(Nothing but) Flowers

There was a factory
Now there are mountains and rivers
you got it, you got it

We caught a rattlesnake
Now we got something for dinner
we got it, we got it

There was a shopping mall
Now it's all covered with flowers
you've got it, you've got it

If this is paradise
I wish I had a lawnmower
you've got it, you've got it

And as things fell apart
Nobody paid much attention
you got it, you got it

Don't leave me stranded here
I can't get used to this lifestyle

Thomas Friedman, a champion of a $4.40/gallon gasoline price floor, while he zips around Manhattan in his Prius, would be tickled to that know that high gas prices are forcing people to eat more organic locally-grown food, grow their own vegetables and stay at home more often to enjoy the company of their own family.

As it stands now, the cost of gasoline is having an effect on all sectors of the economy but none more so than where we would most likely feel it the most: food prices.

Fertilizers, pesticides and fuel for farm equipment account for 14 percent of farm budgets nationally.

Between the second quarter of last year and the same time this year, farmers paid 65 percent more for fertilizer, 5 percent more for pesticides and 46 percent more for fuel, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And that does not even factor in the cost of fuel for processing food and shipping the food to market. What all this has resulted in is a 53% increase in the price of eggs, a 25% increase in bread prices and a 19% increase in milk prices.

But more collateral benefits abound also as people are clipping coupons, carpooling with neighbors to their local organic-only store and bartering different home-grown vegetable goods with those same neighbors…. you know, participating in what Friedman would consider “good” behavior. It all has such an idyllic and charmingly pre-civilization feel to it.

And why stop there? With the price of gasoline predicted to rise past 5 and 6 dollars, we will be able to cut meat and dairy products completely out of our diet because they just cost too much to produce and possibly just get rid of that car altogether. Its all good.

And maybe, just maybe if gas starts creeping up towards and past 7 dollars we can start razing shopping centers and bull-dozing housing developments that are currently setting on more population-dense arable land. You do like camping-out, dontcha?

The title of the post and the lyrics were taken from a Talking Heads song, one of our favorites, of the same name. I think they rather agreed with our sentiments expressed above on civilization devolution, but you can be the judge.

Not to be Outdone...

In more too-little-too-late rear-guard action, Senate GOPers blocked passage of the Senate’s alternative energy bill on Tuesday. Article here. An earlier version of the bill was passed by the House 3 weeks ago (our thoughts here). We say alternative energy because the House’s idea to get more oil to the pump was granting this country the ability to sue OPEC if it thought they were getting out of line.

The Senate’s equally logical Big Idea would be to tax what they believe are “unreasonable” profits of the Big 5 U.S. oil companies and then…then... take all that money….. and… burn it… ? Honestly, what the hell else would you do with all that paper – at least it might keep some people warm this winter when fuel prices will make June ’08 look like the good ol’ days.

But this one’s different, they cry…..

"The bill's supporters argued that their proposal was different from the windfall profits taxes of the early 1980s that thwarted domestic production and led to a rise in imports. The oil companies could avoid the tax by using their "windfall" to push alternative energy programs or refinery expansions, they said."

Why do we expect and why do we ask oil companies to be something they are not? Businesses make a big deal of core competencies… those things your company does most effectively to bring the highest rate of return on its investment. Having never set foot inside Exxon’s or Shell’s offices, we’re willing to bet that historically speaking, Big Oil’s core competencies have been exploring for oil, drilling for that crude oil, recovering and transporting that crude oil to refineries, refining it and then transporting it to market. Just a WAG….

But now we want them to be similarly competent in wind and solar power, batteries, geothermal technology, growing corn, growing sugar, biofuels, ethanol, hydrogen extraction, etc., etc. How does this make sense?

By now, its apparent Congress really isn’t serious about formulating any sensible energy plan and as we have stated previously, the absolute best we can hope for these days is that they don’t make a horrible situation any worse.

RCP Congressional approval rating: 18.7%