Unable To Capitalize On Recession

by Steve Soto

Exxon had a good first quarter of 2008, even if the rest of us have had a rough patch over the last year. The oil giant made record quarterly profits (again) without making any real effort to expand capacity or find new supplies, and yet the GOP Senate refuses a windfall profits tax to fund alternative energy development. Meanwhile, revised GDP figures this morning reveal (predictably) that the economy actually shrank in Q4 of 2007 by .2%, instead of rising .6%, which is a hell of a swing and a good reason not to believe the Bush Administration’s revised figure of a .9% gain in GDP for Q1 of 2008. These figures are likely to be revised further downward after the election, as job losses are mounting. First-time weekly unemployment claims shot up to nearly 450,000 last week, and the Labor Department is expected to announce tomorrow that the economy has shed over 500,000 jobs so far this year.

And yes, consumer spending is already showing signs of falling off, well below expectations in Q2, after the “stimulus” package has worn off, if it ever had any impact at all. But all Bush and McCain can yammer about is the need for the Democrats in Congress to lift the ban on offshore oil drilling immediately, as if that will matter one bit to this economy or our energy problems over the next five years. The GOP is bankrupt both morally and intellectually, and yet the Democratic counter-arguments so far are woefully lacking a coherent, easy-to-understand narrative.