Floridians are getting worried about the economy, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal:

Florida’s consumer confidence took another hit in August, dropping three points to 92, as consumers worried about rising fuel costs.

The two components that measure perceptions of the national economy each fell five points — perceptions of economic conditions over the next year and the next five years.

Two of the other five components also fell. Perceptions of personal finances a year from now dropped three points, and perceptions of personal finances compared to a year ago fell one point.

“The consumer confidence survey is clearly reflecting concerns over energy costs, both in the short run and the long run,” said Chris McCarty, director of the survey research center at UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

I know I feel damn gloomy. I can’t believe how much I’m spending on gas now, compared to a few months ago, and I get 30 miles per gallon. I don’t even want to think about what will happen to my own personal finances if it keeps going up.

For the fourth year in a row more Americans slipped into poverty during 2004, according to a new Census Bureau report.

AP:

The nation’s poverty rate rose to 12.7 percent of the population last year, the fourth consecutive annual increase, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.

Overall, there were 37 million people living in poverty, up 1.1 million people from 2003…

The last decline in overall poverty was in 2000, when 31.1 million people lived under the threshold — 11.3 percent of the population. Since then, the poverty rate has increased steadily from 11.7 percent in 2001, when the economy slipped into recession, to 12.5 percent in 2003…

Let’s see, what else was different in 2000? Oh yeah, America still had a working president.

So if the poor are getting poorer, what’s Bush’s economic plan doing for the rich?

Tim Smeeding, an economics professor at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, says the nation has experienced a shift from earnings income to capital income and capital gains, which aren’t reflected in the Census Bureau’s latest numbers.

“Most of that growth in the economy over the last couple of years has gone to higher income people and has taken the form of capital income — interest, rents, dividends,” Smeeding said.

That’s what I thought.

• More than half want Bush to meet with Cindy: Slightly more than half of the country – 52 percent – says President Bush should meet with Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed last year in Iraq, who is leading a protest against the war outside Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Tex., according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
• Efforts to overturn gay marriage appear to be failing: Political support is fading in Massachusetts for a state constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage and allow only same-sex civil unions. Massachusetts lawmakers vote on the proposal on September 14 in a constitutional convention. Approval would pave the way for a final hurdle — a state referendum on the amendment in 2006. But a senior lawmaker expressed doubts it would get that far.
• State troops needed in hurricane zone are serving in Iraq: While the Bush administration may convince the gullible that they have made America safer, the crisis brought on by hurricane Katrina reveals the horrible truth: Over 8,000 Missippi and Louisiana Reserves and Guardsmen are engaged in protecting the citizens of Iraq instead of the citizens of their own hometowns.

Seeking to mend the rift in U.S.-Venezuelan relations widened last week by God-knob Pat Robertson’s issuance of a fatwa against Venez Prez Hugo Chavez, the not-visibly-employed Rev. Jesse Jackson went to Caracas, according to the Associated Press.

Initially, Chavez was reluctant to meet with Jackson, suspecting he was a rap star come to carry out, not condemn, Robertson’s unholy assassination edict. Jackson’s avoidance of expletives and pathetic inability to do the moonwalk finally convinced Chavez that he was a preacher, not a playa.

On Monday, the civil rights leader called for both sides to tone down their “hostile rhetoric,” and urged President Bush to strongly condemn Robertson’s lunatic assassination suggestion. Yeah, that’s going to happen — right after Bush meets with Cindy Sheehan, right after he fires Karl Rove.

Invoking the language of 1970s polital discourse, Jackson expostulated thusly:

“I hope that we’ve done something to facilitate a detente on threatening rhetoric,” Jackson said. “We’re not going to have an oil war.”

Not to be outdone by the outrageous Jackson, Chavez put forth a startling suggestion that Venezuela sell cheap heating oil to America’s poor directly. He said his government would tap into its Citgo Petroleum Corp. refineries in the U.S. to sell heating oil directly to poor communities, avoiding middle men to bring down costs. Hmm, middle men like the guys who drive the heating oil delivery trucks? Will poor folk line up at Citgo refineries to have their empty milk jugs filled with heating oil?

Finally, Chavez hinted that his government could call for Robertson’s extradition to Venezuela to stand trial for his anti-Christian threats. A U.S. State Department spokesman said he didn’t believe the South American country had a legal right to request extradition.

Remember, Hugo, these are the guys who run Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib — you do not want to be named an enemy combatant.

Just heard a report on MSNBC that President Bush is cannot make up his mind whether to tap the 700 million gallon strategic oil reserve in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The oil reserve is there to be used in emergencies. Are we to believe that the president cannot decide whether the loss of dozens of lives, thousands of homes and multiple millions of dollars in infrastructure caused by the hurricane should be classified an “emergency?”

With gas prices already running from $2.50 to more than $3.00 per gallon across the country, the fact that the storm has also crippled the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico will undoubtedly cause the cost of gasoline to spike even higher. Gasoline pushing toward $5.00 a gallon could put the economy into inflation – which all of us non-millionaires would definitely consider to be an “emergency.”

This president makes decisions solely on politics and ideology, so what would the political and/or ideological downside of tapping the oil reserve?

Paying more for gas would hurt – and anger – his base, so that would seem to be a no-brainer. Maybe what is holding him back is the fact that releasing the emergency oil might hold gas prices down to $3.00 a gallon, which would displease the fatcats who run the oil companies and fund the Republican Party.

New West writer Courtney Lowery interviewed Jon Tester, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, at his farm near Big Sandy, Montana. Her report is worth a read because when Democrats retake the Congress it will undoubtedly be a result of electing candidates like Tester:

The Tester campaign should enjoy quite the kick-off this week, courtesy of another Big Sandy native — Pearl Jam bass player Jeff Ament. The band will play a benefit concert for Tester Monday night in Missoula, an event that’s worth a lot just for the buzz and should be good for north of $200,000 in the campaign till. Tester is getting more than his share of attention from some national opinion-makers, notably the liberal blogger Markos Moulitsas, who runs Daily Kos (and who spent some time at the Tester farm this summer), and that should help bring in money and campaign talent too.

Still, it remains a long voyage from the farms of Big Sandy to the halls of the U.S. Senate. Tester must first win what promises to be a hard-fought primary with State Auditor John Morrison, who is no slouch of a candidate himself and probably remains the front-runner at this stage. Morrison, a lawyer, hails from a respected political family (his father was a state Supreme Court justice and his grandfather, Frank Morrison, was a 3-term governor of Nebraska) — an advantage that Tester will surely attempt to turn into a liability.

[The current Republican senator, Conrad] Burns, moreover, remains a well-entrenched incumbent who will almost certainly enjoy a huge financial advantage. Some believe he’s vulnerable, in part because of his close association with indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, but he remains popular among traditionally Republican constituencies in what is … still a Bush-loving state.