pumps more often, paying the same ridiculous prices. And I don’t expect to hear too much squawking from anyone because the change is couched in “alternative fuel” rhetoric. I suppose the media will somehow find a way to make it sound unpatriotic if anyone speaks out against it, too. What a racket!

READ MORE BY FRANCES AT FRANCES ELLEN SPEAKS

Also See:

How High Will Gas Prices Go?

Taxes on Big Oil

$4+ Gas Prices

1 Million Homes In Foreclosure — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog)

If you are a homeowner with a mortgage, these numbers may be very scary to you…Nearly 1 in 10 Homeowners Face Loan Problems, and More Than A Million Homes Are In Foreclosure.From The Associated Press…

The foreclosure hammer is hitting ever harder. People lost their homes at the highest rate on record in the first three months of the year, and late payments soared to a new high, too — an alarming sign that the housing crisis and its damage to the national economy may only get worse.

Dumping more empty homes on an already glutted market also is likely to put a further drag on home prices — extending a vicious cycle.

Slumping home values are being blamed in large part for the rising tide of foreclosures. Troubled borrowers are left owing more to the bank than their homes are worth. They can’t sell without taking a huge financial hit, so they just walk away.

In fact, Americans’ equity in their homes — usually their single biggest asset — now has dropped to the lowest level on record in figures going back to the end of World War II.

CNN’s Cafferty File asked the question - What does it mean when more than a million homes are now in foreclosure? So far there are over 200 responses to the question. Here are just a few…

Rick writes:
It means maybe, maybe, Washington will begin to realize just how much the American people are hurting. From the mortgage crisis to gas prices, our leaders still have their blinders on. At some point, they’ll have to stop paying lip service to these problems and actually start addressing them. We can only hope.

Linda writes:
People can’t afford gas to get to work or look for work, high unemployment rates, high cost of health care to name a few. How can one make a mortgage payment when they can’t even afford a few gallons of gas?

Rick from West Hollywood, Calif. writes:
1 million homes in foreclosure and a recession “longer and deeper” than anyone realizes mean one thing: George Bush and the GOP’s chickens are coming home to roost. And we are the newspaper lining the chicken coop floor.

Also See:

Video of Ed McMahon - talking about his possible foreclosure.

More Million Dollar Foreclosures

The Housing Crisis Is NOT Over

For Those Of You Counting

The Bush-McCain Challenge