The internet is a resource of unlimited potential. Not being able to access the internet in today’s world is like not knowing how to read. Instead of an access point, it becomes a barrier between you and the rest of the world. Even getting a job at many places requires you go online to access the application. And as it turns out, John McCain does not know how to use the internet. When it comes to the internet McCain said, “I’m an illiterate who has to rely on his wife for any assistance he can get.” When the New York Times asked McCain about the internet he said his aides “go on for me. I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself.”

Should our next president be able to use the internet by himself? Since the mainstream media is so selective with the news it thinks Americans should have access to, the internet is the one place average citizens can still speak for themselves. Personally, I think the president ought to be able to go online and hear the individual voices of our country…at a minimum. You know… because of the whole democracy thing.

How many people in the same age group as McCain are online illiterates? John McCain is 71-years-old. According to the Pew Research Center only 35 percent of Americans over the age of 65 are online. However, “about three-quarters of white, college-educated men over age 65 use the internet, says Susannah Fox, director of the project.

I think being able to access and navigate the internet should be required if you are to run for president. Or perhaps that is short sighted. Rather, to be president you should have to prove that you are keeping up with the times. That seems an important trait for our country’s leader.

Articles bemoaning the price of gasoline are a little too easy to find. The mainstream media cannot put the topic to rest. It all sounds the same after awhile; “blah, blah, blah.” The truth is it doesn’t matter what the mainstream media says about high oil because they just make things up. They blame speculators, liberals, environmentalists, foreigners, global demand and so on and so forth. But I haven’t heard the mainstream media say, “the Federal Reserve, due to poor policy, has completely drained the value of the U.S. dollar which in turn makes oil more expensive for Americans.”

Really the mainstream media is just entertainment. They don’t actually tell you things that matter, and when they do, their reporting is often dishonest. So it is nice I can share an article about high oil prices that has a surprising and unique angle…high oil prices help save lives.

The Associated Press reports, “rising prices at the gas pump appear to be having at least one positive effect: traffic deaths around the country are plummeting, just as they did during the Arab oil embargo three decades ago.”

            The National Safety Council reported motor vehicle deaths through May have decreased 9 percent compared to the first five months of 2007. John Ulczycki, the council’s executive director for transportation safety said, “when the economy is in the tank and fuel prices are high, you typically see a decline in miles driven and traffic deaths.”

            The Arab oil embargo of 1973-74 was the only other time road deaths have fallen so quickly, at which time road fatalities fell 17 percent. Another larger reduction in road deaths which took a bit longer to materialize, but eventually had a large impact was in 1984 when the federal government introduced the Uniform Drinking Age Act which threatened reduced transportation funds to any states that did not raise the legal drinking age to 21. This legislation led to an eventual 11 percent reduction in road fatalities.

            Chuck Hurley, once a former official with the National Safety Council and the Insurance for Highway Safety, now chief executive of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) said that high gas prices has also helped curb drunk driving!

            So there you have it, the single sliver of good news I have found that is a result of high oil! With all the bad news out there is at least something, no?

According to a recent study by Ernst & Young, (a coalition of interest groups that track retirement affordability) approximately 75 percent of “near retirees,” those aged 58-65, will outlive their savings unless they immediately cut their standard of living by one-third.

That means many people (but few will) ought to be buying a house that is affordable, driving less, buying less, eating out less and maybe even giving up a vacation here an there. It means keeping credit cards for emergencies and not because they are convenient. It means sacrificing something today for a better tomorrow. But the reality is there is going to be a lot more harsh tomorrows than better tomorrows. We are a society that encourages thoughtlessness. Thoughtlessness equals impulsive, and that is damned good for the economy! Don’t think. Spend! Everything is fine. Spend! Inflation is low. Spend!

In this country that is America we are no long citizens, we are consumers.

So the near retirees have some decisions to make. Take the rough road now to a better tomorrow, or take a smooth road straight off a damned cliff!

Those recently retired are also in poor shape. According to the same study 60 percent of recently retired middle-class people are likely to outlive their assets. To reduce the retirement failure rate (those folks who run out of retirement money!) to 5 percent, these people need to immediately reduce their standard of living by one-fourth.

According to AARP’s strategic policy adviser Sara Rix, “middle-aged and older Americans tell us they’re already having trouble making ends meet.”

But it gets much worse. Christian Weller, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress said Americans with retirement savings are increasingly taking money out of their 401(k) accounts to pay the bills. That means more and more Americans can’t afford their standard of living with a full time job! Never mind retirement!

And, both the percentage of people taking money out of their 401(k) accounts and the amount being withdrawn are increasing. Ouch!

Social Security only provides an average of about 40 percent of a person’s retirement income. According to the study, those who only have Social Security income guaranteed have a 90 percent chance of outliving their money.

But the solution is simple folks. Save your money! We are supposedly the richest country in the world so tell me, how pathetic is it that we have to borrow money from poorer countries than our own just to satisfy our consumer lust?

If you guessed a republican president, also known as a “conservative,” you have somehow not realized that republicans and conservatives are no longer the same thing. In fact, based on what President Clinton did for the economy vs. President Bush (i.e. Clinton created a surplus, Bush destroyed it) and a comparison between Obama’s and McCain’s personal finances, it may be safe to say that the new conservatives are Democrats!!

Now it is tempting to go into a wild anti-Bush rant pointing out all of the fiscally unsound things he has done for this country to prove a point, but I don’t have time to track his entire carrier. Even pointing out the main highlights of his fiscal irresponsibility will take too long. Besides, this is about our future and not the pathetically easy process of tearing our President to shreds.

Who will be better for America’s future? When I think of a future for America, I think of one free of debt obligations. Whether McCain or Obama becomes the next president, they will have a mess of debt to either clean up or ignore. As President Bush has shown us, when one decides to ignore the national debt, they add a whole lot to it. That is why our current administration has already raised the nation’s debt ceiling twice in less than a year (talk about a lack of foresight)!

Now let’s review the personal finances of McCain vs. Obama. As reported on TheHill.com, “The presidential candidate and his wife Cindy [McCain] reported piling up debt on a charge card between $10,000 and $15,000. His wife’s solo charge card has between $100,000 and $250,000 in debt to American Express. The article goes on, “McCain’s wife also has a second American Express charge card listed on the senator’s financial disclosure that was carrying $100,000 to $250,000 in debt. Another charge card with American Express, this one for a dependent child, is carrying debt in the range of $15,000 and $50,000.” That sounds like a lot of debt for a conservative. How about Obama?

As reported by TheHill.com, “Democratic candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), reported no liabilities in his annual financial disclosures. Obama [also] reported college savings of $100,000 and $250,000 for each of his two daughters.” So it seems McCain is a spender and Obama is a saver! Are we to assume McCain will be more responsible with other people’s money than his own? It sounds like a stretch!