Tom Friedman takes a look at what really is wrong with America:

We are not as powerful as we used to be because over the past three decades, the Asian values of our parents’ generation — work hard, study, save, invest, live within your means — have given way to subprime values: “You can have the American dream — a house — with no money down and no payments for two years....

A few weeks ago, my wife and I flew from New York’s Kennedy Airport to Singapore. In J.F.K.’s waiting lounge we could barely find a place to sit. Eighteen hours later, we landed at Singapore’s ultramodern airport, with free Internet portals and children’s play zones throughout. We felt, as we have before, like we had just flown from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. If all Americans could compare Berlin’s luxurious central train station today with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear we were the ones who lost World War II.

How could this be? We are a great power. How could we be borrowing money from Singapore? Maybe it’s because Singapore is investing billions of dollars, from its own savings, into infrastructure and scientific research to attract the world’s best talent — including Americans....

Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living on borrowed time and borrowed dimes. We still have all the potential for greatness, but only if we get back to work on our country.

As gas skyrockets toward the $4 range, it's interesting the note that the current hike in oil prices is unlike the others we have seen over the past few years.

Since the Iraq war started, prices have shot up from time to time dependent on external events, be they worries about the war, possible actions against Iran, Turkey's conflict with the Kurds, Israel's invasion of Lebanon, even Hurricane Katrina.

But since the beginning of 2007, the rise seems more related the falling dollar than any other factor. The Euro used to be worth only 80 cents, but now is trading at $1.50. Since oil is priced in dollars, this has led to record prices above $110 a barrel.

The reason for the dropping dollar is that the world has finally caught onto the Bush ponzi scheme, where the U.S. just keeps borrowing money, and they don't trust us to pay it back.

Unlike the externally driven events, don't expect oil to drop in price again soon, if ever.

There's a couple of good stories out today about the worsening economy and taxes.

First, you have Paul Krugman who breaks down the employment picture, showing that the "Bush Boom" was a bust, and is getting worse. He points out the facts that the fearmongering Republicans pleas to continue the Bush tax cuts flies in the face of reality. The tax rates during the Clinton years seemed to work pretty well, without running huge deficits.

The other story is about Mike Huckabee's FairTax plan. He wants to get rid of income, payroll and other taxes and replace the with a "consumption" tax, basically a huge sales tax. The article shows that the FairTax isn't so fair, as it shifts the burden onto the middle class, while the rich get a big break.

There are some good things about a consumption tax, but there's a lot of bad things, too. Proponents do not take into account how the wealthiest Americans make and spend money. While the tax would affect nearly everything you buy, investments would not be covered. Therefore, people could build up large fortunes by buying up businesses and stocks and pay little taxes. It's a recipe for further concentrating wealth at the top of the ladder.

Nevada Appeal

Bush says US economy is safe and sound.

Gee, now I feel better.

He reminds me of Kevin Bacon's first movie role in "Animal House," the part where he is furiously urging the crowd, "Don't panic! All is well!" right before his is trampled to death.

Paul Krugman unspins the Bush backers' "the economy is great" narrative by comparing today to 1998:

The unemployment rate in 1998 was only slightly lower than the unemployment rate today. But for working Americans, everything else was different. Wages were rising, yet inflation was low, so the purchasing power of workers’ take-home pay was steadily improving. So, too, were job benefits, including the availability of health insurance. And homeownership was rising steadily.

It was, in other words, a time when Americans felt they were sharing in the country’s prosperity.

Today, by contrast, wage gains for most workers are being swallowed by inflation. In fact, the reality for lower- and middle-income workers may be worse than the official statistics say, because the prices of necessities like food, transportation and medical care are rising considerably faster than the Consumer Price Index as a whole. One striking statistic: the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner was 11 percent higher this year than last year.

Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans receiving health insurance from their employers, which began to decline in 2001, is continuing its downward trend. And homeownership, after rising for several years on a tide of subprime mortgages — well, you know how that’s going.

Not that the brainwashed Bushies will listen...

Now this is messed up.

Basically, this guy can't make his house payments, and the bank forecloses on the house. But the IRS comes and charges the now ex-homeowner a huge bill because supposedly the debt that was wiped out was a gift.

With Nevada now leading the nation in percentage of home foreclosures, I'm waiting for more of this type of thing to pop up.

Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity - New York Times:

The median hourly wage for American workers has declined 2 percent since 2003, after factoring in inflation. The drop has been especially notable, economists say, because productivity %u2014 the amount that an average worker produces in an hour and the basic wellspring of a nation%u2019s living standards %u2014 has risen steadily over the same period.