BloggeRhythms

Today’s one that compounds the frustration of having to deal with the consequences of an administration that puts politics above and beyond the best interests of the nation and its citizens.

According to Thomson/Reuters  @https://www.newsmax.com/finance: “Oil prices rose on Monday, climbing towards their highest levels in more than seven years on fears that a possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia could trigger sanctions from U.S. and Europe and disrupt energy exports from the world's top producer.

“Brent crude futures was at $95.73 a barrel by 0109 GMT, up $1.29, or 1.4%, after earlier hitting an intraday high of $95.91. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.49, or 1.6%, to $94.59 a barrel, hovering near a session-high of $94.92.”

"If ... troop movement happens, Brent crude won't have any trouble rallying above the $100 level," OANDA analyst Edward Moya said in a note.

"Oil prices will remain extremely volatile and sensitive to incremental updates regarding the Ukraine situation."

According to Gavekal Research Ltd., a consultancy: “Fossil fuels -- oil, as well as coal and natural gas -- provide more than 80% of the global economy’s energy. And the cost of a typical basket of them is now up more than 50% from a year ago”

While the effects of dependency on foreign oil production are felt by all throughout the U.S. and discussed continually in the media, the cause is rarely analyzed in any detail. Instead the general heading “Climate-change” is applied and accepted without question. However, Climate-change itself actually evolved from the original “global-warming” prediction that never materialized except in computer models.

As far as reality goes, the best description of the current winter season comes from The Farmer’s Almanac: "Brrr! The 2022 Old Farmer’s Almanac comes with a winter warning: Prepare for a “Season of Shivers.” This winter will be punctuated by positively bone-chilling, below-average temperatures across most of the United States.

“This coming winter could well be one of the longest and coldest that we’ve seen in years,” says Janice Stillman, editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac. For 230 years, the Almanac has been helping readers to prepare for winter’s worst with its 80 percent–accurate weather forecasts.

“In some places, the super cold of the coming winter will also bring lots of snow. This extreme wintry mix is expected in areas of New England as well as throughout the Ohio Valley, in northern portions of the Deep South, and in southeast New Mexico.

“Above-average snowfall is also in the forecast along a track from eastern Montana southward through the western halves of the Dakotas and into northeastern Colorado. While temperatures in this mid-country strip will be relatively normal, snowfall will be abundant, with several storms predicted throughout the winter.”

And although pretty much exactly what the Almanac forecasted, a frigid winter happened, we citizens are suffering the ramifications of non-refuted political rhetoric employed as a scare tactic from the start. What’s more, it isn’t just gasoline and heating oil prices that are affected by fossil fuel fears, the energy crunch also compounds the ongoing squeeze in global supply chains, which drove up costs, delayed raw materials and shrunk finished goods inventory's.

Here’s what two readers posted following the Thomson/Reuters  article:

MTMountainman commented: “If we had a President instead of Chairman Comrade Joe Fraud destroying everything, the world would not have to be worried about oil production or prices. Our energy production could bury Putin, Russia and their allies (the Biden Crime Family).”

FWS wrote: “Don’t just blame the Ukraine situation for the fast rising oil prices when we have an ignorant president who took this country from a net exporter of oil to having us begging the Middle East to increase production. All because Biden shut down oil pipelines and cancelled oil leases et al.”

John posted: “The oil and inflation two step: Step one - Donald Trump restarts the Keystone XL pipeline that had been stopped by Obama; oil prices immediately drop (forward looking markets) and inflation is held under control. Step two - Joe Biden kills the Keystone XL project; oil prices immediately spike, leading to Carter level inflation.

Lastly, the dire predictions of global-warming climate-change are worth repeating, particularly the last sentence. “Increased heat, drought and insect outbreaks, all linked to climate change, have increased wildfires. Declining water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, health impacts in cities due to heat, and flooding and erosion in coastal areas are additional concerns.”

Nonetheless, it doesn’t seen that the ”flooding and erosion in coastal areas are additional concerns,” for climate activists Barbara Streisand who owns a $100 million Malibu oceanfront property,  Al Gore whose gated ocean-view villa on 1 1/2 acres with a swimming pool, spa and fountains cost $8,875,000, or Obama who has one home on the southeastern tip of Oahu he paid $8.7 million for and another $11.75 million estate on the beach at Martha’s Vineyard.

That’s an awful lot of bucks to spend for folks who put in so much time convincing us that climate-change is the major issue facing our nation. And that preventing it’s looming damage is worth our paying $4 bucks a gallon to fill our vehicles. Meanwhile, they've laid out millions and millions themselves, without a water-front worry in the world. 

That’s it for today folks.

Adios