Issues in 4 Sentences…or so.
I bought a cheap watch from a crazy man floating down canal.
It doesn’t use numbers or moving hands,
It always just says now.
You may be thinking that I was had, but this watch is never wrong.
And if I have trouble, the warranty said,
Breathe in. Breathe out. Move on.
If a hurricane doesn’t leave you dead,
It will make you strong.
Don’t try to explain it, just nod your head
Breathe in. Breathe out. Move on.
According to my watch, the time is now.
The past is dead and gone.
Don’t try to explain it, just bow your head.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Move on.
Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On - Jimmy Buffett (2006)
…..
Back by popular demand! Two weeks ago, I debuted “Issues in 3 sentences” in this blog. Many of you e-mailed me that you liked the format of quick analysis of a lot of issues. Maybe you just like to hear about lots of things or maybe three sentences is the length of your attention span. Either way, here we go again, but I gave myself an extra sentence for clarity where needed:
UAW Strike: As I write this, the UAW is poised to strike all of the “Detroit 3” automakers at midnight eastern on September 14th if no agreement is reached before then. If they do strike, roughly half a million cars a month will not be built as long as the strike lasts. That will have a noticeable impact on the economy. Tech may get all the headlines, but much more money in the economy is still spent on cars and houses. I will continue to monitor this for you.
Impeachment: Speaker McCarthy is moving forward with an impeachment investigation of President Biden. This is the right thing to do because the justice department is covering up the crimes rather than looking into them. He is not being forced to do this by the “far right” (notice how AOC is never “far left” but merely “progressive”). This is the best way to obtain evidence and documents. Both AP and Bloomberg, amongst others, say there is “no evidence” which is completely false. You can arguably say that the evidence is not dispositive but to say there is none is just another bald-faced lie from the propaganda American media machine.
Oil, MBS and Biden: The Saudi Crown Prince has Mr. Biden in a pickle. MBS (Mohammed Bin Salman) wants oil at $85 (about where it is now) or higher to fund his ambitious projects like the Neom City. Biden wants oil low, so gas prices and inflation go down for his reelection. Both MBS and Biden understand that the price of gas is the way most Americans judge inflation since they see it weekly and can easily notice changes. A surge in shale oil production in the US and the releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve have kept prices down but both of those have run their course. Therefore, the Saudis have pricing power, and they know it. Does Biden want to see gas prices up a bunch in time for the election next year or will Biden give MBS what he wants, which is a bunch of US nuclear technology and weapons?
Climate Change, MBS and Biden: Mr. Biden and European leaders have voluntarily handed this pricing power over the most important non-food commodity in the world in the name of climate change. The green agenda is raising costs, stoking inflation (as you will see below), reducing growth and now weakening the west and empowering the Russians and Chinese for absolutely no environmental benefit whatsoever. It’s economic suicide.
BRICS+ is a problem: The coalition of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has added 6 more members as a challenge to the G7 and the western coalition. The fact that so many disparate countries who don’t particularly like each other have colluded to oppose the economic status-quo headed by the United States, shows that we are doing something wrong. The use by Biden of the dollar as a weapon against Russia has worried other countries that they should be less dependent on the US. The dollar is used in about 50% of all international trade but that will fall as a result of this alliance.
BRICS+ is not a problem: That said, you may read that they are going to form a new currency to challenge the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Fat chance. The Euro is in trouble and that is a common currency between countries that are generally contiguous and have similar cultural and governmental foundations. The BRICS+ countries are on 4 continents, are culturally disparate, and many of them hate each other. They will use some technology to work around the dollar, but they will not create an alternative.
Solution: How about this: Hunter Biden goes to jail for a bunch of years. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are both pardoned and agree not to run again. This is my nirvana. It will never happen though. You would have to get agreement by a complete degenerate, a corrupt buffoon, and the biggest ego on planet earth. I’ll let you match the person with the description.
Debt: I will continue to harp on the problems that the massive federal debt is going to have on the economy in coming years. 31% of all US Treasury debt matures and needs to be rolled over in the next 6 months. Nearly $2 trillion in brand new debt must be sold by the end of the year. The deficit, estimated at $1.5T just a few months ago will be $2T when the fiscal year ends this month. That is the largest deficit as a percentage of GDP in peacetime without a pandemic. This is trouble.
Electricity cost in CA vs. AZ: My sons live in Orange County, California. I live in Scottsdale, Arizona. We compared electric rates through our respective utilities. These states are adjacent so the rates should be pretty similar right? It gets really hot in Arizona so maybe rates are higher there because of the electricity needed to run air conditioners all summer. Nope. I pay a peak of 12 cents a kwh (kilowatt hour) for 3 hours a day and they pay 67 cents peak rate for 5 hours a day. That’s five times more expensive in California. This is presented as a public service message to people who might be interested in knowing just how much the green climate agenda may cost them.
Well, you are going to get nothing but Jimmy Buffett songs for a few weeks, courtesy of yours truly, the parrot head. If you have not followed him for 50 years as I have, you may think of Buffett only with the “fun” songs like Margaritaville, Cheeseburger In Paradise and Fins. But he wrote and recorded a number of soulful ballads. The first one was one of his early hits, Come Monday. But he has written many which give us things to think about today. The one at the top of this blog, Jimmy wrote after hurricane Katrina as a message to the people of Louisiana. Hurricane or no, it works for a lot of us facing troubled times these days.
Enjoy.
I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Drive Fast & Live Free