With the stock markets roiling and money to loan drying up, there’s no doubt that the economy, barring something unforeseen, will be the issue as Campaign 2008 moves forward.

As for Oklahoma, with energy prices falling, it’s just natural to assume that the Wall Street doings will soon affect Oklahoma’s main streets. The first casualty may be the con artists who were floating greedy plans on the waves of energy consumers’ anger over high gas prices. No doubt the propeller pushing, CNG scamming confidence plans are in serious jeopardy today. The odd stock deals, massive expansions and building plans by the local energy companies may be threatened as well.

The Wall Street mess and plunging energy prices will be a double whammy for Oklahoma. We assume that the capitol press corps will be tracking down the governor and legislative leadership to get them on record as to what they are doing to anticipate the economic impact to Oklahoma. America’s investors and consumers are worried, and Oklahoma’s budget will be drastically affected. President Bush hurried yesterday to seek to calm the fears, and we’re sure the press corps and the governor will tackling the topic as well.

Or will they? The fact is, the press corps (with the exception of the Journal Record) simply does not have the economic IQ to adequately pursue this story. There are hundreds of stories to pursue, and we’ll let you know if they even try. Press releases issued by the governor, the Speaker and senate leadership are simply not adequate leadership. Speaker Benge is also under the gun after his sell-out to the energy con artists.

Simply put, it’s prime time for the Oklahoma press and state leadership: let’s see how they do!

Meanwhile, as the economy moves to front and center, OKPNS will keep you informed of the top political/economic stories affecting you. Here’s the economic read on Obama and McCain .

Developing……..

An announcement from the Department of Commerce answers this question.  You’ve just got to be proud to be an Oklahoman when you read that we are gaining jobs from Mexican manufacturing!

From the Oklahoma Department of Commerce website:

2008 Location and Investment Examples
To date, several key locations and investments have occurred across Oklahoma.

AAA broke ground August 21 on a new operations center in Oklahoma City. About 825 employees will be hired for the new center, which is scheduled for completion in late 2009.

Hyatt hired 300 people at its new finance and accounting shared service center in Moore. The new jobs bring a $6 million payroll to central Oklahoma.

Mexico’s Sigma-Alimentos recently opened its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Seminole. The operation at full capacity will employ 400 people.

Related: Tiger Trucks Manufacture Chinese Design in Oklahoma

Leading national Republican research and consulting firm Wilson Research Strategies, has released its August 2008 edition of the National Political Environment Assessment

Highlights:

“The American public is more deeply concerned about the economy than they were about the war at it’s height opinion wise.”

“Ideas such as the gas tax holiday and support for offshore drilling finds support from a majority of the population, as does more long term solutions.”

“The American public has indicated that they think John McCain is better equiped to deal with the war in Iraq.”

WRS says the data presented in the report has been collected from reputable news and academic polling organizations, with analysis and interpretation by WRS.

Update: See Ernest Istook’s article in Human Events, published March 27th, Mismanaging the Mortgage Mess:

Bad decisions travel in pairs. Worse, they sometimes travel in mobs.

Consider how government is overreacting to our mortgage mess — proving the adage that nothing is so fouled-up that Congress can’t make it worse:

• Taxpayers could be hit with a $300 billion-plus tab to help homeowners who filed false loan applications as well as those just struck by bad luck.

• Mortgage rates could go up and their availability go down if Congress rewrites laws to shift the losses from individuals to companies — which will want to recoup those losses through stiffer terms for future borrowers….Continue Reading >>

Original Story, 3/25/08:

According to Tammy McCullar, president of the Oklahoma Association of Realtors (OAR), the Association’s leadership team moved to create the “Good Thing You’re in Oklahoma” campaign in response to some of the national media reports about the U.S. housing market:

Real estate is local, and Oklahomans are not buying or selling their homes in a national housing market. Our ‘Good Thing You’re in Oklahoma’
campaign is designed to present the facts about the Oklahoma housing market, which
remains an affordable, stable and secure source of value as a long-term investment.

Wilson Research Strategies:

Despite the National downturn, the Oklahoma housing market has been solid in 2007, increasing an average of over 1% in value per month over the course of the year. Oklahoma had another strong year in the housing market, with home values increasing by 5.6% in 2007. Oklahoma finished 2007 with the third highest number of homes sold on record.

Lisa Yates, CEO of OAR was quoted in the Oklahoman:

“Half of the people don’t say the market is excellent or good. But it is good, and in some parts it’s excellent,” Yates said. “Extrapolating, half the people in Oklahoma don’t have a very positive view of the housing market.”

And that, she said, casts an emotional cloud over Oklahoma housing that is at odds with price increases and only a slight drop in sales.

In other words, people are spooked unnecessarily, she said.

According to Ernest Istook, former Congressman from Oklahoma, the national economy might not be exactly some Democratic political candidates may have their constituents believe, according to a blogcast he did with the Hertage Foundation, yesterday. Listen below to what Istook, and Heritage Foundation economists think the government can and should do about this.