Thomko Petro Chemical Blog

Thanks to all who sent e-mail from our last post about soaring oil prices. From analysts, politicians and just about everybody weighing in, there are many opinions about the cause and ways to solve our dependency on oil. Here's my personal thoughts on some of the major causes of why oil has risen to all time highs
 . . . CT

For the past 20-25 years, this country has obviously neglected to find other sources of energy and fuel, and instead opted to stay dependent on foreign oil. Now we come to a time when as Thomas Friedman's book title "The World Is Flat" hits us squarely in the face.

This is a global economy - and the rest of the world wants what we have. We are no longer the driving force on the oil & gasoline prices worldwide. Even if we cut back on gasoline consumption - drivers in the rest of the world (China, India, etc) will continue to consume more gasoline. So the answer lies not just in finding more oil, the big pill to swallow is a real alternative energy policy.

While we have been living the "American Dream", much of the rest of the global world is catching up. They want the cars, homes and a lot of the technology we have become accustomed to. There are just not enough resources to supply the demand. Actually from my point of view they are falling into the same trap we now find ourselves - but that's another story . . .  

The facts are crude oil production has remained rather flat - while the need for oil continues to rise - especially from developing countries. The American dollar is at an all time low, and let me state once again that oil is priced worldwide in dollars.

Terrorist activity around the world can send oil souring at any time as we have seen in Nigeria, and threats remain throughout the Middle East. 

Oil speculators also have to be figured into the equation of the rising oil prices. Many institutions playing the market for their investors own far too many oil contracts - and when they announce oil price expectations - prices continue to rise. It's easy to control the price when you own most of the contracts!

And the war in Iraq has dramatically cut their pre-war production of approximately 4 million barrels per day to less than 2 million barrels per day. So in reality this war has also added to the reduction of the global oil supply - and I won't even go into what the threat of war with Iran will do to the world oil market prices.

But there's more bad news . . . Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter is having production problems. Russia's lack of investment in their infrastructure and many aging oil fields has led to their first production decline in 10 years.   

At the end of the day, it's all of us who pull up to the gas pump each week who are the losers. Obviously the elected politicians for the past two decades have not had the country or our best interests at heart. So, it's up to us to make changes in our lives, and try to ride out this economic chaos.

I certainly don't have all the answers, but I do know that we are facing a very bad economic time in this country. It's going to take sacrifice, and hopefully this time we will come out this with a new outlook on alternative energy - but it's not going to happen overnight. 

That's my take . . .

It seems like yesterday when many of us could not believe oil at $100 a barrel, but those days are long gone . . . CT

Oil surged past $140 a barrel after OPEC's president stated that prices could go well above $150!!

Just when we thought gas prices were at their highest . . . but oh no, it's gonna get worse

There are serious economic trouble ahead in the key financial markets, along with the automotive and housing industry. Today's oil surge has the Dow at the lowest point in almost two years. And we still don't know the fall-out from the mortgage crisis.

Then came the news that Libya will consider cutting oil production - and there's speculation that the Fed may not raise interest rates until later this year.

Many analysts are now in agreement that the rate cuts during the past year have further weakened the dollar - which have sent oil prices soaring since oil is priced in dollars.

We are in for a very bumpy ride folks - so we all need to try and get as much cushion as we can

Chavez Says E.U. Countries That Back Migrant Law Won't Get Oil   

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he'll prohibit sales of oil to European Union countries that apply a new law approved by the E.U. parliament that allows undocumented workers to be detained. Chavez has also stated that Venezuela also won't accept foreign investment from those European countries.

Venezuela won't attend a meeting of oil producers and consumers this weekend in Saudi Arabia, and sees no need to increase crude output, the country's oil and energy.

Venezuela has no plans to increase its oil output, Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters today in Maracaibo.  The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries doesn't need to meet again before its next scheduled event in September, and says that oil production levels aren't behind the increase in prices.

More news out of Venezuela . . .  

Chavez isn't content with nationalizing the countries oil - today he has formally taken control of the cement industry by decree, and has given three foreign companies 60 days to negotiate a fair price for their assets. Should they fail to reach an agreement, he stated Venezuela will start expropriating shares.

According to the decree, the government will take at least a 60% stake in the Venezuelan subsidiaries of Mexico-based Cemex SAB, Switzerland- based Holcim Ltd. and France-based Lafarge SA.

Chavez is using a windfall from oil exports to increase state control of the economy. Since the beginning of 2007, he has nationalized four crude oil ventures as well as the country's biggest telephone company and electricity provider.

Source: Bloomberg

Consumer Energy Alliance Efforts

The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the industry trade organization for the major U.S. airlines, is echoing the call of the Consumer Energy Alliance to secure a balanced and comprehensive U.S. energy policy that increases U.S. energy independence and results in a more stable energy supply and predictable costs.

The ATA points out that nearly 30 cities across the country have completely lost scheduled air service in the past year, with more service cuts and job losses inevitable as airlines attempt to cope with soaring fuel prices.

Eight U.S. airlines have shut down operations since the end of 2007 and another has filed for bankruptcy protection. More than 9,000 U.S. airline employees have lost their jobs so far this year, with additional cuts being announced as the year continues.

The ATA is proposing that the government make barrels available from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve in the event of supply disruptions or price spikes; invest proceeds in energy infrastructure.

It calls for curtailing commodity index speculation and close regulatory loopholes in trading of commodity futures (e.g., crude oil, heating oil); create equal playing field across exchanges and increase transparency of activity It also calls for pressuring U.S. refiners to increase utilization, which has fallen to abnormally low levels.

ATA supports streamlining National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), permitting requirements to allow expedited siting of new and improved refining capacity to meet surging demand for middle distillates (e.g., diesel, heating oil, jet fuel).

ATA also supports facilitating environmentally responsible crude oil exploration, refinery production, nuclear energy investment, wind power or other sources of energy through changes in tax policy, regulation or fiscal incentives and increasing R&D for alternative aviation fuels and for carbon capture and sequestration technologies.

For more information, visit www.airlines.org

SELMA, Ind. — An Indiana man is capitalizing on high crude oil prices with his own oil well - in his back yard!

It comes from the Trenton oil field that fuelled growth in east-central Indiana more than a century ago. It costs about $100,000 to drill an oil well, but that at today's prices, it's worth it.

Losh expects to drill four more wells on his property in the town of Selma, northeast of Indianapolis. He says the oil is stored in a tank and transported to Ohio for sale. The well also produces natural gas to heat his home and several others.

This all began when he began drilling on his ten acre property for natural gas to heat his home and found it. "Let's see if we can drill for oil. If there's gas here, there's got to be oil here," Losh said. "So, we drilled 300 feet deeper to see if we hit oil."

A camera (pics at links below) shows where Losh and his fellow investors found oil, almost 1,300 feet below the surface. While he won't say how many barrels his well pumps each day, the $100,000 start-up cost will pay for itself in one year. The oil is pumped twice a day for 30 minutes into a tank, then it's sold.

Losh says his group of investors will drill four more wells nearby, confident that one of the nation's biggest oil fields in the late 1800's still has plenty of black gold. While he concedes that he's making money, he says there's another incentive for drilling at home.

"It's mainly that we don't have to depend on foreign oil. There's oil here, let's see if we can get it again," he said. "It's time to get our homegrown oil back to Indiana."

Related Stories, and Pics -

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=8348967

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356606,00.html

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/watercooler/article.aspx?storyid=80715

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gnCnM9N-WslQIEIrRXPoh1DdFc8g
 

CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela is rerouting oil to China that had previously been sent to a U.S. refinery co-owned by its state oil company and Exxon Mobil Corp., Venezuela's oil minister said Friday.

Rafael Ramirez said Exxon has stopped ordering crude for a refinery in the New Orleans suburb of Chalmette as legal wrangling between the Irving, Texas-based company and Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, continues.

"Everything went to China," Ramirez told reporters.

PDVSA and Exxon are locked in a fierce legal battle over compensation for the 2007 nationalization of a jointly owned heavy oil project in Venezuela's Orinoco basin.

Ramirez vowed last month that PDVSA would meet its existing contracts with Exxon, including continued shipments to Chalmette. The refinery processes about 190,000 barrels a day, but does not depend exclusively on Venezuelan crude.

International Herald Tribune

In a mode that could clearly say: “I told you so”, critics of America’s involvement in Iraq are now saying that the U.S. Administration sent the troopers there for one primary reason.

To shore up a reliable source of crude oil that would keep flowing into American storage facilities, and hence into American citizens gas tanks for at least another 15 to 20 years.

With Iraqi petroleum reserves estimated to be at least 10% to total world supply, and if major American oil companies like .Exxon-Mobil and Amoco controlling the pumping of oil in most of Iraq, then it would be a win-win situation

Unfortunately,  things didn’t work out the way we wanted them to. Now that Iraqi and US forces are staging an operation against Shiite militiamen in the oil rich Iraqi city of Basra.

Maybe this explains why so many top American officials have made so many “surprise visits” to Iraq in this 2008 election year.

Ever since the invasion of March, 2003, production and exports of Iraqi crude oil have been beset by a combination of old production equipment in bad repair, as well as countless incidents of sabotage by Iraqi insurgents and foreign elements who simply do not want Iraqi oil to fall into the hands of “The Great Satan”,

Five years later and 4,000 American soldiers lay dead, this precious resource seems even more distant from American and other Western automobile gas tanks.

Israel, who once feared possible attacks from Iraq with weapons of mass destruction, called WMD’s for short, now fear another oil rich country, Iran,

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has often called for Israel to be “wiped off the face of the map”.

Oil is now fetching more than $100 a barrel, and the U.S. Dollar is even weaker than currencies like the Israeli Shekel.

It appears that the time has come for some serious stock-taking in regards to just why American forces went into Iraq in the first place, instead of simply letting Saddam Hussein and his cronies remain there as a possible buffer against the real world enemy – .

http://www.onejerusalem.com/2008/03/26/the-oil-war/

While surfing the net, I ran across this article - which is more important sex or the economy? It seems that this week sex was more important than the economy - at least according to the news media - twisted minds - CT

Americans missed the news on Monday that the cost of crude oil hit $110 a barrel, and then fell back to $109.

How is it that this news headline was missed? Well, the news media was too obsessed with soon to be ex New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's sex scandal with a 22 year old prostitute, and pushed the price of oil headline to the back pages.

Sex always sells in America, but we all need to keep our eye on what is really important. While Spitzer's sex life makes a great gossip item, how does that really impact our lives compared to the continued price of oil which is causing gas, food and the cost of products to continually rise each month? Spitzer is a wealthy man, but I doubt that he is paying any of our bills - so is this really the most important story in America right now? Of course not!  But we always seem to get preoccupied with matters and people that have no real impact in our lives, while letting the really important issues slide off our radar screen.

This next presidential election is one of the most important elections in American history, and let's face it - our economy is in the pits - and this obviously effects every American in some way or another.

So, I suggest the media get back on track to what is really important, and put the Spitzer story on the back pages while reserving front page for real news stories.  

Read full article at Daily News Tribune

By the way - A lot of people who don't live like most of us "average" Americans are out of touch about the price of oil and gasoline, because their pocketbooks are not affected. Like in a recent press conference the president showed his ignorance of gasoline prices when he was obviously caught off guard, and appeared to be somewhat shocked by $4.00 a gallon prices quoted by one journalists. Guess the president doesn't know about some people in Alaska paying far more than $4.00 a gallon right now. I bet they could care less about the governor's sex life. See previous posting Oil Rich Alaska Poor Struggle to Heat Homes

While Alaska has lots of oil money, residents of many remote villages are living with a cruel irony - they cannot afford to heat their homes because their fuel bills are 2 - 3 times the national average.

U.S. nationwide home heating fuel averages $3.30 a gallon, but averages $4.30 a gallon in Alaska - and in the remote villages the cost is $9 a gallon. Gasoline is now averaging just over $3 a gallon nationally, but averages $4.54 in Alaska, and jumps to $7 a gallon in the remote areas!

The cost of shipping oil to the remote areas of Alaska by plane or barge is steep - despite the state's vast oil wealth. Most of the oil must be shipped as crude to the West Coast to be refined, and then sent back to Alaska.

The state's lawmakers are looking at offering hundreds of dollars in rebates to help remote villages offset their home heating bills - but they only have a short time to address this issue before the legislative session ends - and Hugo Chavez steps in to embarrass them once again.  

It seems in the past Chavez has been far quicker to come to the aid of Alaska's remote village residents. Last year Venezuelan oil company Citgo donated $5 million of free heating oil to poor communities in Alaska.

Arctic Village is one such community where fuel has to be flown in because this remote community is hundreds of miles off the normal roadways, and this village cannot be reached by barge. The residents in these areas depend on fuel to travel by snowmobile, ATV or boat to hunt and fish.

Alaska's state revenue will benefit a surplus of $3 -$4 million this year because of high oil prices, along with a recent hike in oil taxes. But lawmakers are looking at a steady 6% drop in production at the North Slope oil fields.

So it's a choice between giving some of that money as rebates to the poor, or keeping some of the surplus which will help tide the state over until the North Slope project is finished - but that's at least 10 years away.

Tell that to Ed Littlefield, a Vietnam veteran who suffers from diabetes, lives on disability, and looks for wood to chop so he can heat his home. He's gone without fuel for days. He says, " Everybody hates Hugo Chavez, but we thank him for the fuel that lasted about 3-4 months last year".

Republican Bill Thomas represents nearly 50 small communities in the state's southeast panhandle, he suggests a $500 payout to state residents, at a cost of about $360 million that would be paid from the profits of the state's oil wealth savings account - a $38 billion Alaska Permanent Fund.

But fellow lawmakers do not want to touch the earnings fearing Alaskans would perceive it as a raid on the fund that pays them an annual dividend - $1,654 for nearly every man, woman and child last year.

Other lawmakers caution against putting money into assistance programs that will just have to be cut in the leaner years, along with giving the perception of Alaska as a free loader state with "cash giveaways" - especially after the infamous "bridge to nowhere" federal earmark.

So while the lawmakers quarrel about what to do, residents may still have to depend on Venezuela this year to help them heat their homes and provide fuel for transportation.

Source: AP

Iraqis face the dire prospect of losing up to $200bn of the wealth of their country if an American-inspired plan to hand over development of its oil reserves to US and British multinationals comes into force next year.

A report produced by American and British pressure groups warns Iraq will be caught in an "old colonial trap" if it allows foreign companies to take a share of its vast energy reserves

The report is certain to reawaken fears that the real purpose of the 2003 war on Iraq was to ensure its oil came under Western control.

The Iraqi government has announced plans to seek foreign investment to exploit its oil reserves after the general election, which will be held this month. Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proved oil reserves, the third largest in the world.

According to the report, from groups including War on Want and the New Economics Foundation (NEF), the new Iraqi constitution opened the way for greater foreign investment.

Negotiations with oil companies are already under way ahead of this month's election and before legislation is passed.

Source:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraqs-oil-the-spoils-of-war-516400.html
________________

Iran Opens Oil Bourse to Sidestep U.S. Sanctions

I previously posted about the opening of Iran's kish island bourse, and awhile ago did a posting on Iran backing off the U.S. dollar reserve in favor of other currencies - particularly the euro - CT  

Iran opened an exchange for crude and petrochemicals Sunday, an effort that encourages private investment in the nation’s prominent energy sector.

The primary trade currency used by the bourse will be the euro, thereby establishing a euro-based oil marker if successful. Iran first floated the idea of trading oil in several years ago, but a weak dollar has breathed new life into the concept.

http://www.moneymorning.com/2008/02/19/iran-opens-oil-bourse-to-sidestep-us-sanctions/

Iran Opens Oil Bourse to Sidestep U.S. Sanctions

Iran opened an exchange for crude and petrochemicals Sunday, an effort that encourages private investment in the nation’s prominent energy sector. See our previous posting Iran Kish Island Opens Oil Bourse

"The bourse provides an economic opportunity for Iranians, other countries, and foreign customers,"
The primary trade currency used by the bourse will be the euro, thereby establishing a euro-based oil marker if successful. Iran first floated the idea of trading oil in euros several years ago, but a weak dollar has breathed new life into the concept.

Iran Opens Oil Bourse to Sidestep U.S. Sanctions

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has threatened to cut off oil sales to the U.S., said reports that making such a decision would hurt his country's economy are false, and that Venezuelan oil can be sold anywhere.

Chavez denounced an editorial published this week in the Washington Post, which said the president's government would be the "first victim'' if he decided to cut off oil sales to the U.S.

"If the U.S. didn't need the oil, they would have boycotted us a long time ago,'' Chavez said last night in an interview on state television, according to an e-mailed statement from the information ministry. "Try it then. We've got more buyers than we can handle in the first place.''

Read full story at Bloomberg

The first phase of Iran's oil stock market started its work on Kish island in the Persian Gulf, southern Iran, on Sunday presenting oil and petrochemical products.

Although Iran's oil resources were discovered more than a hundred years ago, its oil sector has so far played only a minor role in international oil markets, but the new bourse opening will pave the way for a more active presence in international crude transactions.

The stock market was inaugurated in a video conference ceremony from the capital Tehran attended by ministers of oil, finance and economic affairs as well as chairman of Iran's Stock Exchange and a number of other officials and financial experts.

One report stated that all major currencies of the world will be used in transactions, however the Islamic Republic website stated the transactions will be made in Iranian rial.

Referring to potential transactions in oil products through the oil bourse, the Oil Minister said, “Our annual petrochemical output currently stands at 20 million tons, which is expected to reach 23 million tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, with good prospects of increasing it to some 45 million tons by the end of next year.”

Sources: Press TV

As well are all aware, billions of plastic bags are choking our planet, littering the landscape, and put toxic chemicals in our rivers, lakes, beaches and the ocean.

The plastic bags we use, and throw away every day do not biodegrade, they photodegrade, which simply means the plastic breaks down into small toxic bits which contaminate the ground and waterways.

These toxic plastic bits also enter the food chain when animals ingest these particles.

Sea turtles, whales and other marine life die from ingesting plastic bags and debris mistaken for food.

While these bags are assumed to be "free", these plastics bags have, and will continue to bring an untold cost to our global environment.   

Plastic bags are a by product of the oil industry, and it takes vast amounts of oil to produce the billions of bags that are used by consumers every day. So it's easy to understand that the cost of oil is also driven by our constant use of plastic bags and products.

Visit this great site for more info, and how you, and all of us can get more involved -
Eco-friendly reusable bags, plus facts & news on plastic bag issue
http://www.reusablebags.com/

BP is in talks with the Iraqi Government about a plan to boost oil production at the huge Rumaila field on the border with Kuwait.

Among other potential projects in Iraq, BP's interest is understood to include the Rumaila field, one of Iraq's largest, which is believed to contain about 18 billion barrels of oil.

BP undertook a study of the field for the Iraqi Government about two years ago. It already has a small Iraq team based in the Middle East and is one of a number of big oil companies discussing agreements designed to increase rapidly the country's output to 2.6 million barrels per day by the end of this year.
    
These effectively would be service contracts to provide training, expertise and equipment, for which the companies would be paid in oil. A BP spokesman said that it was too early to consider putting in expatriate staff because of the security situation.

BP,Total, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips attended talks with the Iraqi Government in Amman, Jordan, last month to help to fix the terms of the contracts. Shell is interested in a gasfield in western Iraq.

BP was involved in Iraq until 1975, when the country's oil industry was nationalized.

Source: Business Times Online

OPEC is adopting a "wait and see" approach, and ignored Bush's recent plea for a production increase.

"I don't think the world should be concerned about a lack of oil. It should be more concerned about the financial crisis we are witnessing and its impact on world growth," OPEC conference president and Algerian oil minister, Chekib Khelil, told a press conference after the output decision.

OPEC's 13 member countries decided to keep its daily production of 29.67 million barrels, and insists that the world is being supplied with enough oil.  

So while OPEC is concerned about the economic situation here in the U.S., they are not going to raise production, and any output increase will be tabled until the next meeting on March 5 in Vienna.

OPEC comprises Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

Saudi Arabia Says "They" Will Not Include the U.S. Dollar in OPEC Talks This Weekend - but what about other OPEC members?

The weak dollar will not be in discussion at this weekends OPEC summit in Riyadh - at least as for as Saudi Arabia is concerned.

Iran and Venezuela want to bring the falling U.S. dollar currency issue to the table, and price oil in other currencies, but our good old Saudi friends say they don't want the dollar to collapse - so they say it's off the table for this summit.

Aside from the Saudi's usual middle of the road position, let's be clear that some OPEC members are considering an increase in using the euro instead of the dollar. OPEC has seen much of its oil revenue decrease during the last three years as the dollar has fallen about 15% in value against the euro during the past year.

Earlier this year Kuwait abandoned its peg to the dollar in exchange for a basket of currencies. Russia also has a basket which include 55% of the dollar, and 45% of the euro. The United Arab Emirates has indicated it may end its 30-year-old peg to the dollar in exchange for a basket of currencies. And we know where Venezuela and Iran stand.

So when the Saudi minister says that all of OPEC is in agreement that the dollar will not be abandoned, this is obviously not a true statement when we know at least five OPEC member countries are opting out of using dollars to purchase oil.  

The issue of using another currency other than U.S. dollars for oil was evidently leaked to journalists.

The dollar issue was obviously being discussed - the Venezuelan Energy Minister and the Saudi's were talking about it in their own language, and the translation was leaked. A statement is supposed to be released after the summit in regards to the dollar, which is expected to say OPEC is not about to abandon the dollar. I will be looking to see if the statement includes that all of its members are in agreement.

What has been, and continues to be true is the global concern that the dollars weakness may bring about the end of the U.S. currency's reign as the world's main international currency for trade, financial transactions and central-bank reserves.

US, British and Australian forces build new oil-protection base in Iraq. Russia Claims the U.S. is in an oil grab, and What happened to all that oil money?

A permanent base to guard two oil export platforms is being constructed in Iraq by the U.S. Navy, along with British and Australian forces at the northern end of the Persian Gulf.

The Pentagon says the new oil terminal base will not be a permanent U.S. facility, and will be turned over the the Iraq - eventually. Naval officers admit Iraq is going to need help for many years to come, and while the presidential candidates debate about bringing troops home, this new construction could mean our soldiers will be there for years to come - some estimates say 10 years.

The U.S. has patrolled the Persian Gulf for the last 30 years with warships to keep the oil shipping lanes open, but this new construction to protect the oil terminals moves patrolling to more of a security guard to the offshore oil industry in Iraq.

The Russian Connection

Russia sees this latest development as a U.S. oil grab, and Russian political leaders are publicly stating that the U.S. invaded Iraq in order to steal the vast oil reserves. Russia is not happy about the oil contract it already had with Iraq during Saddam's rule, and these were ruled as illegal by the U.S. after taking control of Iraq's oil fields.

Politicians in Russia have gone even farther in suggesting that the oil grab was the original intent of the neo-cons which include Wolfowitz, Libby, and Chaney - who Russia regards as the de-facto president.

The story gets even better with speculation that Bush and company pre-planned to privatize the Iraqi oil industry, then increase the oil production - along with exploration - and flood the world oil market to drive prices down. This could bring about the collapse of OPEC, and then strengthen the U.S. economy.

Iraq has the potential to pump lots of oil - 115 billion barrels of reserves are estimated to be in the ground. This would make Iraq the second or third largest holder of crude oil behind Saudi Arabia and Iran.

We were told that oil money would pay for reconstruction in Iraq, but we now know what little reconstruction was done is shabby, and the sub-contractors have been the winners.

And Back Home

What many Americans are wondering is what happened to all that oil money that was supposed to pay for the war? Since the proposed oil production in Iraq has not yet come about, whatever money is being made is barely covering the cost of running the government there.

The estimated cost to the U.S. taxpayers is nearly $2 trillion over the next ten years. So, do we think this war is going to end anytime soon? And do we think the reason for going to war with Iraq was about anything other than oil at this point? Going back to what the Russians leaders are saying, was this the plan all along?

With so many lives lost, tens of thousands of soldiers severely injured, and a $2 trillion dollar tax bill tied to this war, Americans need to finally start asking some serious questions.

Our economy is in a tail spin, the dollar is falling, jobs have and are continued to be lost, health care is a big issue, and there's so many more important issues than I can list here. So where is this all leading? We really need to get some answers, and solutions!