"I don't think there will be a recession, by the way. You can quote me on that."

I believe the economists who have this optimistic view on a possible recession may be in error.

The price of oil is projected to continue to rise. While the "green" efforts to produce more fuel efficient passenger cars in the long run may result in the demand for gasoline to not increase as fast as previously projected, those efforts will have no effect on the demand for gasoline in emerging industrial countries, such as China. China will not readily slow their march to progress and the increasing demand for resources as a result. They went without long enough, now it is their turn. Likewise China continues to own an increasing piece of America as they continue to invest in American securities, both stocks and bonds.

The economic price of the war in Iraq has not yet been fully realized. At some point, you need to either start paying back the billions of dollars that have been borrowed to pay for it, or you will need to default on the obligation. Before you decide that a default would be worth considering, remember we are no longer on the gold standard, and the phrase "backed by the faith in the government of the United States" becomes tarnished.

The last eight years of economic growth, was built, we are now realizing, on the backs of questionable loans. The full impact of this boondoggle has not yet been realized.

The Federal Reserve Board just recently took a big cut in the interest rate. Much larger than any for years. This in spite of the fact that the cost of living is going up much faster than the current index shows. The cost of Food is going up, as anyone who goes to the market can tell you. Milk, is just about on par with the price of Gasoline for example. The price of meat has risen probably about fifty percent in the last five years. This is before farmers start to seriously grow crops for the growing ethanol market. That market is going to take a much bigger bite out of food resources. The law of supply and demand will give you a much higher price for food in the coming years. So you have both the price and demand for fuel pushing up prices with a one two punch in the coming years.

When I hear an economist tell me that we still have sound fundamentals, quite frankly I don't know what they mean, when the cost of raw material for any manufacturing process goes up in a non-cyclical manner, and the push to control prices by using off shore labor continues.

Quite frankly I don't see a fundamental improvement in the economy in the foreseeable future.

What really saddens me is that some twenty years ago, Boeing engineers were working on a project to provide space based solar energy to earth bound power plants, which, had it been given the first class treatment the moon project was given, would by now have turned the United States into an energy exporting country. Regrettably politics got in the way, and the project was killed. We are now reaping the results of such short sighted policies.

In spite of the fact that we are at the limits of production capability, the oil companies are not building new refineries, and new power plants are not being built, and the alternatives are woefully inadequate. Before you forget, these things take time to do.

While it should be plain as the nose on your face that we need to switch from a hydro-carbon based fuel economy to a hydrogen based fuel economy, our government "leaders" are more concerned about opt out policies instead of opt in policies, and spying on the citizens of the country without concern for the Constitution.

If you think the electric car is the answer, ask yourself how well it will suffice when the current infrastructure can only survive by using rolling brown outs. Put a few million automobiles on the network periodically recharging, and see how well it holds up.

It is about time the politicians wake up and smell the rot!!!!!