Morning Babble 2

A few thoughts on the Day Before Thanksgiving...

Pardoning the Turkeys - Lame Duck President Bush has continued a 61 year tradition and pardoned his fellow-foul 'Pecan' and 'Pumpkin'.  The two turkeys were given a presidential pardon by Bush in a practice dating back to the Truman administration.  Bush quipped that one of the turkeys was present for the honor and the other in an 'undisclosed' location.  He may be engaging in the odd, strained josh now, but odds are he will be pardoning at least one other secure undisclosed turkey before he leaves office.

Tainted - One of the sad effects of George Bush's administration is the wholesale tainting of virtually all who served in it, at least at visible levels.  It may be hard for the most liberal of us to comprehend, but there were many very capable, honest, and dedicated people who served at the soon-to-be-former President's pleasure.  So it is logical that our new President may want to tap some of this expertise for his new administration.  The 'taint' can make this awkward if not impossible.  Unfortunately, he has already lost a possible head of the CIA due to this taint, when John Brennan, who served under George Tennant in the Bush Administration, took his name off the table after some 'liberal bloggers' started a 'campaign' against him. We should all bite our collective tongues and let Obama make the best choices he can make.

A New Hope -  Lightly observed by the news, and barely discussed, dropping diesel fuel prices present a major booster shot for the economy.  One of the biggest strains on budgets from the start of 2007 through late summer 2008 was rapidly rising diesel prices, which peaked at over $5 per gallon.  The rise increased the cost for almost all goods sold and food produced around the world.  All manufactured goods are shipped or trucked at some stage and that takes diesel fuel.  Crops are sowed and harvested using equipment that runs on diesel.  Now that diesel has dropped below $2.50 per gallon in most places in the US, a great inflationary pressure has been removed.  It may take a while before we reap the benefits, as many companies may keep transport costs high as long as they can to recoup losses, but reap we will, eventually.   This will be a great aid to the Fed who with this help can better afford to keep interest rates low to boost the economy without fear of inflation.