Economics and Politics

My big pet peeve lately has been the way politicians blatantly lie about economics to get ahead. I understand that in some ways its the way of the world but I'm pretty naive and idealistic about some things (perfection may not be attainable but that doesn't mean you shouldn't strive for it). The thing that sparked hours of annoyance from me was the quote from John Kerry about Bush's policies having caused gas prices to go up $10-12 per barrel.

this quote in particular:
"Some of the top economists will tell you that the global instability created by President Bush's foreign policy -- the uncertainty about the Middle East -- is costing us a 10-to-12-dollar per-barrel premium today," he [Kerry] said during speech on energy issues in Portland, Oregon.

First, I defy you to find me one of these "top economists" who will say this. Second, it's just too much of a leap for me to think that gas prices are 33-50% higher today because of the Bush Administration. I'm no fan of the sitting President but I'm not about to start blaming everything in America on him. If anyone is curious about the reasons behind my thinking I'll be happy to post more but it's kinda long and I've already bored most of my friends with it.

I'm sure between now and election time there will be plenty of opportunities to debunk the crap that Bush and Kerry say about eachother... Hurray for elections! (/sarcasm)