[tomder55]

another discussion hijacked by the transformer debate . This is getting old

[jlisenbe]

This chart does not reflect food prices and does not show that inflation is running at 8% annually and likely higher than that in all reality. It's a cruel tax on the poor that the liberal dems are unconcerned about. A November red wave cannot come too soon.

[jlisenbe]

[tomder55]

Sen Debbie Stabenback had her 'let them eat cake' moment or rather 'let them buy Bolt ' moment . While debating gas prices in the Senate she bragged that gas priced doesn't concern her because she has an EV .
'On the issue of gas prices – after waiting for a long time to have enough chips in this country to finally get my electric vehicle – I got it and drove it from Michigan to here this last weekend and went by every gas station and it didn't matter how high it was,'
She urged ALL Americans to buy EVs to decrease reliability on greedy oil companies.The average price of an EV today is $55-$60 thousand dollars
As she was snickering as she drove past gas stations she may have been passed by many truckers delivering goods that Americans need . Maybe the parts for her Bolt was delivered by a trucker . Trucks run on diesel .The current average diesel price is $5.765/gal . Truckers are routinely paying more that $1000 per fill up . All this gets passed onto the squeezed consumer who she wants to purchase expensive EVS Back in 1980 the mean salary for truckers was $110 thousand . Adjusted for inflation today's truckers are in the $50 thousand range .New truckers and independent truckers earn even less.

Stabenback never bothered to mention how much time she spent finding charging ports and how much time she spent charging her Bolt from Michigan to DC .

Rachel Wolfe of the WSJ decided to test it by driving from New Orleans to Chi-town and back. That's a 2000 mile trip and she gave herself a leisurely 4 days to do it .EV batteries need a recharge every 300 miles . Stations that have fast charges (not all of them do) can do a charge in about a half hour . That would be a bathroom break and a meal every 300 miles . Slower charging can last up to 8 hrs So plan those for the overnight Right ? But most charging stations in the US have slow chargers . And for the record ;charging is NOT free.
I Rented an Electric Car for a Four-Day Road Trip. I Spent More Time Charging It Than I Did Sleeping. - WSJ

[jlisenbe]

I spoke with a liberal dem several days ago about gas prices. His view was that he was glad to see prices going up because it would benefit climate change. When I told him that inflation was a cruel tax for poor people in particular, it moved him not one inch. It's why I am convinced that most lib dems really don't care about poor people.

As to the Wolfe, he actually came through my hometown and went to the Kia dealership that was supposed to have a fast charger. He said that initially no one had any idea where the charger was, but they finally found it and, of course, it took much longer than advertised.

Diesel prices should concern everyone because it drives up the price of about everything, which once again is a huge problem for poor people.

[tomder55]

remember the good ole days when inflation was transitory ? remember when inflation peaked months ago ? Better oil the wheels of the wheel barrel . We are heading towards Weimar Republic . Thankfully the Dems can't completely force their agenda. They wanted to print trillions of $ more . How will we service the debt if rates go where the Fed needs to take them to beat inflation ?

[jlisenbe]

[jlisenbe]

Tom, what do you think is driving this present inflation? It does seem to be a worldwide problem and is no doubt driven somewhat by soaring oil prices, so what seems to be unique to the situation in the U.S.?

[tomder55]

The fundamental error by all nations made during the pandemic was that there would be a demand problem. Central banks around the world did a Keynesian demand side stimulus that amounted to $trillion of cheap monopoly money . In reality what happened was a supply side shortage. People were paid to not work .But they had nothing to spend it on ,In many cases they were locked down and the only spending that was going on was Amazon purchases .

inflation is too much money chasing too few goods . This is called Cost -Push inflation .China is still to a degree in lockdown . Goods that come here are slow walking to retail because of mismanagement and politics .

Gas ? Same deal . When people were locked down the price dropped to below $2 at it's low . Then when people were freed from lock down ,they took to the road . That alone would have created increases . But the perfect storm happened . Demand for gas increased as Clueless started to knee cap supply . Supply took a hit again with the Ukraine war (Putin is loving the prices ;and Europe is almost ready to call it off and force a settlement before winter ).

The Fed was slow to react and even up to yesterday was getting it wrong. The hike announced yesterday is welcome news . But it is too little too late .

Loose money is still the instinct of this Fed and this administration. The way to fix it would've been to get interest rates above the rate of inflation last year . Powell can deny it all he wants to ;but the only remedy to suppress demand is to force us into recession .
I don't say this lightly . What I have seen on almost no income is prices going up and the value of my portfolio drop by over 10% this year . My head in the sand financial advisor promises a turn around in the 3rd and 4th qtr . I laugh ;say I hope he is right ..... BUT let's say we survive Christmas season without a recession I am sure we will be in a full scale recession by 1st qtr next year .

Clueless still thinks monopoly money gimmees is the trick. He rails against Repub obstruction of his socialist dystopia .

[jlisenbe]

The White House has it all figured out.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shot down calls to increase oil drilling in the U.S. Thursday, saying the country doesn't need it.
Jean-Pierre made the comments in response to questions from Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy. Doocy pressed Jean Pierre to explain why President Biden's administration is seeking to alleviate skyrocketing gas prices by calling on oil companies to increase productivity at refineries instead of calling for more drilling.
Jean-Pierre argued that oil companies cut refinery capacity at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and have yet to increase that capacity back to pre-pandemic levels. Biden argues this, combined with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, is causing the increase in gas prices.
"Why not just drill more here in the U.S., though?" Doocy asked.
"Because we don't need to do that," Jean-Pierre responded. "What we need [oil companies] to do is, with the oil that's out there, we need them to refine that oil so that the capacity can go up and that prices would go down."

Now if she's right about refining capacity, then perhaps that's a valid point. The question of her being right is difficult to answer.

[jlisenbe]

It would seem not to be right.

Though oil refinery productivity in the United States has been improving, the number of operating refineries has been dropping steadily. In 1982, the earliest year for which the Energy Information Administration has data, there were 301 operable refineries in the U.S., and they produced about 17.9 million barrels of oil per day. Today there are only 149 refineries, but they're producing 17.4 million barrels – less than in 1982, but more than any year since then. The increase in efficiency is impressive, but it's not enough to meet demand: U.S. oil consumption is 20.7 million barrels per day. Refinery capacity isn't the only factor in the price of gasoline, and according to the EIA it's not the most important one either (that would be the cost of crude oil), but it's certainly a contributor.

Existing refineries have been running at or near full capacity since the mid-1990s, but are failing to meet daily consumption demands. Yet there hasn't been a new refinery built in the U.S. since 1976. Why? Several factors: Building a refinery is expensive, there are a lot of environmental restrictions on where and how they can be built and nobody wants to live near one. One company, Arizona Clean Fuels, has been trying to construct a refinery in the Southwest since 1998. Getting a permit to build took seven years, and the company twice changed the plant's proposed location because of environmental restrictions and land disputes. The refinery is projected to have a $3.7 billion total price tag. The EIA recorded per-barrel profits of $5.29 in 2006; at that rate, the 150,000-barrel-per-day refinery would need to operate for almost 13 years before its profits outweighed the cost of building it.

As is often the case, it turns out that we are our own worst enemy.

https://www.factcheck.org/2008/05/us...1976.%20Why%3F

[Wondergirl]

The oil is available. Refinery employees are not. Blame covid.

[tomder55]

Now if she's right about refining capacity, then perhaps that's a valid point. The question of her being right is difficult to answer.

The United States, according to independent analyst Paul Sankey, is "structurally short" on refining capacity for the first time in decades.
Global refiners falter in efforts to keep up with demand | Reuters

We incredibly have not built a new refinery in the US since 1976 .

Many old refineries are being repurposed to make bio-fuels under pressure from enviro-wacko government policies.

Even as Clueless cynically postures and rants about refinery capacity ,he faces prressure from the moron running the UN ; UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres ,who Tuesday, said that the only cure for the world’s current energy crisis is the investment of more $$$ trillions in government subsidies for the rent-seeking renewables industries.

'Delusional': UN chief slams new fossil fuel funding (cnbc.com)

Clueless of course has been on this energy transition train for the git go and it is extremely hypocritical of him to rant against refinery capacity of fossil fuels .

[tomder55]

Brit historian Neil Oliver writing about what is happening in England has some words of caution for all free people .

So much of what is happening now – crashing economy; livelihoods destroyed; dismal care of physical and mental health; educations compromised or worse; a so-called green agenda prioritised at all costs and regardless of harms done by subsidies on bills – those subsidies that are the only, absolutely the only reason any private company ever raised a wind turbine, or invested in solar panels for British skies; VAT on fuel; spiralling costs of food and essentials; deliberately destructive setting aside of farmland and discouragement of farmers and farming as an industry in a time of global food insecurity; domestic and international travel made so problematic as to be hardly worth the bother; the looming prospect of digital IDs; the rise of digital currencies instead of money – all of these troubling realities and more – all of it makes sense once you apply the “Keep It Simple” principle.
What we are witnessing is no longer a State working to serve us and to protect our shared heritage, institutions, culture and way of life. Rather we are watching their deliberate destruction and dismantling ready for replacement with something else...........

He advises against revolution which destroys what is both good and bad .

The preferable solution is to maintain all that is good, all that has served us well. Maintain the foundations of the old house and as much of the structure above as is still sound. Root out the rot and treat the woodworm, repair and replace what is broken, but keep as much as possible of what has stood the test of time, what has worked.

He then goes on to state that a revolution is underway from within the power structures of the state .

We are told, by them, that pain is coming – and that that pain must be endured. Suddenly they’re all saying it at once, all over the world, yet another script parroted in unison – like Build Back Better – only worse. But that pain is for us alone, we the proles. Those with the money and power will glide above it all in their private jets, leaving in their wake contrails of CO₂ that might as well scribble on the sky the message:
“Suck it up, peasants”.

The State is no longer working to serve us and to protect our shared heritage, says Neil Oliver (gbnews.uk)

[tomder55]

Ben Stein has an excellent op-ed about inflation and specifically how Clueless' energy policies are chiefly responsible . He says it would be possible to reverse inflation by reversing polices regarding fracking ,pipelines etc.

My view is that yes it would help some. But we have gone so far and long with horrible loose monetary policy ;and we are in for some serious pain the likes that few Americans have experienced .

Inflation: All Fingers Point to Biden - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics

[tomder55]

German currency during hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic.

The Fed has failed in it's primary mission ;to maintain the value of the dollar .Repeated quantitative easing and reckless Congressional spending has led us to a place where the only cure is a severe slowdown in the economy (recession is coming ....there is no sweet spot soft landing this time ) Consumer demand has to be lowered, money supply tightened . The moron in the Presidency needs to open up our energy capacity . We should be the energy arsenal of democracy (if he wants to borrow a slogan from his hero Roosevelt )

The Fed raising interest rates to double digit will not cure it if the Treasury keeps the printing presses working on overtime churning out monopoly money treasury notes that the Fed dutifully purchases . A strong dollar was always the right policy.

[jlisenbe]

All true, but it will require some national discipline. I am concerned about what is going to happen when the welfare class finds their lists of giveaways being restricted.

[tomder55]

Clueless Joe does not understand economics . Proof is the things he proposes to fix gas prices.

Supply side .......Windfall profits tax. Economics 101 if you want less of something you tax it more . Windfall taxes A similar tax tried by Jimmy Carter in 1980 resulted in a reduction in domestic oil production by as much as 6% and increased oil imports by as much as 15%.Energy exploration, development, refining and distribution is a risky and capital-intensive industry. If the framework of doing business, including the tax structure, changes significantly, firms will change their behaviour as well. The response of energy firms to the tax in the U.S. was predictable and a sensible one . They cut back.

Demand side .......

Clueless gets it equally wrong here in his proposed tax holiday.Cutting the tax will increase demand . Knowing that the proposed tax cut is temporary consumers will do the logical thing by topping their tanks . The demand increasing means prices would go up .
We know this is so because NY has already tried it this year.

Consider that on June 1st, the state of New York suspended its motor fuel tax of 8 cents a gallon, as well as its 4 percent sales tax up to $2 a gallon. According to data from AAA, on June 1st the average retail price of gasoline in New York was $4.93 a gallon. Two weeks after the roughly 16 cent per gallon tax holiday went into effect, the average price in New York was $5.04 a gallon. (Of course, the underlying price of oil has a big impact on gasoline prices, but the point is consumers there haven’t seen a drop in gasoline prices despite the significant tax cut).

Why A Gas Tax Holiday Probably Won’t Work (forbes.com)


Clueless knows this so he is appealing to the patriotism of the gas companies .“At a time of war – historically high refinery profit margins being passed directly onto American families are not acceptable.”

Chevron replied .
“We share these concerns, and expect the Administration’s approach to energy policy will start to better reflect the importance of addressing them."
“Unfortunately, what we have seen since January 2021 are policies that send a message that the Administration aims to impose obstacles to our industry delivering energy resources the world needs.”

Oil industry pushes back on White House threats | Earlier this month, President Brain-Dead Biden responded to rising gas prices with a letter that scolded oil companies and threatened them with government action. However, the Daily Caller reported that two oil industry trade groups answered with a letter of their own which argued that higher energy costs are partly the result of Biden’s own | The Tea Party's Front Page. | Slowly, our freedoms are being chipped away with, "We know better..." justification as its hammer and chisel. (ussanews.com)

Everyone knows Clueless is hostile to the oil industry and has done everything he can think of to undermine it so he could transform America into his own utopian world where energy can be produced clean . He shut down pipelines ,cancelled leases and put moratoriums on leases of Federal Land .Where we were a net energy exporter under Trump ,we now have to beg for foreign oil. We have not built a new refinery since 1973.

Reversing his past mistakes would have a bigger impact than his tax sleight of hand .

[tomder55]

Fed Chief Powell testified yesterday that the reason inflation was high had nothing to do with Russia."No inflation was high … certainly before the war in Ukraine broke out,"

Jerome Powell Testimony: Key Takeaways From Senate Hearing on Economy (newsweek.com)

[tomder55]

and then there is this

EPA Issues Broad Updates to Renewable Fuel Standards Program: 5 Things to Know | Vinson & Elkins LLP - JDSupra

Even though gas prices nationwide are at an all-time high, EPA’s rule would increase the biofuel mandates beyond the 2021 standards.......

the proposed rule, the final rule mandates increases for every type of renewable fuel in 2022,