How disgusting is OPEC? I know this entry is a few days late in coming, but the word going around is that the cartel wants to set a standard rate of $75 per barrel of oil worldwide. These dummies don’t understand that price controls do not work in the type of worldwide economic downturn that we’re seeing. From the article:
OPEC, which accounts for more than 40 percent of the world’s supply, will next meet in Oran, Algeria, on Dec. 17. In a statement after yesterday’s meeting in Cairo, the group warned demand will be “much lower” than expected a month ago. The cost of crude has continued to slide even after the group agreed last month to lower production by 1.5 million barrels a day.
There shouldn’t be a problem with reducing the amount of oil that is generated by the oil cartel since worldwide demand is decreasing. That’s fine - that’s simple supply and demand: when demand goes down, supplies do not need to be as high. However, to reduce supply of a vital resources to a point where prices skyrocket is unacceptable. The world is taking notice of what OPEC does and its people will respond in turn.
Remember last month when OPEC cut their production by 1.5 million barrels per day? The purpose of the cut was to drive prices higher. Instead, prices sunk a few dollars per barrel on the very same day the cut was announced. Thankfully, the people of the world are beginning to seriously consider alternative energy sources and they are moving in that direction in large numbers. This shift away from a petroleum-based life is what the world needs to cut off some of these middle eastern countries who try to dictate their financial needs upon the world.
Let’s hope that demand continues to decrease as consumers continue to purchase energy efficient vehicles, household items, and renewable/resuable resources.
President Bush will never be classified as someone who bows to foreign pressures, that’s for sure. The latest “wait a minute” moment from the man I voted for comes as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki suggests a timetable for America to withdraw its troops. From the article:
Iraq has proposed a short-term memorandum of understanding with the United States rather than trying to hammer through a formal agreement on the presence of U.S. forces, the country’s prime minister said Monday.
The Iraqi government proposed the memorandum after widespread Iraqi opposition to U.S. demands emerged during talks on a more formal Status of Forces Agreement. Some type of agreement is needed to keep U.S. troops in Iraq after a U.N. mandate expires at year’s end.
“Now there is a memorandum of understanding replacing the draft agreement,” al-Maliki told several Arab ambassadors to the United Arab Emirates during a meeting Monday.
The proposed memorandum includes a formula for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, said the prime minister — an idea opposed by U.S. President George W. Bush.
Now, why exactly are we telling the Iraqis that we are NOT going to leave their nation? I was 110% for going in there and removing Saddam Hussein. No matter what the leftists want to say, the world is a better, safer place with that man out of power and in the ground. However, now that he is out of power and many lives have been spent setting up a new Iraqi government - give these people control of their own nation!
Does America - or more specifically President Bush - think it is the right course of action to reject a proposed schedule to remove our troops from this sovereign country? Yes, I understand that there needs to be an ordered draw down in forces so that Iraq isn’t thrown into turmoil, but that is included in the Iraqi proposal.
This is an interesting situation and one that I hope resolves itself with the best interests of our troops and the young Iraqi government in mind. But President Bush baffles me. Here is his golden opportunity to join forces with al-Maliki to create a tentative timetable for withdrawal and he is opposing the idea. If Bush could get his head on straight, he’d realize that if went along with al-Maliki, he’d essentially hand the White House over to John McCain. After Obama’s recent gaffe where he was “for a quick withdrawal before he was against it,” if Bush could take this issue away from his platform it would be provide a great benefit to McCain.
Sometimes you have to wonder who is in Bush’s ear these days.
As I type this, I’m sitting in my professional development class on fund raising for nonprofit organizations. The class started about a half an hour ago and so far the topic of discussion has been the completely unsurprising New York Times article that was published yesterday regarding the television military news analysts (former army guys telling the country how to interpret the war). I should stress that “discussion” simply means our instructor actually reading the article verbatim and stopping to interrupt with liberal outbursts at portions of the article that make her angry.
When will this bullshit end? I’m here to learn about fucking fund raising and I’m being lectured to by a liberal professor reading from a liberal newspaper about a completely unsurprising story!?! Come on! I’m here to talk about fund raising, damn it! As I sit here in the thirteenth week of this course, I can report from a student’s perspective and a professor’s perspective that this class has been a complete disaster.
Without getting into the meat of the New York Times article (which I read yesterday AND I listened to the interactive feature, too), this story is not unexpected. You mean the Pentagon asked former military officers to spread the positives about the Iraq War? OH MAN! Someone call the paper and get this printed! Oh wait, I guess someone did…
Anyway, this is ridiculous. My company is paying good money for me to learn about fund raising so I can help build a fund raising program at the office and I’m being lectured to about the military? Give me a break…
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