It has all the hallmarks of a political thriller: Washington lobbyists, political pressure and money… lots of money

Were, as The New York Times reports today, Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), which guarantee about $6 trillion dollars in US home loans, unduly “insulated” by Capitol Hill?

Did Congress make it implicit to the companies that any losses would be guarenteed with taxpayers’ hard-won cash?

Really, could the Demos & Repubs have nominated two more energy-illiterate candidates?

On the whole, I have a better record of forecasting American elections than British. Distance makes one see the developments more clearly.

The Obama monkey shirt is making waves in the online press as Drudgereport.com picked up the story of the Georgia bar owner selling t-shirts with a picture of the cartoon character ‘Curious George’ with ‘Obama 08′ at the bottom.

The bar owner has the right to express his ideas about Obama’s appearance. “This is my marketing tool,” he said. But the copyright holder of ‘Curious George’ has the legal rights to the use of their brand. Curious George’s publisher said

It is the best of times…it is the worst of times. This morning, oil is over $120…and the price of gold is pushing back up to $875. That’s good news, say the headlines.

So a few weeks ago I wrote an article bashing the McCain gas-tax holiday plan. My conclusion was that the gas-tax did absolutely nothing to fix the reason that gas prices are higher. And in the end, all it would do is spur more demand for gasoline, meaning prices would go even higher.

The great overreach continues…there’s so much noise in the financial markets, one can barely think straight. Housing slump may exceed the Great Depression…the profit parade in commodities marches on. We pity the next president…the subprime debacle has produced a tsunami of lawsuits…and more!

The Americans love British singer Leona Lewis. The Islington-born X Factor winner has been a smash hit Stateside, and has become the first British female artist to top the US album charts since Sade in 1986.