I can remember the day when cable was truly a novelty.  Further, in those days cable was commercial free after all you were paying to watch TV.  Nowadays we not only pay for cable we get bombarded with stupid inane intellectually insulting commercials.  In any given hour we are exposed to at least 15 minutes of commercial advertising.  And if you watch cable TV late at night the networks will turn up the volume of commercial advertising presumably to “wake you up”.  And to add insult to injury, we now have 4000 stations with maybe 2 stations having any intellectually redeeming value.  I find this whole cable TV experience to be a total rip-off. 

Have you also noticed that cable and satellite are competing on quality and the number channels.  Each continue to add worthless demeaning stations that serve nothing more than a placeholder for purposes of claiming more channels than the competitor. 

And now that these oligopolies have us under their collective thumbs, they continue to raise the rates while reducing the features.  All said, I long for the good old days where TV was free and we had only a handful of options.  At least back then we had quality programming that didn’t require us to squirm in our seats as we hear about “erectile dysfunction, enlarged prostate, constipation, incontinance, hemorrhoids, bladder control issues, bankruptcy protection, IRS protection, asbestos, disability insurance, car insurance and my favorite commercials about how Merril Lynch is “bullish on America”.  Thanks Merril Lynch for spending all that money to tell me you are bullish… sounds like you should have paid more attention to managing your money than annoying me!

Socialism is defined as government ownership of the means of production. Marxism’s guiding principle is: from each according to their ability; to each according to their need. While people tend to scoff at the notion the United States is heading toward a more socialist form of government, it is clear that is the direction this country is headed… particularly if the Democrats control both the executive and legislative branch. And to make things more alarming, the Democrats are likely to appoint 2 judges which would create a situation where even the judicial branch of government would become more liberal or socialist leaning.

The tipping point will be the election of 2008. I define the tipping point as the point where the citizenry not only desire, but demand the government “spread the wealth”. And I fear that the number of citizens who look to the government to solve their problems now exceeds the number of citizens who prefer to solve their own problems. If this occurs, within 12 years the job creation capacity of the United States will have moved dramatically offshore. Americans need to wise up or someday we are going to find the ability to work hard and create a high standard of living for one’s family will have slipped away. As with any concept or philosophy change is slow, but once the tipping point is reached the conversion to the new philosophy is very rapid and dramatic similar to an avalanche. Wake up America… we don’t want our government to own our industries nor do we want to “redistribute” wealth at the whims of politicians.

As a former geologist and current energy executive, I want you to know that oil is plentiful.  By every measure we have plenty of oil to last for decades.  And as I watch exploration for oil worldwide, I expect a dramatic change in the current perception of oil shortage to oil surplus.  For example Amoco continues to find mammoth fields in the Gulf of Mexico.  Amoco’s Thunderhorse field began production in June 2008 and is expected to produce 250,000 barrels of oil per day plus 200 Million cubic feet of natural gas.  This, my friends, is a staggering amount of oil.  And BP has found more fields in the area which all combined could produce another 100,000 barrels of oil per day.  But this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Aggressive exploration for oil is going on around the world as the dramatic price increases in oil we’ve experienced in 2007 and 2008 have set in motion unprecedented expenditures to explore for hydrocarbons.  Brazil has found new fields offshore that could make Brazil a top 10 producer of oil in world.  So, fear not about these high prices.   Within 5 years we will be back in the $30/barrel range.  It is a cycle that has repeated itself time and time again in the oil industry.  This cycle is no different.  Why?  Because unlike most commodities, the amount of time between stimulus to drill in the form of price increases and when the fruits of those stimuli come into the market is typically is 2-3 years.   So the industry is constantly trying to match price signals with production.  But mark my words, the unprecedented exploration for more hydrocarbons going on around the world today, will begin feeding the worlds insatiable demand for oil in about 3 years, and when that new oil production comes online… it will send prices tumbling.  And the cycle will repeat again as it has done time immemorial and once geologists will be out of work.   I lived through one 2 boom and bust cycles, but not again.

All I hear these days are politicians talking about how so-called “trickle down” economics hasn’t worked and that we have to “change” our ways.  Okay… what is the alternative?  Trickle up economics?  How about “trickle sideways”?  Wealth is created when people create jobs… and whether we like it or not, those people with wealth are the only ones who create jobs.  Jobs are not created by “homeless” people or teenagers or illegal immigrants.  Demand for jobs may be created by these groups consuming goods and services, but let’s be rationale instead of hysterical… people who take risks with their wealth are the only ones who create jobs.  And this is not a bad thing.  But pathetically, some dim-wit Americans have the sense that if I work hard and earn a million dollars, somehow I have taken advantage of someone along the way.  WRONG!!!  Capitalism provides that everyone can be wealthy… it is not a “zero-sum” game where one person wins and one person loses.   Literally, every American… in theory, could be a billionaire.  We are only limited by our ability to create a product or service that is needed by consumers.  That’s it!  Unfortunately, the liberal media has brain-washed Americans into believing that our economy is a “zero-sum” game and that if you are wealthy you “stole it” from others.   Of course, those people spewing this nonesense were not required to take basic courses in economics as journalism is probably THE simpliest degree program available at the University level.  So to me it is sad that the uneducated pin heads in the media with their powder-puff college degrees have convinced the general public that capitalism is a bad thing… and that the only fair thing to do as a country is to confiscate wealth and redistribute it to those lower in the “food chain”.  Once again, I see American’s are largely lazy dim-wits who believe anything they are told particularly if it is “negative” or some type of  “conspiracy”.

The election is a fete a comple for Obama.  Only Obama can derail his ascension to President.  Regrettably McCain simply does not have the horsepower to challenge the eloguent constitutional lawyer… Barack Obama.  And admittedly Obama is indeed inspiring if one is merely interested in inspiration without substance.  I wonder if Obama were running against someone like Ronald Reagan or better yet Harry Truman if he would be able to overcome these great men by merely espousing hopeful platitudes.   Take Harry Truman… in a debate setting do you think he would allow Obama to spew half truths and innuendos without challenge.  I suspect ole Harry would look into the camera and tell the public: “Look, I am a simple man and I am telling you with all sincerity and candor, Mr. Obama is not ready to be President.  You can choose to ignore my advice… you can even be mad at me for suggesting Mr. Obama is not ready on day 1, but I am telling you the man simply does not have the life experience nor the knowledge to be president.  And now I am going to tell you with all sincerity and candor, I do indeed have the experience and knowledge to be president.  That’s all…now the decision is yours”.   Instead of these direct and brutally challenging remarks, McCain seems to be more interested in being a polite and gentlemanly politician who inspires no one.   Were Sarah Palin not on his ticket McCain would barely be in the news.  She inspires more people than McCain and he is at the top of the ticket.   And in case there is doubt, I am not a fan of Obama.  My reasons are three-fold: 1.) the man is a huckster 2.) his policies will potentially be ruinous to this country and 3.) he lacks the life experiences to be president.  My reason 2.) is probably the most alarming reason I am upset that Obama is most likely going to be president.  Why?  Obama is going to put 2 people on the Supreme Court and we cannot afford another Justice who legislates from the bench.  And it is this legacy that will have a harmful lasting effect on this country… particularly if Obama chooses young Justices as they are life appointments.   Oh… that’s right I was writing about McCain… I guess I lost interest after the first sentence.

in 10 years.  And he likens this effort to Kenndy’s moon shot.  And the uninformed U.S. citizenry looks at awe at Obama.  Does the public know that we only get 500,000 barrels of oil per day directly from the Middle East.  Our primary sources of oil are 1.) domestic 2.) Mexico 3.) Canada and 4.) Venezuela.  Obama is the worlds best used car salesman.  He throws out ideas and concepts that go totally unchallenged and the citizens of this country simply do not have the knowledge to separate fact from fiction.   Even the media is largely uninformed about the actual facts of major issues.  We should BOO Obama when he says he needs 10 years to get off Middle East oil.  We could open up offshore California and remove Middle East oil in 2 years.  What the hell is Obama doing deceiving the public by creating a sense of great accomplishment out of something that is a drop in the bucket compared to the 20million barrels of oil used daily in the US.   But all these issues are not capable of sound biting.  If you’ll notice oilman Boone Pickens talks about “imported oil”, not Middle East oil.  He knows the difference.  Regrettably, while I am a fan of Pickens he is a modern day Don Quixote tilting at wind mills.  Wind mills are ugly, only operate when there is wind, which typically does not coincide with demand for electricity and lastly will be located in remote areas without access to a grid to get the power generated to market.  So, again I say… “tilting at windmills”…  And while Pickens is attempting to make a difference, Obama is just blathering.  And if the public really knew or cared about the facts, they would be mad as hell that Obama is playing them as fools when it comes to Middle East oil. .. seriously.  No one wants to be played the fool and that is what Obama and in my estimation most politicians are doing.  PLAYING US FOR FOOLS!!!!