thoughts from an empty head

Thanks, Oliver.

Hurricane Gustav Prep - French Quarter, originally uploaded by Maitri.

To everyone in harm’s way on the Gulf Coast: my thoughts and prayers are with you.

God be between you and harm in
all the empty places you walk.

blessing of the 18th egyptian dynasty

I sincerely hoped that you enjoyed the small drop in fuel prices over the last few weeks, because the respite is over.

This is a chart showing all active oil platforms off the coast of Lousiana.

This is a chart showing the current trajectory of Hurricane Gustav.

And these are few news articles that appeared today.

The first tells us that Gulf Cost oil production has been locked down.

HOUSTON (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell, BP and other oil companies wrapped up evacuations and shut down production Saturday as an intensifying Hurricane Gustav churned toward the petroleum-rich waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

As of midday Saturday, slightly more than three-fourths of the Gulf’s oil production and nearly 40 percent of its natural gas output had been shut down, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore activity.

Shell (RDSA) said it was on schedule to complete the evacuation of more than 1,300 workers from 20 production platforms and other facilities by Saturday afternoon. The task took four days and involved 17 helicopters.

BP (BP) said it also planned to have its workers evacuated Saturday.

Both oil giants said production was being completely shut off — a process that can involve closing safety valves in thousands of feet of water to prevent the release of oil or natural gas.

Analysts say prolonged supply disruptions could cause a sudden price uptick for gasoline and other petroleum products. Gasoline prices rose this week for the first time in more than a month, and they continued upward Saturday. A gallon of regular gasoline jumped more than a penny overnight to a national average of $3.682, according to auto club AAA.

The second tells us that the projected damage to all of those yellow dots is expected to be catastrophic.

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) — Hurricane Gustav threatens to hurt U.S. oil and natural-gas production and refining more severely than hurricanes Katrina and Rita did three years ago.

Gustav, downgraded to a Category 3 storm by the National Hurricane Center in Miami today, may strengthen to Category 4 later today and will make landfall as a “major” hurricane. The storm shut three-quarters of oil output in the region and refineries operated by Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp.

“This storm will prove to be a worst-case scenario for the production region,” Jim Rouiller, senior energy meteorologist for Planalytics.com, said yesterday in an e-mailed message. “This storm will be more dangerous than Katrina.”

And the last article tells us that Russia has just put the wood to the West.

Fears are mounting that Russia may restrict oil deliveries to Western Europe over coming days, in response to the threat of EU sanctions and Nato naval actions in the Black Sea.

Any such move would be a dramatic escalation of the Georgia crisis and play havoc with the oil markets.

Reports have begun to circulate in Moscow that Russian oil companies are under orders from the Kremlin to prepare for a supply cut to Germany and Poland through the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline. It is believed that executives from lead-producer LUKoil have been put on weekend alert.

“They have been told to be ready to cut off supplies as soon as Monday,” claimed a high-level business source, speaking to The Daily Telegraph. Any move would be timed to coincide with an emergency EU summit in Brussels, where possible sanctions against Russia are on the agenda.

What does all of this mean?

I’m not too experienced on the subject of economics. The last real training I got on the subject was back in high school, so my reasoning here may be faulty as all get out, but this topic has been rattling around inside my head for most of the political season.

OK, so here’s what I don’t get about all the talk about taxes and how to reform them.

See, everyone complains about taxes There hasn’t been a government in the entire history of man where the citizenry hasn’t complained about taxes. No one likes paying them, no one likes even hearing about them raising them, and a sure bet to getting elected, especially in this country, is by telling people that you will lower their taxes. And I even get why people hate taxes. This country was founded on the whole “no taxation without representation” premise. One of the very first uprisings after this country was founded happened due to an unfairly imposed tax. And after seeing how much one usually pays for taxes with no appreciable effect - the streets still have potholes, kids are even stupider than back when I was in school, bridges are falling down and levees get filled with newspaper as a buffer against Cat 4 hurricanes - who could blame people for feeling the way that they do, or even wanting a tax cut?

And that gets me every time is the perception involved with any conversation about taxes. Taxes, in and of themselves, are not bad things. They pay for roads, schools, medical services, emergency responders, and all kinds of things that we take for granted. Without these services, we end up paying out of our own pocket for everyday services, which is worse than getting taxed for it, because now, on top of everything else that we have to pay for - rent or mortgage, gas, car, utilities, health care - now I have to figure out how to pave my own roads and where to toss my garbage, too?

So in my mind, the problem is not whether taxes go up or down, or whether taxes should be cut. The problem for me has always been: what is the government spending our tax money on?

I look at it the way I would a budget for a house. If I bring in $500 a week, but I’m spending $1000 that same week, I’m not thinking, “Maybe I need to bring in less money.” That’s just stupid. Pretty soon, the bill collectors are calling, the landlord is hitting me with an eviction notice, and the fridge only has three-week old McDonald’s cheeseburgers and a jar of mayo. No, the root of the problem becomes “Where is my money going?” Because at that point, can you really be too surprised to find out that your money is being spent on video games, booze and porn rentals and not on the things that really matter? After all, wasn’t it your job to track your own funds?

And that is where I think we are as a county when it comes to the economy. We’re so caught up in cutting the amount of money we fork over to Uncle Sam that we never ask what the money is being spent on. Because, after seeing everything that’s fallen apart in our infrastructure, maybe it’s time to ask why our government did spend billions of dollars on what amounts to one giant video game.

Something to think about, anyway.

The Cap’n started it.

I’ll see you and raise you, mon capitan.