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 …

The price of crude is hovering around $115 / bbl.  At this point, I suspect it won’t make much motion, especially not downward, until some real action is finally taken by Congress to open up drilling.  I agree with the refrain of Republicans to do “all of the above”, that is, work the alternative energy agenda while opening update domestic drilling.  The market will continue to laugh at us on the alternative energy options (by the way, we’ve had Ethanol in the US since World War I, so let’s stop acting like alternative fuels are “new”).  But as we engage with definitive action, we will continue to see the impact on commodity prices.

The sad thing is that the market is so clearly expressing it’s …

From the Business and Media institute:

There’s a huge concern among conservative talk radio hosts that reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine would all-but destroy the industry due to equal time constraints. But speech limits might not stop at radio. They could even be extended to include the Internet and “government dictating content policy.”

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell raised that as a possibility after talking with bloggers at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. McDowell spoke about a recent FCC vote to bar Comcast from engaging in certain Internet practices – expanding the

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Allahpundit over at Hot Air brings us news that Republicans in the US House, who staged a dramatic protest Friday over the closing of business in Congress for a month while the Energy issue sits languishing, plan to continue this effort anew on Monday.  From House Republican Leader John Boehner’s office :

Washington, Aug 3 - House Republicans will be back on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives again Monday to continue the unprecedented protest that began last Friday, when dozens of Republicans joined hundreds of American citizens on the House floor to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) decision to send Congress home for the rest of the summer without a vote on legislation to lower gas prices and move America toward

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As expected, President Bush signed HR 3221 into law this morning, making billions of federal dollars available to home owners, shoring up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and providing closer oversight of the financial aspects of home ownership to the Administration and Congress.

What a shame.

After speaking with a good friend of mine that is a CPA, the tax incentives, particularly the $7,500 tax credit (a topic which is burning up the search engines at this time), are going to make life harder for tax preparers, tax payers, and probably increase the cost of running the IRS.  As I’ve said before, There are going to be a lot of problems keeping track of this. 

Plus, this is just an unfair competition with banks.  The government …

Just when you thought you couldn’t afford to go on summer vacation, just when you thought the ONLY answer to rising gasoline prices was a “gas tax holiday“, just as various states are complaining they don’t have enough tax money collected to pay for road work, now oil prices fall to a 3 month low of 121.99 for US Crude and 122.71 for Brent Crude (at noon, central time), with no end in sight. 

You heard me, the analysts, the same ones that said we were likely stuck with $4-5 a gallon gasoline or higher by end of summer, are telling us that buying oil commodities is a bad deal right now, and even OPEC anticipates oil prices could fall …

Well, it took almost 3 months, but Congress finally passed the bill today, on older version of which was  passed by the House in May, after some considerable back and forth between the Senate and the House.  The bill is HR 3221 (pdf), titled: “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008″.

The entire bill is over 600 pages long.  The table of contents is 7 pages.  And technically, this is a bill that began its life over a year ago.  Sponsored by none other than Nancy Pelosi.  And apparently Bush is planning to sign.

He should not.

Touted by most of the media is the section that provides up to a $7,500 tax credit is 1,800 words.  And the  media manage to mention it …

Interesting. When you’re a total failure as house speaker, what do you do? You call the President a total failure. CNN:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called President Bush “a total failure” on Thursday, among the California Democrat’s harshest assessments to date of the president.

Quick translation: The woman is getting frantic and panicky.

But Pelosi’s comments come as a new Gallup poll registers the lowest level of congressional approval among Americans in the polling organization’s 30-year history of conducting that survey.

That poll showed that its approval rating had reached an

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What a day. I’m sorry, but politically, not one that I’m proud of:

1) Alphonso Jackson resigns as HUD secretary (effective April 18). Few doubt there is something to allegations of favoritism. See my previous posting on the temptations of power.

2) Henry Paulson presents a plan to overhaul the Fed that is not well received. Criticisms run all over the map. My criticism remains simple: the Government cannot save everyone from their mistakes. This looks like the beginning of the end of free markets to me. I need to review the content before I make any more detailed assessments, however, you should watch your wallet and your Constitution. It’s perhaps positive that Paulson recognizes that this kind of change cannot happen quickly, but the …

House Republicans made the right choice today when they helped hold the line on Bush’s veto of the bill intended to ban waterboarding.

Democrats are resting on the wrong principle here in trying to protect the rights of terrorists. They are convinced they are on the side of protecting everyone in an effort to do the right thing.

Or, they are simply trying to use this issue as a means to gain public sympathy in hopes of seating a Democrat in the Oval Office again. And to keep their own seats in Congress.

At the same time, we have a very real issue to continue to monitor when it comes to the rights of innocent Americans. And it’s not just an issue of whether we …