Okay, so my prophecy about doing nothing about the money mess for the good of the nation did not come to be. The House of Representatives voted 263 to 171 to pass the amended 700 billion Wall Street bailout package. The original bill was all of three pages long. The House than added 107 pages, and the Senate's version ended up at 451 pages, which is the version that will be agreed to tomorrow. There were 350 pages of pork projects adding 110 billion to the bill. How the legislation remained 700 billion is a mystery to me, except on further thought, the final cost to taxpayers must be 810 billion. No, the latest tally seems to add up to 850 billion, which amounts to about 8,000/family in the country. Let me repeat: each family in the nation is paying 8,000 to bail out Wall Street.-Further, this addition was supposed to cater to conservative Republican House members, so it was a surprise that the renewable energy investment tax credits got rolled into the mix, said to be worth 17 billion over 8 years. If anything, these very same conservative Republicans have been pro-fossil/nuclear. Maybe Democrats Abercrombie/Hirono had to also be placated.-House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass), who has become the resident comedian of the negotiations, remarked to Rep. Jeb Hensarling's (R-Tex) fear about this rescue fundamentally changing the nature of government, by saying that he would be "ever mindful of the danger that President Bush will lead us down the road to socialism."
More on energy, I made additions to a "MOTHER JONES ("May/June 2008, pg 35) table comparing the relative importance of the sustainables:
Department of Energy 2008 solar budget
168 MILLION
Average ANNUAL Department of Energy renewable energy
budget over the past decade
LESS THAN 1 BILLION
AmountAmericans spend on gasoline
EACH DAY
1.5 BILLION
each year
550 BILLION
Federal ethanol subsidies in 2006
6 BILLION
Federal coal subsidies in 2006
8 BILLION
Federal oil/gas subsidies in 2006
39 BILLION-You can bet that these subsidies will be larger in 2008. Thus, the nearly 2 billion/year tax breaks for the renewables are, if anything, somewhat paltry, considering the incoming fallout from Peak Oil and Global Warming.-Oil prices dove to 92.78/bbl, while the Dow Jones Industrials dropped 157 points to 10,325.-Marie is now a hurricane at 75 MPH and is continuing to head west towards Hawaii. Earlier predictions were that it would weaken in a couple of days, but that message is now absent. Tropical Depression Higos is still heading for Hainan.-
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