on the Congress railing against Bernanke and the Fed (WSJ article)

In the article, "Lawmakers Chide Fed in Bernanke Hearing" in the WSJ you get to hear Congress (who was complicit in allowing the great recession to happen by passing certain policies & regulations) yell at one man (Bernanke) for the "Fed's failure".

"You are the definition of a moral hazard," said Sen. Jim Bunning (R, Ky.), a long-time Fed critic. "I will do everything I can to stop your nomination and drag out this process as long as I can."


I fear rule by the majority and congress represents the interests of the majority & industries while the white house & the Fed (Geithner/Bernanke) seem to be looking out for national interests. I could be wrong and of course not all of congress /senate is intentionally against national interests but their motivations are more diverse.

thoughts on NYT article: Oil Companies Look to the Future in Iraq

Is it any surprise why Iraq was/is so important now? I was stunned when I researched Iraq's oil reserves last year. It turns out they have the least developed/tapped and  one of the largest oil reserves on the planet. The price of a barrel of oil from such a source is/was/historically 10-15x cheaper at the onset (as the well dries the cost of retrieving barrels increases to the market price, however). Now the exxon/royal dutch/big oil is coming in and about to develop the most lucrative areas:


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/world/middleeast/01iraqoil.html


“The attraction of these fields to oil companies is not the per-barrel profit, which is very low, but their value as an entrance ticket to the oil sector of southern Iraq,” said Reidar Visser, a research fellow at theNorwegian Institute of International Affairs who operates an Iraq Web site, Historiae. “In terms of size and potential, the Basra region remains one of the most attractive areas of future growth for the international oil industry.

Iraq has the third largest proven reserves of oil in the world, with about 115 billion barrels, but it does not rank in the top 10 producers. If and when its oil production rises toward seven million barrels a day or more, Iraq might find itself in conflict with OPEC, which maintains production quotas for its members. Iraq has been exempt from the quotas since sanctions were imposed in 1990, Iraqi officials said.
Iraqi officials say there is no justification for imposing a quota on their production, saying they have been underproducing for years, allowing others to enjoy higher quotas.
“The production from these three fields will surely threaten other oil-producing countries and will show the world that Iraq can match Saudi Arabia’s production,” said Mr. Hassani. “Our share has been taken by other countries, and we will gain our share again from the countries that took it.”