It is getting clear that he will most likely get his second term. I hate to see that but lets face it this countrys politicans are broken. I will say at least Obama is doing a great job in letting us kill using the drones!!!!!! one good thing he has done.

How do we get out of this then? Is there a solution? Does one of the GOP candidates running seem to have a policy you can support?

Let's talk facts: Obama rejected the arbitrary deadline the GOP imposed on Keystone, he did not reject Keystone itself. This is a link to the "Austin Statesman" (so no one can accuse me of trusting the liberal media) http://www.statesman.com/opinion/keystone-xl-delayed-but-it-wont-be-stopped-2116504.html

Don't fall for the hype --

Arbitrary deadline? It's been "under review" for years, including his recent idea to postpone the decision until after the election in November (yeah right). When do you finally make a decision?
It's part of a pattern whereby Obama can't get his agenda passed with our elected representatives, so he directs his unelected bureaucrats to kill, delay and regulate out of existence jobs and businesses (Boeing in South Carolina etc etc). Even Obamacare wasn't passed via "normal" means, it was "deemed" as passed by Pelosi's House, because they couldn't get a vote to reconcile it.

David, agree 99%... The Democrat House considered the "deemed" passed with Obamacare but after a threatened lawsuit by Landmark Legal Foundation they changed their mind and twisted enough "moderate" Democrats arms that they did pass it appropriately. This is why they lost 65 Seats in Nov. 2010. http://spectator.org/archives/2010/03/18/mark-levin-readies-lawsuit-on

Maybe talk to the Bush administration, the project originated in 2005. Or possibly talk to Nebraska, because they aren't thrilled with the planned path through their state.

Can you explain why there was a connection between the approval of Keystone and the benefits extension vote to begin with please?

And it went environmental review and passed until Barry's State Department got a hold of it. The Canadians were getting tired of waiting on Barry, they have buyers in China ready to buy and so they'll build a pipeline out west for them now. But at least we'll have always-friendly Venezuela to buy from. That's "smart diplomacy"!

You totally lost me -- Not sure who Barry is...
Still not sure what Keystone had to do with the budget...

Answered my own question - Barry=Barrack -- sorry...

David, as fun as this has been, I'm seeing lots of hyperbole and few actual facts. So best of luck and have a great evening.

Not only that Moraga, the claims of Keysone reducing the price of oil is also a bunch of bs. Their OWN studies show its not the case and prices will continue to increase. People hear what they want to hear and beleive what they want to regardless of the facts. And if Obama agrees to the Keystone Pipeline, and it turns out to be an environmental and fiscal nightmare, they will be the first to blame Obama for it.

Tim, do your homework. Yes, there would hav been jobs building/maintaining the pipeline, but that oil was already earmarked for sale to China. You need to realize that all petroleum goes on the world market; it's always sold to the highest bidder. In this case, China won the contract.

You need to do your homework Gary. Yes, it's a global market but the infrastructure plays a big role in the ability to deliver that oil. Canada is going to sell that oil to China not because they are offering a lower bid but because they are tired of waiting for us. As a previous person noted, this project has been in the works since Bush was president. It wasn't approved sooner because it had to go through the environmental review process, which it already has. Obama is just catering to his far left wing fringe environmental nut jobs and made a deal with the unions (who wanted the project) to keep them quiet and the campaign contributions coming in. Well, congratulations because once gasoline hits $5 a gallon this summer, it won't matter how much Obama spends on his campaign, he's finished.

A leader with real executive experience in the White House is what we need. We need pro-business policies and we need to reduce the corporate tax rate which is the second highest in the world. No Arab oil is nothing new but here we have a blown opportunity to reduce the impact and the prices at the pump. Gasoline will hit $5 a gallon this summer is the unrest with Iran continues. The keystone pipeline would help... and to those that say "it won't help in the short term" you're wrong. Speculation plays a huge role in the price of oil. I personally like Obama and think he's done more to try to help the middle class than any president in my lifetime but you aren't going to improve the overall economy by punishing job creators.

That's probably unlikely for 2 reasons:
1) The price of food is inextricably to the price of oil. Oil makes fertilizers, runs trucks, combines, barges, packaging, all the stuff that makes corn or wheat into tortillas and bread.
2) The gasohol mandate requiring gasoline to be blended to 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol, a much bigger gift to corn farmers (began in the '90's) than the direct ethanol subsidy was. Ethanol does nothing to reduce emissions, reduces the mileage you get from the blend, and to top it off, it drives up the cost of food.

It'd be "smarter" in my opinion to mandate "flex fuel" including methanol blends, as methanol can easily be made from abundant (shale) natural gas and other sources. But I'm not a corn farmer.

There is a really great documentary about the corn subsidy food chain and industrialization of corn. An informative and entertaining film.

One of the directors, Curtis Ellis, came to my daughter's school 2 years ago to talk with all the students about what he learned from making the film. Highly recommended and available at our local library.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Corn_(film)

Well, if a 15% tax rate for non-wage earned income (i.e. investment income) isn't a reward, I don't know what the heck is. The more I learn about Mitt Romney, the more I want to barf. :)

Now I anticipate my Patch detractors will label me a socialist yet again...

http://www.nfib.com/research-foundation/surveys/small-business-economic-trends
Naturally in this Depression, the greatest concern of small businesses is (lack of) customers/sales. However, it is nearly a three-way tie between lack of sales, taxes and government regulations.

Leah, the small business tax rate is the corporate or individual tax rate (35% or more), not the capital gains tax rate. You don't know "what the heck is" for certain. As for the capital gains tax rate, that tax is paid on money that has already been taxed at the corporate or individual rate, in addition to a large portion of the gains being due to inflation. I'd go through the math yet again, but you never let actual numbers interfere with your prejudices.

The issue with Methanol as an oxygenate additive is it is extremely toxic and once it reaches ground water supplies goes to solution rather than remaining separate as gasoline typically does.
Every time they try and mess with the formulations they get the negative consequences MTBE, Methanol,Ethanol.

Straight 100% gasoline is fine by me, CJ.

I'm a small business owner and can directly attribute my last 2 hires to payroll tax breaks that incented me to hire back employees I had previously laid off. I would have brought them back eventually as sales picked up, but i was able to be more confident and bring them back earlier because of the federal program. I was also was able to keep an additional 3 employees who went to a reduced work schedule (due to the recession) because of a benefit they became eligible for that helped make up some of their lost wages.

I hear about these "job killing taxes and policies" but I have yet to find them.

You reward them by getting out of the way. Government doesn't create or produce anything; it impedes it with over-regulation and over-taxation. Again, the Keystone pipeline is a prime example of Obama FAIL. It was projected to create about 25,000 jobs.

David is 100%.... this is a double tax. If Leah had her way and increased the capitol gains tax any higher no one would risk their capitol and invest.

In my industry MTBE = Money To Be Earned. I agree Ethanol doesn't do much to decrease emissions. MTBE actually did but unfortunately, it is extremely toxic and extremely water soluble and difficult to clean up once it enters the water table.

Outside of Keystone (which is a red herring and even if approved tomorrow isn't going to produce the jobs you are speaking of in the next decade) - please provide some specific Obama policies that have killed jobs.

Not only would Keystone create jobs immediately, it would reduce the price of fuel immediately on speculation alone that we wouldn't be quite as dependent on our middle east "friends". I can see you are in the bag for Obama and nothing I can say will change your mind.

I do have to give my new buddy Joe Biden some credit for coming into San Francisco this week and starting off his speech with "The Giants are going to the Superbowl!" GO GIANTS!!!

Tim, please provide any basis in fact to back up your assertions. Talk is cheap -

Well, somebody has to get hired to build and place the pipeline, no? Or are robots doing all the work? Then there are refinery jobs, maintenance jobs, etc etc.

Keystone will create +\ - 4,000 to 5,000 direct temporary construction jobs during the building phase with an undetermined amount of additional jobs (estimated at 2,500 - 5,000) peripheral jobs in servicing and support once it goes live.
If this thing was green lighted today, construction is at a minimum 3-5 years out due to logistical and legal issues outside the Obama administration. That's why I call this topic ared herring related to job creation or job killing.

Outside of this issue - show me an example of the administrations job killing tendencies - I've provided 2 specific examples of job creating or saving policies (in the East Bay).

Bob and Ann: You're growing more for cost reasons or health reasons (or both?). Also, how much do you think your home grown food has supplemented your store bought food? This might be hard to calculate, but how much of a savings do you think you've seen? This is interesting to me. Thanks for sharing.

Not until I see Mickey Mouse's birth certificate.

Hope you're right but I don't see Gingrich winning a general and Romney is going out of his way to blow the nomination... just release you're taxes, stupid! He just got crushed in South Carolina among GOP and Independents. Florida, while more moderate, is a closed primary so no liberals and swing this one. Florida will not be a slam dunk for Romney.

I'd invite you to read Amity Shlaes "The Forgotten Man." There is a very good argument to be made that FDR's make-work policies during the Depression made things worse. Beyond that, we have historical evidence--we recovered from just as deep of a downturn in 1919-1921 without massive government intervention. In fact, the next 8 years were the "Roaring 20's." European governments that did not intervene like FDR also recovered faster and more completely than the USA back in the '30's. Finally, those guys who "finished the projects" did not "make a living" with in the future with those "skills," unless you count standing around or collecting money for Democratic candidates as "skills" (hey, sounds like ACORN!). But other than that, your understanding of the Depression is pretty good.

We didn't have even a fraction of the parasitic public workers feeding off of the taxes then. Different time different place.
Until the issue regarding the overwhelming growth of the public sector is addressed we are heading to the abyss.

Wow, Gingrich has "died" twice and now he's back on the top of the G.O.P. race? All this even after revelations of his "Patience, ladies, there's enough Newt for all of you"

Wonders never cease. :)

Newt won amongst your married women counterparts, Leah. As we all know, chicks dig the bad boys.

It's South Carolina.... I was there golfing last year. They still refer to Country Clubs as "Plantations"

I want to second David's recommendation of "The Forgotten Man." Much of the accepted popular history of the Great Depression and FDR turns out to be mythology. FDR had no brilliant play book. He was throwing spaghetti on the wall, and much of it did not stick.

Agreed CN, it was a good read. WWII pulled us out of the Depression, not the make work corps However I think the lessons were not lost on the current Fed Chief or administration who have applied different prescriptions this time around.

I think History also shows that Andrew Mellon's approach to solving the Depression (tighten monetary policy) simply exacerbated the problem and was a contributing factor to the steep slide.

"Now I know some people out there are questioning Gingrich’s moral authority to comment on other people’s marriages. Gingrich knew his infidelities would be an issue way back when he was contemplating a run. But he and his latest wife, Callista, decided to go ahead anyway, because “the country was worth the pain.’’ So selfless!

Besides, Gingrich has vowed to be faithful to Callista always. Yes, he has done this before, but this time I, like the women of South Carolina and across this great land, believe him.

He just has a way." - Yyvonne Abraham

I'll bet the Obama campaign is totally psyched. Go Newt! Go Newt! Go Newt!

Ethanol is less green than the environmental wackos think because it a given amount of ethanol produces less energy than the same amount of gasoline. Additionally, it costs more to produce than gasoline.

You aren't serious? This refinery was which was a joint venture with a Venezuelan petrochemical company operating in the US Virgin Islands was shut down by the operating company due to losses, driven by a lack of demand because of the recession.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/01/20/bloomberg_articlesLXZUWE6S972E01-LXZXU.DTL

I think you've made my point for me - have a great Sunday.

Dan:
#1. A lot of the blame can be placed on people buying homes that cost too much and falling for the "interest only" loans. Why someone would get an interest only loan is beyond me.

#2.Amazon is successful because they don't have to pay the high California taxes. Also, until September, they don't have to collect sales taxes for California purchases. Just this alone saves Amazon millions of dollars a year because they don't have to be the unpaid tax collector for the California vultures at the FTB.

#3. One day, but definitely not in my lifetime or the lifetime of anybody living today, the government will realize that you don't spend more than $1 for every $1 received.

#4. Medicare and Social Security have one thing in common: they are Ponzi scams.

All good points but nowhere do I see our misguided military expedition to Iraq listed..... billions lost, not to mention thousands of fine young Americans. I have to ask: what was that all about if not a futile search for WMD many people said were not there to begin with?

That's because we didn't listen to Donald Trump and bill Iraq for the cost of providing them their freedom. I'm not suggesting we "steal" their own but surely they could reimburse us. This is bad policy that began with Bush and continued with Obama. Now that they have been liberated and sell their oil on the market, not one American oil company was granted a contract. Not one. We should have gotten the hell out long ago.

Best Buy is a disaster. They have no one to blame but themselves for their failure. They have terrible customer service and never have in stock anything I am looking for even AFTER I check their web site and it shows it being in stock. They will go the way of The Wiz, Circuit City, CompUSA, Crazy Eddie, etc. etc. etc.

If you do it right, you don't have to pay a dime for shipping.
1. Purchase anything over $25 from Amazon and it's free shipping or
2. Get Amazon Prime for $79/year. Free 2 day shipping, free videos to watch, borrow a Kindle book once a month

Not paying California taxes is still one reason they are doing so good. I'm not talking about sales tax. I'm talking about the thousand and one taxes the anti-business state of California imposes on businesses.

The shipping may be "free" to the customer but Amazon is still absorbing the shipping cost in this case. Do you think UPS and FedEx are simply providing "free" shipping for Amazon customers out of the goodness of their hearts?

Paisley, Amazon is not killing any jobs. In fact they are bringing 10,000 jobs to California.
The compromise bill delays tax obligations for online retailers until September 2012. "As part of the compromise, Amazon promised to create 10,000 full-time jobs in California, as well as hire 25,000 seasonal employees by the end of 2015, according to the governor’s website."
http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2011/09/gov._jerry_brown_signs_amazon_sales_tax_bill
Rumor has it these jobs will be in Patterson, California.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/business&id=8499678

<exasperated voice>No, Tim, I do not think UPS, FedEx, USPS, or any other shipper is providing Amazon with free shipping.</exasperated voice> In the context of the postings here, it is obvious that it is the end user who is getting the free shipping.

I shop Amazon and other online sites for the convenience and much better selection available vs brick and mortar stores. In fact almost everything I buy except food is online and out of state. Even vehicles.
I also shop online at other states to avoid the sales tax. Anything I can do to starve the beast ( California government) is my own small way to counteract the status quo of political power in this state.
If I felt this state was operating even in the vicinity of reality the thought wouldn't be there to look for states I prefer to send my money into.
I simply will not support the insanity any more than I am legally obligated by residence to do.

My original posting on this was from what I perceived to be the advantages of Amazon from their point of view. From a customer point of view, I shop at Amazon for many items because of 4 C's:

- convenience: I can research, see user reviews, and compare prices all in one place.

- cheaper: It's not only the lack of sales tax that makes items cheaper at Amazon. It's not uncommon for an item I want to be cheaper at Amazon than even Wal-Mart. And not everything on Amazon is currently tax-free. Some items from 3rd party vendors are taxed.

- customer care: Amazon has great customer care. Returning items, even items order by mistake, is an easy process and they pay for the return shipping. (For full disclosure, I have found locally owned small businesses with great customer care but those seem to be far and few in between.)

Paisley: OSH has tax free days but the tax is still paid. If memory serves, the last time I heard an OSH tax free day ad the wording was something along the lines of "OSH pays the sales tax."

Paisley, It looks like you really don't know how a brick and mortar retailer works. Even if a retailer uses a sales tactic like OSH does, "We will pay the sales tax", they do. They do not charge the customer sales tax, however they are required to pay what sales tax they would have collected on those items sold, to the State Board of Equalization.

You need to check things out before you write comments.