The Haves & the Have Nots:

While millions of Americans worry about how they are going to pay to heat their homes this winter and to pay for the gasoline to drive to work, millions of others have so much money and free time on their hands that they can afford to spend both on video games. Take Two Interactive Software, the company behind Grand Theft Auto, reported retail sales of $540 million this past quarter. This is almost enough money to finance a presidential campaign.

In the meantime, almost ten percent of "American mortgages were either past due or in foreclosure at the end of March, according to a report released on Thursday, a figure that is rising fast as home prices fall and the job market weakens" (The New York Times 6-6-08). These are the highest levels since the Mortgage Bankers Association began keeping records of such data in 1979.

Alert! Bush Humor Crossing:

"Anyway, I'm so thankful, and so gracious—I'm gracious that my brother Jeb is concerned about the hemisphere as well." — George W. Bush, appearing with his brother Jeb, Governor of Florida, Miami, Florida, June 2001.

It Wasn't Stupidity That Led Bush To Invade Iraq, It Was Greed:

The New York Times opines on the recent report confirming what everyone already knew about Bush's war—it was directed by false information repeated incessantly. But the Times continues to replay the notion of Bush's stupidity, rather than focusing on the simple truth. Saddam Hussein wasn't simply a threat to his own people, he was a threat to Exxon Mobil and the other major oil dealers, along with the banks. Saddam was selling more oil than the oil companies and their lackeys (Cheney et al) wanted on the market, and he was trying to sell even more of it. For Euros.

More on Oil:

The Washington Post reports on a loophole in federal regulations that allows hedge funds to speculate in oil, helping to drive the price up higher:

Hedge funds and big Wall Street banks are taking advantage of loopholes in federal trading limits to buy massive amounts of oil contracts, according to a growing number of lawmakers and prominent investors, who blame the practice for helping to push oil prices to record highs.

* * *

The federal agency that oversees oil trading, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has exempted these firms from rules that limit speculative buying.

The CFTC has also waived regulations over the past decade on U.S. investors who trade commodities on some overseas markets, freeing those investors to accumulate large quantities of the future oil supply by making purchases on lightly regulated foreign exchanges.