Nobody Works Anymore: Annoying Dictators Bitch-Slapped by Falling Gas Prices

The US economy continues to tank , but three dollar gas softened the blow this weekend. Did you fill up ? I did.

An story in the International Herald Tribune today considers the big talk of big dicks Chávez, Putin, and Ahmadinejad, who've staked their countries' returns to glory on oil money .

"Now, plummeting oil prices are raising questions about whether the countries can sustain their spending — and their bids to challenge United States hegemony. "

The story quotes Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consulting firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "The producers are experiencing a reverse oil shock," Yergin said. "As revenue went up, government spending went up and expectations of a continuing windfall led to greater and greater ambitions. Now they are finding how integrated they are into this globalized world .

While I'm truly embarrassed by our current president's politics and swagger , Hugo Chávez might be the world's most annoying dictator . As seen here:

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King Juan Carlos I of Spain made global headlines when he famously told Chávez to "Shut up ." I envy the satisfaction he must have felt . Here's that clip:

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While Vladimir Putin (our August 20th Rogue of the Week ) genuinely scares me , I wouldn't call him annoying. This one-sentence jab at Bush is infinitely more cutting than calling him a donkey a hundred times and, evidenced by the laughter, funnier .

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Putin's buddy Ahmadinejad is also scary , but this acid trip is more irritating than any hippie spanging on Hawthorne :

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Lots more reasons Nobody Works Anymore here .