The Next Big Thing:

Stuff, can we live without it:

The surging cost of necessities has led to a national belt-tightening among consumers. Figures released on Monday showed that spending on food and gasoline is crowding out other purchases, leaving people with less to spend on furniture, clothing and electronics. Consequently, chains specializing in those goods are proving vulnerable.

(Michael Barbaro, The New York Times, 15 Apr 08)

Fuel costs and bad credit are impinging on the economy in ways most of us don't think about. When it comes to choosing between getting to work or buying yet another pair of sneakers, … well, just how many pairs of shoes does one person need after all?

In any event, a new wave of bankruptcies is upon the economy. This time the banks are unlikely to strong arm the congress into passing new legislation to prohibit or even cut down on them. They only do that when working class people want to file for bankruptcy because they can't control their spending habits.

When businesses file for bankruptcy, the banks will press congress for federal relief, drawing upon the taxpayers to bail them out. We'll be told that it's for the good of the economy. And maybe they're right. You and I, well, we're just worker ants and bees. It's the queen of the hive who passes along the building blocks for the future, isn't it?

Unexpected Consequences:

Biofuels seemed like an idea too good to be true, and it's proven to be so. Early critics pointed out that biofuels were no more environmentally friendly than oil or coal, but few of us thought about the possibility that they would lead to food riots and the toppling of governments. Last week, as The New York Times points out, Haiti's prime minister was dismissed, in part due to food riots.

The United States consumes about 25 percent of the world's energy. The idea that farmers could start selling their crops to energy hungry Americans caused the price of grain around the world to begin increasing dramatically. In the U. S., doubling the cost of food will make most of us grouse, but we can still get along, even if we have to give up buying an extra pair of sneakers. But for millions of people outside the U. S., doubling the cost of food means starvation or near starvation.

Speaking of Energy:

Oil prices reached a new record: $114 a barrel. Or put another way, it cost me 3 times as much to heat my home this year as it did twelve years ago when I moved in, even though I've reduced my energy consumption by more than 20 percent.

So just why are people like me upset with the state of the economy, and why is my outlook bleak? ("Gee, Jim, I can't imagine. So how about those McCain tax cuts for the wealthy? I'll bet a little trickle-down would look pretty good right now." Yeah, uh, I'm still waiting on the Reagan trickle-down effect. Have you seen it?)

Adding Fuel to the Fire:

Need any more evidence that the American health industry is out to get you? This afternoon's New York Times reports a new twist on the Vioxx/Merck episode (the drug was reportedly responsible for thousands of heart attacks). It appears that Merck was paying doctors to sign their names to reports that had been produced in house. That is, by signing their names to the reports, these doctors were asserting that they had conducted or in some been involved in the research when in fact their only involvement was to sign their names after the fact. It is now believed that the research never took place at all.

Why didn't government oversight catch this before? Well, we don't believe in government regulation. The market place will take care of such indiscretions by forcing these kinds of businesses out, right? After all, that's exactly what happened in the Merck case. ("Yeah, right, Jim, but not before a few thousand people had heart attacks and died!" Details! Details! At least we didn't have government interference in our business.)

The Great Man on Social Security: "I'm going to spend a lot of time on Social Security. I enjoy it. I enjoy taking on the issue. I guess, it's the mother in me." — George W. Bush, Washington, D. C., April 14, 2005. Just think how better off we'd all be if we allowed George to put our social security money into today's stock market. Maybe we could own a part of Baer Stearns and get bailed out!

NOTE: Today is tax day. It is also the 61st anniversary of the day Jackie Robinson played his first major league baseball game.