Yes, I can be petty

FDR said

This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

To me, that seems to be one of the major underlying problems with our economy. Investors are skittish about putting their money into banks for fear that they might not get any returns. Banks are skittish about giving other banks loans for fear of not getting any returns or at worst loosing their hats. Fear is a large part of the economic problem. The other problem is that we, as Americans, carry far too much debt and we’ve got to change our lifestyles. I’m working on chaning mine as I have been for years but I’ve got a ways to go.

There is one highlight in the economic downturn. Simply because investors believe the economy is slowing they think that oil consumption will also decrease. As a result, we have seen oil prices (in the futures market) drop to $70 barrel. For many of us, this is good news. Yes, we’re still waiting to see some of that drop at the pump because although the price rises quickly it takes a long time to fall. OPEC isn’t too happy about the price drop because the downturn is hurting their bottom line. They’re going to call an emergency meeting where they will undoubtedly cut back production in an effort to drive prices higher.

It feels nice to have them be scared – it feels nice to not be under their thumb for once. Maybe they’re getting what they deserve. In the future we are going to run out of fossil fuels and we’ll have to engineer a new way to provide power. They know this and we know this. When that happens, they’re going to hope that they saved enough because its going to be quite hard to sell Iraq as a tourist destination.