doesn't Shrub have speech writers???

[minx]

"I think it's working, and the reason why I think it's working is 'cause we're measuring, and the measurement's showing progress toward teaching people how to read and write and add and subtract," Bush said. "If we're going to spend federal money, we expect the states to show us whether or not we're achieving, you know, simple objectives, like literacy, literacy in math, the ability to read and write."

 

maybe this comes from the new homeland department of homeland redudancy department.

Edited April 29, 2005 by minx

[rbw1966]

That wasn't from a speech. It was from a Q&A with the press. I think even Bush would concede he's at his worst when he speaks spontaneously.

 

He's certainly gotten better but is still uninspiring and embarrassing.

[minx]

it was sort of a facetious comment. i know it's from a Q&A. Guess the point was that he should really avoid this kind of situation. inevitably he comes off sounding undereducated and nearly illiterate.

[bunglehead]

What I'm confused about is when he was re-elected, he said something like "I've earned political capital, and I intend to spend it, the people have spoken"

but yesterday he said something like:

"Well if a president was to run everything on polls, it'd kind of be like a dog wagging it's own tail" or some stupid shit like that.

 

So, when people re-elected him, that's the will of the people, but when it comes to his low approval ratings with his handling of gas supplies, he says he must ignore the same people to get his job done? This doesn't make sense to me...???

[stinkyclimber]

A little story, but an aside to your question about speech writers:

 

One of Bush's great supposed victories that he touted as governor of Texas was the dramatic turnaround he engineered in the state's education system. They applied rigourous performance measurement regimes to report on the performance of individual schools, specifically on things like literacy and passing rates, etc. The idea was that "what gets measured gets managed" and that this would provide incentive for school administators to improve their schools. Well, several years later, the measures indeed showed reduction in drop-out, higher literacy, etc. And there was rejoicing in the Governor's office - look how great I am.

 

Well, a few years later they did an outcomes evaluation to dig a little more indepth into the "Texas Miracle" as it was called at the time. Oops - it turns out that the measures, the way they were constructed, encouraged schools to convince the hard-to-serve kids to withdraw temporarily, apply for transfer, and do anything else to get them off their rolls (but not so they show up as a drop-out) so that literacy and passing rates can rise without a rise in drop-out. It turns out that nothing substantial had changed in the way the Texas education system was run, except that they cut loose the kids who need the most help. The report authors also suggested that the measures were chosen with political rather than administrative interests in mind. But it didn't matter to Bush - by the time this more indepth report came out, he was sitting in the White House and the new Governor got to wear it.

 

The morale of the story: performance measurement, if manipulated for political ends, will improve nothing, and may even make things worse. This story is now a case study in textbooks on performance management techniques.

[Winter]

I think I heard him say two things this morning on NPR:

 

1. He is working on getting the Saudis to pump more oil into the market, which "will take some pressure off of demand and help prices." Yeah right.

 

2. Asked whether he was frusttrated about his lack of traction on domestic issues - "well, I can only speak to myself."

[Mal_Con]

"It's in our country's interests to find those who would do harm to us and get them out of harm's way."—Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

[olyclimber]

"What does this little red button do?"

[barjor]

Strange for him to say that" There will be no price gauging at the pumps" The same day BP claimed a record profit quarter.

 

quote from finance gate

 

"BP Plc, the world;s second-largest oil company, reported today that its first-quarter profit rose 29% to a new record because of higher oil prices. Profit rose to $5.49 billion, or 25.6 cents a share, from $4.26 billion, or 19.3 cents, in the previous year. "

Edited April 29, 2005 by barjor

[JayB]

Most of the oil companies are enjoying record profits at the moment for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most important is that most of the oil that they are pulling out of the ground comes from fields that were aquired when oil was at the $10 a barrell range, and they were able to negotiate relatively high margins in exhange for making the investments necessary to develop them - so you've got a resource that you are extracting at a low fixed cost while the price climbs to record highs. That's a recipe for record profits no matter what it is that you are selling.

 

This situation may last a while longer, but certainly not indefinitely as anyone sitting on top of an undeveloped oil-field is driving a much harder bargain with anyone that wants to develop it - so at some point the oil companies margins will go down, and costs per barrell will increase, and profits will decline accordingly.

[Ricardo_Montalban]

Guess the point was that he should really avoid this kind of situation. inevitably he comes off sounding undereducated and nearly illiterate.

 

that's why he averages one/year

as opposed to clinton's 1/month

[Winter]

Most of the oil companies are enjoying record profits at the moment for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most important is that most of the oil that they are pulling out of the ground comes from fields that were aquired when oil was at the $10 a barrell range, and they were able to negotiate relatively high margins in exhange for making the investments necessary to develop them - so you've got a resource that you are extracting at a low fixed cost while the price climbs to record highs. That's a recipe for record profits no matter what it is that you are selling.

 

This situation may last a while longer, but certainly not indefinitely as anyone sitting on top of an undeveloped oil-field is driving a much harder bargain with anyone that wants to develop it - so at some point the oil companies margins will go down, and costs per barrell will increase, and profits will decline accordingly.

 

Yeah but JB aren't you forgetting the Republican admin's ability to manipulate the market to keep prices/profits artifically inflated for their campaign donors/corporate bitches?

[Jim]

And from Adel al-Jubeir, Advisor to the Saudi Crown Prince CNBC interview with Maria Bartaromo:

 

"We believe the price of oil should be between $22 and $28 per barrel. $25 is a good reasonable price. There is no extra demand accompanying today's very high price for oil. We are seeing no extra customers lined up and there is no shortage of supply. The high prices we are seeing are due to speculation in the oil markets."""

[barjor]

Do I smell another Enron?

[Dru]

I'm just waiting for him to forget who he's speaking to and bust out a "COOOOBRAAAAA!"

[JayB]

Most of the oil companies are enjoying record profits at the moment for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most important is that most of the oil that they are pulling out of the ground comes from fields that were aquired when oil was at the $10 a barrell range, and they were able to negotiate relatively high margins in exhange for making the investments necessary to develop them - so you've got a resource that you are extracting at a low fixed cost while the price climbs to record highs. That's a recipe for record profits no matter what it is that you are selling.

 

This situation may last a while longer, but certainly not indefinitely as anyone sitting on top of an undeveloped oil-field is driving a much harder bargain with anyone that wants to develop it - so at some point the oil companies margins will go down, and costs per barrell will increase, and profits will decline accordingly.

 

Yeah but JB aren't you forgetting the Republican admin's ability to manipulate the market to keep prices/profits artifically inflated for their campaign donors/corporate bitches?

 

Can you specify the precise mechanisms by which they are doing so? And if you knows them, it stands to reason that that the folks who are involved in energy trading would know them - and develop strategies in the futures markets and elsehwere to profit at the governments expense.

 

Maybe you can take a moment or two and plot moves in the futures markets versus known interventions in the markets by the administration - undertaken of course, as part of a secret-yet-public-enough-for-you-to-know-about-it agenda to line their donor's pockets - to substantiate your case here. Should make for some good reading.

[cj001f]

Exactly which oil companies are investing heavily in new production? Most are very conservative with new field devolpment - statoil is thought to be taking a risk with their new investment.

 

For a glimpse of the future US, watch what happens to Argentina in the next 10-15 years (when it's estimated their reserves will be gone)

[JayB]

Most of the majors have stated that their goal is maximizing profit, rather than reserves or production, and have thus declined to accept the terms that the states with the most oil are giving at this point. Quite a few of the deals are going to the smaller, more aggressive oil companies who are willing to take on more risks, or to state companies owned by countries that are getting concerned about energy security - like India or China.

 

There was a good article about this in the WSJ recently, and perhaps in the economist as well.

[Dave_Schuldt]

Eavan with a speach writer he sucks, it's all in the delivery.

[Fairweather]

 

For a glimpse of the future US, watch what happens to Argentina in the next 10-15 years (when it's estimated their reserves will be gone)

 

 

 

"Don't cry for me, Argentina!"

 

 

 

Ok....I've gotta side with the paranoid libs on this one. I ate some serious crow back when I actually believed that a western US generating capacity shortage was underway....when in fact Enron was manipulating the market. The same is obviously now going on with oil companies and I call bullshit on this whole China/supply/demand scenario. At the same time, I think those who want to blame those 'evil Republicans/BushCo' assign too much power to one man. Most big oil companies are multi-national, but I certainly think Bush should be using the bully-pulpit to beat these guys down...and so far, he's not. I think it's just a major case of price-fixing. Possibly one of the biggest $$$ anti trust fiascos of all time.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Ok....I've gotta side with the paranoid libs on this one. I ate some serious crow back when I actually believed that a western US generating capacity shortage was underway....when in fact Enron was manipulating the market. The same is obviously now going on with oil companies and I call bullshit on this whole China/supply/demand scenario. At the same time, I think those who want to blame those 'evil Republicans/BushCo' assign too much power to one man. Most big oil companies are multi-national, but I certainly think Bush should be using the bully-pulpit to beat these guys down...and so far, he's not. I think it's just a major case of price-fixing. Possibly one of the biggest $$$ anti trust fiascos of all time.

 

 

Nice work, Fairweather. Keep those eyes peeled and you might find that that there's a whole gang of folks with similarly nefarious business strategies in charge of all kinds of huge multinational corporations, with ties to many who are in positions of political power. You might further notice that the end result is usually good working people getting royally screwed all over the world by these men in suits with their smug faces and litanies of excuses in the vein of "just doing what's good for business."

 

Hey, that reminds DFA of some of those "violent," "hateful" song lyrics you like so much!

 

"here we go, congress one, progress zero

You think your leaders are thinking about reform

They’d sooner sit and watch our cities burn like Nero

Makes you wonder what the fuck you’re voting for

For a change vote, who the fuck are you kidding, me?

What we need is some good old fashioned anarchy

You bring the torch and I’ll bring the kerosene

We’ll strike a match and burn this fucker down!

Burn this fucker down!

Burn this fucker down!

Burn this fucker down!"

 

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Nice work, Fairweather. Keep those eyes peeled and you might find that that there's a whole gang of folks with similarly nefarious business strategies in charge of all kinds of huge multinational corporations, with ties to many who are in positions of political power. You might further notice that the end result is usually good working people getting royally screwed all over the world by these men in suits with their smug faces and litanies of excuses in the vein of "just doing what's good for business."

 

Destroy the Bourgeois Capitalist Pigs!

 

Workers of the World Unite!

 

Edited April 30, 2005 by KaskadskyjKozak

[JayB]

 

For a glimpse of the future US, watch what happens to Argentina in the next 10-15 years (when it's estimated their reserves will be gone)

 

 

 

"Don't cry for me, Argentina!"

 

 

 

Ok....I've gotta side with the paranoid libs on this one. I ate some serious crow back when I actually believed that a western US generating capacity shortage was underway....when in fact Enron was manipulating the market.

 

If you want to read a good synopsis of the factors which precipitated the power crisis - there's a good summary published by the CBO here: http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=3062&sequence=0

 

Manipulation of the spot market seems to have played a role in boosting prices, but the structural problems brought about by the manner the energy market was regulated in California were far more significant factors in precipitating the crisis.

 

At its worst - a significant part of the supply shortage was due to generators withholding power, not because they were trying to manipulate the market to their advantage, but because the geniuses in Sacramento capped retail prices but allowed wholesale prices to float. When demand increased along with the economic activity, and an extremely hot summer led to a seasonal surge in demand, and a commensurate increase in prices, the utilities could not pass along the increased costs to their customers, nor were they allowed to stop selling power at a loss - so they were forced to borrow money to buy power, and continued to do so until their finances eroded so badly that generators who had power to sell them declined to do so for fear of not being paid.

 

In the end - California elected to lock itself into long-term power contracts that, once the crisis had passed - resulted in consumers and taxpayers getting stuck paying for power at above market rates, thereby enhancing the profit margins of the very same entitities that the state was attempting to put in check.

 

The Sarbanes-Oxley act that congress enacted after the audit driven corporate scandals has done much the same thing for the accounting companies, nearly all of which are recording record profits this year.

[Fairweather]

Sorry, JayB. I just can't get past those audio tapes of Enron exec's ordering power stations to go off-line while brown-outs were wreaking havoc on California. Right here in Tacoma, Kaiser Aluminum's state-of-the-art smelter decided it was cheaper to take $$$ incentives and shut down than it was to pay soaring electric rates. Hundreds lost their jobs and the work went to Thailand. It will never come back.

[bootsy]

I think Dumbya does pretty good for a guy of such obviously diminished intellectual capacity. He's the first "special" world leader!