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Bulls & Bears | Cavuto on Business | Forbes on FOX | Cashin' In
This past week's Bulls & Bears: Gary B. Smith, Exemplar Capital; Tobin Smith, ChangeWave Research; Eric Bolling, FOX Business News; Pat Dorsey, Morningstar.com, and Marc Lamont Hill, PhD, Temple University.
Trading Pit: Gustav Gaining Strength… Is $5 on the Horizon?
Tobin Smith: If Gustav damages oil refineries ala Katrina, we will have 5 dollar gasoline in less than two weeks
Eric Bolling: This predicted Cat 3 hurricane could do severe damage to an infrastructure that is on shaky legs already. Of concern:
1) Oil rigs (near TX)
2) Gas rigs (LA coast) and refineries (TX - Houston region).
If there is no damage, oil goes down $15 bbl and gas down another 50cts. If there is damage, oil works toward $125 and we see pump jump over $4 again. I don't think Katrina like is possible given that Katrina was a surprise, and we have had 3 years to prepare for this day.
Pat Dorsey: Inventories for refined products have been worked off big time over the past few weeks...which means that if Gustav misses/fades, gas prices drift up. If Gustav hits - and it's headed right for Refinery Alley — there will be a big spike in gasoline..
Gary B. Smith: If it's really bad, prices spike and then drop back down. Invariably major price moves continue in the direction they've been heading — even if there is a blip — and that direction is DOWN.
McCain/Palin vs. Obama/Biden: Best Ticket for the Economy?
Gary B. Smith: The democratic ticket would be terrible for the economy: Obama is pretty much against free trade (which has helped our economy and others'), against outsize profits in oil (and who knows what other industries) which would inhibit them doing further expansion and development; is for income redistribution, even though the "haves" are the ones generating jobs and growth in our economy.
Tobin Smith: The most important long term economic issues after getting the mortgage mess cleaned up is ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY! IF Palin can put extra "umph" behind McCain's evolution on drilling in Alaska, America wins.
The second most important economic issue is keeping international trade growing; it has been responsible for 75 percent of GDP growth. Obama and Biden fail the smell test on free trade; they are union-loving job protectors.
Eric Bolling: McCain/Palin is the best ticket for the economy with both a clear energy and tax plan. Obama/Biden versions of both are unclear and could be really bad for consumers. The biggest drain on the consumer is, by far, gas prices. McCain/Palin ticket addresses oil and is the clear leader in the oil debate. They also want to keep taxes lower. So who wins? The consumer, and the consumer is 70 percent of the economy!
Will the Bulls or Bears Return From the Holiday Weekend?
Gary B. Smith: Bull: after the nice rip the market had in early August, all we're seeing is a conventional, low volume pullback, before the next leg UP. Right now there are no more surprises, except those to the upside!
Tobin Smith: Bear market continues. The bear case for stocks is:
a) IT spending over the next 90 days will be the weakest in 6 years.
b) Merrill Lynch: 22 mortgage asset sale means other financials have NEW significant write-offs coming for Q3.
c) Europe and Japan have gone into recession—and China/Asia have slowed—and US exports are 75 percent of GDP growth.
d) US Consumer bump from stimulus checks is toast, and US unemployment rate heading to 6.5 percent.
Bull markets start 6-9 months AHEAD of recoveries; I can't see a recovery till second half of 2009.
Eric Bolling: I think a lot of the next 1000 Dow points will depend entirely on the outcome of this hurricane and the damage to the oil infrastructure. If we stop production and no damage is inflicted, oil will go down and the next 1000 points in the Dow will be to the upside….if substantial damage is done, oil will skyrocket and down goes the Dow.
Predictions
• Click here to watch this segment in its entirety
Eric Bolling: Energy wins no matter who wins! 'PBR' up 25 percent by inauguration day
Gary B. Smith: Apple (AAPL) rocks on with McCain or Obama; hits $200 by Dec. 31
Tobin Smith: Generic drugs feeling good either way! 'MCK' up 25 percent by spring
Pat Dorsey: McCain or Obama, people still drive; 'CTB' doubles 1-yr from inauguration
Bulls & Bears | Cavuto on Business | Forbes on FOX | Cashin' In
On Saturday, August 30th, 2008, Neil Cavuto was joined by Ben Stein, "How to Ruin the United States of America"; Charles Payne, wstreet.com; Dagen McDowell, FOX Business Network; Matt McCall, Penn Financial Group; and Julia Piscitelli, Democratic Strategist.
Bottom Line: McCain Picks Palin – Where Will Gas Prices Go?
Neil Cavuto: Maybe it takes a hurricane to drill home a point. Drilling has a point if you want lower gas prices – or does it? The newly minted Barack Obama – Joe Biden ticket says not really. The newly announced John McCain – Sarah Palin ticket says yes really. And the Palin on that ticket just so happens to be the governor of Alaska where they'd do a lot of that drilling. So which team would drill down gas prices best?
Matt McCall: Let's call it the McCain and Pay-less team! My guess is gas is going to drop to $3 a gallon. Not only is Palin open to drilling in ANWR and the North Slope, and McCain is open drilling offshore anywhere else in the US! We are going to take the reliance off of foreign oil and bring it back here in the US. Keep the money here. The Obama ticket, on the other hand, keeps saying it's going to take 10 – 15 years. If we started 10 years ago, we would have that oil now, so now's the time to start.
Neil Cavuto: The governor of Alaska knows a thing or two about this and says you can have your cake and eat it, too. She says the environment is safe, so drill and make a lot of money. Everyone is happy. What say you?
Julia Piscitelli: Everyone is happy except for the polar bears, which would like to be on the endangered species list, but are not. If we don't settle what is going on in Iraq, we are going to be nowhere except for high gas prices because we don't supply enough of our own gas here in this country to make up for how much we use in foreign oil.
Neil Cavuto: Ben Stein?
Ben Stein: Well, I don't quite get the connection of Iraq with all of this. I guess it's there somewhere. The truth is Ms Piscitelli is right. With our most optimistic forecast for offshore drilling, there is not going to be anywhere near enough to affect the price in any large way. I think we have to do it. There is no sense in not doing it. But, it's not going to affect the price any time soon. There just isn't enough of it.
Neil Cavuto: Charles, do you think the market, as sophisticated as they are today, will let them lower?
Charles Payne: No doubt about it. Oil starting coming down right after George Bush started talking about drilling. And ironically, after Barack Obama was sorta forced into it. I know Barack Obama hates business, but there is supply and demand. Let's increase the supply. It is really unfair to make Americans pay more in the next 10 years in the hopes that perhaps alternatives will come online. Everyone wants alternative energy. That is a no-brainer. But, what do we do to make life more comfortable for Americans and keep more money at home for them?
Dagen McDowell: We still drive cars with internal combustion engines like we did more than a century ago.
Neil Cavuto: Would you just take a bike and shut up?? Every time you come on, you guys keep saying the same thing.
(laughter)
Dagen McDowell: I think prices will come down with Palin as VP. Because, she's working with John McCain to get him on board with drilling in ANWR.
Neil Cavuto: So you like that ticket?
Dagen McDowell: Plus, she's an outdoors woman.
Neil Cavuto: Is that ticket the answer to higher gas prices?
Dagen McDowell: More so than the other ticket.
Neil Cavuto: Now, Julia, you're just concerned it's more of the same from the Republicans, just different people?
Julia Piscitelli: Absolutely. You are going to have Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to get through if you want to do any drilling. And that's not going to happen.
Neil Cavuto: I don't know about that. They fold like cheap suits. Initially, they were against it. Then, low and behold, they have a vote and are not against it.
Julia Piscitelli: There has to be a lot of other things going on like renewable energies and looking into different ways….
Neil Cavuto: Fine. Let's do it all!
Julia Piscitelli: That's fine. But the reality is, and as Ben said, we do have to look at what is going on in the rest of the world. If we've got the McCain-Palin ticket, then the rest of the world is going to be a little nervous that we are going to have all the policies of President Bush.
Neil Cavuto: It took you a nanosecond to bring up Bush. That was very good.
(laughter)
Matt McCall: Since the surge and we have gone in and started winning this war, gas prices have been falling. I don't understand how Obama coming in is going to affect that. This whole polar bear thing, you are worried about polar bears than what we pay at the gas pump.
Julia Piscitelli: I am not more worried about polar bears.
Neil Cavuto: We should explain this. Apparently because of global warming, the ice caps are melting and the polar bears jump from ice block to ice block. Apparently they are having trouble swimming and they drown. No one has proven that by the way… The polar bear seems fine. The population hasn't been affected. I think this was used as a ruse to try to stop this.
Dagen McDowell: But, this is a woman who could do both!
Neil Cavuto: I'm not a name-dropper, but I have talked to the governor, and she has said that is an excuse and she knows the polar bears better than I do.
(laughter)
Neil Cavuto: She told me that our polar bear is increasing. They are hopping away…
Dagen McDowell: She also said in ANWR, it is a barren plain up there. When you see all these photos from the opposition, you don't want to drill there… She said that is misleading.
Neil Cavuto: The opposition looked like polar bears. That is the issue there.
Julia Piscitelli: McCain is opposed to drilling there!
Charles Payne: But also this is what I don't understand. Why does the opinion of the rest of the world have to do with gas prices? By the way, if it wasn't for America keeping the rest of the world safe, where they are able to have great economies, China, India… the rest of the world is capitalizing off the fact that we are at war.
Neil Cavuto: Julia's gotta answer that… That's a dig at Julia.
Julia Piscitelli: We get the majority of our oil from overseas. It is not about us caring what they think about us. It is about us knowing how much oil we are going to be getting over the next 5 to 10 years from other countries.
Charles Payne: What does that have to do with ANWR? What does that have to do with our assets? I'm confused. You have to help me here.
Matt McCall: If you get the majority of our oil overseas, we have to change that.
Neil Cavuto: Do not gang up on Julia.
Julia Piscitelli: The reality is, if we continue the way we are going… No one is arguing that we get the majority of our oil from overseas right now, and those prices are not something we can do anything about in this country. If we drill here, that can change things, and yes, it could take 10 – 15 years.
Neil Cavuto: If I got a polar bear here that says that drilling is perfectly fine, my little cubs don't mind, would you do it?
Julia Piscitelli: I would think about it.
Head to Head: Obama Attacking Wealth: Is He Attacking the American Dream?
Barack Obama Soundbite from Tuesday:
"If you don't know how many houses you have, then no wonder you think we have made great progress economically… no wonder you think that the economy is sound."
Neil Cavuto: Barack Obama still bashing John McCain for owning several homes. But, is he really just bashing the American Dream of owning homes? It's time to go "Head to Head."
Charles Payne: Earlier in the week, Barack Obama had a press conference with some folks, and he says he wishes he could punish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the mistakes they made. This is after the market has already punished them, the stock's down 90 percent, and thousands of people have lost their jobs. In 1998, Fannie Mae had a program called "The American Dream" where they earmarked $2 trillion for families. It helped half a million black and Hispanic families get homes. Now, he wants to punish them? This is crazy.
Neil Cavuto: Ben Stein, what kind of message are you getting?
Ben Stein: I am getting the standard Democratic message. What Charles said is great. It is important to give Fannie and Freddie credit for helping low-income American families get homes. That is never mentioned. I think the Obama-Biden ticket is a perfectly normal Democratic ticket to run against big business and rich people. It is more of the same Democratic machine, political stuff. That is why I thought Mr. Obama's speech on Thursday night was such a disappointment. It was just the same old Democratic attack tactics.
Neil Cavuto: Julia, having been to a number of conventions, here's where I would part company with my friend, Ben. I thought it was particularly acute, this attack on the rich, this attack on Fortune 500 company profits, that they are evil. You need them to make money to keep people and workers. It was part of every speech, part of every delegation's sentiment… it permeated the entire room there… and by the end of the week, a big stadium. What is going on with you gu ys?
Julia Piscitelli: Well, I think that going to the extreme that we have been through with the Bush Administration, what Obama said on Thursday is that he is going to cut taxes on 95 percent of Americans. What you are talking about are people who make more than $250,000, which where you live and where I live and probably where Ben lives is not a whole lot of money.
Neil Cavuto: But, do you think it is fair to link that group with billionaires, to equate that group with greedy, selfish billionaires? That was the common theme… to say the "fat cats" which goes all the way from Warren Buffett down to the couple struggling in New York City…
Julia Piscitelli: They should absolutely be taxed at a higher level than the people making less than $250,000.
Neil Cavuto: Nono. A lot of that $250,000 crowd… and there were a lot of them who were delegates… they said they weren't Warren.
Julia Piscitelli: The delegate crowd was actually very different than the voting public. Only 5 percent of them had less than a college education. You are looking at an elite group, so I don't think we can use them as the general example. But, absolutely, $250,000 in most parts of the country is a ton of money.
Dagen McDowell: Listen, Barack Obama and Joe Biden have to tread carefully. Class warfare has been proven… where are you John Edwards??... doesn't work in a campaign.
Neil Cavuto: A lot of things didn't work for him… class warfare was the least of them.
Dagen McDowell: However, they are trying to tap into a vibe where average hourly earnings have not been keeping up with inflation, and they are trying to address that.
Neil Cavuto: That strategy worked for Bill Clinton.
Dagen McDowell: It did. And they go back to the Clinton era… but the only question there had a Republican Congress, is that going to keep spending in check? He might not have, if he got elected...
Neil Cavuto: This ticket is all over the map, but on these points, he swamps John McCain.
Matt McCall: I feel Obama is killing the American Dream. Isn't the Dream to work your way up into the middle and upper class? Now, all he is doing is redistributing wealth. He is not giving the lower class any incentive to work up. He is taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor. He's like a Robin Hood. It is not all about money. It is about making your life better.
Dagen McDowell: His story though, just by itself, is the American Dream, is it not? I don't think people are going to think that he doesn't believe in success.
Matt McCall: Well, his policies aren't proving that though.
Julia Piscitelli: I have to agree with Dagen on that. You are looking at Obama who wants to make sure everyone is covered by health care, make sure everyone can afford to get an education, and have a home. I mean one home.
Charles Payne: I disagree.
Julia Piscitelli: You disagree that Obama wants everyone to have a home, health care, and education?
Charles Payne: I think what he is doing is dooming poor people into an existence of a welfare state and a welfare mentality of entitlement. I have lived in it and seen it firsthand. When you make the rich villains and suggest it is not a great thing…
Julia Piscitelli: He's not making the rich villains.
Neil Cavuto: Ben Stein, in this time and moment, could a populist campaign work?
Ben Stein: It could work. I don't think it is going to work because I think Obama, I think if I may say so, there are too many people that are not going to vote for a black candidate, especially a black, angry candidate. I hate to say that because I abhor racism. But, there's no reason populism can't work. The Bush Administration has gone way, way too far in favoring the rich. It is still doing it. It is almost obscene how much it is doing it, and it is time to change directions.
Julia Piscitelli: Thank you.
Ben Stein: As to dooming the American Dream, Obama is going to raise taxes only a few percentage points. People who are rich are still going to be rich.
Charles Payne: I am talking about the poor and their perception of being rich.
Ben Stein: You are completely right on that. It is wrong to make them villains. It's just good to see them as a source of money.
The Cost of Freedom: Best RX for Health Care: Obama Ticket or McCain Ticket?
Neil Cavuto: Two very different tickets. Two very different health care cures. Obama-Biden want the government to fix health care. McCain-Palin want the free market to take care of it. So which cure should you vote for?
Matt McCall: I go McCain. This is a free market. Why should I have to pay for someone's who does not want to work and pay for their insurance? Why should I be responsible for paying for that? I work hard to get my insurance. It is something that shouldn't be given to you. If you look at Obama's plan, he wants to give it to everybody. He wants to tax the heck out of everybody again. How are we going to pay for that? I agree health care needs to change, but we can't just give it to everybody for free. It isn't an entitlement.
Neil Cavuto: It's not like Hillarycare where it is mandated…
Matt McCall: I don't buy it at all.
Julia Piscitelli: The way to go is the way my ticket wants to go because if you are not paying for… if you are not actually trying to cover people… And first of all… come on! It's not like people don't want to work and they don't want to pay. I think that is really condescending. It is a condescending way to talk to people who are working and would like to have health care. Maybe they work for small businesses? Maybe they have to pay too much for health care? There is such a thing as the working poor, and they need to be covered, but they are not. They are taking their families into emergency rooms and you are paying for it anyway.
Neil Cavuto: Ben Stein, is it an obligation?
Ben Stein: It is an obligation for the rich and middle class to help the poor get health care. It's just simple spiritual and moral duty. We have to do it. It is very sad that it is leading us down the path to a Socialized America. I'm sad we're going down that path. By the way, I think that Romneycare and Obamacare are virtually the same thing, and I don't have much of a problem with that. I am resigned to being taxed to death and dying broke.
(laughter)
Neil Cavuto: I have traced this arc since he started writing for the New York Times, and I can prove it now… I have the proof, Ben! Charles, what do you make of all of this?
Charles Payne: Obviously, we want to help everyone. To Ben's point, the rich people do. We donate billions. Our rich people go beyond the call of duty. And that's one reason why you don't want to tax them. They will give you more money if you don't take it from them. But as far as Obama's plan is concerned, if you look at other countries that have similar plans, the taxes are outrageous.
Dagen McDowell: We have that plan now. It is called Medicare! So Obama's plan simply makes it a little bit bigger than it already is.
Charles Payne: Not a little big bigger!
Dagen McDowell: I like McCain's plan. Theoretically, it is great because you put the burden on the individual to conserve health care. You take away the tax benefit of employer-sponsored health care. However, it will never happen because it is too tough to do. McCain's plan is too tough.
More for Your Money: Election Winners!
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Neil Cavuto: Here's our guarantee: The White House winning ticket and the stock set to win with 'em so you can get "More for Your Money!"
Charles Payne: China Security (CSR)
* Thinks McCain will win.
Matt McCall: Transocean (RIG)
* Thinks McCain will win.
Ben Stein: SPDRs (SPY)
* Thinks McCain or Obama will win.
Bulls & Bears | Cavuto on Business | Forbes on FOX | Cashin' In
In Focus: McCain Picks Palin: Is the D.C. Outsider Best Pick for Stocks!
Elizabeth MacDonald, Fox Business Network: Wall Street prefers an outsider. Biden has been around since the Nixon administration, despite the fact that the Democrats are campaigning on the idea of change. McCain's pick is brilliant. She will fall along the classical free market Republican fault line. She'll be for the curtailing of pork spending. Spending equals more taxes which the Democrats love. She will be against that.
Quentin Hardy, Silicon Valley Bureau Chief: Wall Street loves people like themselves. They like strong minded risk-takers. This pick shows that McCain kind of wants an unknown along side him. He was intimidated by Romney and by Rudy. Maybe he gets the Hillary vote. But he just turned 72-years-old. He's got this unknown from a small state as possibly our next President. And this kills his argument that Obama isn't ready.
Jack Gage, Associate Editor: On her high school basketball team she was called "Sarah Barracuda" because she was so fierce. She has been a reformer since the day she stepped into office in Alaska. Wall Street and the economy will like the fact that she is a reformer and just as hawkish on cutting spending only leaves room for cutting taxes down the road which is a stimulus for the economy.
Mike Maiello, Associate Editor: She's an insider in training. All she has is more drilling. All she is trying to do is get ANWR pork for Alaska. That's old style politics.
Mike Ozanian, National Editor: She's not a porker. She's against wasteful spending and she's for tax cuts which solidifies McCain's mission. We all know we've had record revenues coming into government from Bush's tax cuts. We have deficits from wasteful spending and she has a good record on that. Wall Street will love that.
Neil Weinberg, Senior Editor: Wall Street doesn't really care if she's an insider or an outsider. They care that she's for free markets. Wall Street wants low capital gains taxes, low income taxes and low corporate taxes.
Obama Promises More Handouts: Can America Afford Them All?
Mike Ozanian: America can't afford all of Obama's handouts! Obama would have the biggest takeover of the American economy since FDR. It would bankrupt this country. Under Obama most people, especially those that file joint income statements, would be working more than half the year just to pay for his programs.
Mike Maiello: We can't afford not to have renewable energy and better education. We can't afford not to help people save money to send their kids to college. We can afford to pay for this because the people that will pay for this will pay a little more and still have money to pay for their Gulf Stream jets.
Jack Gage: We're a country in economic downtimes right now. We can not afford to enlarger further. The education establishment in this country is already so large that education is becoming increasingly unaffordable. Recruiting an army of teachers and paying them more is not the way to make higher education more accessible to Americans. Also Obama's tax plan to raise taxes on the top 5 percent of the most economically productive Americans is ripe with problems, including the fact that 25 percent of America's highest paid workers already pay 86 percent of the taxes generated in this country.
Quentin Hardy: We can not afford investments for the future like education and getting off foreign oil because we afforded wars of choice in countries that weren't involved in 9/11 and we never vetoed a bill in the Jack Abramoff congress. We're in too deep of a hole to afford these things.
Elizabeth MacDonald: Obama's plan is habitually expensive and deceiving. He wants to spend a lot of money on alternative energy meanwhile he won't lift the ethanol tariffs to let ethanol into Brazil, which would do a lot to lower energy prices in this country. And Jack is right, rescinding taxes cuts for the top brackets hurts small business and hurts employments in this country.
Lacey Rose, Forbes.com Sr Reporter: This country can't afford to let the middle and lower class fall even further behind. This isn't about handouts. Bush has left us with 13 percent of the population below the poverty line and 46 million people without insurance. This as foreclosures and credit card debt rise, wages fall and the costs of education, food and fuel are soaring.
Does Gustav Prove McCain and Palin Have It Right When It Comes to Drilling?
Jack Gage: Yes it does. John McCain being so adamant in his support of expanding off-shore drilling helped insulate us from the Russia/Georgia crisis. Congress has sat on this issue and went on vacation instead of taking this to a floor vote. This is another example of how expanding domestic supply can insulate us from the gyrations of spikes around the world.
Lacey Rose: We can't drill ourselves out of this oil crisis. We can't drill ourselves into energy independence. We have to find alternatives.
Neil Weinberg: If we really want to decrease our dependence on oil we need to increase gas taxes. We want to have people spend less money on gas so tell them it costs more.
Quentin Hardy: Our addiction to oil is not a metaphor, it's a reality.
Mike Ozanian: Drill, drill, drill. Jack is right. Why do we want to be energy independent? It's great when foreign companies also produce oil. That increases the worldwide supply and that increases trade.
Informer: Stocks That Will Get Convention Bounce
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Neil Weinberg: Geron (GERN)
Mike Ozanian: CF Industries Holdings (CF)
Jack Gage: UltraShort Health Care ProShares (RXD)
Bulls & Bears | Cavuto on Business | Forbes on FOX | Cashin' In
Stock Smarts: Best Ticket for Home Prices: McCain-Palin or Obama-Biden?
John Bradshaw Layfield, Layfield Energy: There is no doubt about which ticket is better. You have Obama with his plan for more taxes, taxing small businesses, for no real energy plan and for credit tightening by the fact that you're going to have a bigger regulatory environment from a bigger government. That triple whammy is going to kill this subprime sector that is already being killed. This was started by Bill Clinton and Charlie Rangel who decided that more Americans should be in homes. That view is what brought us this subprime mess to begin with.
Jonathan Hoenig, Capitalisticpig.com: Both candidates want to use taxpayer dollars to bail out deadbeats, maybe Obama to a greater degree. Buy John McCain has also talked about helping "deserving homeowners". These are both guys who talked about bailing out Bear Stearns. We're dealing with both sides of the same coin on this issue.
Wayne Rogers, Wayne Rogers & Co: I don't think it matters. It's the Congress that allowed all these markets to be irresponsible. It's the Congress who is at fault. It doesn't matter which one of these guys is President.
Tracy Byrnes, Fox Business Network: This is all about the Democratic congress. It doesn't matter who gets in, it has to go through them. And Congress needs to stay out of it. We've got to work through the inventories. This has to go through its course and the government needs to stay out. In that end you'd be better off with McCain and Palin because at least maybe they'll back away.
Chris Kofinis, Democratic Strategist: Palin is not going to be suggesting new direction for policies. McCain has already outlined his position. He's embracing a lot of the same policies that George Bush has proven to have failed over the past 8 years. So when it comes down to choice in November I think it's going to be pretty clear to voters.
Jonas Max Ferris, Maxfunds.com: I expect Obama to spend more money "helping" the housing market. I would expect that to help housing prices the most in the short-run. I expect McCain's policies to help more in the long-term.
'Green' White House No Matter Who Wins Election?
Jonathan Hoenig: The green agenda is dangerous. The problem is it's so popular and so hip now. Obama was bought by the greens. But McCain and Palin are as well. This is a philosophy that sacrifices humankind to nature.
Chris Kofinis: If you look at the science of it you can see that we have some serious environmental concerns. There has to be an aggressive plan for energy independence. The notion that moving towards a more aggressive environmental agenda that weans us off our dependency on foreign oil is a bad thing for our economy is absolutely ridiculous. If you look at the countries that have moved towards energy independence, countries like Brazil, France and Iceland, it's had a positive economic impact.
Tracy Byrnes: The "greens" are not little evil creatures coming over to take over the world. The idea that we have to be more environmentally sound and safe is not awful. It's great for generations to come. It's brilliant politically. If nothing else it promotes innovation.
Wayne Rogers: There are alternatives that if we had pursued them 30 years ago, like President Carter asked us to do, we'd be way ahead of this by now. Japan is going to produce a hydrogen car way before we do. They're going to eat our lunch again because we're not doing these things. I'm not saying that the government has to do this. The free market should do this.
Jonas Max Ferris: I expect more green policies out of the Obama campaign.
Unions Threaten to Attack Pro-Business Politicians
John Bradshaw Layfield: Unions have ruined the automakers, they've ruined airlines. If you're a carpenter in some cities you're required to be in a union. For these guys to spend your dues however they want, I find that offensive.
Tracy Byrnes: This mafioso threat that if you don't agree with us we're going to take our votes elsewhere is ridiculous. The unions have done nothing but promote apathy in these industries that are now completely ailing if not shutting down all together. This whole notion that they are going to pull their votes is crazy.
Jonas Max Ferris: I don't like any pulled money that's used to advertise against candidates. But unless you make all of that illegal you have to let unions advertise the same kind of way.
Jonathan Hoenig: This helps those entrenched interests. The Democrats always go out against the special interests. Unions are the ultimate special interest. I don't think the answer though is to ban them.
Wayne Rogers: What's good for the goose is good for the gander. If you're going say that the unions can't contribute than you're going to have to say that all these other people can't contribute either. You'd have to get rid of all of them.
Best Bets: Running Mate Stocks!
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Jonathan Hoenig: American Apparel (APP)
John Bradshaw Layfield: Oracle (ORCL)
Jonas Max Ferris: Polaris Industries (PII)
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