Talking Heads:

No visible means of support and you have not seen nuthin yet

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The House of Representatives today passed the Senate version of the $700 Billion Bail-out.  For now, it’s over.  Bush signed the bill shortly after the vote, and we have not seen nuthin yet.

In case you haven’t noticed yet, the market is not exactly tripping over itself to show its appreciation.  After the announcement of the bill passage, the Dow lost all of the 200 or so points it had gained today, and then some. 

I haven’t even had time to read the bill yet, but have heard so far that there’s some pork.  It shouldn’t surprise me that our Congress, while debating the bill most …

My cohort DJ is going to disagree with me.  Just you wait and see.

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Today did not scare me.  It did surprise me, because I didn’t think that Congress had the ability to face down the President, Treasury Secretary and their own part leaders all at the same time.  (For the votes of the Representatives from Iowa, see below, or this link for the roll call vote).

I am so proud of them!  From the above Reuter’s article:

“This isn’t legislation. This is extortion,” said Florida Republican Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite. “This is so embarrassing it turns the stomach of most Americans.”

That pretty much sums up my thinking on this.

As I mentioned yesterday, I think we should seriously …

Crude oil dropped to $105/bbl Monday, down $1.26.  After hours the price continued to fall, as of midnight it was hanging around $102/bbl.

Since hitting it’s high at 147.27 on July 11 (that’s still less than 2 months ago), the price has fallen almost 30%.  According to most Democrats, this would only be possible if actual cheaper domestically drilled oil were available to put into the system immediately, not some years into the future.  Strange as it may seem, it looks like other factors, such as the continued growth in the public pressure on Congress to act and open up domestic drilling, may also influence prices.

Of course, you aren’t required to be an economist to be a member of Congress.  The problem appears …