Maurice Taylor Jr., who leads Titan International headquartered in Quincy, says farmers have money and are looking to spend it.
Taylor was interviewed on CNBC at a farm show in Decatur and two of his clips were used in the video above.
The reporter also points out that farmers, many of whom grow crops and livestock, are conflicted about the price of corn, which is close to $8 per bushel. It helps on the row-crop side of the equation, but hurts if they raise and feed livestock.
When Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann told Iowa audiences a couple of weeks ago that she would get gasoline back down to $2 a gallon, there were a few cheers and a lot of quizzical looks.
Bachmann said by boosting domestic production, she would bring the price of oil down so that gasoline prices would drop.
Several groups and individuals have questioned how a president could do that. Here are a few examples.
Bryan Walsh, writing here for Time Magazine, notes that even if U.S. oil wells produced a half-million barrels more each day, it would not change things much. Oil is an international commodity, and its price is not reliant on the U.S. alone. OPEC could lower its production quotas and erase any gains made by the U.S.
Robert Rapier added his own thoughts on the Oil Drum site, noting that President Bush was not able to keep gasoline under the $2 level, which was surpassed in 2004. Obama has not been able to do it. Neither have other world leaders. How would a President Bachmann gain power that so far has eluded everyone else?
What has not been mentioned as much is that commodities markets contribute to the price of oil. Gasoline fell below $2 per gallon at the end of 2008 due to a financial market collapse and recession. Speculators who previously had access to easy credit were able to make leveraged buys — a fancy way of saying they got loans — when they bought oil futures during the previous few years. Part of what caused gasoline prices to fall from $4 per gallon in July 2008 to less than half that amount at the end of the year was that speculators had gotten burned. In addition, lending institutions didn’t want to offer them money to “gamble” on oil futures.
It also should be noted that the president does not have legislative powers.
Michele Bachmann may be on target with some of her political stances. Her promise to bring gas prices down, isn’t among those.
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U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, speaking with reporters after her visit to the Watlow Industries plant in Hannibal, Mo., on Monday, said she considers herself an underdog in 2012 when she will presumably stand for re-election.
Dominic Genetti of the Hannibal Courier-Post can be heard in the video clip asking McCaskill if she has any plans to run for president in 2016, to which McCaskill said “Oh. No.” She ends the short clip saying she’s “not that crazy.”
McCaskill also mispronounces “anybody” in part of the response, making it sound like “any biddy.”
Genetti’s concluding questions about McCaskill’s thoughts on Cardinals baseball and Rams and Chiefs football are not included on the clip.
The League of Women Voters of Illinois has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court saying the new legislative and congressional district maps are in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
At issue is whether the Democratic maps violate First Amendment rights “for partisan ends.” Democrats control both the Illinois House and Senate and Gov. Pat Quinn, who signed the new maps into law is a Democrat.
The League is a nonpartisan group that promotes engagement in the political process. The lawsuit asks the court to order a fair and impartial process for drawing district lines in the wake of the 2010 Census.
Former state Rep. Mike Boland declared himself a candidate for the U.S. House in the 17th District last week.
Boland, who served 16 years in the Illinois House, became the seventh Democrat seeking the 17th District seat held by U.S. Rep. Bobby Schilling, R-Colona.
“I believe I am the strongest candidate” and the most electable Democrat for the seat, Boland told reporters from the Quad-City Times. Boland also said “anybody who thinks Schilling “will be a pushover is just plain crazy.”
Schilling ousted former U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, in 2010. He became the first Republican serving the district in Congress since the early 1980s.
Schilling’s 17th District was redrawn by Illinois Democrats this year. It will lose Adams, Hancock and Pike counties and picking up new areas stretching north of the Quad Cities and as far east as Peoria. The three local counties lean Republican, while the new areas added to the 17th lean Democratic.
Other Democrats seeking the nomination include Cheri Bustos, an alderman from East Moline, state Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp, Greg Aguilar an Augustana College executive from East Moline and Rock Island attorney Eric Reyes.
The candidates will vie against each other in the March primary for the chance to advance to the general election.
Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder said former stripper and Penthouse model Tammy Chapman is not telling the truth about him.
Chapman a St. Louis bartender said during the 1990s when she was a topless dancer in the Metro East area, Kinder was one of her best customers. Kinder, then a state senator, confirmed that was when and where he first met Chapman.
Where they differ is on Chapman’s charge that she had to tell Kinder not to ask for lap dances any more after he grabbed her during dances.
Kinder a Republican preparing to run for Missouri governor, said “this woman’s bizarre story is not true.” He added that Democrats who want to sink his political career are behind the story.
A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll has found more of the anti-incumbent sentiment that led to party changes in the U.S. House or Senate after the elections of 1994, 2006 and 2010.
A mere 24 percent of those surveyed believe members of Congress are worthy of re-election. That is the lowest score since Gallup started asking that question in 1991. Yet 56 percent of respondents believe their own Senate or House members should be re-elected.
In other words, “it’s those ‘other’ incumbents” who need to be voted out of office.
President Obama did not fare well in the poll. Only 47 percent of respondents thought he deserves re-election, while 51 percent said he does not. An associated question showed that Obama would edge an unnamed GOP candidate by a 49-45 margin.
Obama’s job approval rating varies widely locally. The president has a 54 percent rating in Illinois, a 49 percent rating in Iowa and a 42 percent rating in Missouri.
Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report, believes the nation is headed toward another sweeping election where one party loses at least 20 U.S. House seats.
“Is there substantial dissatisfaction with the direction of the country, with the way things are, with the people in charge? The answer to that is yes,” Rothenberg said.
Morry Taylor, president and CEO of Titan International has a You Tube video in which he tells how a business executive would cut the federal deficit. The Quincy-based executive said President Obama is a nice guy who “does not have a clue” how to manage a federal budget.
Taylor said 5.5 million federal employees, military and national guard members, are receiving $1.3 trillion in salaries. He believes that number can be cut by about half, mostly from bureaucrats, to save more than $700 million a year.
At another point, Taylor counsels that too many lawyers are in elected office. “We should never vote for lawyers” who are taught to argue both sides of an argument and lack the ability to tell which side is right, he said.
The 10-minute video is the first of several planned by Taylor. The 1996 Republican presidential candidate plans to talk about education, big business and unions in future videos.
Four U.S. senators from Missouri and North Dakota joined House colleagues in calling for changes in the way the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deals with flooding.
U.S. Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Roy Blunt, R-Mo., John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., joined congressional delegations from Missouri River Basin states calling for the Corps to brief Congress on protecting against floods the rest of this year and beyond.
“We believe it is critical that the lessons learned from this year’s event be factored into next year’s plan,” the elected leaders wrote in a letter to Corps leaders.
Record amounts of water were released from reservoirs in states through which the Missouri River passes. Those releases added to record floods caused by rainfall, snowmelt and other factors.
Those writing the letter say operating the Missouri River by a checklist proved disastrous. They want assurances that future operations will be tweaked to conform with weather and river conditions.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett told reporters over the weekend that the U.S. debt is still worthy of AAA ratings, despite the decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade it to an AA+ rating.
Buffett explained on CNBC that he has no fears the U.S. won’t be able to pay its debt. Then he added some thoughts on political posturing and economic policy.
“Our currency is not AAA and in recent months the performance of our government has not beeen AAA, but our debt is AAA,” Buffett said.
