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Inflation.......... ?
- Thread starter Hobo Hilton
- Start date
Don't worry, by next year at this time reality will be slappin' some people in the face. Especially when a certain item simply can't be bought, at any price.
I think we should have a wake and plan a funeral for that previous life style. Hang on to those photos of "The Good Old Days".... I'm amazied at how quick Communism takes over a County Government.
Air BnB is killing the real estate market something Horrible right now and it’s only gonna get worse. Gone are the days of people buying rentals as a cash flow method. Now, you have people with the cash and credit paying far more for a home than it’s worth because they know they can still make a killing renting it out on Air BnB every week. Causes the average Joe Buyer to not be able to either afford a house let alone even get to see one because they are going so fast. Then, the economy will balance out and prices will eventually come back down or more than likely crash again like 2008 and then we’ll have to see what happens there.
Yep this is exactly true, you can look at pretty much any loan system, and while it may not be designed to do it, they all allow prices to increase at a level no one can really afford except by going further into debt. And if you really look at what it does, it gives banks trillions of $$'s to invest and make $ on. Think about it, if home/car loans didn't exist how much $ would banks really have? Home loans were GENIUS on the part of banks, it ensured that pretty much every person in america is going to give a significant % of their income for 10-30 years to the bank to make money off of, better yet not only do they get tons of $ to invest and make $ on, they charge you interest on it to boot. So they not only make $ investing your $, but they charge you for doing it.
Student loans are the same, the amount a student can borrow is always based on what the school they go to charges, school increases prices, the feds increase the borrow limit. As such it enables schools to increase tuition at rates that most could never afford.
Cars are the same way, how many people driving $40-$80k vehicles do you think could pay cash for them.....5, maybe 10% and then the question you ask beyond that is of those people that could lay down $80k cash for a vehicle, how many WOULD if they had to come up with the $ up front instead of being sold on a 6-7 year payment at 3%.
Wanna go further down the rabbit hole, we'll create a ranking system for people, and we'll base a significant part of that ranking system off of not how much $ they have, but how responsibly they stay in debt to banks through loans, credit cards etc. and then we'll convince people they should strive to keep this rating as high as possible with little perks like lower interest rates, better insurance rates, etc. while telling them the best people have the highest ratings. We'll call it the credit rating, when in reality the way you get the highest rating is to stay in some level of debt giving banks more of your $ in interest/fees. If you want to live in cash, and think being in debt is bad and avoid it, we're going to reduce your credit rating to make you feel "bad" then we'll get all sorts of experts to advise people to use credit cards and loans to increase their rating so they are good people again. For those people that learn you can work the system frequently applying for promo cards, 0% interest, points, cash back etc. if they do that too often we'll lower their rating because they "opened too many" accounts, keeping them enslaved to the ones they have.
It's genius, if you want a good credit rating, you are going to be in debt to banks on a regular basis, paying fees/interest
If you live in cash, your credit rating will be lower, meaning you pay more for insurance, what credit you do use, etc. so we get more of your $
If you don't make a ton of $, your credit rating is probably poor, and we'll take a larger % of your $ because you get the highest interest rates on our loans, credit cards etc.
Not that it's all bad, it allows people to live well beyond their means, have better homes, cars, rifles....etc. but I'd argue that it allows prices to increase at rates that would not be possible without it.
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Debt is the money of slaves
Surging interest rates push mortgage demand down more than 40% from a year ago
Fast-rising mortgage rates are cutting demand for home loans drastically.
www.cnbc.com
Attachments
Yeah, it's a scam. That's why education and banks give so much money to these politicians.
Debt is when someone sells thier future earnings today. This is a voluntary sale of a portion of your life to a bank. You are committing a part of your life to slavery for a physical object. Indentured servitude is still real. Wake up people.Debt is the money of slaves
Surging interest rates push mortgage demand down more than 40% from a year ago
Fast-rising mortgage rates are cutting demand for home loans drastically.
We need everyone to push their local politicians to push for a convention of the states. That's actually possible and can actually make serious changes. Like term limits for example.
We can't vote ourselves our of this mess....
The # 1 mission of a politician is to get re-elected.
Try and deal with a local county employee with the idea of building a dwelling on your property that is paid for.
Communism
Yes I know we can't vote our way out and likely the only way out is a very painful one with lots of blood and horrible conditions. That said, a convention of the states is possible.
I agree.... Historically that is how it has worked out.... Many ways to see the convention of the states. In it's most basic form of a society the term is "tribal"... Choose your tribe carefully and nurture it like a garden....
Those owner's that sold at the close of 2021, converted the money to gold, bought a small RV, moved into an RV park are in the cat bird's seat. No debt, ride out the coming depression and buy a place for pennies on the dollar.... This is not magic, only history repeating itself.
I’ve been buying lumber as the price drops. Starting to feel comfortable now. Now I have to build some shit, lol.
Saw stop is raising prices by 5%.
The two bandsaws I purchased in September 2020 are now $500 more today. Should have bought 4 of them, lol.
The two bandsaws I purchased in September 2020 are now $500 more today. Should have bought 4 of them, lol.
Currently, Lumber (USD/1000 board feet) 938.40
April 3, 2020 it was 207.08
Staggering
If we could only invent a time machine..... shoulda', woulda', coulda'
Stand by.... It will get worse.
What is it when note holders manipulate their pawns behind the scenes to melt down the entire system so all the tangables and wealth can be reaped into their coffers?
Note holders = debt holders. Debt holders can do whatever they want with their notes (the commitments that "debtees" have given them over their lives). No one enters into debt unwillingly (exceptions for medical issues and the like), so ultimately the responsibility to READ the fine print of their servitude lies with the one who wants to place themselves in such a situation. It should be a default mindset of the debtee that debtors who wish to own a portion of your life do not have your best interest at heart - they fully intend to make a profit off of you. This is how debt should be viewed.
The housing bust of 2008-2009 is a prime example of people not paying attention, getting caught up in the emotion of the masses, buying something they shouldn't have and getting financially fucked up. The banks definitely put the money out there to do that but that also came about from Congress demanding that home loans be made more available in the early 2000's and actually placing performance metrics on that. This BS caused the dark pools, etc in the financial markets and everyone was punch drunk, and everyone who played this game got skinned.
That issue, which clearly had the financial institutions as a contributing member to the train wreck, was STILL the responsibility of those who signed the dotted line for the loan. They wanted something that they could not afford, either at the time of the signing of the note or when the market took a shit. In both instances the requirement to repay was still upon them, and rightfully so as they promised to pay it back no matter what. IOW, they promised to pay it back with their life. If they didn't understand that they should NOT have gotten a loan.
Is it right? In its purest form I think so. Is it corrupted? Maybe. The early 2000's had the predatory loans, no doubt. But the teeth of corruption can't bite in until the signature is put on the note. It always goes back to personal responsibility; people need to understand what they are signing and what they can reasonably afford. Being properly educated on what it means to enter into a debt OBLIGATION is not the responsibility of the bank. It is shocking how many do not realize this. Caveat emptor is always in effect.
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Where in the fine print does it say we reserve the right to use our pawns steal elections and instigate wars?
I have no idea how we go from note holders being pawns to wars. You are going to have to fully explain that one.
You also have schools in Chicago giving HS diplomas to kids that can't read/write at an 8th grade level. Then government saying banks have to give them loans.
"Just put an X right here..."
"Just put an X right here..."
A little historical research might help.
If you think the boards at the big financial houses move at their own discretion then I am not the one to convince you otherwise.
But who is at fault in this circumstance? Is it the bank, the school system, the government, the borrower, or all of them?
OK, but that has nothing to do with a man's free will to enter into an obligation or not. That is his alone.
Eventually, the nurture ends up being such that people figure out they can vote themselves money. Then it goes down hill from there. The apathy that comes from a successful nation always ends the same way.
One big advantage to this setup is this. When the smoke clears, the RV lifestyle is going to allow them to move much quicker to pounce on property deals. Much quicker than the guy who has to put a place on the market and jump through hoops.
Obviously the borrower is making personal choices all the way through life, but the government (+schools) is making it possible and then doubles down and makes it worse.
Another way would just be to convert any excess cash into gold and silver and then when things go south and land prices fall, sell the gold and silver and buy the land.
There will be many sellers taking gold as full or partial payment...
$500k is only 250 Gold Eagles... A doable swap.
Yup. People like shiny shit.... to quote an old builder I worked for several decades ago.... not to mention if you go look at the charts, every time we have a recession, gold goes up big time, so it's a gimme
This is not a bitch....... Actually I paid a price to get a laugh.
Went to a local supply yard this morning. Rented a dump trailer and bought 2 yards of top soil... Had the trailer returned in an hour. Good guys, good people. I just paid the bill and went on out to my truck. On the bill was 1) a fuel surcharge on the trailer and 2) a fuel surcharge on the dirt.
Just a validation of what I've been preachin'......... Get ready.
Went to a local supply yard this morning. Rented a dump trailer and bought 2 yards of top soil... Had the trailer returned in an hour. Good guys, good people. I just paid the bill and went on out to my truck. On the bill was 1) a fuel surcharge on the trailer and 2) a fuel surcharge on the dirt.
Just a validation of what I've been preachin'......... Get ready.
Yep, it's now a free for all for everyone to jack up prices, add fees, etc. because no one will blame the company doing it, they all get a free pass and get to blame Covid, Russia, Admin, Obamacare, Contrails, Global Warming, etc. whatever the media or their favorite wacko tells them to. Nothing has happened to the oil supply that can justify a 50% fuel price increase in 2 months, certainly not Russia's oil imports that are less than 1% of the oil supply used for fuel refinement. Now I'm not saying companies costs have not increased, we all know they have, but they are increasing prices much higher/faster than their costs increase because they know they can do it blame free. Car dealers are stacking thousands of "add-ons" to vehicles because they know someone will buy them, that's even beyond the 5-30k in "market adjustments" Food prices went up almost 30% in 2021, after being flat for almost 5 years, and that's global.
I don't like Biden or his politics, but it's a fact that Biden's admin approved more oil drilling permits on public lands in 2021, than Trump did the first 3 years of his term, and the only reason his last term was higher oil companies flooded the admin trying to get them approved before he left. Oil companies are not even developing 10% of their already approved oil leases, because their shareholders are pressuring them to keep supply low and record profits high. It's hard to say Biden is hindering oil production when he's on pace to approve more oil permits than Trump did.
In 2021, S&P 500 companies posted a record average 13% profit margin for all 4 quarters, in fact in the prior 70 years only one quarter ever broke 13% until 2021. Prior to 2018 the yearly average had never even broken 10%. It's why the S&P 500 has been on fire since 2019, the increases over the last two years are happening at a rate that's never been seen in the S&P 500.
It's economic warfare, and it's going to get a lot worse, this is literally the 1% against the 99%, and the 1% are winning, bigtime. Companies have to be laughing all the way to the bank knowing they can keep screwing the average American and their are too stupid to even figure out where blame belongs.
I don't like Biden or his politics, but it's a fact that Biden's admin approved more oil drilling permits on public lands in 2021, than Trump did the first 3 years of his term, and the only reason his last term was higher oil companies flooded the admin trying to get them approved before he left. Oil companies are not even developing 10% of their already approved oil leases, because their shareholders are pressuring them to keep supply low and record profits high. It's hard to say Biden is hindering oil production when he's on pace to approve more oil permits than Trump did.
In 2021, S&P 500 companies posted a record average 13% profit margin for all 4 quarters, in fact in the prior 70 years only one quarter ever broke 13% until 2021. Prior to 2018 the yearly average had never even broken 10%. It's why the S&P 500 has been on fire since 2019, the increases over the last two years are happening at a rate that's never been seen in the S&P 500.
It's economic warfare, and it's going to get a lot worse, this is literally the 1% against the 99%, and the 1% are winning, bigtime. Companies have to be laughing all the way to the bank knowing they can keep screwing the average American and their are too stupid to even figure out where blame belongs.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/27/biden-suspends-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-series-of.html
So you are saying this wasn't an important impact to the oil and gas industry? If someone in the industry could pipe up that would be great. It is definitely out of my wheelhouse, but sourcing from cnbc so we can't say right wing conspiracy. From a couple of relatives in the drilling industry(one on a rig, another as a comm tech) they are telling their people the slowdown is due to the current admin.
Link for info:
Programs: Energy and Minerals: Oil and Gas: Oil and Gas Statistics | Bureau of Land Management
Oil and Gas Statistics The BLM compiles a large amount of statistical information relating to oil and gas leasing on Federal lands. Below are links to tables and spreadsheets with data that include the numbers of BLM-administered oil and gas leases, applications for permit to drill, and oil and...
I would not say the current admin is a friend to oil, it's pretty clear that their push is for alternative energy, electric cars, unions etc. However, I would say that if you make a product (fuel) and you lose less than 1% of your supply for that product (Russian oil), most people would agree that doesn’t justify increasing fuel prices 50% at the pumps. In reality blaming oil companies in itself is likely wrong, one would need to see the entire pricing from the cost of oil, refining, transport, and sales at the pump. For example let's say each of those steps increased their prices 10%, by the time you put it in your car that's 40% higher, but the blame doesn't fall in one area. If you believe the oil companies in their testimony they seem to be putting most all of the blame on those that own the gas station franchises. It would be easy to verify this, all you'd need to know is how much fuel prices have increased for gas stations buying the fuel. Though I doubt any of them will volunteer such info 
Also remember that these oil/refinery companies are not nearly as patriotic as they lobby for you to be. While they tug on your patriotic heart strings to get more domestic oil drilled, saying that if only we did that we could get off buying oil from our enemies, remember that they export tons of fuel overseas. If they were as patriotic and concerned about the good of America as they want you to be, they could always stop sending that fuel overseas, which would increase supply domestically and reduce prices at the pump for Americans, and require us to import less oil from our enemies. However their profits are more important than their patriotism. Also remember that in the last 12 years we've doubled the amount of domestic oil being pumped out of the ground, #1 oil producer in the world, yet we're still importing approximately the same amount of foreign oil we were 12 years ago.....why.....more exports for profits, keeps prices higher at the pumps for Americans.
As to the recent suspending of the oil leases, and it's interesting the CNBC article doesn't mention this. Evidently Biden changed the fee as part of how much new leases cost when taking into account their impact on climate change globally (Trump only allowed the fee to be based on US impacts, Biden wanted to use global impacts, obviously global impacts make for significantly fees per ton). A GOP federal judge (not surprising one nominated by Trump after all federal judges are just pawns of the party that gets them their job) ruling blocked them from doing this. Since the legal challenge makes it an unknown what fee to use to calculate the price for leases, until it's settled new lease sales were halted.
This article has a lot more info: (oddly enough also from CNBC)
www.cnbc.com
Also remember that these oil/refinery companies are not nearly as patriotic as they lobby for you to be. While they tug on your patriotic heart strings to get more domestic oil drilled, saying that if only we did that we could get off buying oil from our enemies, remember that they export tons of fuel overseas. If they were as patriotic and concerned about the good of America as they want you to be, they could always stop sending that fuel overseas, which would increase supply domestically and reduce prices at the pump for Americans, and require us to import less oil from our enemies. However their profits are more important than their patriotism. Also remember that in the last 12 years we've doubled the amount of domestic oil being pumped out of the ground, #1 oil producer in the world, yet we're still importing approximately the same amount of foreign oil we were 12 years ago.....why.....more exports for profits, keeps prices higher at the pumps for Americans.
As to the recent suspending of the oil leases, and it's interesting the CNBC article doesn't mention this. Evidently Biden changed the fee as part of how much new leases cost when taking into account their impact on climate change globally (Trump only allowed the fee to be based on US impacts, Biden wanted to use global impacts, obviously global impacts make for significantly fees per ton). A GOP federal judge (not surprising one nominated by Trump after all federal judges are just pawns of the party that gets them their job) ruling blocked them from doing this. Since the legal challenge makes it an unknown what fee to use to calculate the price for leases, until it's settled new lease sales were halted.
This article has a lot more info: (oddly enough also from CNBC)
Biden pauses new oil and gas leases amid legal battle over cost of climate change
The leasing pause comes after a Louisiana federal judge blocked officials from using higher cost estimates of climate change.
www.cnbc.com
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With any pricing you need to think at the margins, not as a percentage of the whole. There are a lot of issues in the oil market. Current policy is one of them. Russia is certainly one of them as well. Contrary to a lot of popular belief, it is really hard to hold a commodity like that above its natural price just by being greedy.
Anyway, without comment on why, depending on elasticities, a small change in supply could in fact create a rather large change in price.
Anyway, without comment on why, depending on elasticities, a small change in supply could in fact create a rather large change in price.
Yea I have been trying to keep up with it, and in Oklahoma we have been oil country for a while, so I tend to hear more about it than maybe some other places. I am sure the reasons are spread around, but I do think 6 dollar gas is going to impact the economy. It dominoes into everything. Transportation costs hurt pretty much everyone and it seemed we were doing far better on 2 dollar gas.I would not say the current admin is a friend to oil, it's pretty clear that their push is for alternative energy, electric cars, unions etc. However, I would say that if you make a product (fuel) and you lose less than 1% of your supply for that product (Russian oil), most people would agree that doesn’t justify increasing fuel prices 50% at the pumps. In reality blaming oil companies in itself is likely wrong, one would need to see the entire pricing from the cost of oil, refining, transport, and sales at the pump. For example let's say each of those steps increased their prices 10%, by the time you put it in your car that's 40% higher, but the blame doesn't fall in one area. If you believe the oil companies in their testimony they seem to be putting most all of the blame on those that own the gas station franchises. It would be easy to verify this, all you'd need to know is how much fuel prices have increased for gas stations buying the fuel. Though I doubt any of them will volunteer such info
As to the recent suspending of the oil leases, and it's interesting the CNBC article doesn't mention this. Evidently Biden changed the fee as part of how much new leases cost when taking into account their impact on climate change globally (Trump only allowed the fee to be based on US impacts, Biden wanted to use global impacts, obviously global impacts make for significantly fees per ton). A GOP federal judge (not surprising one nominated by Trump after all federal judges are just pawns of the party that gets them their job) ruling blocked them from doing this. Since the legal challenge makes it an unknown what fee to use to calculate the price for leases, until it's settled new lease sales were halted.
This article has a lot more info: (oddly enough also from CNBC)
Biden pauses new oil and gas leases amid legal battle over cost of climate change
The leasing pause comes after a Louisiana federal judge blocked officials from using higher cost estimates of climate change.
Locally we have heard that cheap gas would kill our state forever. That wasn't the case at all. I am sure it hurt the oil and gas industry, but blue collar joe...not so much. The cost of shipping was down, cost of driving was down, people were buying cars and eating out. High fuel costs seem to put a damper effect on everything. Of course that just so happens in the middle of a supply slowdown, so not so easy to point at the chicken or the egg. I do know our energy policy doesn't seem to be helping.
Exactly, it's funny how many people I see saying "I have $, I bought a big truck, I don't care about gas prices!" They're right too, I believe most people are way too concerned over the price of fuel at the pump or MPG on a vehicle. If you drive 10,000 miles a year, and get 15 mpg that's only ~650gal of gas, even a $1 per gallon increase only costs $12 a week in extra fuel costs, Most seem to spend more than that at starbucks by Wednesday. What people forget is the price of fuel impacts everything. Trucks transport over 70% of all the goods sold in the US, and by value, 50% of all goods in the US come here by cargo ship. High fuel prices impact leisure travel costs, heating costs, shipping costs, basically the price of almost every item you buy in a store.
I lived in ND for decades, and it was the same there, it was bred into us that high oil/coal prices were good for everyone, and at times they were right. ND never even knew there was a recession in 2008, lots of jobs, good wages, every retail store had help wanted signs, etc. with the oil boom up there, ND was making more millionaires a month than anyplace else in the country, but it didn't last. Oil booms only impact lots of jobs and local economies most while they are punching holes, very few jobs stay once that's done, then the state makes tons of $ in excise taxes. Crime, drugs, undesirable people, traffic deaths, all went through the roof, and got worse when they didn't have all those good paying oil jobs anymore.
With wages basically stagnant for two plus decades now, and everything becoming more expensive, people have less disposable income, and higher fuel prices impacts the grocery bill, heating bill, fuel bill, and store prices on everything being shipped by truck etc. That means less of your disposable income goes for fun and that should piss everyone off
I lived in ND for decades, and it was the same there, it was bred into us that high oil/coal prices were good for everyone, and at times they were right. ND never even knew there was a recession in 2008, lots of jobs, good wages, every retail store had help wanted signs, etc. with the oil boom up there, ND was making more millionaires a month than anyplace else in the country, but it didn't last. Oil booms only impact lots of jobs and local economies most while they are punching holes, very few jobs stay once that's done, then the state makes tons of $ in excise taxes. Crime, drugs, undesirable people, traffic deaths, all went through the roof, and got worse when they didn't have all those good paying oil jobs anymore.
With wages basically stagnant for two plus decades now, and everything becoming more expensive, people have less disposable income, and higher fuel prices impacts the grocery bill, heating bill, fuel bill, and store prices on everything being shipped by truck etc. That means less of your disposable income goes for fun and that should piss everyone off
while the highlighted part might be true .. your statement reminds me of the news media when O was President. O was trying to take credit for MORE drilling than any other president in history, The media fails to tell the whole truth. O's drilling was occurring on PRIVATE land; and O was shutting down Federal land drilling and was UNABLE to stop the private land drilling (thank god for fracking)
Your statement that I highlighted might be true, but it doesn't tell the full story -
"I don't like Biden or his politics, but it's a fact that Biden's admin approved more oil drilling permits on public lands in 2021, than Trump did the first 3 years of his term,"
-while Biden has approved drilling permits, the permits are on land that isn't favorable to drilling. Let's look a little deeper.
-1st day in office, Biden cancelled the Keystone Pipeline
-Biden has even gone so far as to ban fracking in two Pennsylvania counties where there isn’t even much fracking.
-strengthened Putin by backing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline
-stopped leasing on federal lands, and unleashed regulations that have destroyed at least 10,000 good-paying oil and gas jobs. link
by putting that tidbit in there, it would appear you are intentionally misleading readers. Trump made the USA energy independent. Biden's anti Energy; Green or Bust. Biden's anti fossil fuel agenda is leading the way on inflation. Higher fuel, higher delivery costs that get passed on to consumers, etc..
Biden has intentionally been killing Coal, Natural Gas, Nuclear, Drilling and blaming it on everyone but himself and his policies.
Agreed, and as I said it's pretty clear that Biden is not a friend to oil. If Biden, while approving more public land drilling permits than Trump is only approving permits on land that's poor in oil, okay if true that's crappy and it changes the meaning of the statistic. That said where are these prime public lands with lots of oil Biden won't approve permits for? I lived in a state where the public and private lands I grew up hiking/hunting with my father and grandfather, off roading etc. are now ruined by thousands of oil wells and roads. I like to enjoy the outdoors, off roading and biking in Moab and other parks, etc. so if they want to destroy those recreational areas with oil pads like the places I grew up hunting/hiking, I'm against it. If that makes me a tree hugger so be it.
That said I would say the statement that Trump made us "energy independent" falls under the same misleading political agenda. This to me is another case of changing the meaning of a word to make it say what you want. It's like when the democrats redefined what a "mass shooting" is to increase the #'s of them for shock value.
Energy independent in the case you are using it means that we exported as much oil as we imported. However, we were still buying oil from Russia, Middle east etc. in essentially the same volumes we are today. To me that's not energy independence, energy independence would mean we stop importing.
That's like a kid saying he's financially independent because his parents give him as much money as he spends.
That said, and this is an industry I'm familiar with, Biden is not alone shutting down nuclear power (to be fair I haven't looked for any evidence if he is pro or anti nuclear power) people are, no one wants a nuclear power plant in their backyard because they are afraid of them. Just look at the Yucca Mountain facility in NV, I've been in it, it was almost the most secure possible place to store nuclear waste, and it was shut down by environmentalists and scared locals. Now in reality it should have went to MN, the most tectonically stable ground in the US, but MN wasn't going to allow it in their state either so they had to try and find a place with very few people they hoped to "sneak" it in. Meanwhile for years now that waste is still being stored all over the country above ground in much less secure/stable facilities. I live within 15 miles of a nuclear power plant, you'd be amazed how many people here are concerned about it on a regular basis, yet have no real idea how they work, what the dangers are, etc. All they know is Chernobyl, 3 mile island, and fukushima. They couldn't tell you the difference between alpha or beta radiation if their life depended on it. https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1184/pdf/c1184.pdf page 1 shows all the places it's stored above ground now across the country.
I completely agree with more pipelines, but again people don't want them, I lived in a state that the Keystone would go through, all kinds of people showed up saying they didn't want a pipeline on their property, near their property, "near" a water source they used, etc. What those people don't realize is that oil still ships, except it ships by truck, increasing wear and tear on roads, fuel costs, causing more accidents (our states fatal car crashes with through the roof when the oil boom hit), and there are way more truck spills than pipeline spills.
Heck people can't even agree in wind power on either side. Some people hate that it kills birds, other people don't want to have to look at the turbines, but other people want them on their property because it's an income source. It's also never as "clean" as they tell you, those big 120' blades are fiberglass and have a limited lifespan and can't be recycled.....there are landfills piled deep with wind turbine blades, almost 2000 a year here need replacing.
The problem with getting anything done these days, is we've trained generations of people now to be risk averse through constant media fear mongering and programed them for instant gratification, to get them to buy everything they don't need. So unless there's something in it for them up front, they'd rather just do nothing, in fact they will actually work harder to keep the status quo than strive for something better.
Investing is the same, I work for a S&P 500 company that starts kids out of college at $100k, and they can easily push up to $150k in under 5 years if they work hard, 10% 401k company match, inservice aftertax roth rollovers, $1000 into their HSA, etc. Yet 9 out of 10 of them won't put anything into their 401k, or open an HSA, even after explaining to them that if they would put 10% into a 401k a year (and the company puts another 10% in) at 25 and increase it 1% a year after that, they could retire early very comfortably, and if they put $1000 a year while healthy into a HSA (with another $1000 company contribution) and invest it, their health care costs could be covered in retirement. I've yet to see one of them do it, but without fail almost every one of them will go buy a new $70k+ car/truck in the first two years and get a fancy downtown apt. and then whine and play the victim card when they don't get a big raise or promotion after a year of being there.
That said I would say the statement that Trump made us "energy independent" falls under the same misleading political agenda. This to me is another case of changing the meaning of a word to make it say what you want. It's like when the democrats redefined what a "mass shooting" is to increase the #'s of them for shock value.
Energy independent in the case you are using it means that we exported as much oil as we imported. However, we were still buying oil from Russia, Middle east etc. in essentially the same volumes we are today. To me that's not energy independence, energy independence would mean we stop importing.
That's like a kid saying he's financially independent because his parents give him as much money as he spends.
That said, and this is an industry I'm familiar with, Biden is not alone shutting down nuclear power (to be fair I haven't looked for any evidence if he is pro or anti nuclear power) people are, no one wants a nuclear power plant in their backyard because they are afraid of them. Just look at the Yucca Mountain facility in NV, I've been in it, it was almost the most secure possible place to store nuclear waste, and it was shut down by environmentalists and scared locals. Now in reality it should have went to MN, the most tectonically stable ground in the US, but MN wasn't going to allow it in their state either so they had to try and find a place with very few people they hoped to "sneak" it in. Meanwhile for years now that waste is still being stored all over the country above ground in much less secure/stable facilities. I live within 15 miles of a nuclear power plant, you'd be amazed how many people here are concerned about it on a regular basis, yet have no real idea how they work, what the dangers are, etc. All they know is Chernobyl, 3 mile island, and fukushima. They couldn't tell you the difference between alpha or beta radiation if their life depended on it. https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1184/pdf/c1184.pdf page 1 shows all the places it's stored above ground now across the country.
I completely agree with more pipelines, but again people don't want them, I lived in a state that the Keystone would go through, all kinds of people showed up saying they didn't want a pipeline on their property, near their property, "near" a water source they used, etc. What those people don't realize is that oil still ships, except it ships by truck, increasing wear and tear on roads, fuel costs, causing more accidents (our states fatal car crashes with through the roof when the oil boom hit), and there are way more truck spills than pipeline spills.
Heck people can't even agree in wind power on either side. Some people hate that it kills birds, other people don't want to have to look at the turbines, but other people want them on their property because it's an income source. It's also never as "clean" as they tell you, those big 120' blades are fiberglass and have a limited lifespan and can't be recycled.....there are landfills piled deep with wind turbine blades, almost 2000 a year here need replacing.
The problem with getting anything done these days, is we've trained generations of people now to be risk averse through constant media fear mongering and programed them for instant gratification, to get them to buy everything they don't need. So unless there's something in it for them up front, they'd rather just do nothing, in fact they will actually work harder to keep the status quo than strive for something better.
Investing is the same, I work for a S&P 500 company that starts kids out of college at $100k, and they can easily push up to $150k in under 5 years if they work hard, 10% 401k company match, inservice aftertax roth rollovers, $1000 into their HSA, etc. Yet 9 out of 10 of them won't put anything into their 401k, or open an HSA, even after explaining to them that if they would put 10% into a 401k a year (and the company puts another 10% in) at 25 and increase it 1% a year after that, they could retire early very comfortably, and if they put $1000 a year while healthy into a HSA (with another $1000 company contribution) and invest it, their health care costs could be covered in retirement. I've yet to see one of them do it, but without fail almost every one of them will go buy a new $70k+ car/truck in the first two years and get a fancy downtown apt. and then whine and play the victim card when they don't get a big raise or promotion after a year of being there.
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Inflation Hurts. Better Get Used to It. - heromag
The runaway inflation of the past year is a radical change from the lowflation that's dominated in the past decade, and this week's hawkish talk from the Fed
heromag.net
Anyone who's smart has been buying something that will hold value and ride with inflation for some time now. Gold and silver is the easy button with this.
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