Two Babes and a Brain

Have you ever wondered...

if maybe we are asking the wrong questions? I was reading the numbers that the government released on poverty and income and those covered by health insurance (article here) and it suddenly occured to me that I didn't care about the way the government presented the numbers.

I don't care how many blacks or whites or hispanics fall where on the poverty line. Maybe that is because I'm white, but I don't think so. It interests me more where the people like me are falling. I want to know about two parent households with three kids, I want to know about college educated people, I want to know how people who have "major" health care costs that fall outside insurance coverage are doing.

I want to know about the people who are doing everything "right." I want to know about those people who are tightening their belts and not spending money on stuff they don't need. I want to know about the people who bit the bullet and stayed in school or got training. I want these numbers to tell me the real story about who is making it and who is better off.

I want to know these things because the numbers as they are mean nothing to me. We are a middle-class family and we work hard and we do all the things we are supposed to do and we are barely making it. All it would take for us to not make it would be another terrorist attack where the economy goes kafluee for a while, or one more unexpected bill, or one more increase in our health insurance premiums that aren't covering what we need them to cover.

Those people who read here regularly know me--a little. They know that I am big into personal responsibility. They know that I am a big believer in working hard. They know that while the softer side of me feels for people that I don't put any stock in excuses like my mother never loved me or my ancestors were slaves or I don't know any better. It seems to me though, that you can do everything right and still have it not work out. That you can work hard, and tighten your belts, and plan for the future and not make any excuses and not ask for handouts and it still isn't enough...

Those are the people I want to know about, because like it or not, our government does do things to impact the economy and jobs and health insurance and prices and all of those things and it seems to me that we would know better how all of that is going if we measured all of these statistics in a different way. You want to keep numbers on race? Fine. I don't care, go ahead. That isn't what interests me. I want to know about the people like me.

Chris

Spell check is down, please forgive the errors...

Walmart...

I'd like to know what you think of the Walmart thing..I would prefer it be a real discussion and not a rhetoric war, but we can't always get what we want...anyway here are some "facts" about Walmart or not...and before we start, I am not interested in passing legislation that mandates Walmart do anything differently--just curious if we think Walmart, the way they run their business and treat their employees is a good thing

Have Ya'll Noticed....

..that gas prices have been steadly going DOWN.... In my town, I have watched them go from $2.90 a gallon down to $2.67 a gallon.

Where's the media reporting on that?  Where's all the hype for that?  Where are all the analysts with their predictions...you know, the ones who predicted that gas would be $5.00 a gallon by this summer?

Oh...wait..that's right.... we only hear about it from the MSM and their analysts when the prices go UP. 

Sorry....blonde moment.

Lisa

UPDATE:  I just found this.  But that's all I have found.

Surely You Jest....

There is actually a Washing Post reporter who doesn't blame Bush... or at least not for the oil prices.

Shailaigh Murray, Washington Post Congressional Reporter, during the Post Politics Hour, actually made some sense...

"I may be going out on a limb here, but I don't think the price of crude oil has much to do with who occupies the White House. As a former Wall Street Journal reporter, I fall back on the simple supply and demand principle. People want to drive SUVs. A gazillion highway lanes are being built in China. Limited supplies of crude oil, whatever happens with ANWR. Of all the things to be surprised about, high gas prices should not be one of them."

Shocking, isn't it?

Lisa

The Price of Gas...

If we are going to suspend the EPA regulations on oil and gasoline because of the price increase, then maybe there are a few other things we could do. How about this?

Dear Friends:

It's time to end the double-talk on oil. People from Wilmington and Los Angeles aren't paying $3 a gallon for gas because of our "addiction to oil." They are paying $3 a gallon because this administration's national energy policy is written by the big oil companies.

Since President Bush took office, the price of gas has doubled - increased 100 percent.

High gas prices that make us queasy at the pump have been very good for the major oil companies. They are flush. Prices went up during Katrina. Six months later we learned that these oil companies made record breaking profits -- $111 billion in 2005.

Click here to support our efforts to repeal tax breaks for oil and gas companies that don't need them.

Last year Exxon Mobil reported the highest annual profits -- $36 billion -- of any corporation in US history. Those are profits approaching twice the return earned by the average American corporation.

The CEO of Exxon Mobile received a $400 million retirement package. His paycheck went through the roof, while the rest of us were left watching dollars tick up at the gas pump.

Since the 1990's, there have been over 2,600 mergers in the petroleum industry. Today, the Big Five - Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Conoco, BP, and Shell - together control 48 percent of domestic production, 50% of domestic refining capacity, and over 60 percent of the retail market. That means market power, pricing power.

It is time for President Bush and Vice President Cheney to get tough with their big oil friends.

Last year, they gave them $2.6 billion dollars in oil and gas tax breaks in the energy bill. Guess what? It turns out they don't need them.

I know - because I asked them.

The CEOs of the six largest oil and gas companies came in to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month.

So I asked them, under oath: Do you need these tax breaks? And they said: No. Each one agreed. No. They don't need them.

So I have a simple, common sense proposal. Let's repeal them. Let's do it immediately. Let's not give them billions in tax breaks that they clearly don't need. It is a waste of taxpayers' money.

Click here to support our efforts to repeal tax breaks for oil and gas companies that don't need them.

This is a nonpartisan, no-brainer decision. We have the word of the oil companies themselves - they don't need them.

Let's take the first step in taking control of our national energy policy. Let's show the oil companies that the days of handouts from the Bush administration are over.

Thank you,

Click here to support our efforts to repeal tax breaks for oil and gas companies that don't need them.

My Public Service To You...

OK...It's Monday and I am still pouting because I couldn't be at the Milbloggers Conference.  No fair ... no fair...Chris gets all the fun.  But alas it is over and I'll just have to wait until next year. 

So in honor of Chris being able to go to the conference and meet all those great people and me having to stay home and watch...I'm sharing this gas map with you to rub it in that Chris has to pay more for gas than I do....

;o)

Happy Monday

Lisa

Now This is Retail Competition At It's Worst

Yesterday in St. Petersburg, somebody set off canisters of mecaptan, a substance used to odorize natural gas, in a Maxidom home repair store.  Apparently the reason was a retail rivalry.  Canisters were found in three other branches of this particular chain.

Geeze...I'd hate to see what would happen if Macy's and Nordstrom's got into a brawl...or better yet Home Depot and Lowes.

Lisa

Jesus Is Not A Walmart Shopper...

Or at least he's not according to this.  I think I've heard it all now.  It's one thing to campaign against a company's policies.  It's another to drag poor Jesus into it.  I mean, doesn't our savior have enough to deal with? 

Lisa

Hat tip:  Camp Katrina

Now I know I'm Blonde, but...

...OK, I'm temporarily Pink, but I'm still a blonde.  Anyway, can someone explain to me how raising the interest rates again is going to help the economy.  How is putting us in a situation of having to fork out more money in interest rates along with our current situation of rising gas prices for our cars, heating, etc. beneficial to us?  As far as I can see, it just substantially lightens my cute little coach purse.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Lisa

SUVs As Far As The Eye Can See

Yes...SUVs...everywhere.  OK, there were pick-up trucks too, including mine, but you get the picture...