What is it that’s so creepy about Willard? It’s because Romney gets a certain look on his face when he thinks he’s said something overwhelmingly clever; it’s like he expects a certain reward. You see this a lot with right wingers; it’s something hardwired into their brains.  It’s occurred to me where I first saw this: his expression looks just like the one the old WB animators would put on the faces of the two human characters that Bugs Bunny always encountered stranded on the desert island. It’s when the one castaway would look at the other and see him as a pork chop; it’s insatiable hunger, barely contained anticipation and utter madness all rolled into one facial expression.

A new Pew Research study came out this past week that focused on how the Americans view of class warfare has changed over the past two years. The numbers showed a dramatic shift toward more awareness of the inequality between economic classes, and this cut across all political demographics. Most notably, the change occurred without regard to party affiliation, with the greatest increase occurring among independent voters. That sentiment rose more than half, going from 45% to 68%.  The mumber among  Democrats increased 18 points to 74%, and even Republicans awareness of the rift increased 17 points to 55%.

These numbers don’t indicate why any of the respondents responded as they did.  It’s possible that the Republican and independent numbers reflect the perspectives of some who see a conflict, but view the rich as the victims in this class struggle, despite the lap of luxury in which their “suffering” takes place.

.'Oil refiners have stopped buying oil from Iran,' was the headline today. Well, really just on the spot market. Two thirds of the Iranian oil that refiners buy is on long term contract, and they won’t give that up unless forced to by an EU embargo. China continues to buy oil and doesn’t accept anybody else’s opinion on the matter. They have been buying less Iranian oil lately, but this is reportedly because of a pricing dispute. Since 2/3 of Iran’s oil goes to the far east, it sounds like Iran’s only problem is getting full price. The price is going up, thanks to the US pressure on countries to not buy from Iran, so they could end up getting just as much for their oil as now, or more.

Iran’s biggest problem is really the threats made by the US against any foreign bank that does business with Iran’s banks. The banks who do so would be prohibited from doing business in the US, and this could make it hard for Iran to get paid for its oil. This could, in theory, include those huge Chinese banks in lower Manhattan. Obama might as well threaten the king of the moon. China will pay as much attention.