BBC NEWS | Business | Petrol prices reach 80p a litre

BBC NEWS | Business | Petrol prices reach 80p a litre

I'm about to buy a car but don't let that worry you. This sort of price will be peanuts in comparison to the price we'll be facing in 20 years time.

You wait. I don't intend to own a car past 2010.

This is really just the start. If I had something to gain from saying this I'd hope you'd ignore this but I don't.

I got a call a few weeks ago from an American cold-caller pretending to have heard that I own shares. He asked when the last time was I had bought stock. I said never (after a second of complete confusion and wondering how to answer). He said, "Your kidding! Really?", (like I'd said I'd never circumcized my child). I said, "yes". And he quickly finished the call. This to me shows what America has become.

Even if I had the spare cash to invest in stocks, the last 24 months persuaded me never to blindly invest cash into stocks as long as I can make out colours. The fact that this "caller" thought it was barely credible that I didn't throw money at the stock market shows where America has gone and how we must think very carefully about how the country's values have been molded. Stocks are a con that the rich and the rich alone benefit from. The poor (i.e. the bottom 50%) have only lost in the last 15 years and the crashes only go to prove this.

Call me a socialist if you want. I merely think that financial advice should be regulated on both directions, not just on investment. Only investment seems to get any kind of regulation (however, half hearted) whilst borrowing (i.e. debt) gets barely a thought. Why? Because it is with debt that corporations really get their profits. It is debt that fuels the economy. That's why there is so much pressure for the ordinary American to risk his earnings and his pension on the roulette of stocks. When he loses his money he has to borrow more to get by (profits result for companies). If he doesn't lose, the money is still "owned" by the corporations for their use.

See, it all makes sense now.

War war warwarwarwarwarwarwar...

So we see two wars started by a megapower continuing. We see politicians pretending things are going in a bearable fashion whilst they try to scrub the public memory of what has gone before.

Let us not forget that America failed in Korea and failed in Vietnam. America now decides to start two more illegal wars and are making a complete hash of it yet again.

Afghanistan is something that the media has generally lost interest in but it is just as hellish as ever. Sure, the Taliban are banished from Kabul (except their former foreign minister who is part of the new unelected government) but they are in control of swathes of country and the rest is largely the domain of warlords. Women are still subject to the usual discrimination over the majority of the country and Afghanistan is once more the number one grower of Westerner-killing heroin. Woo Hoo!

Now we have Rumsfeld (resign, resign) coming to Congress and saying so much rubbish you would think he had taken some form of lie serum. The abuse of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners is clearly not isolated and clearly not something they care too much about. They didn't seem to care until it was about to hit the media.

The one single positive that can be pulled from the current circumstances is that it could bring to an end Bush's frightening, failing and terrible presidency.

Believe me, my fingers are crossed.