A while back, I made a comment about gas prices being the way most Americans judged the economy. I got pounded by one of my smartest friends, saying it just wasn't so. In this one, while I think there are other measures - 401k statements perhaps? - gas prices are still the most visible, universal, and elastic.

Without going too deeply into the oil patch, the gas prices cannot be blamed on OPEC or even Bush/Cheney. It's too simplistic to do so. There's a better case to be made for the lack of a reasonable energy policy over the last decade, one that would decrease consumption, increase refining capacity, and reward alternative or conservation of fuel. (Why can I get a tax break on a Hummer, but not a Prius?)

Back to gas prices ... what do you think? Is gas price something that people use to measure the economy? Does Bush need gas prices to go down in order to hold his job? Would gas at a buck-fifty really change many peoples mind in this very polarized electorate?

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That's my first non-baseball post in a while, so quit bitching. This blog talks about everything - baseball, culture, music, politics, scantily clad women - so get used to it. There's nine other blogs that live up to the All Baseball name to choose from if you don't like what we're writing on any given day.

I'd also like to give massive kudos to Ken and Mark McClusky for the kick-ass new autotagger. Now, I can just type in the names of players - Nomar Garciaparra, Sammy Sosa, Jairo Garcia, Lance Carter, or maybe Nook Logan - and it gets linked with no coding on my part.