A quick scan of this week’s news headlines sees Sleepy Joe Biden (once again) blaming US energy firms for the high price of fuel for the average American.
In public comments and private meetings with oil executives, administration officials are warning that the White House could take extraordinary — and potentially economically risky — steps to bring costs down if the companies do not move more aggressively to shield Americans from price spikes.
The renewed attention on the cost of fuel comes as gas prices have jumped in recent days by as much as 60 cents per gallon in some regions, posing a political challenge for Democrats. A decline in prices that stretched for 99 days helped to improve their prospects in next month’s midterm elections, during which control of Congress and several key governorships is at stake.
Washington Post
As stupid as it sounds, it’s not Biden’s fault that he failed to recognise the implications of dumping Trump’s hard-earned American energy independence in the bin as soon as he was propped up in office. Presumably, it was Joe’s minders (assumed to be Obama and Jill) who didn’t think things through when they reversed anything Orange Man Bad.
The future of electric energy is not working out so well for proud Californian EV owners in the once great state. They should be questioning the mistaken belief of going electric after being asked to make voluntary power cuts this month.
California’s risk of widespread blackouts this week is forcing millions of residents to keep the grid afloat by jacking up thermostats and shutting off appliances, but they are not the only ones feeling the heat. The lawmakers and regulators behind the state’s emphatic embrace of green energy are feeling it too.
Even before this week’s historic September heat wave,the state’s wobbly grid, with a history of disrupting political careers, had become a fresh target for critics of California’s climate-forward energy policies. The same state that is rushing to rid its roads of gas-powered vehicles was pleading with electric car drivers this week not to recharge during peak hours.
Washington Post
You gotta wonder about the Californian mind (and their coping mechanisms) after watching this driving example.
The Amish carry on regardless, their lives are virtually unaffected by the energy crises, but please don’t mention this to the Ardern Government, who might invent a horse and buggy subsidy instead of fixing our appalling roads and removing or reducing some of the taxes, levies and duties that contribute to high petrol prices.
Ardern, like Biden, thinks the high cost of NZ petrol is not her fault.
Apparently, it’s the “international environment” and not because “the biggest chunk of the cost [of petrol] – 52 per cent – is made up of taxes such as fuel excise duty, the emission trading scheme levy and GST” according to MTA energy and environment sector manager Ian Baggott.
It’s hard to imagine more juvenile decision-making than those made by the Ardern Government, but let’s not end the week on doom and gloom. Take heart from a comment tweeted this week by US Senator John Neely Kennedy.
“I have hope for my liberal friends. Jellyfish have survived for 165 million years without a brain.”
We will survive.
