Many things in the economy are misunderstood, and the price of oil/gas is no exception.  The only thing worse than the media peddling half-truths and falsehoods, is when their ‘fact-checking’ suffers from the same ignorance with a dash of bias. 

And so it is with the San Antonio Express-News, syndicating from the Houston Chronicle this week.

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“American presidents have little control over fuel markets. Petroleum products are global commodities and their prices are dictated by supply and demand.”

Partial BS. 

They are indeed “global commodities,” which undercuts the goal of so-called “energy independence.”  Different countries produce slightly different grades of crude, which determines the type of refining capacity we have. 

The main reason we became a global leader in production and export (not a bad thing if you support the domestic industry) is where the president absolutely has control: the condition of the dollar.

Crude is priced in dollars worldwide.  In the absence of set exchange rates, such as when the dollar had solid gold backing, when a presidential administration supports and defends a strong dollar (think Reagan and Clinton), it takes fewer of them to purchase goods and services.  When they let it flail, and weaken, as has been the case this entire century so far, it takes more.

This is acutely true when it comes to commodities.  It’s no coincidence that hydraulic fracturing took off, unlocking vast quantities of American oil and natural gas, when President Bush failed to defend and support a strong national currency. 

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“Prices are high because supplies are tight and demand is high.”

BS. 

As measured in barrels per day, the demand for, and supply of oil is nearly identical.     

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“One could easily argue these policies are discouraging new investments in oil and gas projects … can and do eventually influence market trends, which could cause more pain at the pump in the future — if you’re still driving a gasoline-powered car.”

Partial slant.

Not only do policies absolutely influence the market, but it starts well before that.  Shrinkage in investment, already obstructed by the main source of high energy prices (the aforementioned weak dollar), starts when pro-government activist policymakers are campaigning for public office.  It sends a signal to owners (i.e. investors) and management of companies. 

The slant comes from the very last passage.

Currently, less than 1% of the automobiles on the road are electric.  The market is moving that way, but unlikely to meet goals set by politicians.  Moreover, such goals usually involved coercing industry to do this or that.  Downstream, government reaches into the pocket of one taxpayer to give to another to ‘influence’ their buying patterns. 

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“The interplay between the loss of Russian supply and recovering post-pandemic economies …”
“Fuel demand tanked when the pandemic hit …”
“Oil producers … also face pandemic-induced labor and supply chain constraints making it harder to ramp up production.”
“The world has lost 3 million barrels per day of refining capacity since the start of the pandemic …”
“COVID-19 changed the way they do business …”

BS.

Blaming everything on the “pandemic,” or “COVID-19,” or the “coronavirus” is pure slant.  People were adjusting to the spread of the coronavirus.  We were never given a chance to see that through, to sift from the millions and millions of actions and ideas from individual decision-making that could have shown the best way to navigate the pandemic. 

Instead, politicians at every level across the world either panicked, or saw an opportunity to seize control of our lives.  There is never any legitimate reason to rob people of their individual freedom, and freedom to associate with each other.  Every time policymakers, the media, bureaucrats peddle such authoritarian BS, citizens should push back fervently.

The post Fact-checking the Fact-checkers: Gas Prices first appeared on Infuse SA.

“Now that we can venture back out … let’s go back to stores. Where there seems to be an Amazon or UPS truck on every block, many deliveries are using up a lot of the world’s resources. This is great for Amazon (Jeff Bezos is burning up our money going to the edge of space) and gives employment to local drivers — and to a great many underpaid, overworked warehouse workers with little to no benefits, most of them in other states.”

While much of the above passage is problematic …
– comfort with government ‘giving us permission’ to go out …
– the odd implication that 10 people driving to shops consumes less energy than 1 truck hitting 10 houses …
– the poo-pooing of employment as his heart bleeds in assumption that the conditions agreed to are horrendous …
– and no mention that many Amazon employees work here in Bexar County and San Antonio
… he makes a good point about the value of actually going out to shop.

Still, one other sentiment in the above passage belies a couple problems with society: the one about “space.”

At the risk of splitting hairs, we work to exchange our earnings for other things we want. Presumably, we do so in the most rational way: lowest price, best quality, most convenient, etc. Once we make that transaction with whomever, and we’ve traded our money for the good or service, it’s no longer ‘our money’.

Also, so what if he’s going to space! Who cares if he goes to Vegas and blows his money on gambling and prostitutes? Jeff Bezos/Amazon have done a lot of good for society as evidenced by how large they are. If they weren’t satisfying customers, they wouldn’t have attained such size!

There’s much envy inferred in such statements, a sourness about one’s own inability to achieve the same. This wouldn’t be a problem if it didn’t translate into votes for attention-hungry politicians who would love nothing more than to get into office, seize back some of “our money,” and redistribute it to a bunch of causes favored by sore folks like Mr. Brandon who couldn’t do it himself.

Will he and others get raw when Holt Truck Centers bring greater wealth to our area (see other InfuseSA post today)? Will he still be whining when regular folk can travel to space thanks to the ground laid by Bezos and Elon Musk, who literally had the resources to burn (pardon the pun) to push into that frontier?

#wordsmatter#noBSzone#noslantinformation#whatsyourbeef#bexarcounty#sanantonio#bipartisan

The post Words Matter, Swap Envy for Respect, Appreciation first appeared on Infuse SA.