MISERY AHEAD, $300 OIL, ECONOMIC PAIN JUST BEGINNING, ENDLESS DIGITAL MONEY, RETIRE IN DEBT
This Is How They Intend To Get Us To “You Will Own Nothing And Be Happy”
NEW DEFAULT WARNINGS, INFINITE SPENDING REQUIRED, CREDIT CARD SPENDING SPLURGE
Oil refinery closing in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana threatens loss of nearly 1,000 jobs
At least 900 people in Plaquemines Parish Louisiana are about to lose their jobs as one of the biggest oil refineries in the region is set to shut down shortly into the New Year. The Alliance Refinery, owned by Houston-based energy company Philips 66, will be shut down and turned into a fuel storage terminal according to reports.
Philips 66 had been planning since August to sell the facility, which covers about 2,400 acres on the west bank of the Mississippi River, but damage from Hurricane Ida and other economic factors made the refinery too expensive to operate according to a statement from Philips 66 CEO Greg Garland. “We made this decision after exploring several options and considering the investment needed to repair the refinery following Hurricane Ida,” Garland said in a statement released to the press. “Our decision was a difficult one, and we understand it has a profound impact on our employees, contractors and the broader Belle Chasse community.”
The loss of this refinery will have a massive negative impact in the region, already severely affected by the economic fallout from the devastation of Hurricane Ida and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. During the hurricane, a levee wall was broken and storm waters flooded the facility up to five feet. Company executives claim the floodwaters damaged the facility’s electrical system, thereby decreasing its value from about $500 million to $200 million.
This drop in value was unacceptable to the company’s bottom line, thus the decision to shut down the facility outright and change it from a refinery to a storage center. Plaquemines Parish President Kirk Lepine spoke to reporters on the impact the closing will have. “After yesterday, it was just kind of a gut punch,” Lepine said, “If you know anyone in Plaquemines Parish, they’ve had someone affiliated with Phillips 66, a brother a cousin, a dad, my brother is personally retired from Phillips 66.”
The refinery has been a major employer in the region for nearly 50 years. A company spokesperson, Tristan Babin, mentioned to reporters that Alliance employees were not told until Monday of last week that the refinery would be shutting down and were not told how many jobs would remain in the new role of the refinery as a storage station. A local grocery store owner, Joe Balestra, spoke on the impact this will have on everyone in the area, “It’s going to hurt everybody to a certain extent,” Balestra said. “Everybody feels it. A lot of the people, they live here. This is where they shop, you know.”
This closure comes amid several similar refinery closings in recent years, with the massive energy companies blaming the shift from oil to renewable energy and an overabundance of oil refineries in the country. In November of last year Royal Dutch Shell closed a refinery of similar size in St James Parish. The closing of that refinery, which had been in operation since the late 1960s in the town of Convent, led to a loss of some 1,000 jobs in the area. Shell, for their part, cite a shift to renewable energy as the reason for shutting down refineries such as these, even while governments and energy companies fight against any measures to mitigate climate change across the world. Industry analysts also blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatic decrease in travel that resulted from the deadly virus devastating the US population.
Analysts at the Wood Mackenzie consultancy firm released a report recently claiming that the nation’s oil refineries are operating at around 73 percent capacity across the US as fuel production remains well below levels reached in 2019. Even as more and more COVID restrictions are lifted, travel in general remains below the years prior to the pandemic. Wood Mackenzie analysts also warn that as many as 20 refineries across the United States could face shutdowns in the next few years, dropping oil production capacity down by about 3 million barrels a day. According to the report, six refineries were closed last year, including the one in St. James Parish. In addition to the loss of jobs, the refineries bring in tax revenue to local governments, the loss of which will also have a longstanding negative impact.
In Plaquemines Parish, this loss will be particularly felt where job numbers have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, and the city council recently voted on various budget cuts, including ambulance services in the area. Parish Assessor Belinda Hazel recently spoke on the situation with Alliance refinery, saying that the loss of tax revenue will be deeply felt and calling them the biggest single source of property tax revenue. Official figures put the tax revenue from the facility at $7.4 million out of a total tax revenue of $60 million for Plaquemines Parish.
The loss of jobs will have an immediate impact, as several local businesses rely on the refinery and the workers there to stay afloat such as mechanics shops and groceries. One city council member, who also works as an adviser to Shell, Beau Black, said he expects a massive loss of jobs following the shutdown, “I would be surprised if there were more than 50 jobs left for the oil terminal,” said Black, “This is going to be devastating to the local community.”
David Dismukes of the Center for Energy Studies at LSU remarked that while the refinery shutdown is in line with industry trends, the fallout will be devastating for the local community, “Finding something that can replace that big piece of infrastructure at that level of employment isn't easy to come by,” he said. “I can’t tell you that there is anything too promising out there for Plaquemines Parish.”
Fed Fears a Major Financial Panic
Transitory Inflation? Not With Joe in Charge
Americans are now facing the highest inflation in 30 years. People are even starting to talk about the “misery index” again -- and I haven’t heard that term since the Carter administration. Unfortunately, inflation hits low and middle-income Americans the hardest. You can bet that Speaker Antoinette and President Asterisk aren’t feeling the pinch. Maybe that’s why they’re not acting very interested in the problem. But the rest of us are sure interested.
Inflation isn’t a simple matter to control. It is a complex issue that is affected by many factors.
Whenever the government lowers the value of our money, inflation goes up. When our geniuses in Washington put more money into circulation by either borrowing it or printing it, the value (buying power) of the money goes down. It is simple supply and demand economics. The more there is of something, the less valuable it becomes. Venezuela has tons of money -- and it takes a ton of it to buy bread. The Venezuelan currency is the Bolivar, and they’re issuing it in 50,000 Bolivar notes now -- because that’s what it takes to buy anything. Venezuela proves that you can’t print your way out of inflation. Our federal government currently has over $29 trillion in borrowed money. What does President Gremlin want to do? Borrow $5 trillion more for his various spending boondoggles. Because he simply doesn’t understand this principle.
Product scarcity also factors into inflation. Gold and diamonds are valuable for one reason, and one reason only -- they’re rare. If we had to sweep diamonds off the sidewalk everyday no bride would want one on her engagement ring. It’s simple supply and demand again. If there’s not enough of something to meet the demand, people are willing to pay more for it and prices go up.
Which brings us to our failing supply chain. If there aren’t enough products on the shelves, the remaining products get a bit pricey. COVID restrictions and work disincentives have starved the country of skilled workers. Democrat-sponsored emission standards in California have created a shortage of trucks to move products inland from West Coast ports. Further, California’s AB5 killed private contracting in the state, and is creating a shortage of drivers to pilot the trucks that aren’t available anyway. And just like that, we have over 100 cargo ships parked off the West Coast, unable to unload, empty store shelves nationwide, and skyrocketing prices for those scarce products which are available.
What is President Gremlin’s plan? His Build Back Better program of course. A massive deficit spending program which will:
- Borrow enough money to further devalue the dollar
- Fund the Green New Deal to impose further environmental restrictions on an already failing system
- Expand AB5 nationwide and exacerbate the supply chain labor shortage
Like every Democrat, his only solution to any crisis is to do more of the same thing that created the crisis.
We can’t talk about inflation without also talking about production costs. I know this is a hard one for liberals to understand. If Joe’s reading this, he needs to pay attention. When it costs more to make and deliver a product, prices go up. Who knew?
So, what’s Joe doing to lower production costs? Well, he’s extended unemployment benefits -- paying people to not work. Businesses across the country are suffering from labor shortages. They’re overcoming that by offering higher pay, and passing on that increased labor cost to their customers.
A big piece of the processing expense is the price of energy. It takes a lot of electricity to turn a raw hunk of aluminum into a shiny new rim for your car. Therefore, skyrocketing energy costs are also contributing to inflation. When the price of fuel goes up, Americans don’t just feel it at the pump. They feel it when they buy rims for that car -- and every other product as well. So, what is President Gremlin doing to help with spiking energy costs? He’s cancelling pipelines, closing others, restricting fracking, and cancelling drilling permits. That should do the trick.
But let’s not forget about those overhead expenses -- of which taxes are a big one. President Gremlin’s Build Back Better program also includes massive tax increases -- especially for businesses. That’s why Senator Kyrsten Sinema is fighting the program. Those taxes will increase the cost for every company to stay in business. They will pass those costs along, and prices will go up.
But inflation isn’t only driven by scarcity and costs, it is also driven by expectations. When buyers (of anything) expect prices to go up, they try to make their purchases before the increases take effect. In so doing, they increase demand, and drive prices up.
For example, when investors expect a commodity – like, say, oil -- to go up, they buy oil futures. Futures are a contract to buy a certain amount of oil in the future at an elevated price. They’re hoping the price goes up even more than their contract price. If it does, they can sell their contract and make a profit.
But by buying the futures, they’ve already driven up the future cost of oil and triggered inflation. That’s why gasoline prices went up so quickly when good ole Joe went to war with the oil industry. President Gremlin’s policies convinced everyone that the price of oil was going up, investors jumped into the futures market, and they drove the price up -- fast. Average Americans are worried that they may not be able to heat their homes this winter, but it’s been a real party for the big dollar investors -- most of whom are donors to the Democrats. You don’t suppose there’s a connection there, do you?
Is there anything Joe can do to change that investor behavior? There sure is. He’d simply need to announce that he’s opening up drilling, endorse fracking, and give the green light to pipeline projects. Investors will expect prices to drop, and they’ll bail on the futures market like rats from a sinking ship. But that would require admitting that Donald Trump was right. That’s not going to happen with this administration. Sorry Americans, your wallets aren’t as important as Joe’s pride -- at least not to Joe.
If there’s anything that President Gremlin has failed to do to make inflation worse, I can’t think of it. But then, I’m not an economist. But know this: The next time President Asterisk assures us that inflation is only transitory -- it’s only as transitory as his administration.
John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He currently writes at the American Free News Network (afnn.us). He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.
Image: ZeroOne
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Joe Biden Blames Record High Energy Prices on Oil Companies, Calls for Investigation
President Joe Biden on Wednesday dodged responsibility for record-high energy prices and asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate oil companies for “anti-competitive behavior.”
With nationwide gas prices reaching historic highs, inflation marking a thirty-year high, and a supply chain that seems permanently broken, President Biden is presumably seeking to escape responsibility for his failed energy agenda by placing blame on oil companies.
“I do not accept hard-working Americans paying more for gas because of anti-competitive or otherwise potentially illegal conduct,” President Biden said. “I therefore ask that the Commission further examine what is happening with oil and gas markets, and that you bring all of the Commission’s tools to bear if you uncover any wrongdoing.”
“The Federal Trade Commission has authority to consider whether illegal conduct is costing families at the pump,” Biden referenced the record-setting gas prices around the country. “I believe you should do so immediately.”
President Biden’s request for the agency to investigate oil companies comes as the Biden-Harris administration has conducted a regulatory war on American energy.
Just after taking office, Biden revoked the Keystone XL Pipeline. The pipeline would have transported 35 million gallons of crude oil per day from Nebraska to the Gulf Coast.
Biden has also allowed Russia to access European energy markets by building a pipeline from Russia to Germany. The project is a direct hit to American producers who sell oil to European nations.
President Biden is also weighing whether to cancel a 78-year-old Line 5 oil Michigan pipeline. The pipeline may be terminated because 12 federally recognized tribes asked the administration to do so.
According to a Politico/Morning Consult poll on Wednesday, just 40 percent of registered voters approve of Biden’s energy policies. The poll also revealed the majority of voters believe President Biden is untrustworthy, dishonest, and incapable of leading the nation.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø
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