The election is a fete a comple for Obama.  Only Obama can derail his ascension to President.  Regrettably McCain simply does not have the horsepower to challenge the eloguent constitutional lawyer… Barack Obama.  And admittedly Obama is indeed inspiring if one is merely interested in inspiration without substance.  I wonder if Obama were running against someone like Ronald Reagan or better yet Harry Truman if he would be able to overcome these great men by merely espousing hopeful platitudes.   Take Harry Truman… in a debate setting do you think he would allow Obama to spew half truths and innuendos without challenge.  I suspect ole Harry would look into the camera and tell the public: “Look, I am a simple man and I am telling you with all sincerity and candor, Mr. Obama is not ready to be President.  You can choose to ignore my advice… you can even be mad at me for suggesting Mr. Obama is not ready on day 1, but I am telling you the man simply does not have the life experience nor the knowledge to be president.  And now I am going to tell you with all sincerity and candor, I do indeed have the experience and knowledge to be president.  That’s all…now the decision is yours”.   Instead of these direct and brutally challenging remarks, McCain seems to be more interested in being a polite and gentlemanly politician who inspires no one.   Were Sarah Palin not on his ticket McCain would barely be in the news.  She inspires more people than McCain and he is at the top of the ticket.   And in case there is doubt, I am not a fan of Obama.  My reasons are three-fold: 1.) the man is a huckster 2.) his policies will potentially be ruinous to this country and 3.) he lacks the life experiences to be president.  My reason 2.) is probably the most alarming reason I am upset that Obama is most likely going to be president.  Why?  Obama is going to put 2 people on the Supreme Court and we cannot afford another Justice who legislates from the bench.  And it is this legacy that will have a harmful lasting effect on this country… particularly if Obama chooses young Justices as they are life appointments.   Oh… that’s right I was writing about McCain… I guess I lost interest after the first sentence.

in 10 years.  And he likens this effort to Kenndy’s moon shot.  And the uninformed U.S. citizenry looks at awe at Obama.  Does the public know that we only get 500,000 barrels of oil per day directly from the Middle East.  Our primary sources of oil are 1.) domestic 2.) Mexico 3.) Canada and 4.) Venezuela.  Obama is the worlds best used car salesman.  He throws out ideas and concepts that go totally unchallenged and the citizens of this country simply do not have the knowledge to separate fact from fiction.   Even the media is largely uninformed about the actual facts of major issues.  We should BOO Obama when he says he needs 10 years to get off Middle East oil.  We could open up offshore California and remove Middle East oil in 2 years.  What the hell is Obama doing deceiving the public by creating a sense of great accomplishment out of something that is a drop in the bucket compared to the 20million barrels of oil used daily in the US.   But all these issues are not capable of sound biting.  If you’ll notice oilman Boone Pickens talks about “imported oil”, not Middle East oil.  He knows the difference.  Regrettably, while I am a fan of Pickens he is a modern day Don Quixote tilting at wind mills.  Wind mills are ugly, only operate when there is wind, which typically does not coincide with demand for electricity and lastly will be located in remote areas without access to a grid to get the power generated to market.  So, again I say… “tilting at windmills”…  And while Pickens is attempting to make a difference, Obama is just blathering.  And if the public really knew or cared about the facts, they would be mad as hell that Obama is playing them as fools when it comes to Middle East oil. .. seriously.  No one wants to be played the fool and that is what Obama and in my estimation most politicians are doing.  PLAYING US FOR FOOLS!!!!

Why are we not hearing more about the national debt?  I hear numbers being tossed around like $10trillion.  But no one seems all that concerned.  But I wish the debt were only $10trillion.  The true national debt is $53trillion.  How do I know this.  Well go to the actuarial tables at Social Security’s website and you see that the Federal Government has given Social Security an IOU for $43trillion.  This $43trillion will need to start being paid back in 2017.  Coincidentally in 2017, there will be only 2 workers paying into Social Security for every worker retiring or retired worker, so Social Security will absolutely need every penny of the $43trillion to honor its commitments.  So I say:  “HOW IN THE WORLD ARE WE GOING TO PAY THIS IOU?”   There is absolutely no way on gods green earth that this country can tax people at a level that would allow paying even a fraction of the $43trillion… otherwise, it would tax people at a level it would literally consume most peoples’ entire salary.  So again I ask: “HOW IN THE WORLD ARE WE GOING TO PAY THIS?”  This is staggering and no one is even talking about it.  But go to the Social Security website… the numbers are there in black and white.  Of course… it was much clearer in the 2007 annual report because 2007 was not an election year.  The 2008 annual report for Social Security obscures the numbers a bit, but the numbers are there… and the Federal Government or shall I say YOU AND ME, owe Social Security $43trillion.  Have a nice day!

I continue to see television commercials about the BIG BAD oil companies needing to diversify into all kinds of different energy sources.  Why?  Oil companies are experts at finding oil… why would they have to diversify?  If they choose to diversify… okay fine, but to stupidly suggest that “oil companies MUST deversify” just smacks of socialism.  Would anyone suggest GM start making helicopters?  After all, GM is in the transportation business, so why not demand they make helicopters?  It is the same argument, but the general public has once again been conditioned to say and think absurd things about “BIG OIL”… without these companies I would hate to think what this country would do to power its economy.  Oil is the backbone of our world.  Oil is even more fundemental than water.  Without oil, there is not the energy to pump water to our homes.  Sure oil companies make lots of money today, but what about 10 years ago.  Oil was under $10/barrel and not a single sole was saying “oil companies need to diversify”.  It is only now that the business cycle has shifted, that all the sudden everyone is outraged.   At $10/barrel most American production was being sold literally at a loss, but if the production ceased the company would lose the lease.  So oil was pumped into the market at a loss and it was subsidized by refining and snacks at the gas station.  Amoco learned 20 years ago that they could make more money selling twinkies than gasoline… and they pioneered the convenience store.  Of course today Amoco makes a fair return on its oil production, but refining margins are minimal.  Hell the government takes more money out of the value chain than the refiners.  So next time someone says: “Oil companies must diversify”… ask them why?  Why would we want these efficient and expert companies to start making wind mills or solar panels?  Why?