What Do Voters Want

It’s not even looming on the political horizon anymore – it’s smack-dab overhead.

The economy is crushing Iraq as the political hot button. Face it, if people can’t afford to buy things they get miserable, especially if staples such as food and fuel are satisfy appetites. The price of food is being blamed on fuel, which is certainly a huge drain on cash.

But what is driving fuel prices? Your local gas station has nothing to do with it, nor does your local oil company. The strong arm in all of this is the commodity trader. Just look at the rational behind run-ups in oil prices. The day-to-day reasons for price increases range from problems in Nigeria to the U.S. having too much oil (or gasoline) in reserve or too little. There are also fears about Iran nuking Israel or visa-versa. Or fears of any country committing any act of aggression against any other country.

Fears drive oil prices. Is that right? I don’t think so. Some how we need to get away from a speculative oil market much the way the U.S. ditched the silver standard to value the dollar.

Truth be known, the vast majority of us don’t likethe high price of gas (thanks to the world oil market) but nobody wants to take on the Goliath. We’re going to be eaten alive by oil prices and inflation is going to go through the roof, especially if Goldman Sachs and T. Boone Pickens are right and oil gushes up to $200 a barrel during the next few months.

The average person who makes a little more than enough to live on will need pay raises and companies will be hard pressed to give them. The next president is going to inherit a huge economic mess if the global oil market is not brought under control.

On the campaign trail - President Bush was heavily criticized by the Left after hurricane Katrina – and after Scott McClellan’s book came out — for not touring New Orleans on the ground right after Katrina hit. Barack Obama isn’t much different. He canceled his trip to Cedar Rapids IA citing the flooding. He should have gone to Cedar Rapids and put on the appearance of caring, showing how he handles disaster. Instead, Barack Obama has a fundraising link on his web site. He missed the boat on this one.