BLOGTOPIA

The “free” market drives down gas prices before the election.- Conspiracy theory huh?According to Trilby Lundberg, whose Lundberg Survey of gas prices showed a five-cent hike after the election, the recent price hike -- after three months of plummeting retail costs -- is a result of the market having "soaked up" a "mini-glut" of crude oil from August, causing a "normalization" of supply and demand.
What's the source of said "mini-glut"? ....Goldman Sachs, which runs the largest commodity index, the G.S.C.I., said in early August that it was reducing the index's weighting in gasoline futures significantly. The announcement did not make big headlines, but it has reverberated through the markets in the weeks since and some other investors who had been betting that gasoline would rise followed suit on their weightings.
"They started unwinding their positions, and those other longs also rushed to the door at the same time," said Lawrence J. Goldstein, president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation. The August announcement by Goldman Sachs caught some traders by surprise.
To be precise, that was $6 billion worth of gas futures dumped on the market like a sack of potatoes, catching "traders by surprise."

Blogger Raymond Keller notes that Goldman's move came just weeks after its former Chairman and CEO became a Bushie:
President George W. Bush nominated Henry M. Paulson, Jr. to be the 74th Secretary of the Treasury on June 19, 2006. The United States Senate unanimously confirmed Paulson to the position on June 28, 2006 and he was sworn into office on July 10, 2006.
So what does Goldman do just weeks after Paulson is sworn in as Treasury Secretary?
It announces a subtle move that drives down gasoline prices, short-term. ....What really strikes me about this story is the degree to which the idea that gas prices could be manipulated for political purposes caused so much cognitive dissonance among so many otherwise intelligent people. We know that markets are constantly being manipulated for financial gain, we know that the big oil companies have colluded in the past and we know there was ample motive for doing so now. I think it's a testament to how deeply indoctrinated the American public, or at least American opinion makers, are into the mythology of the free market, supposedly pristine and uncalculating.


Glenn Greenwald and I agree. The radical rights game is to accuse others of what is a mirror image of themselves.

Everything they accuse others of doing -- exploiting national security for domestic political gain, being 'unserious' about war matters, playing games with the mission of the troops -- is what they do as transparently as possible. And note how they used a senior military official to make the disgusting claim that the violence in Iraq was related to a desire to help Democrats win the midterm election: "A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq last week attributed the increase in violence at least partly to terrorists who want to influence the American vote."The idea that the sectarian violence in Iraq, which has been spiraling out of control since the beginning of the year, had anything to do with trying to make Democrats win the election was always as transparently false -- stupid even -- as it was repugnant. Yet they say anything, and the media largely lets them get away with it........Nobody glorifies the power of the Islamic Terrorists more than Bush followers do. As The Heretik says in comments: "What's so impressive about the terrorists and the insurgents and the Shiites and the Sunnis who yearn so for the inevitable caliphate that will stretch from Spain to Pluto and beyond is that even as they fight amongst themselves, they have time to sit down and figure out how to influence our politics here." And he says over at his own blog: "Our midterm elections are over and the violence that was raised to influence those results has spiked even higher"........So, to recap: when insurgents engage in violence before the elections, that's the fault of Democrats because it's done to help them win (and credit to Republicans because it shows how tough they are on The Terrorists). When the insurgents engage in violence after the elections, that's also the fault of Democrats because they are excited by the Democrats' success (and credit to Republicans because Republicans want to stay forever, which makes the insurgents sad and listless). And when there is no violence, all credit to Republicans because it shows how great their war plan is.Put another way, no matter what happens in Iraq (violence increases, violence decreases), and no matter when it happens (before the election, after the election), it is the fault of Democrats and it reflects well on the Republicans. Isn't it fair to say that that's the very definition of the mindset of a cultist?


Dobson thinks liberals have no “moral compass”
Dobson said, for example, that progressives aren’t in a position to question others’ morality, because we don’t believe in right and wrong.
“We’re all inclined to look at other people, but it’s interesting to me that those, again, on the more liberal end of the spectrum are often those who have no value system or at least they say there is no moral and immoral, there is no right or wrong. It’s moral relativism…. So they say there is no right and wrong. But when a religious leader [Ted Haggard], especially an evangelical falls, guess who is the most judgmental of him and calling him a hypocrite and those things? Those that said there is no right and wrong in the first place.”
It’s fascinating. Dobson seems to literally believe that liberals have no moral compass at all. Given recent events involving the most pious among us — Haggard, Swaggart, Bakers, Falwell, Robertson, Roman Catholic sex scandals — I’m not quite sure why Dobson believes Christian conservatives have the moral high ground. Larry King didn’t ask.

Ron: Holy craptacular..how deluded do you have to be to believe this slime~!? I am a liberal or progressive, whatever you want to call it, and I dare you to tell my parents that I have no moral compass! How much of the country is he proclaiming totally without any morals? What do you think matters of war and peace are about? How about caring for the least among us? How about equality for all? How about preserving nature(Gods creation) I could go on and on. Why do people continue to spew such obvious falsehoods. Do they really believe stuff like this? I would say that if they really in their heart believe it they have a societally dangerous mental problem.