Blog+Reflections

__**Conscience of a Liberal**__ //Fuels on the Hill// Lately people have been blaming the high cost of gas prices on the "out of control" speculators. It all started when Michael Masters, a hedge fund manager, told Congress that speculation was the main cause of rising prices for oil and other raw materials. Members of Congress seemed to like what they heard, because since then the blame of high gas prices has been put on speculators. The question everyone would like to know is why are politicians so eager to put the blame on speculators? Paul Kruger believes that this is because politicians don't want to believe that we live in a world with high oil prices, as funny as that sounds. But the real reason for inflating prices is pretty logical. Let's take China for example. Chinese steel workers pay Australian miners 96% more then they have last year, for iron ore. Due to the high demand of iron ore, from emerging economies, he price for iron ore has risen. Therefore speculation has nothing to do with the rising prices. Krugman put it perfectly when he said, " In any case, one thing is clear: the hyperventilation over oil-market speculation is distracting us from the real issues."

__**Conscience of a Liberal**__ //It's Easy Being Green// The government has passed a fairly strong cap-and-trade climate bill, the Waxman-Markey Act, which if it becomes law would eventually lead to sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. For some reason, some of the Senate claim that there is no global warming, and companies are losing patience with their denies. For example, earlier this week Pacific Gas and Electric canceled its membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in protest over the chamber’s “disingenuous attempts to diminish or distort the reality” of climate change. What I don't understand is how the Senate is able to actually deny that there is no global warming. How can they just ignore the fact that arctic ice is rapidly disappearing. That region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss. To them caring about the climate is just a waste of money. Frankly this does not make any sense to me because we could all die from global warming, which can be prevented, but some government guys don't feel the need to spend a little money.

//The Politics of Spite// Politicians are like 13 year old kids. Recently the International Olympic Committee rejected Chicago’s bid to be host of the 2016 Summer Games. This caused members of the Weekly Standar magazine to print magazines with the headline “Obama loses! Obama loses!”. Others like the Drudge Report wrote, “World Rejects Obama.” Therefore proving that modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican Party, has the maturity of a bratty thirteen year old. If Republicans think something might be good for the president, they’re against it — whether or not it’s good for America. This is basically how things are decided on right now. Does it not occur to the Republicans that we are in a recession? Does it not even cross their minds that in order for our country to be the great wealthy country it used to be, we shouldn't be fighting like little kids, and instead working together?
 * __Conscience of a Liberal__**

//The Uneducated American// In the 19th century, America led the world in education. Now that number has dropped and America is slowly falling behind other advanced countries. Most college kids have part-time jobs due to the high costs of college. But these days, Americans would rather have a full-time job, then finish college. This is also the governments fault because they are making the cost of colleges so much money. If kids didn't have to pay a lot for colleges, they wouldn't be worrying about having a job, to pay off their debt. If they didn't have a job, they would have a better chance of finishing their degree.
 * __Conscience of a Liberal__**

__**Conscience of a Liberal**__ //What's in a name?// I personally see no point in this article. I really don't care if China has a name for it's currency and yuan is the denomination of bills. Yet that blog still got like 29 comments. There are more important things to blog about than China. There's the economy for one, and health care, or even people dying from hunger all around the world.I coud really care less about China's currency.