Rag Bin

Oil prices have gotten a small bump with the stimulus package and OPEC cutting back on production. The peak production year for planet Earth was 2007 and supplies will continue to dwindle in the years ahead. The Saudi reserves are a mirage--they are pumping several times more water now than oil, which indicates they are "drying" up. The Iranian fields are obsolete in terms of technology and they have been using an old method of injecting in water to stimulate oil and gas production. The problem with this is that it eventually seals the field off from further production.

The last major global find in oil was the Caspian Sea fields in 2000 and few expect larger finds in the near term. Meanwhile, the Chinese are locking in oil supplies throughout the world through signing long-term agreements, which will force an America with a recovering economy to pay higher prices within two years. It's estimated that barrel prices will again be at the highs of the past year. The message is to rapidly move away from oil even though it will dominate the American economy for years,maybe decades to come.

What about "Drill, Baby, Drill"? As T. Boone Pickens has pointed out, the average American oil well pumps only 5 barrels of oil a day. By opening the coastal waters and the national parklands, there will not be enough return on the cost--financial and environmental--to make a difference. If you drilled off New Jersey, you face another problem--the location of all the biological and germ weapons buried off the coast.

Our great media has been saying that the Republicans won the week here in Washington. A great definition of winning. Obama just won the centerpiece of his campaign promises. But somehow, the united Republican block gets a gold star for cohesiveness. For this, we should send McCain more ABBA albums. The Old Man Shouting at Clouds keeps getting invited on the networks to describe bipartisanship. As I recall it was McCain campaign that ran on bipartisanship and no earmarks and not Obama's. If he had any decency, McCain would stay in seclusion for a while so that other leaders in the Republican party could emerge.

This week is Auto Show here in D.C. when we find out whether the American auto industry will survive and how. The American auto industry represents about 23% of the country's manufacturing base and its demise could prove catastrophic for the American economy and its prospects for recovery. For reasons that they only know, Republicans actually sought the collapse of the auto industry during the last bailout. Perhaps, it will happen but to willfully kill off a sector of your manufacturing base without any thought of its consequences is madness. At the time, the arguments were all aimed at the UAW, arguments that had some validity 30 years ago but not since the massive concessions made by that union over the decades. Also, we heard from our Southern Senators, the champions of foreign automakers, that our product is not as good. Actually in the last several years, American cars have been winning all sorts of awards for safety and fuel efficiency. Still, I like the old muscle cars, even though I've never owned one.

Keeping our manufacturing base from completely collapsing is---drumroll--the fast-food industry. To camouflage how badly off our manufacturing base was, the Bush Administration added the fast-food industry to the category, a group that until now has shown signs of expanding.

Congrats to David Crosby, who may be the artificial father of the octupolets. he gave sperm for the Octomom. David likes to help the gals out from time to time. He also hangs out in Maine, which is the new superstate.