"We have met the enemy and he is us."

There is a lot of finger pointing going on about the Gulf oil spill. That is not to say that BP is not ultimately to blame, but our government regulators need to shoulder their share. The word inept comes to mind.

And don't forget to look at ourselves; the voter, the consumer. In the short term, we need that oil to help reduce reliance on foreign sources. But as we have (I hope) learned, we can't be so cavalier about the methods we use to get to it.

Longer term, we have to become self-sufficient and learn to leverage other sources; renewable energy such as wind and solar, supplemented with a new generation of nuclear energy.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Pogo_-_Earth_Day_1971_poster.jpg

The Faces and Voices of This Economy.

Last week a woman came to my front door, her refrigerated truck parked at the curb. 'Would I like to buy some steaks?'; she couldn't look me in the eye as she gave me her pitch. She knew what my answer was before she said a word, yet she had to ask. I gave the same answer as everyone she had posed the question to that day gave. There was no hope in her voice or in her face, and it broke my heart to have to say no.

Today a vendor I had done business with in the past called my office. He was going to be in town and wanted to know if he could demo a new product for me. In his voice, even as he asked the question, was the same resignation to my answer I had heard from the woman a few days before. I had to tell him that I didn't have a need for his product right now.

Where is the hope in these people? They are working hard; surviving, but not getting ahead.

Their faces and voices are the reality of this economy.