Dean is first.

... sting like a bee"  -- Muhammed Ali

Obama truly is a hybrid.  Go butterly/bee Obama !

... were the Doric columns last night, steely and strong, holding aloft a younger man who is not just trying to high five ALL Americans but is also giving them a Five-O.

Hence high prices for energy and food. The fact that the Chinese manipulated their currency to undercut the dollar made it temporarily less painful to race it to the bottom in a race of which bad money drives out the others' "good".

WalMart shoppers paid for the Beijing Olympics, record Exxon profits,had their payroll taxes dunned to pass out to the Republican's "base" and if the truth be known would never vote for a Republican again in their lives.

Maybe the best speech ever.

He hit everything hard...what he wants to do, what 4 more years of McBush will bring.

As usual, David Brooks is full of crap; but that is expected of someone who is mentally constipated.

Their net income was only 8% of sales. Shell is making less then 7%. Most of Exxon's money came from offshore so they are importing dollars. If Microsoft did that poorly, Bill Gates would have been gone long ago.
The real issue with Exxon is spending their money in stock by-backs to boost the stock price vs. drilling for new oil using the leases they already have.
There are three reasons for Exxon to drive the stock price up.
1 - Executive compensation is often tied to the stock price.
2 - To fight off a hostile takeover (unlikely).
3 - Drive the price up in anticipation for off-shore drilling ok's which would bring new money to a company with bloated value per share. This is the most likely reason.
Bang them over what they do with their money, not how much they make.

The dollar has been kept cheap in response to the Chinese currency manipulation but was driven down by the huge deficits that were caused by the Bush tax cuts.

BUSH TAX CUTS=HIGH GASOLINE PRICES

The Chinese stole our manufacturing base by undercutting our prices, and if we can compete globally now it is because of a cheap dollar, which makes for high priced gasoline, so you are paying more to commute to a job that pays less and has stripped benefits and you had your pension stolen, and didn't get a penny of the productivity gains of the last expansion, and are supposed to shut up and not organize and be thankful you have a job, even if the lost equity in your house represents a loss of all of your savings.

The high heating fuel bills will come due on his watch.

I am totally convinced that the Bush goal is to damage government so badly services have to be cut and privatized.
Look at the numbers. The massive deficit will force the next president with more needs then the ability to pay for them.
Neocons have always wanted to destroy government by making things so bad, services have to be cut. Their functions will be sold to the private sector which transfers dollars directly to a wealthy few. The only growth will come in the military/government supply sector but more of that will be outsourcd.
Social Security is the motherlode for Neocons. If they can control that, they will control the majority of future US obligations.

are controlled by those that hold them overseas, Republicans have been caught in their own trap of hedge fund creative instruments to hide the truth

to save the dollar, interest rates would have to ride which would lead to a lower bottom in real estate, and a whole other round of financial firm failures

an economic system in the hands of Chinese bankers, or mideast royals, while Russia has the gas pipelines puts us in a lot more risk than just a little belt tightening will fix 

There are a whole lot of trends in the wrong direction.

People are making less, saving less, having to take care of their own retirements, health care, energy and food.

Obama will inherit a growing deficit and it may continue to grow for a while.  I am not worried about paying for capital improvements.  I never like rewarding people because they have power and influence

- As much as we have to pay for our destruction of Iraq, the Iraqis’ are going to have to spend their own dollars fixing up the country we destroyed.   The dollar responsibility won't happen overnight but it will happen next year at the latest.

- Taxes on the upper 5% have got to go up to at a minimum the Clinton levels.

- Precious tax dollars need to be spent on rebuilding the infrastructure.  This is actually a near neutral effect on taxes as the money people earn will change hands and some will flow back into the treasury.

- Healthcare for all is as much a fiscal as moral necessity. Healthcare for all lowers the final costs of goods increasing competition. It lowers out-of-pocket medical expenses for all leaving more disposable income.
- Change corporate tax policy to allow tax credits for companies that create new jobs, new plants and equipment and hire new people. Bubba did this and it helped fund the internet explosion.
- Along with this, allow accelerated depreciation to write off new plants and equipment faster. Both Bubba and “W” did this with great success.
- There must be a nationwide moratorium on home foreclosures. Banks and clients must work together to keep people in their homes. The blame game is long past. All were greedy; all benefited from it, all are being hurt by it. New mortgage arrangements must be created to allow folks to both pay the banks a sum necessary to keep banks afloat and stay in their own homes. I never understood why banks want a sea of empty homes.

-There may need to be a tariff on imports. Essentially, we are trading goods for labor or suffering labor arbitrage. We should charge a tariff that makes up the difference between what the exporters charge to build and what the costs are to build it here, if the infrastructure exists.
- Overhaul Taft-Hartley to allow unions to represent workers without retribution. Union membership built the middle class because it put labor and management on the same footing. Unions must end their crass graft and political activities. Their power must be checked by the understanding that jobs could still be moved elsewhere. Union activity gets blamed for inflationary tendencies but is really class warfare.
- Social payroll taxes are charged on every dollar earned at the same rate. There is no cap on taxes.
- If executive pay, which includes unexercised options, is over 40 times the amount of the lowest corporate wage, every dollar above that is taxed.

- The military needs to be refitted with weapons to fight terrorism. The bigger and better tactic is to change our attitude toward the rest of the war so we don’t have to invade folks. Preemptive invasions are crimes against humanity. Obama’s calls to attack Pakistan if Obama’s minions are found or Iran if they produce a nuclear warhead is red meat for conservatives. The more important ability is to work within the world legal framework to make these attacks unnecessary. Attack if we must. The hard part is determining when we must attack. I always felt the military was given way too many reporting exclusions. Each program should be analyzed for cost and necessity. There are obviously “black” projects that demand secrecy. They are eyes-only for the President. By demanding accountability, programs wil get their economic houses in order.

Renewable energy sources are mandatory and I like his ten year goal. There should be tax incentives used to encourage new products and processes. Mitigate risk by removing it.