ECONOMY RETURNS TO HIGH DANGER STATUS

If you remember correctly, gas was selling at about $2.00 a gallon and unemployment was running at about 5% when the last big rise in oil prices started. When the dust settled, gas had been over $4.00, unemployment was banging on the door of 10%, housing was in the toilet and Obama and Bush were running around with our checkbook trying to bail everyone out. That wasn’t all that long ago.

Today, unemployment is still well over 9%, gas is over $3.00, housing is still in the toilet, Obama is telling everyone that the economy has been fixed, and... gas prices are on the rise. In fact, gas prices started going up well before Egypt and Lybia erupted, because the same speculators were speculating again; they still are. The unrest in the Middle East adds fuel to the fire and it is indeed possible that we will see $5.00 gas prices by summer.

What this portends is a far bigger disaster than we faced two years ago. We can’t afford high gas prices. The economy is so weak, despite what Obama says, that it will not take much to send it into another tailspin. This time around, the people who drive to work are making less, if they are employed that is. With the severe budget deficits facing cities and states, more adverse economic pressure could well signal massive layoffs in the public service sector within a few months.

This country is still actually in an economic calamity with its debt. We have no room to maneuver and we have union leaders and a President who don’t care. All we get is jawboning and no action. Something has got to give, and I’m afraid it’s going to be much more hardship on all of us.

That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.