Sen Bill Hagerty (R-TN) pointed out during the hearing that inflation rose from 1.4 percent in January 2021 to 7 percent by the end of the year.
Russia had not yet invaded Ukraine and would not do so for several months.
Since the Ukrainian invasion, inflation has risen another 1.6 percent.
Hagerty asked Powell directly if he thought the war in Ukraine was the primary inflation driver.
Powell replied that inflation was high prior to the war breaking out. Concluding that the war was not the primary driver of our current inflation.
So yet again, we have President Biden saying something that is demonstrably untrue.
Either the President is trying to mislead the American People, or the President is so out of touch with reality that perhaps his whole presidency should be called into question.
Even if Biden himself is incapable of executing the duties required of his office, if his staff was competent, they could at least run the country. It’s been rumored for years, that Eleanor Roosevelt did just that while FDR was lying gravely ill in his bed.
Any one of Biden’s staff could have called Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and asked if the words they were putting in Biden’s mouth were remotely true.
Worse still, the highly over staffed White House Media corps published this on Twitter.
How many hits does this administration have to take before they’re out the door?
For Christ’s sake, Trump was impeached TWICE on far less demonstrable “evidence”.
In Biden’s case, we have President Biden repeately lying to the American People. We have his Son, Hunter apparently selling access to then Vice President Biden. We have Hunter claiming that his father does whatever Hunter tells him to. We have emails from Hunter Biden’s (Now Confirmed) laptop that at the least, suggest that Hunter was paying cash to his father related to VP Access to close foreign business deals. We have Biden himself on video bragging about pressuring a foreign government to fire a prosecutor who was looking into Hunter Biden’s business dealings. (That one only cost the taxpayers a Billion in foreign aid.)
Trump was called upon to take cognitive assessments without demonstrating any of the symptoms that Biden shows at virtually every public appearance.
If you were at all curious about the claims that there are two rules of law in this country. Look no further than the disparity above. Had Trump been accused of any single one of the things Biden appears to have been touched by…
Donald Trump would be in prison doing hard labor. His entire family would be in prison, right down to Barron.
Power is off, The electric company is replacing poles and lines that were burned in the fire.
Looks like it’s going to be a long outage. On the plus side we had internet for about 12 hours! Whoo Hooo. With the power down, now we don’t.
I’ve still got 5G on the phone. That’s a serious improvement from the 1 bar of LTE that I’ve had since Saturday.
Saw an article in Apple News this morning, about a pet store in Thousand Oaks, CA where the owner has made addendum to their pet adoption policy. Part of the adoption questionnaire asks about gun ownership, gun control, membership in the NRA etc. They will refuse to allow you to adopt a pet if you don’t agree with their views on the matter.
They go so far as to say if you’re a member of the NRA and lie to us on this form we’ll prosecute you for fraud. Because we will find out…
That seems a bit improbable, but whatever.
I applaud the owner for taking a stand. I think it’s partially incorrect, especially the part about the NRA. Then again that organization has been demonized for so long, then plagued with their own scandals… I supposed it makes sense that a liberal couldn’t help but see the NRA as a boogyman.
It will be interesting to see if the owner’s stance has any impact on their business, positive or negative.
I think they may find that their traffic will drop because some folks, regardless of their gun ownership or views on gun control, will look at these rules as an infringement on their privacy. That alone may be enough to drive business away. There are a lot of shelters, and breeders to select from.
Inadvertently this pet adoption place may add to the number of pets that eventually need homes if folks go the breeder route.
Nonetheless, This business owner’s policy is clearly stated and they have the right to refuse to do business with anyone they choose. (Unless it’s a member of some specially protected group.) It’s probably a good thing they’re a pet adoption business not a baker of wedding cakes…
So I support their right. I also compliment them on putting their money where their mouth is.
The insanity over the FedEx package that’s missing continues.
Yesterday I spoke with someone who seemed to think I should go back to the store where I handed the package to a person acting as their agent, who scanned the package while I watched, and start searching the place.
Frankly this rebooted my brain. This FedEx corporate moron was suggesting that I essentially perform an illegal search of a place of business where I was not an employee, nor was I law enforcement, nor was I that business owner.
When I asked the person very specifically if that was what he was suggesting he decided to back down on that completely unreasonable request.
I’m still blown away that a FedEx corporate employee would tell a customer that, the Customer should go search the premises of one of their Agent locations.
This however is demonstrative of the lack of training on the part of FedEx and may provide insight into why FedEx has become so damn unreliable.
I wonder if that’s why there are so many private bonded carriers operating in LA, Orange County, and San Diego. I was surprised recently when some documents were delivered to me via courier instead of UPS or FedEx. It was pleasant but the first time that’s happened.
I’ve got the BMW… Perhaps I could get a nice tailored suit and become “The Transporter” What are the rules? “No Names, Never open the package,” seems pretty easy to me. Gas prices on the other hand… hmmm.
Speaking of gas prices. I paid 6.79 a gallon recently. Amazing! Not in a good way. The only reason I’m not bitching up a storm about it, is that It had been more than a month since I’d last purchased gas. I figured, ehh, if I amortize it over the time since I last filled up it’s a big deal, but not world ending.
I was tinkering with going on a road trip just to blow the cobwebs out of the car and my brain. But I’m thinking that would be excessively extravagant.
I’d still like to do a road trip. I suppose if I drove straight to the California border then filled up in another state a road trip might be more reasonable.
I caught another article on Apple News I think it was originally printed in The Wall Street Journal, (I’m not too sure about that,) that reported a record number of Californians were taking up residence in Mexico. Apparently, the real estate market south of the border is booming.
Some of the reasons cited were, lower cost of living, lower cost of real estate, lower gas prices, lower food prices, and better quality of life.
One person interviewed for the article said that his family had saved 50% per month on their living expenses from their previous living arrangements in California.
He still commutes to San Diego daily for work, but in terms of better quality of life for his family, he said it was a reasonable trade off.
I’ll admit that when I first moved to San Diego, I considered renting a place south of the border. At the time I could have gotten a 2 bedroom 1 bath condo for $800 a month. The place was 2nd floor, 4 blocks from the beach, you could even see the ocean from the lanai.
Instead I settled for a 1 bedroom 1 bath for $1500 a month in Escondido. It was a choice that was about avoiding San Diego traffic. Had I done the Mexico condo, I’d have to drive through the nightmare of downtown San Diego morning and evening. In the end, I worked a goofy schedule which would have made the Mexico option viable… But that’s another story entirely.
In a twist of unintended irony. The article mentioned that with so many Californians going south of the border. It was pricing Mexican citizens out of the housing market and contributing to rising prices in other things.
Free market capitalism can be a stone bitch! I suppose the Mexican government hasn’t gone “Woke” yet and started regulating for the greater good.
For shits and giggles, I watched Atlas Shrugged I, II, & III last night. These movies are adaptations of Ayn Rand’s book of the same title. The production quality is good. The disconnect with different actors playing the key parts is a bit disconcerting moving from one movie to the other but it’s easy to get over. I prefer Grant Bowler’s portrayal of Hank Reardon over the other two actors. Not that the other actors didn’t do good jobs with the character, I simply liked Bowler the best.
I know, there are lots of people who say that Atlas Shrugged is a Republican propaganda piece and that it has no merit in today’s world. Blah Blah Blah.
To them I’d say, “Turn off your bias, read the book or watch the movies and then tell me you don’t see some parallels between what happened in the story and what our government is becoming.”
Lots of regulation, ever expanding government, lofty idealistically admirable yet unachievable goals, do nothing committees, hearings which produce nothing and go nowhere, politicians making decisions without due consideration of the effects those decisions will have. Shaming of the wealthy for their achievements, etc. etc. etc.
I’ve read some biographical information about Ayn Rand, in some cases it’s said she was just writing fiction. In other cases it’s said she based the fiction of Atlas Shrugged on things she remembered from her childhood in Russia. Still other say she was prescient.
I don’t know which, if any of these conclusions are true. What I do see is, at best life is imitating art. At worst whatever madness led Russia to communism and all the horrors that we now know happened in soviet Russia, may well have taken hold in American politics.
Perhaps it was never a matter of IF it could happen, instead it was only a matter of When.
I know I’d like to be spirited away to “Atlantis”, by someone like John Gault.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the “Truth” about the Jan 6th Riots won’t come out in our lifetimes. I further believe that whatever “Truth” will be the sanitized carefully massaged version written by the victors.
As with all history… It becomes what those in power want it to be.
I’m to the point in all this where I agree with Ilhan Omar. “Some people did some things…”
I just threw up in my mouth a little typing that. Jesus! How can it be that I agree with Ilhan Omar about anything?
I am curious to see what the ratings were for the hearing. I wonder if I’m alone or if the majority of my fellow citizens are right there with me.
The people in power have spoken about the radicalization of citizens toward terrorism. I can’t think of a much better tool to radicalize average people than the tone deaf responses on real issues, that are coming out of Washington D.C.
So whatever happens from here on out is on them. All of them, regardless of party.
Reports about the guy from California who was arrested outside a Supreme Court Justices home. Armed, and with tools to enter the home has been squelched. Apparently, the man was threatening harm to a sitting justice over Roe v Wade and gun control. According to Bill Maher an article can be found in the New York Times, on page A20.
The irony of demanding more gun control was apparently lost on this individual, since he was carrying guns to harm a conservative Justice. The man is apparently a liberal, progressive, Democrat… This is probably why the story is buried on page 20. Had this moron been a Republican going after a liberal judge… The story would warrant 24/7 news coverage Front page across the planet.
Even Bill Maher called out the NYT on its bias. How biased do you have to be to have Bill Maher take offense?
At the same time a credible threat was being booked at the police station, Congress decided against providing additional security for the Justices. This while protests in front of the Justice’s homes are being permitted.
In violation of the law!
Here’s a question. How does anyone know where the Justices live in the first place? I’d imagine that bit of information would be somewhat protected, or there’d be threats all the time on a justice and their families.
There was a time when I was a boy that society taught us all a few basic things.
No matter how much you dislike or disagree with the President you will end up in jail if you threaten him or her.
You cannot threaten a member of Congress, or the Judiciary unless you want to end up in jail.
You should not attack someone physically over a difference of opinion, even if you think they’re so wrong as to be sitting to the right hand of Satan himself. That too was a quick ticket to jail.
Protests are fine, when it looks like things are getting out of hand it’s time to go home. Staying for a riot was a ticket to jail.
(As an aside, My parents told me they wouldn’t bail me out of jail for stupidity.)
These weren’t all laws… (Some of course are,) these were compromises that insured the society didn’t devolve into anarchy and the inevitable blood bath that accompanies anarchy.
We were taught that it was okay to express disagreement with the President, Congress, or the Judiciary, and that no-one could take that right from us. We were taught that the law would even protect us while legally, (Peacefully,) expressing our opinions.
My how things have changed!
I know that The Slippery Slope argument is a fallacious one. There is no way to predict all the possible outcomes of a given action or series of actions.
That being said, I would argue that The Slippery Slope argument has some merit in that it may help define a set of probabilities. One or more of those probabilities may prove false but they may also prove true.
An extreme example: If you release a known serial killer of women into a population of women and by some miracle the killer doesn’t kill. Releasing 10 serial killers of women into the same population based on a sample of one, is a slippery slope. The probability is that one or more of those killers will kill again.
In that example, no-one should be the least surprised when women start turning up dead.
When we allow people to make threats, and take no action on those threats, we shouldn’t be surprised that more threats are forthcoming. Nor should anyone be surprised when someone makes good on their threat.
When we allow months of rioting to happen and see police standing by, observing destruction, arson, and looting, and doing nothing about any of it. Should we be surprised when angry people protesting, turns into a riot? The place and reason for the riot are irrelevant (non-partisan if you will).
By allowing riots for other things without taking action, we have tacitly approved of riots, and therefore fallen down a slippery slope. Anyone could have seen what was going to happen on Jan 6th.
The onus is upon those who failed to take action based on easily predicted outcomes.
Regardless of what Then President Trump said or didn’t say, or when. Regardless of your (or Congressional leaders,) like or dislike of President Trump.
The Jan 6th riot was not only easily predictable, it was equally preventable.
President Trump himself reportedly offered to call up the National Guard to provide additional security for the Capital. He did this while encouraging people to come and express their opinions.
This implies the President Trump had made a logical prediction based on the numbers of people that were showing up. He knew he was on a slippery slope and that mitigation was warranted.
The speaker of the house Chose to put personal animus above security, and refused the National Guard presence.
Here, President Trump failed.
Regardless of The Speaker’s refusal. President Trump should have ordered The National Guard to take posts securing the Capital and the city anyway. Just in case.
By Jan 6th it was too fucking late. Had people coming into the city seen The National Guard positioned to take action, it’s probable the events of Jan 6th would have gone much differently.
Having hearings, subpoenas, contempt of congress, and all the surrounding bullshit, the Jan 6th committee is engaged in, is nothing more than trying to find someone to blame.
This all could have been resolved simply.
Realize that blame is useless. Accept what happened, and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
President Biden was declared the winner of the election. It’s a done deal. Move the fuck on.
The members of the Jan 6th committee would have been better served returning to their offices and making sure that riots were no longer to be even tacitly approved. For any reason, at any time or place.
They could have served the people of this country by conveying that the full weight of the law would come down on anyone engaged in rioting after the events of Jan 6th, and the previous summer.
Give everyone a pass, with the proviso “Never Again!”
They could have admitted, without admitting, the blame lay with them and the permissive attitude of the previous Summer. They could have in a bi-partisan way, told the people of the country that this behavior would not be tolerated. Then actually started laying the groundwork for the much vaunted healing President Biden promised.
They needn’t have spent 8 million dollars destroying the perceived enemies of one political party. In doing so, to my eye, they have painted themselves in a not too different light than Stalin’s show trials.
I suspect they’ve offended a lot of Americans like myself who cannot believe what they’re seeing.
Congress is looking a lot more like they’re trying to usurp the Judiciary and a lot less like lawmakers. The questions raised about limits on Congressional power are very concerning to me personally.
From the transcripts I’ve skimmed, this is shaping up a lot like the Trump Impeachments.
Then, as now I was thinking… Big Deal, So WHAT?
Personally, I’d love it if one of the witnesses stood up and told the committee, “Sit Down! Shut Up! Now get to work on dealing with real issues you political hacks!”
That won’t happen. But I’d pay to see it!
I thought I’d skim more of the transcripts, Now… I don’t think I will.
I’m done. This country is lost, thankfully I won’t live long enough to see it flush itself down the shitter. 10-15 years tops and while this place will still be called America… What that once meant will be lost.
The day they come to take everyone’s guns. Make no mistake they will. Is the day that the US Constitution will finally be nothing more than toilet paper and this land will descend into a marxist totalitarian regime.
Nikita Khrushchev said the communist party would win. I think he was right.
“Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.” ― Loki of Asgard
This just in… Only 19 million viewers, across ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, and CNN, watched the hearing. I guess I’m thinking just like the majority of American Citizens.
Apparently, most everyone had something better to do…
However, I found that I leaned toward several of the points that he made.
I’m still processing on the points, Here’s a list of what I mostly agree with.
Shootings
The shootings must stop.
An animal that walks into a school or a store and just opens fire, is to my mind rabid. As such, they deserve nothing but to be put down as you would a rabid animal. No mercy, no negotiation.
Something that I have noticed is that these animals always seem to go for “soft” targets. Whether that is a school, a church, a bar, or a shopping center. One thing these venues have in common is that they are almost always a Gun Free Zone.
A notable exception was the church in TX where one of the parishioners dropped a shooter on a sunny Sunday morning.
More Gun Control Laws
I’m not sure that more gun control laws will prevent these kinds of shootings. The so-called “Expanded” background checks I think are toothless.
I can say from experience that the “Gun Show” loopholes are largely red herrings. I’ve never been to a gun show that was “Cash & Carry”. If you purchase a gun at a gun show, you still have to pass the background checks and the gun must be shipped to a licensed federal firearms dealer. The purchaser can pick it up after providing appropriate documentation, and paying a handling fee. The same is true of Online Sales.
Mental Health
Mental Health Care must be expanded. I honestly don’t care how that is done, but I believe it must be done.
Red Flag Laws
I’m ambivalent about red flag laws. I can see the point and their usefulness. Alternatively, I’ve read horror stories where an aggrieved party abused the law to settle a score.
There’s one story that pops to mind where in a bitter divorce, the wife activated the Red Flag law. Her husband’s collection of rare and antique guns was taken, then the guns “disappeared” from police custody. The collection was worth north of 100,000 dollars. The wife demanded her half of the cash even though the guns were gone and therefore couldn’t be sold for profit. Depending on the Red Flag law, it’s possible to misuse it in a way similar to “Swatting”.
Age Limits
I’m not sure about the age limits on gun purchases. I do applaud The President’s speechwriter for addressing the military versus non-military aspects of 18 year olds purchasing guns. Yes, we send 18 year olds to fight in wars and kill people. Then those young people come home and can’t buy a beer. I’ve always found that to be wrong. On the other hand if the drinking age is 21, then I can see the gun purchase age being 21 as well. It is for handguns in most places.
And yet, we still have the weekly Chicago teenage shooting fest. This tends to imply, that criminals will be criminals regardless of the law or their age.
I completely disagree with laws similar to the California law that proposed making it illegal to hand a weapon registered to you, to another person, or member of your family. That disrupts a father being able to take his sons hunting, or to a shooting range. It also creates a complication if, for example, you’re at a range with a buddy and would like to try out his new Glock to see if you’d like it. (I don’t know if that idiotic law passed or not in California. I’ll have to look it up.)
Gun Safety
The President mentioned trigger locks, and safe storage of weapons. I can see that. (Although trigger locks can be defeated fairly easily.) The problem I have with so called “safe storage” is that a gun locked in a safe is no damn good if someone kicks your door down in the middle of the night.
Now you know why I sleep with a baseball bat at hand and some kind of knife nearby as well. Just as with a gun, I hope I’ll never have to use either of them. (Then again, caving someone’s skull in or gutting them wouldn’t disturb the neighbors like a gunshot would.)
High Capacity Magazines
The President referenced High Capacity Magazines again. This time he defined what he meant by high capacity. I lean toward agreeing, that 30 or 40 round magazines are high capacity. I’m not sure why someone would want that kind of capacity. I don’t know enough about that particular subject to intelligently comment.
I’ve been looking a Henry Lever action rifles for hunting. Most of them, top out at 10 round capacities. Several of them top out at seven rounds. These seem like reasonable maximums if you’re hunting.
I remember being told once, (discussing the model 1911 pistol,) that if you couldn’t hit what you were aiming at with seven rounds, you probably couldn’t hit it with 70. In my family, we were taught it was a very bad thing to waste ammunition. So I might be biased about the number of rounds necessary.
Other things said
One thing I noticed in comments that popped up after The President’s speech was that a lot of people were just badmouthing The President based on some of his comments earlier in the week. He said things like he wanted to ban 9mm.
Because of his earlier statements, people heard what they wanted to hear in his address Thursday.
In this post, I’m trying to maintain focus on what he said in his speech.
If in fact some of the legislation his party is proposing contains bans on 9mm, or AR-15 rifle mechanisms then I’ll have to re-evaluate.
9mm is one of the most common calibers on the market today. Most law enforcement use them and honestly if The President did actually ban that caliber, it would create chaos.
Law enforcement goes through a lot of testing before they approve a particular gun and / or caliber for their use. Having to resupply every police force in the country would impose a large financial burden on police budgets nationwide. Including The President’s own security forces. I tend to think The President misspoke earlier in the week referencing 9mm.
Size wise, a 9mm slug isn’t terribly different from a .38 so I’m really not sure why The President spoke about 9mm at all.
As I was setting up the BBQ for Summer cookouts. I grabbed the Propane canister and gave it a good shake. It was about half full.
“Oh, I should go have this topped off,” I thought.
Then I thought about the gas in my car and thought, “I should probably fill the tank too.”
Then I thought about the price of gas and how much it was going to cost me. Almost $100, Damn! That’s a lot of cash. I decided to wait on both.
These thoughts inevitably led me down the road to petroleum and the economy in general.
I honestly can’t think of a single factor that has more control over our whole economy with more far reaching effect than petroleum cost.
We’ve all been feeling the pain at the gas pump. Many of us use gasoline on a daily basis. If we’re lucky we only fill up once a week or less. (I’m in the less category thank goodness.)
But it’s not just gasoline.
Jet Fuel is derived from Kerosene (petroleum). If the price of Jet fuels go up, then so do the prices of passenger tickets and air freight.
Kerosene is also used to heat homes in the North East. Even in the South when I was a boy, we had a 55 gallon drum in our backyard. Every fall, the Kerosene man filled the drum and if it was a cold winter he’d come back again in December or January. The big Kerosene heater in the hallway of the house was a center of activity on cold mornings. We’d have our coats draped over it for a few minutes to warm ‘em up before heading out for the day.
Diesel Fuel (petroleum) has seen prices skyrocketing in recent months too. We’re all familiar with Diesel. It fuels the 18 Wheelers that deliver almost all the goods we depend on to our shopping centers, grocery stores, gas stations, etc. If it costs more, then so do our goods.
That’s a simple equation to get your head around.
What’s easy to forget about Diesel is all the other things that it powers.
Most ships for example. Not just your fancy Cruise ship. But those big assed cargo carriers that deliver cars, and manufactured goods, from China and the rest of the world. Yes, even those big oil tankers are powered by Diesel.
Estelle Maersk on her maiden voyage. Credit Simon Burchett www.channelphotography.com
Then there’s the fishing fleet. You know, the fishermen that catch Salmon, Tuna, Crab, Lobster, and Shrimp. If their fuel prices go up, so does the cost of your Summer Seafood festival.
Most farms use Diesel to plow the fields, run irrigation pumps, harvest the crops, dry the grain, and ship it to factories to make bread.
Cattle Ranches, Chicken Farms, Dairy Farms, and all the rest are dependent on Diesel to run the heavy equipment like skip loaders, and backhoes. Some may use Diesel generators to run heaters in the Winter so food animals don’t freeze to death before they’re ready for market. Then they transport those animals to slaughter houses using Diesel trucks.
Even the railroads are dependent on Diesel. Most of the locomotives use big Diesel generators to power big electric motors that drive the locomotive, carrying goods all over the country.
Cranes, bulldozers, Cement Mixers, Dump Trucks, and all manner of construction equipment use Diesel fuel to level the ground for new housing developments, and raise girders for skyscrapers. Those same machines are used to make roads and maintain them. Snow plows, garbage trucks, school buses, and lots of city buses use Diesel fuel to provide necessary services.
Given that Diesel fuel prices have doubled in the past year it’s reasonable to expect for the cost of all these goods and services to go up as well. Or the services will be curtailed to maintain profitability and the ability to make payroll for the entities that provide them.
The practical upshot is that everything will become more expensive. From a box of Cheerios to that slice of ham in your lunch pail.
It’s not just fuel either. The ink in your ball point pen is oil based. Kiln drying of lumber will become more expensive, adding to the cost of lumber. Which in turn adds to the cost of construction.
Plastics of every type become more expensive from the plastic tub your cream cheese comes in, to the wrap the butcher puts over ground beef in the meat section.
Recycling plastic, (Only about 50% efficient,) while a good thing, has an interesting effect. With each recycle, the quality of the plastic goes down. This implies that there is a finite number of times a plastic wrapper or container can be recycled into useful life before it ends up in a trash dump.
Ultimately, new plastic wraps or containers will have to be made from petroleum, and the increased production costs will be seen by the consumer as higher prices.
Even fertilizer is petrochemical based. Making fertilizer more expensive will either translate into higher food prices or shortages. A lot of farms run on very tight budgets. An increase of 1% can mean that the fields in the north 40 don’t get planted.
President Biden has said,
“When it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over,”
Well, he’s right about one thing. This is a transition. I don’t know if I’d call it incredible. I also found his choice of the words, “…the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels…” to be odd.
I’d characterize his statement as reckless domestic policy. However, America is not the world…
Thinking about the rising petroleum prices and our government’s hand in those price increases domestically, I have to ask.
What are they thinking?
If the idea is to force America off a petroleum based economy this isn’t the way to do it. First and foremost, the infrastructure isn’t ready for this miracle transition.
It’s almost as if the Administration is thinking about automobiles only, and neglecting to consider the overall impact of their energy policies.
I for one don’t buy into blaming Russia for our energy prices. On the first day in office President Biden took steps to thwart American energy independence and his administration hasn’t stopped since.
All the Biden Administration has succeeded in doing is kicking our economy in the balls, while it was trying to get up after the COVID lockdowns.
In a way, this could be characterized as a “Shadow” lockdown. I know I’m traveling less. I’m staying home because I don’t want to spend the cash on fuel.
All of my household errands are planned to minimize travel and maximize the return on driving. (In truth, this is not terribly different from my normal way of doing things.) What I have noticed is that I’ll put off making a trip to pick up something I need for a project until I’ve got to get several items in the same general location.
That, replicated across millions of households also has an effect on our economy. Couple this behavior with people tightening their belts, the unavailability of some products due to production or supply chain issues, and I start to wonder if people may be simply choosing not to purchase things. In effect making do with what they’ve already got or going without entirely.
That could have far reaching economic implications over time.
Just in housing, we know that recent reports state housing starts are down. But we know that more people are coming to this country who will need to be housed. The cost of my little house has jumped by almost $100,000 (According to Zillow estimates) in the past two years.
That kind of price increase will certainly exclude a number of home buyers from the market. Especially if the cost of living and interest rates continues to squeeze those buyers from both ends.
Rental costs are skyrocketing too. The rental cost of an apartment alone begs the question; How are thousands of people with limited skills streaming into this country going to afford a place to live? Even if the government, A.K.A the taxpayers subsidize these folks living arrangements?
Many of these folks are arriving with no jobs, few skills, and no transportation. While at the same time, this country is generally built around everyone having a vehicle.
When factoring the cost of used vehicles, increasing food prices, along with the gas prices to power them, how are these folks supposed to make it?
I can understand people wanting to come to this country because of the “Dream” of America. The harsh reality of what is happening due to poor government policies is another thing entirely.
It’s been said that midterm elections are a referendum on the current administration. If that is true then the upcoming midterms should be a bloodbath. The question is, will the administration get the message?
Will Washington D.C. understand that the unintended consequences of their actions have been far more devastating, and potentially longer lasting, than an actual attack on our country?
I suspect that the baby formula crisis is only the tip of the iceberg.
“Winter is coming,” as was said so often in Game of Thrones.
This upcoming winter may be long, cold, and deadly. I say that seriously.
Each year we hear of the elderly freezing to death because they can’t afford heating oil. We hear of people being found dead because they used a charcoal BBQ inside to heat their homes. What happens if food supplies run low, while simultaneously more people are forced to curtail their heating expenses? Will this become a starve or freeze situation?
Just how “green” is it having people going into forests cutting down trees to feed their fireplaces?
How will this country react if desperation reaches a level of “Survival, Cancels out concepts like Right and Wrong”?
The die may well have already been cast. Planting season is well underway. Decisions about how many fields to plant and with what crops have already been made. Cattle and poultry production schedules have been set based on current cost and anticipated cost to the ranchers.
All of these producers have to make profit to feed their families too.
Grain reserves may provide a buffer this winter. But by next spring, if nothing is done to address fuel costs, and with it supply chain issues, the following winter may be really hard.
How many Americans is this administration willing to lose in their incredible transition? How much destruction to the economy will this administration do, or idly stand by and watch before they take action?
Only time will tell.
I will not be surprised if soon the Mexican and Canadian Governments have to set up checkpoints to process a sudden influx of migrants trying to get into their countries.
The Canadians already have pretty strict immigration controls in place. The Mexico side of America isn’t too worried about people coming into Mexico. Since most people are trying to get into America they’ve left a lot of the worry to America’s Immigration and Border patrol.
I find myself sometimes wondering how Mexico will react if suddenly, the flow of immigrants reverses? What happens when / if people who’ve come to America decide that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and head South for a better life lower fuel costs, lower cost of living, less regulations, and a warmer climate?
What would that look like? Would the Mexican army suddenly be patrolling their side of the border?
I’m not trying to be depressing, or depressed. These trains of thought sometimes start in my head and once started, have to run to their conclusion.
This one started with me shaking a propane canister on Memorial Day, in preparation to grill a couple of burgers.
This time next year, I might have lost the 10 pounds I’ve been wanting to lose and Memorial Day lunch might be a couple of wayward rabbits seasoned with rosemary or wild sage.
A lot can change in a year. I hope whatever change comes, it’s for the better.
