America’s trucking industry is on pace to pay a whopping $138.7 billion for fuel in 2011 — an increase of $37.2 billion over last year due to higher energy prices. That’s a lot of money for gas. And unfortunately for consumers, they’re likely to pick up the tab. A new study from the Consumer Energy Alliance blames the lack of a national energy policy for America’s economic woes. Higher prices are costing jobs and putting a strain on families struggling to make ends meet. Higher costs for the transportation sector …
The Washington political scene has lost one of its best minds with the death of William Safire. I first met Bill almost 40 years ago, when he was writing speeches in the Nixon White House and I worked on Capitol Hill. He later moved on to write for The New York Times op-ed page, where he usually propounded a sensible, conservative path that stood in contrast to almost all the newspaper’s other writers. It was, for 30 years, the best thing in the Times. Safire knew that words mattered. He …
Under the header Big Government Ahead, David Brooks identifies four sources of massive new spending soon to be coming out of Washington and warns: “What we’re going to see, in short, is the Gingrich revolution in reverse and on steroids. There will be a big increase in spending and deficits. In normal times, moderates could have restrained the zeal on the left. In an economic crisis, not a chance. The over-reach is coming.” As bad as the new levels of spending in Washington will be, what Brooks forgets to mention …
Liberals in Congress continue to blame anybody but themselves for the high price of energy today. Commenting on the passage of s bill directing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to use their “emergency powers” to end “excessive speculation” in oil future’s markets, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “The American people should not be punished at the pump for the actions of oil speculators.” Too bad nobody with an ounce of economic training is buying the liberal scapegoating. Last week liberal columnist Paul Krugman chided those eager to blame speculators for the …
