Betting here that this story gets buried behind the surfing dogs and the wildfires in California. But America knows, we all know dear leader is full of shit, and ethanol subsidies drive up the price of corn. Reminds me of that 2006 moment when gas prices were falling ahead of the election, America didn't blink. They knew the Bush people were playing games.

I guess the truth oozes into the collective brain somehow without Brian Williams helping it along.

Zoellick is a big name Neo-conservative. (If you're interested in that report get it before they scrub the website clean)

...is ZERO.

These people have made their reputation spewing out a constant stream of falsehoods, whether they be about Saddam's WMDs, or climate change science, or the data regarding the rise in terrorism incidents. The list is endless.

They have also perfected the art of manipulating government economic statistics.

For the real picture on the latter, see:

http://www.shadowstats.com/

The problem with the Bush Administration and the "dead-enders" who still support it was identified by Ron Suskind back in 2004 in his New York Times Magazine piece, wherein he enlightened us to the fact that these people are not part of what they derided as the "reality-based community". Somehow, these "upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography", as Kurt Vonnegut so aptly described them, are so drunk with their own power that they believe themselves to be God: They need merely speak and it must be so.

Unfortunately, this dismissal of objective reality for the last 7+ years has led us to the precipice -- and we're about to get shoved over:

"Conceivably we could have just had recession, hard times, sliding dollar, inflation, etc., but I'm afraid it's going to be much worse...Bernanke is printing huge amounts of money. He's out of control and the Fed is out of control. We are probably going to have one of the worst recessions we've had since the Second World War. It's not a good scene."

-Jim Rogers

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/30/news/international/okeefe_rogers.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008013103

"I do not think things are going to get any better"

-Billionaire investor Eli Broad

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aAZwgRY7yikM&refer=worldwide

Bank losses from credit crisis may run to $1,600bn, warns Bridgewater

Bridgewater Associates has issued an apocalyptic warning to clients that bank losses from the worldwide credit crisis may reach $1,600bn (£800bn), four times official estimates and enough to pose a grave risk to the financial system.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/07/08/cnbridge108.xml

"The financial shock that originated in the U.S. subprime mortgage market in August 2007 has spread quickly, and in unanticipated ways, to inflict extensive damage on markets and institutions at the core of the financial system...The global expansion is losing momentum in the face of what has become the largest financial crisis in the United States since the Great Depression."

-IMF statement

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aclg8HEIqKc4&refer=home

Inflationary Recession Is in Place

* Banking Solvency Crisis Has Opened First Phase of Monetary Inflation

* Hyperinflationary Depression Remains Likely As Early As 2010

http://www.shadowstats.com/article/292

Everyone, please join me in humming the theme to 'Titanic'.

which makes the probability of being able to grow fuel, let alone food, rather low. This would drive the fuel producers to be the rich nations of today who would then sell it to the poorer nations. Ah there's nothing like the acrid sting of karma when we get to screw the hell out of the Arabs for food AND fuel though.