The price of oil broke the economy.

I don't think that the price of oil was the only thing to blame. The subprime mess (and more generally excessive use of leverage in risky investments) was really bad.

However, I do agree that the oil price spike really hurt. It was like getting kicked in the head after falling off a cliff.

What really irks me is that these greedbags have absolutely no sense of shame. They don't care who they hurt or how much damage they cause as long as they make as much money as possible as soon as possible.

I really need some guidance from Salon so I know who we're supposed to hate.

I say hate 'em all. They're all a bunch a parasites who contribute nothing to the well being of this country.

I've recently seen people howling about how nuclear reactors at $20 billion each were too expensive. Let's put that in perspective.

It wasn't long ago that oil was under $35/barrel. About a year ago, it was over $140/barrel. That's a difference of over $100/barrel.

The U.S. consumes about 20 million barrels of oil a day. Multiply that by the $100 difference and you get $2 billion/day in excess cost resulting from oil speculation. In only ten days that would add up to enough to buy one of those fabulously expensive nuclear power plants.

"Sounds to me like the CFTC has not new data but new politics," ...

That's exactly correct. The Bush administration had a policy of turning a blind eye when their oil industry buddies were screwing the country. It looks like Obama's adminstration will be different.

She's going to teach us all about Energy Policy. I can't wait.

Why wait? The "secret" of formulating good energy policy (or any other kind of policy) is very simple: Spend time with all of the lobbyists. The lobbyist who has the most money is certain to have the best policy ideas. Just listen to that one and you'll never go wrong.

Yes, they are. I can see the effects myself.

Comcast used to be the only high-speed internet option in my area, and the way they treated their customers was exactly what you'd expect in that situation.

Then, about a year ago, Verizon trucks appeared all over my neighborhood and started stringing fiber. Two days after they finished my street an amazing thing happened: My Comcast internet connect suddenly got 4 times as fast and there was no increase in my billing. Comcast was also nice to me the next time I had to contact their service department. It's pretty obvious that FIOS has put the fear of God into Comcast because nothing else could make them act like this.

And perhaps most significantly, the June new home sales data indicate that the length of time necessary to sell off the inventory of unsold homes fell from 10.2 months in May to 8.8 months in June. That is the biggest drop in several years.

I've seen reports that lenders are holding many foreclosed properties off the market to try to avoid further price declines. I see indications of this in my area: Many homes have become vacant but have no "for sale" signs being displayed.

Is this true? If so, does anyone have any idea how much unsold inventory there really is?

Nothing that is even being discussed is even remotely like "Universal healthcare". Everything that might have made our situation better is being removed to please lobbyists. AFAICT, what we're going to get will look exactly like what we have now except that the government will put a gun to our heads to force us to buy medical "insurance".

What exactly is the hurry to pass an atrocity like this?

I guess we all know now. The President "acted stupidly" in calling out the Cambridge Police Department when he didn't have all the facts, and the few facts he did have, he got mostly wrong.

So we've got the President backing down...

Yes, and it's quite a relief to have a president who will admit to making a mistake.

Dubya made some of the most amazing blunders in the history of this country, but even to this day he still insists he was right.

Is it just coincidence that the state where Obama pretends to be born threw out all its paper documents right when he was starting into national politics?

Probably. Converting a whole state to a paperless system isn't something that happens on the spur of the moment. It takes years of preparation before the actual conversion can even start.

Of course, you're free to believe that whatever mysterious parties want Obama to be president had the power to do this and the patience to plan that far ahead, but that raises the question of what's so special about Obama that would justify such trouble? Stooges are a dime a dozen, so why not pick one with less setup overhead?

In 2001 - the state of Hawaii Health Department went paperless.*Paper documents were discarded*

I'll bet there are people in the birther movement who already know this and are deliberately concealing their knowledge. Perhaps people like birther "lawyers" Phil Berg, Orly Taitz and Charles Lincoln:

http://washingtonindependent.com/51798/key-birther-lawyer-was-disbarred-in-2004

It seems Lincoln had to give up his law license in California after trying to use a false social security number to open a checking account. I think that's called fraud. He was also disbarred in Texas for other shady activity.

Let's see now: what's it called again when a government does what the majority of its citizens say they want?

I think it's called a bunch of people who have learned say what the government expects when they are asked what they want.