Serious news developments are going under-reported and significant national issues un-discussed in the presidential race because we are all deluged with stock market stories. There are even many stories related to the market that are not getting play yet.
The recent hurricanes damaged U.S. production of oil and temporarily slowed the slide in oil prices, but they did terrible damage to Cuba. Since there are few American reporters there and the Communist regime is not really interested in exposing its weaknesses, the reality goes mostly un-noticed. But here is a story with some insight.
Cuba depends on Venezuela for oil now, but Hugo Chavez also must be facing strains now that the prices for his country's main product have dropped from $147 a barrel to $80. Leftists like Chavez are seldom careful about spending commitments, so it is likely that his regime is going to feel serious strain now. Great story. Not reported yet.
The same squeeze is on Iran and Russia, of course. Already the Russian government's recent hostility toward the West seems to be abating. As I noted several months ago, it usually is not a good idea to threaten one's customers, but that is what Russia was doing to the Europeans. It is a temptation that the Kremlin is finding it easier to resist right now. (By the way, Russia reportedly has huge cash reserves. How is that affecting the economy in the current international crisis? Doesn't Bloomberg News' excellent team in Moscow have a story in depth to tell us about that?)
Another under-reported international story is in the field of human rights. It is a mystery to me why the McCain campaign has not publicized the fact that Sen. Joe Biden, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been holding up passage of the Wilberforce Act of 2008, a bill that would strengthen the law against human trafficking. His reported reasons are bureaucratic, trivial and unresponsive to the world wide problem of slavery. A new film (Call + Response) highlights the situation, and among other things, features Discovery Senior Fellow John R. Miller, former U.S. Ambassador for Human Trafficking Issues.
Domestically, there has been a doubling of money going to Amtrak to improve service, but it was voted through in the midst of the bailout legislation and without any apparent discussion or debate. America needs a first class passenger rail system to supplement air and auto carriers. But because of unenlightened union opposition the Democrats in recent years have prevented any effort at reform and partnership with the private sector. The new money won't really change much at all. Given the overall energy issue and the pressures on the present transportation system you might think that at least one of the candidates for President would be talking about this. But they aren't doing so, are they? Do they imagine that travelers in states on the Eastern Seaboard, the Great Lakes region and the West Coast are not interested?
Speaking of energy, there is the under-emphasized potential of nuclear power. McCain is all for it. But why isn't he conspicuously going to the places where it could be installed and calling attention to the subject? Nuclear power is back in vogue, even among many environmentalists, and it promises the responsible, relatively inexpensive energy that U.S. industries need to save and create jobs. He mentions it, but he doesn't hammer it home the way Ronald Reagan did--by giving TV viewers a backdrop image.
Another issue that McCain under-plays is his support for expanding the personal income tax exemption for people raising children. Reagan doubled it in '86, as McCain undoubtedly knows. It would be a huge break for parents (single parents as well as two parent households). But it is being lost in the din. McCain needs to be in people's kitchens explaining the issue.
One could go on and on, but let me end with this observation: In a time when the stock market is telling us that a recession is surely at hand, one might expect that the federal government would be doing all it can to at least push out of the Treasury pipeline funds for various public projects in transportation and other fields that already are authorized and appropriated. The market crash is about to start rippling through the economy, with building slowdowns and job losses. Already existing federal projects could help take up the slack. I'm not talking about a big new public works program--the kind that typically wouldn't be effective until after the recession is over--but planned projects that the bureaucrats just can't seem to get into action. They need a push. Why aren't they getting one?
