Russ McBee

Today, Al Gore gave a speech at George Washington University in which he called for a massive push to transform our energy economy; he audaciously suggested that we can and must convert 100 percent of our electricity generation to clean sources within a mere ten years. By relying on solar, wind, and geothermal for all of our electricity, he said ...

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is pushing for tighter regulation on oil speculators: Every day, 20 times more oil is traded than delivered. Because of the way energy trades are regulated (or not regulated), speculators control vast amounts of oil by putting down as little as 5% of the purchase cost. In short, speculators use money they don't have ...

Robert L. Hirsch, former senior energy adviser for SAIC, author of the Hirsch Report on peak oil, and all-around energy guru, appeared on CNBC the other day to discuss current oil and gas prices. Here's what he said about gas costing $4 a gallon (via Crooks & Liars): ''[T]he prices that we're paying at the pump today are, I think, going to ...

Following a speech in Missouri yesterday, President Bush engaged in an exceedingly rare question-and-answer session with employees of the company where he was speaking. Among other topics, he repeated his threadbare spin of ethanol as a viable fuel source: ''As you know, I'm a ethanol person,'' he said, explaining his belief that it can help ...

Here's my first poll:

I'm not one to automatically trust the word of any OPEC minister, but this quote from Chakib Khelil, Algeria's energy minister, bears some consideration: Opec's president on Monday warned oil prices could hit $200 a barrel and there would be little the cartel could do to help. [...] Mr Khelil blamed record oil prices on the weak dollar and ...

The professional obstructionists who constitute the GOP minority in the Senate have blocked a bill aimed at addressing part of the sub-prime mortgage crisis: The housing proposal includes billions of dollars for local communities to buy up subprime mortgages and a controversial rewrite of bankruptcy laws to allow judges to slash interest rates ...

In his semi-annual appearance before Congress, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted that the current economic crisis will likely result in bank failures: On the second day of his biannual testimony to Congress, Bernanke said that some small US banks were likely to go under from the effects of the credit crunch and soaring mortgage ...

The spineless Democratic leadership of Congress has outdone itself; Pelosi and Reid caved to the Bush White House twice in one day. On the proposed emergency stimulus package, House Dems caved to the White House and struck provisions which would have extended unemployment benefits and expanded the food stamps program. Of course, millionaires will ...

In response to a post about Bush's proposed economic stimulus (which includes the possibility of a tax rebate), a commenter at KnoxViews said this: Can I get my rebate in EUROS? You said it, Sarge.