In the mid-1970s the TV sitcom The Jeffersons portrayed the rags-to-riches story of a black entrepreneur living the American Dream. The pugnacious and overbearing George Jefferson (former neighbor of All in the Family's Archie Bunker) becomes a dry cleaning magnate and leaves blue-collar Queens for swanky Manhattan. As the show's theme song recounts:

"Well we're moving on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Moving on up,
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie."

But now fast-forward to 2007 and real world America. When it comes to those deluxe apartments in the sky, today's exclusive penthouses sit atop much taller high-rises--but the chances of ever living in one (or even breathing its rarified air as a dinner guest) have shrunk considerably. And although the proverbial economic pie is much larger today as well, a relative handful of gluttons are gorging themselves while everyone else settles for leftovers and crumbs.

Global warming and Israel are two of my most important issues. I am an American Jew who was raised with the question, "Is it good for Israel," though we also were none too keen on the right wingers in Israel and the first invasion of Lebanon. I am an avid history buff, including, but not exclusively, Jewish history. Much of my historical reading leads me to the conclusion that my survival and my son's survival are improved significantly by the existance of Israel. That is important to me. But I also recognize that much of what I feel about Israel can apply to Palestine as well. I have written about this in the past and will not review it here. That is not my purpose.

ALL of us are faced with global warming. This will cut across all borders, all divisions, all people. We must all address it. United we have a chance. Excessively divided, we will find ourselves screwed by our own stupidity. THAT is what I am writing about: a more united approach to dealing with economic and environmental problems, with the ancient/modern land of Canaan as my focus.

Energy will be one of our number one issues in coming years. The conflicting pull of increased demand overwhelming our grid and the need to cut carbon emissions to battle global warming before our 10-year window has passed. Both of these conflicting needs are critical needs and we have to find a way to address both.

President Bush likes to claim that the economy is doing really well, citing record highs in the stock market and relatively low unemployment as proof. Things are going so well that this year the Forbes 400 richest people are all BILLIONAIRES. But the reality for the working class in America is much different and the canary in the coal mine may just have fallen over.

One of the most eye-popping parts of Al Gore's inconvenient truth was when he boarded a crane to illustrate the unprecedented rise in carbon dioxide levels. The inconvenient truth of our economy could be equally well illustrated as the fabulously rich have gotten fabulously richer, while the working class has gotten (to name another pop culture hit) "Left Behind."

I know I'm inching out onto ground usually covered much better by economic bloggers like Tom Ball, bonddad, and Jerome a Paris, however I thought it important to point out that the "record stock market" that's been getting plenty of lovin' from the media, is not great news for the country's economy.  In fact, rather than being an indicator of economic strength, the high number on the Dow index, is actually a measure of how investors are losing faith in the broader economy.

A curious thing happened in July. The New York Times reported, "The trade improvement in July was driven by a $2.4 billion increase in exports, to $120.7 billion, because of rising exports of computer parts, airplane parts and other types of capital equipment and industrial supplies."

President Bush released his 2007 budget with less fanfare than usual, and in an unprecedented move, with less forward-looking detail than ever. The beast-starving cut-tax and budget slashers must be partying in the streets.

Knowing that most Democrats and many Republicans would lambaste the cuts to domestic spending, especially in an election year, President Bush certainly wouldn't have wanted them to know how much more draconian his plans were for 2008 and beyond. That's why the president didn't release the details of his plans for the next five years, perhaps hoping to keep that information under wraps until after the mid-term elections.