Bling Bling in the ATL

So I got a list from ABCs the note about the Bush administrations top priorities and thought I'd think about each. 3 days later, here goes.

Iraq war completion

No idea whats going on in Iraq. I hear of the bombings, the elections, but have no idea where the country is in terms of self sufficiency.

Economy, oil, and Saudi Arabia

Good luck kids! Its all going down the tubes. Why?

1. oil demand is going to outmatch any supply increases because of China/India.
2. Oil prices reflect buyers' expectitions about political stability in the region, which isn't going to improve next month.

So Prince Bandar can't do much except hold Bush's hand on this one.

Rising oil prices are just one thing that doesn't look good about the economy:

1. Current account balance is worsening, in part due to chinese imports - longterm trend which is financed by...
2. Individual debt. When did it become cool to pay for groceries and beer with a credit card? I see it all the time and the numbers show. Part of this willingness to put groceries and beer on credit cards comes from
3. (over)appreciation in the housing market, which sustained consumer spending through the 2000 recession and, by many measures, is a bubble waiting to burst. If the housing market burst, a lot of people would find themselves with lowered creditworthiness, high mortgage payments, or in other words...
3. personally bankrupt. Not a good thing to be now that...
4. Bush just signed new bankruptcy law written by the credit card companies (call it pre-emptive strike) and
5. back to the first point, gas prices are over $50 a barrel - which doesn't just hurt SUV owners, but also cuts into job-creating activities on the part of corporations, resulting in
4. anemic job creation and...
5. rising threat of inflation, which the fed responds to by
6. raising interest rates, which drives even MORE people into
7. personal bankruptcy.

Anyways, its way to complicated for me to even think about, but, you know, burn your credit card, stop shopping at walmart and start making your own clothes and buying organic, or better yet, BUY GOLD. Thats what I think.

Social Security

This is dead, at least til '06, when, if the republicans have better majorities and the white house hasn't completely lost control of congress, they'll try again. Tom Delay's joined the 'Strengthen Social Security' tour, which is funny, but is basically in line with the idea that Bush is going to try again in 2006.

Budget negotiations

uhhh... hopeless.

Bolton nomination

I'm just gonna make predictions on this one: unless he hired an illegal immigrant nanny or something and we find out in the next three weeks of evidence finding, Bolton will prob get confirmd 10-8 in committee and pass the Senate.

Whats at stake is...
1. how damaging this will be to the republican's in the nations subconcious
2. what kind of effect this'll have on the white house's hold over congress republicans.

Looks like the debate is going to shift slightly from 'anger management' issues to republican's iffy relationship with facts (bullying CIA analysts) and the white houses' foreign policy in general.

I'm not sure theres grounds for denying Bolton on any 3 of these. My personal opinion? You know, I really like the UN. I'm a multilateralist. I believe in soft power. And I also think congress and the president should really fight each other over foreign policy issues - there should be a real separation of powers conflict every time. So I hope Bolton goes down.

Filibuster face-off

Not looking so good. See Josh Marshall - he's been tracking Dem and Repub efforts to 'spin' this as nuclear vs. constitutional options. Dems have not been reading their talking points.

Reid is doing a good job, but I think they've got to block this. I care about the 3 judges they're blocking now, but what I'm worried about is the Supreme Court Justice coming down the pike.

DeLay's fate

You know, if he goes down, I hope the white house pushes him, so that republican congressmen get a little pissed off at their heavy handed ness when it comes to separation of powers. I like that Lott was chipping in with Delay last week - that association can't hurt.

I've been a news junkie for 2 weeks now. Starting to think maybe I should get into ATL politics instead. The national stuff is interesting, but... the storyline dries out because theres only so much daily news.

OK, back to work. Ciao,

- Ms. Bling