“We are telling those enemies who intend to distract Iran from its holy path through psychological war or real threats that we are always ready to defend the Islamic country,” said Hossein Salami, commander of the Revolutionary Guards naval forces.

Oil prices are still down from their high, which was close to $146/barrel.

The Iranian missile threats prompted divergent views from the two Presidential Candidates in the U.S. Obama said he wanted to use economic sanctions to make Iran change their mind. McCain said it’s time for a defensive missile shield that would render the Iranian threat impotent.

One thing that’s obvious: when threats from Iran are made public, oil prices go up. It almost makes one wonder if that isn’t the goal of much of the gamesmanship we see, since Iran stands to directly benefit every time oil prices surge.

Steve Forbes talks about how the weak dollar affects the economy and keeps oil prices high in this video

As Steve Forbes says in this video, a lot of the problems going on right now appear to be related to the “weak dollar” policy of Ben Bernanke’s Fed. The weak dollar means investors are much more likely to invest money in gas, which essentially costs more for people paying in dollars. Add to this the chilling affect it has on economic growth, and you have a persistent problem that just doesn’t seem to be going away.

Another bad sign for consumers is the 62,000 jobs lost by the economy in June. This makes for a trend of worse losses each month for the first six months of the year, with nearly one half million jobs lost since the start of the year.

High oil prices, a weak dollar, a credit crisis, mortgage woes, and job losses are all helping to push consumers to the weakest consumer confidence in decades. All this gloom and doom has Obama and Clinton talking economy.

“Far too many Americans will spend this holiday out of work and struggling to provide for their families because of the failed policies of the last eight years,” Obama said Thursday.

“Americans across this country are hurting and today’s jobs numbers are just the latest indication,” McCain said. “Washington can no longer abdicate its responsibility to act. Our focus must be clear: enact policies to create jobs today.”

Check out the video. Steven Colbert certainly has some interesting ideas to cure the oil crisis, including shooting the Earth. Enjoy.