The Flim-Flam Party and its Victims

By TRB

Are you starting to feel ripped off?

When you go to the gas pump do you understand that the problems in Libya should not cause any price increase in gasoline in this country? Did you know that the U.S. receives only 2 percent of its oil from Libya, and that if Libya disappeared off the face of the map tomorrow the gas prices would - under normal circumstances - remain the same?

But gas is up to $3.59 a gallon in some places and, as they say, summer is coming. Oil is selling at the absurd price of $115 a barrel, especially when you consider that there is no shortage of oil. So what is driving these prices up?

Speculation.

Wall Street is driving gas prices up. That dirty little hole in Manhattan is behind this in a big way. You see, oil is being traded as a commodity (this is a relatively new thing), which means the traders can hold on to it for as long as they want, watching the price rise and knowing all the time that you will be up at that pump when it reaches $3.60 a gallon, $3.70 a gallon. Nobody ever lost a nickel overestimating the average American's desire for gasoline.

But home heating oil falls into this greedy pit of speculation as well.

The bankers don't care.They will bet on anything even if there is only a slight chance to win. If they lose - which they often do - there is always the U.S. Fed to bail them out. If they win, well, that's what is all about isn't it?

Winning. Even if they have to destroy the nation in the process. What do they care; there are always other nations.

Treating gasoline as a commodity like pork futures, is insane. But it is very American. Just ask any of the millionaires and billionaires who are playing the gasoline market. What do they care about your price at the pump? Most don't even know how to operate a gasoline pump. Someone else has been doing that for them for years.

But it is not only gasoline this time. According to the United Nations Food Price index:

Milk is up 8 percent.

Meat is up 9.6 percent.

Dairy is up 19.1 percent.

Cereal is up 37.2 percent.

Oil and Fats are up 45.9 percent.

Sugar is up 58.9 percent.

Wheat is way up, probably over 50 percent what it was last year.

Rice is up 20 percent.

Many of these increases can be attributed to the rise in fuel costs. The jump in wheat prices is due to an historically bad wheat yield in Russia last year. Russia produces a significant portion of the world's wheat. So far this doesn't look good for the nations' rising number of poor people.

Many economists who have examined these conditions (the rise in poverty) in the U.S. say they go back to the decision to extend the tax cut for the wealthy, are also due to international trade crime and a failure of the U.S. government to curtail it, the deregulation of the bankers and Wall Street and the tremendous losses in U.S. jobs due to loss of industry during the Clinton years.

Just last year, the U.S. held Congressional elections during which all the candidates swore they would make jobs the number one priority while they were in office. The U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner stated that the House would keep a "relentless focus on creating jobs." Just yesterday Pres. Obama announced that the unemployment rate had fallen from 9.1 percent to 8.9 percent.

The Republicans almost immediately jumped on the nearly insignificant increase saying it was due to the voodoo "trickle down" theory of economics once championed by President Reagan, i.e. all we had to do was give those extremely wealthy people more of their tax money back and already jobs are being created. But most economists agreed the tax cut for the wealthy played no role.

Perhaps more disturbing is that, in the face of historically high prices and unemployment, the Republicans in Congress have yet to put forward a Jobs Bill. This is seen as particularly grievous since many believe that Bush II, a Republican president, actually started this recession/depression. Instead the Republicans seem involved in other issues, none of which will create a single job.

One of the Republican ideas is to defund by half the EPA and to do away with many environmental regulations.

No jobs will be created from that.

The Republicans would also like to pass the Defense of Marriage Act, which would deprive gays and lesbians the right to marry.

But would not produce a single job.

Republicans also plan to go back to the "don't ask, don't tell" policies of the Department of Defense, another anti-gay measure that, this time out, the Defense Department itself has asked the Republicans to leave alone.

This also would not produce a single job.

Additionally, Republican governors are tightening the screws on public workers unions, hoping to break the unions.

No jobs there, either.

Back to Congress: Rep. Peter King (R) New York plans to hold hearings aimed at American Muslims and questioning their loyalty to the U.S. ala The McCarthy Hearings, or the Salem Witch Hunts.

Still not a single job.

So what happened to the Speaker's promise of a "relentless focus on jobs.? And how is the U.S. ever going to recover from this miserable economy if Republicans insist on playing to their base with ideological, non-job-producing issues?

Let's face it, the promise of jobs was a scam. And as gas and food prices continue to rise, the injury of that scam to this nation and its people will become even more terribly apparent.