Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Trump drags his feet on Ukraine again and deceptively invents an excuse

 Trump is inventing another excuse to drag his feet in support of Ukraine....he'll impose more sanctions if Europeans stop importing oil from Russia. There are already sanctions in place, as Biden imposed them, but the Trump administration has stopped enforcing them, according to Ann Applebaum of the Atlantic on MSNBC this morning. Trump's holding further sanctions against Russia hostage to extract pledges from Europe for what they are already doing is deceptive. European imports of oil from Russia have been cut drastically since Russia invaded Ukraine. All but three European countries have already agreed to stop importing oil from Russia and are already doing so...But oil is not the main problem, and the three holdouts are situated along a Russian oil pipeline. The real challenge is finding and affording alternative energy sources, from wind to natural gas to heat homes and generate electricity. Where does the EU’s gas come from? - Consilium . Over 47% of European electric energy comes from wind, water, and solar. Electricity from renewable sources reaches 47% in 2024 - News articles - Eurostat

Even some in the president's party are disgusted with Trump and now Vance over their lack of action in supporting Ukraine. Frustrated GOP senators blow steam on Russia: ‘Sick of Trump and JD and Putin ‘love affair’

How much oil does the European Union import from Russia?
reuters.com
How much oil does the European Union import from Russia?
Kremlin shrugs off EU plans to speed up phase-out of Russia's energy    My comment: So they say for their domestic propaganda.  However, what Russia loses  is their ability to hold Europe hostage to their threats of cutoff of energy.

Monday, December 16, 2024

Major Trump campaign promises evaporate. The list keeps growing. updated 12 29 2024 1/11/2025

 

Major Trump campaign promises and other rhetoric voters relied on have evaporated even before Trump has been sworn in. The list keeps growing. First, Trump could roll back grocery prices, but he knew or should have known he did not have the power to do it. Tariffs will raise prices to consumers, passed on to them, despite every economist in the world telling him that he was wrong: China would pay for them, he claimed. Now he says he"can't promise it consumer won't pay". Other issues that have already been backtracked or neutered are the Biden crime family-related prosecutions, the ending of H-1B visas, and the immediate ending of the Ukraine war (before he was even sworn in).

No surprise here. Gullible voters traded in a democracy to a wannabe dictator/oligopoly for the price of eggs (symbolic for grocery prices.) Let's see how that plays out.

Gullible voters? Trump thinks he could play you. Grisham: Trump ‘knows he can basically say anything and his base will believe’   His concept of common sense is what promotes him and his oligopoly of the rich, not the same as the rest of us.  Modern day dictators have gained the power they seek because they have used modern technology to spin and mind control their way to their position. "The central goal remains the same: to monopolize political power. But today’s strongmen realize that in current conditions violence is not always necessary or even helpful. Instead of terrorizing citizens, a skillful ruler can control them by reshaping their beliefs about the world. He can fool people into compliance and even enthusiastic approval. In place of harsh repression, the new dictators manipulate information. Like spin doctors in a democracy, they spin the news to engineer support. They are spin dictators. How Do Dictatorships Survive in the 21st Century? | Andrew Carnegie Fellows | Carnegie Corporation of New York



Trump Is Walking Back His Biggest Campaign Promises Before Taking Office This article contains documentation regarding cutting government spending, ending the war in Ukraine, and reducing grocery prices.

Here is what Trump is promising to do on Day One: Here are things Trump has promised to carry out on Day 1 of his presidency

Trump vowed to declare a national energy emergency as soon as he takes office — here's how he might do it     Bottom line: not much he can do other than reverse the LNG limit on exporting liquified natural gas.  We already have a surplus of oil over demand, so increasing drilling would have no immediate impact.  The same goes for building new refineries and pipelines.  He does not have the power to roll back environmental laws by executive order. He can lobby Congress to do so or not honor the Paris climate accord, but that is symbolic  and no guarantee given the narrow margins in the House. Price of gas at the pump is mostly determined by foreign oil cartels via their set price and drilling quotas of members. Even if we increase drilling, that is likely offset by reducing drilling elsewhere as part of the cartels' attempt to keep prices they want by controlling the supply. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: The BS of "drill baby drill"; makes unnecessary useless

In shift, Trump downgrades soaring rhetoric on campaign promises Interesting that this article called his lies campaign soaring rhetoric. Not only does he backtrack on bringing down grocery prices, or tariffs impacting consumer prices, he also is backtracking ending Ukraine war immediately. Trump says Russia-Ukraine peace may be harder than Middle East

This one went south: the Biden Crime family. The FBI informant confesses he lied about Hunter and his father being bribed by a Ukrainian energy company. https://apnews.com/article/alexander-smirnov-guilty-plea-biden-informant-fbi-62a3b7acce0345303f812ca6d0206b10

Under pressure from his oligarch pals, he also just backtracked on certain visas extended to tech related foreigners(H-IB Visas) in spite of his promises. Trump says H-1B visa program is 'great' amid MAGA feud over tech workers

Left on his agenda are gas at the pump prices (He does not control oil per barrel prices; the international cartel does; "drill baby drill" was a great campaign slogan, but unattached to reality.) Stopping inflation is another empty promise. Tariffs will raise consumer prices; labor shortages will also be caused by mass deportations and add to inflation. Stay tuned on these issues and promises.

MAGA will not feel this now. Just wait until the predictions come true to those who voted for Trump because they wanted lower grocery and gas prices and blamed Biden for inflation. Then they will get it.... or at least "we told you so" will have some meaning. Until then, this is just laying the groundwork to be able to say, "We told you so." Trump will try to excuse or blame others as he always does when things go south. The resistance needs to keep his feet to the fire and stick the blame on him when that happens: DJT
Here is the benchmark by which to judge Trump's measure of his success: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/is-donald-trump-inheriting-the-best-economy-in-history/ar-BB1rfC8Z?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=b5ba93218a514cd38504c43abdda7e04&ei=7

Pardoning the patriots of January 6? JD Vance says people who committed violence at the Capitol riot 'obviously' shouldn't be pardoned Is off script or is this a signal of Trump backpedaling.

Thursday, August 15, 2024

So is it the economy? Updated August 26, 2024 for Harris plan

 For the MAGA meme screamers, update your data or produce your alternative facts. Economist Steve Rattner adjusted his data to remove the COVID impact on the economy for which Trump was not responsible nor does he deserve credit for low prices and border crossings that happened during COVID. FYI: Scream all you want about prices (now stabilizing), but no president, Trump, Fiden, or Harris can edict or control or set grocery prices, nor can they, with any executive action, roll them back to December 2019. Get real.. (We closed the border because of the COVID crisis, remember?)). The growth of the economy and job creation were worse under Trump than under Biden. Violent crime was lower under Biden (and illegal migrants' crime rates were much less than others). Oil? Under Biden, the USA is now energy independent. Inflation? rate was down to near-normal levels under Biden. The Federal Reserve will reduce interest rates in September because of the threat of increased unemployment and that the inflation rate is close to the target of 2% .Here are my facts : (We closed the border because of the COVID crisis, remember? No wonder illegal crossings were down. duh). Once the COVID close was lifted. Illegal border crossings are now down from 8K to 2 K in spite of Trump torpedoing the bipartisan bill that included funding for building the rest of the Wall and enough border guards, and judges to screen for actual trafficked victims and proof of persecution to be accepted for asylum. Those seeking only economic opportunity do not get asylum under our current law. So, instead of whining about Biden's recovery success.. what does Trump plan? So far, goose eggs, except for inflation causing tariffs and national debt busting more tax relief for billionaires that never trickled down and drill baby drill when we have so much oil, we do not have a shortage to be fixed, and we are exporting our energy already. The only high taxes Biden had proposed is to reverse the low taxes on the ultra-rich Tump passed. Harris proposes restoring child tax credit and aid to families with new babies. Free stuff? That is because consumers are being screwed by expensive stuff by price-gouging business greed( which Harris plans to stop.) Trump has no plan to reduce prices, but he only plans to make it worse;, slapping high tariffs on all imports, costs passed on to all consumers, ending Obamacare, ending free lunches for poor kids, rolling back the big pharma controls, and deals Biden made for low-cost meds for seniors., Here's Kamala Harris' one: Kamala Harris released her economic platform: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kamala-harris-economic-plan-presidential-candidate/

One of the parts of the Harris economic plan is to go after grocery store price gougers and monopolistic, greedy price setters.  Is there price gouging going on?  A federal case brought by the DOJ against the merger of two grocery store giants, Kroger and Albertson's, resulted in a confirmation by a store executive that, yes, they had gouged some prices. https://www.newsweek.com/kroger-executive-admits-company-gouged-prices-above-inflation-1945742  Why is this merger such a issue? Because when there is a monopoly, an inhouse memo can set prices without fear of a competitor starting a price war.

Good question: We have had tax hikes and tariff hikes, but we still have inflation. Why? Tax policy has little to do with it. COVID and recovery are why. tax policy is not the reason for current inflation. It was the impact of COVID's on the economy and the recovery from it. . https://credit.org/.../what-is-causing-inflation-in-2024.... " according to Fortune, economists generally agree on some of the causes behind the high inflation that has defined the economy over the last several months:

"The pandemic shifted consumer demand away from services toward goods, which left producers unable to keep up with demand.
Factory closures from early in the pandemic reduced supply just as demand was rising, which sent prices up even further.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a spike in oil prices, which increased the cost of both manufacturing and shipping, while also forcing up the price of wheat and other commodities.
On top of that, the U.S. was dealing with a labor shortage, leaving many businesses that had been shuttered for months unable to meet rising demand — much of which was due to stimulus payments — when they were finally able to open.” (yahoo.com)"
What is Causing Inflation in 2024? Understanding Transitory
CREDIT.ORG
What is Causing Inflation in 2024? Understanding Transitory


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Trump's proposal to raise tariffs is considered by economists to be one of the highest tax increases in history. Both Biden and Trump have already raised tariffs with a negative impact on the US economy. , costing 684K jobs, $524 more in taxes, and shrink the GDP  

Per   https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/trump-tariffs-biden-tariffs/

  • Candidate Trump has proposed significant tariff hikes as part of his presidential campaign; we estimate that if imposed, his proposed tariff increases would hike taxes by another $524 billion annually and shrink GDP by at least 0.8 percent, the capital stock by 0.7 percent, and employment by 684,000 full-time equivalent jobs. Our estimates do not capture the effects of retaliation, nor the additional harms that would stem from starting a global trade war.
  • Academic and governmental studies find the Trump-Biden tariffs have raised prices and reduced output and employment, producing a net negative impact on the US economy.


.https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/crime-down-under-biden-steve-rattner-fact-checks-trump-s-latest-claims-217215557519

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/08/16/kamala-harris-releases-economic-agenda-heres-what-to-know/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iTn_fxQijU

A short response to social media posts griping about high prices:

   https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/16/kamala-harris-economic-policy.html






-oil.. USA .first time since 1950 energy independent...producing more from all sources than we import. we are now exporting oil. (note: we do not have an energy shortage, so drill baby drill to increase supply as a solution is BS) Under Trump, imported lots of Venezuela oil; nearly 0 under Biden)
-Biden is responsible for inflation?. He dramatically decreased the rate. Trump would increase it. Under Biden, the rate of increase fell from 9% Covid end, caused by pent-up demand and supply chain problems, to under 3%...much due to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.. Goal: 2% inflation normal rate. As expected in September, the Fed will lower interest rates. Trump plans to put a 10% tariff on all imports. Every top world economist says this would cause inflation to rise.
- violent crime? increased a bit under Trump and dropped 26% under Biden...legal immigrants and, even more dramatically, illegal ones rates much lower than native-born American crime rates.
- Illegal border crossings per day are down dramatically. 8k last December; 4K in May. 2K now. Biden exec order to refuse to hear asylum cases if crossings exceeded 2400 helped. , but Trump sabotaged even measures to build the rest of the wall and to fund increased staffing to hear and screen border crossers to separate actual asylum seekers (allowed by law)from those looking for economic refugees. (not a reason for asylum granting)
Trump yesterday gave no clear answers of how he could reduce prices to consumers and decrease housing costs except drill baby drill BS and give us the real inflation raiser, tariffs.
. Friday, Harris will give her plan.