Gas prices

Guess who wants to give YOU some real tax relief?

If you're a $50-$100k/year household -- You, the middle of the middle class, the folks among us who spend money at local stores, eat in local restaurants and who usually spend a chunk of vacation money every year right here in the US of A, feeding our economy and keeping it moving -- Obama and the Democrats see the strain on your income and they'll do something to help.

Remember when the Republicans said that we had to invade Iraq because of 9/11? Remember when they told you that the war on terror meant that we should allow warrantless wiretaps and torture? Remember when they told you that voting against Bush in 2004 would lead to armageddon?

Well, they are playing to the passions of the people again, telling them that if we only drill in ANWR, cheap gas will magically appear.

According to financial disclosure records, Foxx has owned between $15,001 and $50,000 of stock in Chevron Corporation since 2004. She has also accepted campaign contributions from the Petroleum Marketers Association of America as well as Exxon Mobil.

There's much discussion out there on the Internets about the suspicious rise and fall of gas prices this year. In fact, a recent Gallup poll shows that 42% of Americans think George Bush and Republicans are deliberately manipulating prices to influence the November elections. Imagine that! Four out of every ten people in America think George Bush is a lying cheat.

As a person with only a smattering of economic training, I confess to being puzzled myself by the wild fluctuations in the oil markets. Could it possibly be that the conspiracy theorists are correct? Could nefarious manipulation be taking place right under our noses?

White House spokesman Tony Snow addressed the issue Monday, telling reporters that “the one thing I have been amused by is the attempt by some people to say that the president has been rigging gas prices, which would give him the kind of magisterial clout unknown to any other human being.”

“It also raises the question, if we’re dropping gas prices now, why on earth did we raise them to $3.50 before?” Snow said.