“Today, private sector major oil companies no longer control very much of the world’s oil production. Many majors like Mobil and Texaco no longer even exist. Aramco is controlled by the Saudi government. An estimated 85% of the world’s reserves are now controlled by governments. And, more directly applicable to oil pricing, oil prices are now determined by an open market exchange, the NYMEX.
So next time you hear about Congressional hearings, or a pin-headed commentator railing against Big Oil raising prices think “85% of the world’s reserves are controlled by governments and the price is set by the market via NYMEX” and you will know all that’s needed. Using a major oil company as a whipping boy for price increases is about thirty years out of date. “
Sometimes," Paul Ryan said last Wednesday night in Tampa, Fla., "even presidents need reminding that our rights come from nature and God, not from government."
President Obama sure could have used some of that reminding before he first signed off on the Democratic Party's 2012 platform. The Democrats eliminated any reference to God in the initial version of their official policy document. The Almighty was only restored late Wednesday after unfavorable media coverage. It came in a chaotic, controversial, and clearly undemocratic floor vote that was a last-minute effort to control public relations damage. (The vote also restored language confirming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.) Both the dissension and the original omission are unsurprising, given how much the Democratic Party has changed in the last ten years.
In 2000, Gallup asked respondents from each party how often they went to church. Thirty-three percent of Republicans and Democrats said they attended church services weekly. Only 33 percent of Republicans and 35 percent of Democrats said they seldom or never attended.
Fast-forward to the same Gallup poll in 2011. Republican church attendance is actually up, with 40 percent attending services weekly. Democratic weekly attendance is slightly down, to 27 percent. But the percentage of Democrats who never attend church has skyrocketed. The majority of Democrats, 52 percent, told Gallup they never go to church.
Even so, the spiritual needs of non-churchgoing Democrats did not disappear into the ether. Like all humans, they still have an innate need to belong to a larger group, to submit to a higher purpose.
Hence the video that kicked off the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, which included the line "government is the only thing we all belong to." After Mitt Romney immediately tweeted out a response, "We don't belong to government, the government belongs to us," the Obama campaign tried to disavow all knowledge of the video, claiming it was created and produced by the Charlotte host committee, not the Obama campaign or the Democratic National Committee.
But the damage was already done. The video was clearly produced by Democrats, for Democrats, and it is a perfect representation of the party's increasingly secular worldview.
If our rights come from government, not God, then government can always redefine them. As Cass Sunstein wrote in his book "The Second Bill of Rights," "Even the people who most loudly denounce government interference depend on it every day. Their own rights do not come from minimizing government, but are a product of government."
Or, as Obama put it more pithily, when lamenting small-business owners' reluctance to pay higher taxes, "You didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."
Back in April, I had a business trip to London. Lauri came with me as her “bucket list” included High Tea at Kennsington Palace. In spite of the rain and being ringing wet, she enjoyed the Tea. One evening we went to see Phantom of the Opera and thoroughly enjoyed it. We tacked on a couple of days to visit the Cotswolds. We took the train from London Paddington to Bath. What a delightful trip – Bath, Stonehenge, Bourton-on-the-Water! The pictures below are of Bath.
The city was first established as a spa with the Latin name, Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis") by the Romans sometime in the AD 60s about 20 years after they had arrived in Britain (AD43), although verbal tradition suggests that Bath was known before then.[3] They built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills of Bath in the valley of the River Avon around hot springs.[4]Edgar was crowned king of England at Bath Abbey in 973.[5] Much later, it became popular as a spa town during the Georgian era, which led to a major expansion that left a heritage of exemplary Georgian architecture crafted from Bath Stone.
At one time, the city collected taxes based on the number of fireplaces. When home owners refused to allow tax collectors to count, the city changed to windows – the windows tax. Of course, there was splitting of hairs … What constitutes a window – are two glass panes separated by 12 inches of stone one window or two. The answer is one. Therefore, you will see some windows “stoned up” and others moved closer together. Look for the “Window Tax” photo.
Great place to visit! (future pictures to include Stonehenge and Bourton-on-the-Water)
Micro vs. macro framing – The Obama campaign and its allies will focus on micro-issues, telling horror stories of cuts to specific popular government programs. This dovetails with their constituency-based messaging so far. The Romney-Ryan campaign should try to zoom out and highlight (1) the macro effects of the unsustainable current/Obama spending path and (2) the irresponsibility of President Obama’s refusal to propose a long-term fiscal solution and his legislative party’s refusal to pass a budget. Team Obama will highlight the pain the Ryan budget would cause to targeted constituencies. Team Romney-Ryan needs to explain that the Obama budget and a failure to govern would lead to economic disaster for everyone.
Bogus spending cut numbers – Every “cut program X by Y%” quote about the Ryan budget will be relative to an unsustainable spending path. The irresponsible part isn’t the proposed spending cut, it’s the promise to keep spending growth going without specifying how you’ll pay for it. If President Obama were proposing tax increases to match his future spending growth, then this would be a fair attack. But he is not.
Don’t forget the facts. In March I compared the deficit and debt effects of President Obama’s budget proposal with Chairman Ryan’s in both the short and long run. Here are the conclusions from those posts.
In the short run the Ryan budget proposes lower deficits and less debt than President Obama’s budget.
Under the Ryan budget debt would peak at 77.6% of the economy in 2014. Under the President’s budget, debt would peak at 80.4% of the economy in that same year.
The Ryan budget would cause debt to steadily decline to 62.3% of GDP by the end of the decade. Under the Obama budget debt would flatten out by 2018 and end the decade at 76.3% of GDP, 14 percentage points higher than under the Ryan budget.
At the end of 10 years, debt would be declining relative to the economy under the Ryan budget, while it would be flat under the President’s budget.
For comparison the pre-crisis (1960-2007) average debt/GDP was 36.3%.
Chairman Ryan proposes stable deficits of a bit over 1% of GDP, below the historic average deficit, followed by a gradual path to balance and eventually to surplus.
President Obama’s budget would result in deficits that are always greater than the historic average, and that would cause debt/GDP to increase again beginning about 10 years from now.
President Obama’s proposed deficit path is unsustainable. Our economy can tolerate high and even very high deficits for a short time. High and steadily rising deficits like those in the President’s budget cannot be sustained. Something in the economy will break.
Chairman Ryan’s plan would result in debt/GDP steadily declining over time. It would take decades to return to a pre-crisis average.
President Obama’s plan would result in debt/GDP stabilizing by the end of this decade, then growing steadily and forever thereafter. At some point, and no one knows when, that growing debt becomes unsustainable. If we’re lucky the resulting economic decline is gradual. If not, we have a financial crisis.
What we have been living through is a breakdown of the great American jobs machine. Jobs have long been the best social program, the best economic program, and the best family program in America. No longer. The jobs are not there. Unemployment today is the worst since the Great Depression….
Our last stop on our Spanish tour was Sevilla, Spain. We packed up early Thursday morning and took the fast train down to Sevilla – about a 3 hour ride. Weather was ok … on Friday evening, we took the train back to Madrid to fly back to the States. Me to work and Lauri to play with the granddaughter – Camryn.
Seville is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville, Spain. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of 7 metres (23 ft) above sea level. The inhabitants of the city are known as sevillanos (feminine form: sevillanas) or hispalenses, following the Roman name of the city, Hispalis.
Seville is the fourth largest city of Spain with a municipal population of about 703,000 as of 2011, and a metropolitan population (including satellite towns) of about 1.2 million, making it the 31st most populous municipality in the European Union. Its Old Town is one of the three largest in Europe along with Venice and Genoa (covering almost four square kilometers), which includes three UNESCO World Heritage Sites (the Alcázar palace complex, the Cathedral and the General Archive of the Indies). The Seville harbor, located about 80 km from the Atlantic Ocean, is the only river port in Spain. The Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold) next to the Guadalquivir
Seville was founded as the Roman city of Hispalis. In al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) the city was first the seat of a cora, or territory, of the Caliphate of Córdoba, then made capital of the Taifa, which was incorporated into the Christian Kingdom of Castile under Ferdinand III. After the discovery of the Americas, Seville became one of the economic centres of the Spanish Empire as its port monopolised the trans-oceanic trade and the Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) wielded its power, opening a Golden Age of arts and letters. It was the place of departure of the first circumnavigation of the Earth. Coinciding with the Baroque period of European history, the 17th century in Seville represented the most brilliant flowering of the city's culture; then began a gradual economic and demographic decline as navigation of the Guadalquivir River became increasingly difficult until finally the trade monopoly and its institutions were transferred to Cádiz.
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See (Spanish: Catedral de Santa María de la Sede), better known as Seville Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Seville (Andalusia, Spain). It is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world. After its completion in the early 16th century, Seville Cathedral supplanted Hagia Sophia as the largest cathedral in the world, a title the Byzantine church had held for nearly a thousand years. The cathedral also serves as the burial site of Christopher Columbus.[2] The Archbishop's Palace is located on the northeastern side of the cathedral. The cathedral was built to demonstrate Seville's wealth, as it had become a major trading center in the years after the Reconquista in 1248. In July 1401 it was decided to build a new temple, as the ancient Muslim mosque was in bad shape after a 1356 earthquake. According to the oral tradition of Seville, the decision of members of the chapter was: "Let a church so beautiful and so great that those who see it built will think we were mad". According to the minutes of that day, the new church should be: "a work such as good, which like no other." Construction began in 1402; it continued until 1506. Church workers gave half their salaries to pay for architects, builders and other expenses. Five years after construction ended, in 1511, the dome collapsed and work on the cathedral re-commenced. The dome again collapsed in 1888, and work was still being performed on the dome until at least 1903.[3] The 1888 collapse occurred due to an earthquake and resulted in the destruction of "every precious object below" the dome at that time. The interior has the longest nave in Spain. Its central nave rises to a height of 42 metres and is lavishly decorated, with a large quantity of gold evident. In the main body of the cathedral, only the great boxlike structure of the choir stands out, filling the central portion of the nave. It is also dominated by a vast Gothic retablo of carved scenes from the life of Christ. The altarpiece was the lifetime work of a single craftsman, Pierre Dancart.
Continuing our Spain trip, we took a day trip to Toledo.
Toledo (pronounced: [toˈleðo];) is a municipality located in central Spain, 70 km (40miles) south of Madrid. It is the capital of the province of Toledo. It is also the capital of autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage as one of the former capitals of the Spanish Empire and place of coexistence of Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures, as well as the place where harsh religious persecutions were held against the Jews by the Visigoths.
Many famous people and artists were born or lived in Toledo, including Al-Zarqali, Garcilaso de la Vega, Eleanor of Toledo, Alfonso X and El Greco. It was also the place of important historic events such as the Visigothic Councils of Toledo. As of 2010, the city has a population of 82,489 and an area of 232.1 km2 (89.6 sq mi).
The old city is located on a mountaintop with a 150 degree view, surrounded on three sides by a bend in the Tagus River, and contains many historical sites, including the Alcázar, the cathedral (the primate church of Spain), and the Zocodover, a central market place.
From the 4th century to the 16th century about thirty synods were held at Toledo. The earliest, directed against Priscillian, assembled in 400. At the synod of 589 the Visigothic King Reccared declared his conversion from Arianism; the synod of 633 decreed uniformity of liturgy throughout the Visigothic kingdom and took stringent measures against baptized Jews who had relapsed into their former faith. Other councils forbade circumcision, Jewish rites and observance of the Sabbath and festivals. Throughout the seventh century, Jews were flogged, executed, had their property confiscated, were subjected to ruinous taxes, forbidden to trade and, at times, dragged to the baptismal font.[7] The council of 681 assured to the archbishop of Toledo the primacy of Spain. At Guadamur, very close to Toledo, was dug in 1858 the Treasure of Guarrazar, the best example of Visigothic art in Spain.
As nearly one hundred early canons of Toledo found a place in the Decretum Gratiani, they exerted an important influence on the development of ecclesiastical law. The synod of 1565–1566 concerned itself with the execution of the decrees of the Council of Trent; and the last council held at Toledo, 1582–1583, was guided in detail by Philip II.
Toledo was famed for religious tolerance and had large communities of Muslims and Jews until they were expelled from Spain in 1492 (Jews) and 1502 (Muslims). Today's city contains the religious monuments the Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca, the Synagogue of El Transito, Mosque of Cristo de la Luz and the church of San Sebastián dating from before the expulsion, still maintained in good condition. Among Ladino-speaking Sephardi Jews, in their various diasporas, the family name Toledano is still prevalent—indicating an ancestry traced back to this city (the name is also attested among non-Jews in various Spanish-speaking countries).
In the 13th century, Toledo was a major cultural center under the guidance of Alfonso X, called "El Sabio" ("the Wise") for his love of learning. The Toledo School of Translators, that had commenced under Archbishop Raymond of Toledo, continued to bring vast stores of knowledge to Europe by rendering great academic and philosophical works in Arabic into Latin. The Palacio de Galiana, built in the Mudéjar style, is one of the monuments that remain from that period.
The Cathedral of Toledo (Catedral de Toledo) was built between 1226–1493 and modeled after the Bourges Cathedral, though it also combines some characteristics of the Mudéjar style. It is remarkable for its incorporation of light and features the Baroque altar called El Transparente, several stories high, with fantastic figures of stucco, paintings, bronze castings, and multiple colors of marble, a masterpiece of medieval mixed media by Narciso Tomé topped by the daily effect for just a few minutes of a shaft of light from which this feature of the cathedral derives its name. Two notable bridges secured access to Toledo across the Tajo, the Alcántara bridge and the later built San Martín bridge.
The Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes is a Franciscan monastery, built 1477-1504, in a remarkable combination of Gothic-Spanish-Flemish style with Mudéjar ornamentation.
Toledo was home to El Greco for the latter part of his life, and is the subject of some of his most famous paintings, including The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, exhibited in the Church of Santo Tomé.
When Philip II moved the royal court from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, the old city went into a slow decline from which it never recovered.
