President Biden is making a speech to day about gas prices and what he calls “Putin’s price hike.”
What I want to know is whether the president will call out the oil & gas companies for war profiteering. The Administration hints at it, but never comes out and says it directly. I’m sure there are a hundred reasons for Biden not to do that, but I am still hoping that today is the day he said fuck it and says it out loud anyway.
Open thread.
Cameron
That would be very cool.
debbie
Hopefully he’ll also call out the GOP for not supporting the anti-price gouging bill. Can’t say it too often.
zhena gogolia
I got a new hip!
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
Hip hip HOORAY!!
Raoul Paste
@zhena gogolia:
Congratulations. My spouse is a physical therapist who has seen it all, and she says that people with new hips generally do very well
trollhattan
@zhena gogolia:
Nicely done. There are days I feel like body-part shopping is a good idea.
More seriously, I know [counts] three folks with hip replacements and they’re all big fans. Best of luck on a speedy recovery!
trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne: IC what you did there. :-)
WereBear
@SiubhanDuinne: beat me to it
@zhena gogolia: hooray
Raoul Paste
I’m sure Biden realises that if he starts a counter narrative on high gas prices, it is one that has to be pounded relentlessly to get some traction
SiubhanDuinne
@Cameron:
That would be very cool.
A new Summer Samba?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@zhena gogolia: Cool!
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Pretty sure NotMax is not going to like being beaten to the punch! (nicely done)
WaterGirl
profiteering!
WaterGirl
action 2, calls on states to suspend the state gas tax or find ways to deliver some relief. average of 30 cents per gallon.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
Just like that? Wow, medicine can be so impressive. Congratulations!
WaterGirl
republicans falsely claim…
WaterGirl
“let’s be honest… to the companies running gas stations and setting prices at the pump.
time of war, global peril, ukraine, these are not normal times, bring down the prices at the pump to reflect what you are paying for the product.”
WaterGirl
“I’m doing my part, others have to do their parts as well.”
debbie
@WaterGirl:
“Prove you’re patriots.”
WaterGirl
@debbie: Prove you’re patriots, you lying fucking cowards.
zhena gogolia
@debbie: sorry to derail the thread. And sorry for our disagreement yesterday. I have only the greatest respect and concern for Ms. Moss and lady Ruby
Baud
@WaterGirl:
That’s the Biden I voted for.
catclub
@SiubhanDuinne:
beat me to it! seconded.
WaterGirl
this is america, we can fucking walk and chew gum at the same time.
(paraphrased)
catclub
@Raoul Paste:
of course, most of them are babies.
zhena gogolia
I love Biden. Maybe best President of my lifetime,at least for foreign policy. Obama for domestic
waspuppet
I hope suspending the gas tax for three months is just one part of a serious, corporation-gouging plan. Because on its own, it might be the worst idea he’s had as president.
It’ll bring down gas prices 18 cents a gallon, which as a percentage of current prices is basically nothing.
It reinforces the idea that cutting taxes is the solution to everything. (And I mean, I confess I don’t know where the money from this tax goes, but I’m sure it goes somewhere that won’t get that money now.)
And if you don’t think that in three months, Republicans are going to call the expiration of the tax holiday “a tax increase two months before an election,” I honestly don’t know what to tell you anymore.
Emma from Miami
Folks, I just read that Pfizer is donating all their Russia profits to Ukraine aid. Is that really a thing? And how much would it be?
Old School
@zhena gogolia: Congrats! Now you can train for a marathon this fall!
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
I figured you did. I had something to be insanely crabby about, so I apologize too.
BlueGuitarist
@zhena gogolia:
excellent, and what Subaru Diane said.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Like soprano2 brought up down below, I wonder if this tax holiday isn’t a bad idea, especially if they’re going to let it expire in 3 months. Another commenter mentioned how the cancelation of the “temporary” reduction in license fees in California by Gray Davis may have contributed to his loss, because people became accustomed to lower prices and saw the end of the tax holiday as a price hike. I suppose it can always be extended
Another drawback is that it won’t materially reduce gas prices anyway
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@zhena gogolia:
Congratulations!
Josie
@zhena gogolia: Congratulations. I hope you heal quickly and physical therapy goes well. You are going to feel so much better.
zhena gogolia
@Old School: haha knees say nope
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@zhena gogolia:
Why not domestic?
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: Wishing you a speedy recovery.
pat
Here’s another person with one hip that is considerably younger than I am.
Best thing I ever did, and I shouldn’t have put it off as long as I did. Fortunately the other hip and both knees are still good.
ETA: the only PT I did was, as the surgeon told me to when he discharged me,
Walk, walk, walk.
artem1s
@WaterGirl:
How many of the Red State Governors are going to help out their constituents by lowering gas taxes and instead use inflation/gouging to pwn the libs? I’m betting none and AOT,K.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@waspuppet:
My understanding is that gas taxes fund infrastructure, such as highways
justsomeguy
@waspuppet: You are exactly right, on every point.
debbie
@artem1s:
I’m sure their citizens will enjoy watching those in the blue states get savings at the pumps.
zhena gogolia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): aca was hard to top. But Biden still has time
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: thanks! Thanks for your encouragement on my arm, it was crucial
frosty
@zhena gogolia: Congratulations! Enjoy doing things you haven’t been able to do. Ms. F’s new knees have meant we can go on hikes again.
Elizabelle
@zhena gogolia: yippee skippee. Good luck w the PT.
divF
@zhena gogolia: What is Hip ?
(Soon you’ll be dancing again, so you’ll want this).
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@zhena gogolia:
True, the ACA is hard to top
NotMax
‘@zhena gogolia
Congrats.
“The thigh bone’s connected to the … never mind.”
;)
Central Planning
@zhena gogolia: My father-in-law got his hips replaced twice. The first time was like 30 years ago, and he had them done again in the past 5 years or so. Technology is grand.
Old School
For some reason, a photographer wanders on camera at 22:37 of the video. Where’s security when you need them?
Omnes Omnibus
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): As our inflation hawk, what would you do instead? How would it work better?
zhena gogolia
@divF: haha
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: Don’t sing that in an orthopedist office or they’ll tar and feather you.
Raoul Paste
@catclub: Good one
raven
@artem1s: Georgia is
raven
So, he calls for it and it doesn’t happen, then what?
Old School
@raven: Biden can blame Republicans for voting against it?
dexwood
@zhena gogolia: Yay! It won’t be long now before you’re working the Hula Hoop.
Scout211
Democrats get blamed, of course.
raven
@Old School: Plenty of dems are against it. See above.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Old School
@raven: Well, two of them (possibly) at least.
Soprano2
@Scout211: It’s a dumb idea. It might not even reduce prices at the pump, and it promotes the idea that every time prices are high we should cut taxes to make up for it. Plus, it’s already not much money to begin with, but once they get rid of it, they won’t ever be able to put it back. It’s something they do when they know they can’t really do anything about the price of gas, so they try to show they’re trying to do something.
raven
@Soprano2: that’s not dumb
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Inflation hawk? It’s a serious issue many people are concerned about. I see plenty of newspaper articles of low income people having a hard time paying their bills and the vast majority of workers’ wages have not kept up with inflation
Truth be told, I’m not sure sure what can be done with gas prices. Biden is between a rock and hard place. What ever became of that deal with Saudi Arabia to increase OPEC production?
Immanentize
In Massachusetts the legislature took a hard look at suspending the gas tax. In the end, they came to understand that the only way to do that — as the State — was to not collect the gas tax from the stations and companies. But there was no way to actually get stations to reduce prices directly.
Also, as I understand Biden’s proposal, he wants Congress to foot the bill for the tax holiday without taking revenues from the highway fund. Unlikely.
I favor price controls.
@zhena gogolia: soon you will be back doing The Bump!
Xavier
War, the great inflator.
raven
@Immanentize: Now THAT is something they won’t do in Georgia.
Immanentize
@raven: What? No one in Georgia does the Bump anymore? :-)
Cameron
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): No deal with Saudis yet, AFAIK. I thought that was the reason Biden was going to go over there to do the charm offensive on Mr. Bone Saw.
Bill Arnold
Any story that mentions highest inflation in decades should mention highest profits in 7 decades.
Companies are pocketing their fattest profits in more than 70 years, even as they complain about inflation (Dominick Reuter and Andy Kiersz, 2021/12/02, Business Insider)
Profits Soar as U.S. Corporations Have Best Year Since 1950 – New data show earnings jumped 35% in 2021, while workers got an 11% bump. (2022-03-30, Bloomberg)
U.S. companies post their biggest profit growth in decades by jacking up prices during the pandemic (WILL DANIEL, March 31, 2022, Fortune)
raven
@Immanentize: Study it
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Immanentize:
About price controls, from Wiki:
raven
@Cameron:
“There is no way that Saudi Arabia has the ability to produce as much oil as the world has lost because of the Russian embargo, and no country has that ability,” Robert Weiner of George Washington University recently told The Hill.
Biden has downplayed the perception that his trip is related to gas prices, telling reporters on June 12 that “the commitments from the Saudis don’t relate to anything having to do with energy …. It has to do with much larger issues than having to do with the energy piece.”
Bill Arnold
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Same with wages. If you want a labor shortage, say that is is impossible to raise wages.
Miss Bianca
@raven: y’know, color me crazy, but to all the doom-sayers out there I’ma just going to say, “I think Joe Biden’s political instincts are probably just a little bit better than the average bear’s, and certainly than mine”, so I imagine he and his team have gamed out responses to a variety of scenarios here.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@raven:
OK, maybe not SA alone, but what about several other OPEC countries in concert?
NotMax
‘@Bill Arnold
All together now: “windfall profits tax.”
Geminid
@artem1s: Virginia’s Republican Governor pushed hard for suspending Virginia’s 26 cent gas tax, but last Friday night the State Senate tabled Youngkin’s proposal on a 21-18 vote. Governor Youngkin cried loudly, so Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas clapped back:
The 78 year old Lucas enjoys pantsing the Governor with youthful exuberance.
The lead Republican Lucas mentioned is my state senator, Emmett Hanger. His district lies largely in the Shenendoah Valley. Hanger is one of the three Republican senators who crossed the aisle in 2018 to enact Medicaid expansion. Hanger easily turned back his last two tea party primary challengers and he doesn’t give a shit about what foungkin Youngkin wants.
kalakal
@zhena gogolia: Yay! Everyone I know with new ones is a major fan.
Layer8Problem
@zhena gogolia: Congratulations on the new hip, and may you be doing the Time Warp real soon now!
Lylymay
@zhena gogolia:
Do your rehab exercises faithfully as it does make a difference in the overall results. I speak from experience!
@zhena gogolia:
rikyrah
@zhena gogolia:
Yeah :)
Do everything the physical and occupational therapists tell you to do.
Felanius Kootea
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Excerpted Milton Friedman quote. Of course.
Layer8Problem
Oh yeah, and a late happy birthday to John C. and may his occasional comments appear in a vernal green again soonest.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: My mom has had both done to great fanfare. Do the PT religiously.
Omnes Omnibus
@Felanius Kootea: I was going to go there, but you saved me the trouble.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Felanius Kootea:
Well, was he wrong? Price controls did create shortages according to the excerpt I quoted
Layer8Problem
@zhena gogolia: Serious agreement with @rikyrah on that. That was my mom’s downfall with her knees and hip, but you could never tell her what to do anyway.
patrick II
@zhena gogolia:
Congratulations Zhena. You will have to be careful and it takes some work and time before you are back to full strength. But it will feel great.
Immanentize
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The geopolitical situation of oil and gas was completely different then. For one, we actually barred the importation of gas and oil from Canada! We also were not net producers and exporters like we are now.
Also, relying on Milton Friedman is what got us into a lot of our current problems.
Immanentize
@raven: I am not sure what happened half a century ago is the best basis for economic lessons today.
Bring back leaded gas!!
Immanentize
@NotMax: This is very good.
Scout211
@Scout211:
Sorry, link fixed:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/22/politics/gas-tax-holiday-congress-reaction/index.html
And another excerpt:
Yes, the media is all about blaming the Dems if nothing happens but I think the normies out there will appreciate that Biden is trying to do something about gas prices.
I just paid $6.28 this morning. $60 in cash (to get the 10 cent per gallon cash discount). It hurts.
Major Major Major Major
For more on the silliness of a gas tax holiday, here’s a thread by the chair of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors
Baud
@Scout211:
That’s my guess. Now the onus is on the critics (especially the GOP) to do something better.
Immanentize
@Major Major Major Major: This was the conclusion of the Massachusetts legislators — tax savings would be pocketed by the sellers/producers.
One solution is also to raise the gas tax to drive down consumption and motivate different choices in, say, automobile purchases.
Omnes Omnibus
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The world is more complicated than that excerpt suggests. Any mention of the OPEC oil embargo leading to shortages? As people have said many times, there is actual inflation, there are price increases due to supply chain issues, and there is some price gouging going on. Too many people, including you IMO, are conflating them and calling the end result inflation. I expect that this is probably a waste of typing but what the hell….
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: I did the PT after my arm thing secularly, and it seems to have worked nevertheless.
Immanentize
@Omnes Omnibus: I appreciate the effort.
Old School
@Major Major Major Major: Biden did call in his speech for the oil and gas industry to pass the entire gas tax reduction along to the consumers. That doesn’t mean they will, of course, but it’s not like that wasn’t considered.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: heretic!
UncleEbeneezer
OT- but you probably have all heard that Andrew Gillum has been indicted for fraudulent fundraising from 2016-19. It took DOJ three/six years to indict. It’s a good reminder of how slow the process can be, for the next time anyone is frustrated that we haven’t seen indictments of Trump/his cronies yet.
Major Major Major Major
@Immanentize: Bit of a long-term answer, though. I’d also support some major new regulations on making cars safer to be hit by–i.e. regulating the safety of not just occupants during crashes.
@Old School: I mean, he can say the words, sure, but people will notice when it doesn’t happen.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I’ll see you in Hell for that.
Baud
@Baud:
It’s analogous to that old Internet principle: If you want the answer to a question, don’t ask the question; post the wrong answer and wait for people to correct you.
Immanentize
@Major Major Major Major: make trucks (and things built on truck frames) have the same CAFE standards as cars. That would lesson consumption.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Perhaps you’re right. In fact you probably are. It’s just I don’t think those distinctions are going to matter to voters come this November
zhena gogolia
Surgeon just came by and she said I was a badass
Ken
@Baud: I suddenly see your entire posting history in a different light.
Geminid
@Scout211: The gas price finally dipped below $5/gal. in Stanardsville, Virginia. Energy Secretary Granholm was on CNN’s Sunday show a couple days ago saying that motorists can expect only slow price decreases this summer. The DOE projects an average price of $4.35/gal. for this year’s third quarter, but Granholm cautioned that this forecast could be “totally upended” by world events.
Baud
There are only two solutions to high gas prices:
I favor option 2.
Cameron
@UncleEbeneezer: Damn. I really like Gillum. Say it ain’t so, Andrew!
Ken
@zhena gogolia: I’ll assume that’s a good thing, and not his way of telling you the hip replacement went horribly wrong.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Channeling Winston today are we?
zhena gogolia
@Ken: SHE was definitely complimenting me
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
Surely Biden and his team should be aware of this, then, correct?
Ruckus
@zhena gogolia:
Nice! Best of luck with recovery.
NotMax
‘@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
It was a different world. Cliff’s Notes synopsis of those times:
• OPEC, while not the only game in town, was the proverbial 800 pound gorilla in the room.
• Globally, China’s demand for oil amounted to a rounding error.
• European industrial capacity had only recently emerged from an extensive post-war slump.
• Alternative extraction tech (such as deep sea drilling) was a nascent industry.
• Alaskan north slope extraction, for all intents and purposes, did not yet exist.
• OPEC quadrupled market prices, virtually overnight. Granted, such prices had been kept artificially low, but that sudden jolt and the resultant shockwaves were in no small part retaliation against the U.S. for supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War of ’73.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Who is that? A war advocate?
WaterGirl
@artem1s: I think he’s setting them up.
I did my part. Now states should step up and do their part.
If your state doesn’t, be mad at them. Ask them why they won’t.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
Not everyone living within these borders can claim that. We have a political party that seemingly can complain and cheat at the same time, but walking and chewing gum at the same time seems very likely to be too much for them.
WaterGirl
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Did you listen to Biden?
He explains that we can cut this for 90 days and have other ways to fund the highway system so this won’t take away from that.
raven
@Cameron: I don’t think he has a great political future.
Baud
This thread is why Dems can’t do populism (which I don’t like anyway).
Citizen Alan
@UncleEbeneezer:
Can I just remind everyone that Gillum only got the nomination because the Left dragged him across the finish line over the more electable Gwen Graham?
raven
@WaterGirl: Georgia is living proof it’s a stupid idea.
Cameron
@raven: I agree – and, yeah, I remember that, too. Of course, if he switched to the Republicans, who knows?
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Someone who shows up late on Adam’s Ukraine joints and advocates first strikes against Russia to basically get it over with and prove that we have balls.*
*Paraphrased only a bit.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Immanentize:
I guess you’re correct and it makes sense that today’s situation isn’t the same as a few decades ago
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well, if the purpose is something other than reducing gas prices, it’s a horrible idea.
Carlo Graziani
I’m afraid that while the politics of gas tax relief has good optics, the economics sucks.
The problem is a shortage. That means that no matter what happens, the equilibrium price is going to find the supply curve at the same amount of gas. There isn’t any more. The curve is flat.
Removing the gas tax slides the demand curve over a bit, but almost certainly not below the knee in the supply curve. So the price won’t change.
What happens instead is this: the price of gas drops temporarily. People who have been putting off filling up their tanks rush to the gas stations to fill up, because gas is suddenly “cheap”. But gas stations start running out of gas, because there is a shortage, and there is no more gas, and so they start raising prices again, because they are obviously selling below market if they can’t make it to resupply before exhausting inventory. And we wind up at the same equilibrium price.
With one important difference: the money that was previously going to tax revenue is now going to the oil companies. I don’t hear them complaining. They read Adam Smith.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I am sure the cockroach historians who survive will make note of that.
Gravenstone
@zhena gogolia: Well, it’s pretty damned hardcore to be commenting from the surgical recovery area!
Gravenstone
@Omnes Omnibus: Damn, I miss all the fun on those threads.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
‘@WaterGirl:
Fair, but that’s not the only criticism of a gas tax holiday, as evidenced by this comment thread. I think Biden knows there’s not much that can be done in the near-term, so this tax holiday is meant to show that they’re doing something.
Carlo Graziani and Major Major Major Major, along with Immanentize above lay out the problems very clearly
Baud
Biden should have proposed that we increase the gas tax.
The Moar You Know
@Omnes Omnibus: Interesting. Probably an idiot like my family member who had never heard of “mutually assured destruction” despite having been a teenager in the 1950s.
Same family member thought, like Reagan, the missiles could be recalled.
Don’t know how you live through 80 years in the modern era and have ideas like this.
JML
Hey, Friedman was right about one thing: economists don’t know much. he said so himself. :P
zhena gogolia
@Gravenstone: I’m in a room!
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
It’s not one of those outdoor hospitals?
rikyrah
Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid
(@JoyAnnReid) tweeted at 2:27 PM on Tue, Jun 21, 2022:
Trump’s MAGA fanatics stalked Shaye Moss and tried to conduct a “citizens arrest.” Her grandmother was home. These are Black women, in the South. And if you don’t know what “citizens arrest” means, it means lynch mob. #January6thCommitteeHearings
(https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/1539329138540126209?s=02)
zhena gogolia
@Baud: well we did have those in spring 2020. I meant I’m out of recovery
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah: that was what “1920” meant
Omnes Omnibus
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Sometimes politicians do things for political reasons.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
Never had joint’s replaced but I have had things tidied up in the region of joints, and every time it required effort to get things working again. Was talking to a neighbor yesterday and discussing that I’ve had both hands in navicular casts, thankfully not at the same time and it takes weeks to be able to use your hand after 1 1/2 – 2 months in one of those. A navicular cast is one where your hand is bent backwards 90 deg. That’s the opposite direction you normally bend your wrist. Good times.
Geminid
@Omnes Omnibus: That commenter hasn’t shown up much since someone said he was being “a dick.” He got really huffy about it. I think the person who offended him was a front pager, and he believed that was especially unjust. I thought maybe he’d asked to speak to the manager and gotten thrown out, but he’s shown up a couple times since.
Carlo Graziani
@The Moar You Know: not being familiar with his backstory, and trying to reason with him at a time when the Uvalde events had given him a whole new metaphor for framing a justification for US intervention in Ukraine was definitely an interesting experience.
zhena gogolia
@Ruckus: ugh!
Dan B
Saw David Gergen on Amanpour, I believe. He thought it was wrong for Biden to go after oil, Fossil Fuel, companies, that he should work with them. Yesterday the Chevron CEO went after Biden.
Gergen doesn’t understand there us a war between mega corporate dinosaurs and people who want a future that is better and prosperity is sustainable.
NotMax
‘@zhena gogolia
Masks: a symbol of satanic guile.
Hoods: a symbol of godly favor.
//
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Dan B: I can’t confirm, but many people say if you mention David Border in front of David Gergen, he snorts and says, “That hippie!”
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: It looks like Biden has done some other stuff too. Let’s not judge the tax holiday proposal in a vacuum.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Dan B: David Gergen the Nixon speechwriter and Reagan comms lead? What a surprise…
Geminid
@The Moar You Know: The guy said he was into various war games. He talked about moving aircraft carrier groups here or there, into the Black Sea or the Baltic, like that would really show Putin. A bonehead.
Omnes Omnibus
@Geminid: He was being a dick. I remember the exchange.
JMG
Economically, the gas tax holiday is dumb. Politically, it’s not quite so dumb because if the oil companies/refiners, etc. don’t pass the whole amount along in lower prices, then they will get more, maybe even all, of the blame for high prices.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
I really hope to god the Fed doesn’t overdo it
Steeplejack
Trawling through Twitter and saw this dismal snippet—a plaintive plea from Charlie Crist to help him get to 200,000 followers. He’s got barely 129,000 now, and he’s apparently the leading Democratic candidate for governor.
Ron DeSantis has two Twitter accounts. What looks like his official account has 2.5 million followers; his personal one has 946,000 followers. Hell, even recently discredited former Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum has 581,000 followers!
Ruckus
@Baud:
Well #2 might be a bit less fun but likely would work better.
GoBlueInOak
@waspuppet: And there’s no guarantee that the oil companies won’t just absorb that 18 cents into their pricing.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Sadly, it seems that tweet got ratioed. Something I’m sure isn’t hard to do though given many people don’t follow the POTUS official account and/or retweet it
Sure Lurkalot
@zhena gogolia: Fabulous. Best wishes for a complete change for the better.
I flew out to help my sister out for a week after she had a hip replaced a few years back, the reason being what others have brought up. My sister’s husband has had 3 or 4 major back surgeries, all declared a success immediately afterwards but then he did either no or the least amount of PT prescribed. So, he wasn’t able to take care of my sister when her hip surgery happened and he’s even in worse shape now, with constant pain and much reduced mobility. I do have sympathy because it sucks, regardless of how he got to the bad place.
Carlo Graziani
@JMG: They literally cannot pass it along in lower prices. It is an economic impossibility, like defying gravity. Gas stations would run out of gas.
I know it’s hard to wrap one’s head around, because it’s unintuitive, but that is how supply and demand works in supply shortage conditions.
Baud
@Steeplejack:
How many followers does Nikki Fried have? Her Twitter game is better than Crist’s.
catclub
@Immanentize:
windfall profits taxes on refineries!
Promise to rebate the tax income to consumers
bbleh
@zhena gogolia: But is it a hip new hip, or a boring square hip?
raven
@Carlo Graziani: But, but I’m so MAD!!!!!!
Ruckus
@zhena gogolia:
BTW I know a few folks with hip replacements in the seniors complex I live in and I’ve never heard one say it wasn’t the best thing they’ve ever done. Like any major surgery it takes time to heal and effort to get everything working again but it seems way more than worth all of it. Advice from someone whose had to do a fair bit of rehab, follow docs orders. Also some physical therapists are sadists. Unfortunately those are the really good ones. I’m not too proud to say that I cried from the handy work of the one that did my shoulder. Damn thing works fine. Worth every tear.
raven
Here’s a look at the 10 countries where gas is most expensive right now, according to GlobalPetrolPrices.com as of May 19:
COUNTRY
PRICE PER GALLON IN U.S. DOLLARS
Hong Kong
$10.966
Norway
$9.643
Denmark
$9.323
Central African Republic
$9.031
Monaco
$8.938
Finland
$8.894
Iceland
$8.755
Greece
$8.709
Netherlands
$8.582
Singapore
$8.399
Carlo Graziani
@raven: I am too — that we’re handing a fucking windfall to the goddamn oil companies by cutting gas taxes, and patting ourselves on the back for our smart politics. We are morons.
Joe Manchin might actually save us on this one.
bbleh
@Baud: There are other variations on (2), eg, a proper plague.
But I dunno … cost / benefit … seems a little dodgy ethically too.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Carlo Graziani:
IOW, we shouldn’t just do something for the sake of being seen doing something
raven
@Carlo Graziani: Snark
Steeplejack
@Baud:
She has almost 294,000 followers.
Betty Cracker
@Cameron: Oh, Gillum is saying it ain’t so, but take a look at the indictment. Presumption of innocence, yada yada, but IMO, it’s pretty clear Gillum is a lying crook. Also, he knew a lot more about what the feds were investigating when he chose to run for governor than we voters did, and he ran anyway, the selfish prick. This is all great news for DeSantis!
NotMax
‘@Omnes Omnibus
“Was?”
Said person’s universal M.O. is a hoarse, sick croak for bloodlust.
Barista forget the sprinkle of cinnamon? Blindfold him and thrust him up against the pockmarked wall.
Network cancelled your favorite show? Nuke ’em.
Teenager broke curfew? Snuff city, baby.
catclub
@raven:
with the exceptions of Central African Republic and Greece, Rich countries. Maybe if we raise the gas price we will be a rich country, too.
Carlo Graziani
@raven: Snark acknowledged.
catclub
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
oh come on. How about turning down the AC and wearing an extra sweater? Worked for ol Jimmy C
raven
And the father of a Sandy Hook victim, Fred Guttenberg, is so happy with the gun legislation that he’s weeping on TV. Buy, hey. it’s not enough.
Baud
@Steeplejack:
Maybe she’ll come back and win the primary. She does seem more interesting to this outsider.
Baud
@raven:
Little surprised we haven’t had a post on that.
Sure Lurkalot
I’m not in favor of the gas tax holiday. I am supportive of a windfall profits tax. Even Boris Johnson instituted one. Why should we divert money for road repairs and construction (even if there’s an offset in other legislation) which are needed instead of addressing the rent seeking that is going on?
J R in WV
@zhena gogolia:
Congrats on the joint work, wife and I have new knees (hers) and new shoulders (mine) and are really happy with the relative lack of pain getting around and doing. This is an open thread, so impossible to derail without going a really long way!!
raven
@Baud: About how they should have help out and got nothing???
The Moar You Know
@Betty Cracker: John Edwards redux. Gillum is done and justifiably so.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@raven:
@Baud:
I’m surprised the “boyfriend loophole” made it through. I thought that was going to be a sticking point w/ some Republicans pandering to incel types
The Moar You Know
@NotMax: Wonder if its our ol’ psycho buddy TenguPhule? The M.O. sure sounds the same, although I have a feeling we might have lost that particular nutjob to COVID.
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: Not a lot of women orthopedic surgeons.
UncleEbeneezer
DOJ’s investigation of January 6 already has grand juries issuing subpoenas for people very high up in Trump’s orbit:
“Those subpoenas sought all documents since Oct. 1, 2020, related to the electoral college vote, as well as any election-related communications with roughly a dozen people in Trump’s inner circle, including Rudy Giuliani, Bernard Kerik, Boris Epshteyn, Jenna Ellis and John Eastman. One would-be Trump elector in Georgia, Patrick Gartland, had been appointed to the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration and believed that post meant serving as an elector would have created a conflict of interest for him. Still, two FBI agents recently came to his home with a subpoena and asked whether he had any contact with Trump advisers around the time of the November election. “They wanted to know if I had talked to Giuliani,” Gartland said.”
This doesn’t look like a DOJ that is afraid or unwilling to let its investigation reach the former president (DOJ investigates crimes, not people), it looks like a DOJ that is building the case from the bottom up and going wherever the evidence leads. And I’d be VERY surprised if that evidence doesn’t lead directly to Trump.
Cameron
@Betty Cracker: Just read through the indictment. Yeah, sounds like he’s toast. What an incredible amount of self-delusion to run for governor when he apparently already knew the Feds had him. Oh, well. I still like the guy, but he probably belongs in jail.
Omnes Omnibus
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Sometimes being seen to be taking some sort of action is needed.
J R in WV
@zhena gogolia:
We could have told her that before she cut you !!! And Wife here also too!!
Steeplejack
@Baud:
After I saw Crist’s tweet I got on the Google, and the stories I saw indicated that Crist is ahead of Fried in the polling. I guess another case of Twitter being different from real life. Her numbers against DeSantis suck too.
Betty Cracker
@The Moar You Know: Yep. I think the photo of Gillum naked and unconscious in the company of meth-head rent-dudes had already killed his political career, but this puts a stake in it. You have to be a white Republican to get away with that kinda shit.
Miss Bianca
@The Moar You Know: Lost to COVID? What makes you say that? Not that I’m disputing, just wondering. I know he suffered the banhammer at one point or another
@Betty Cracker: Word.
Baud
@Steeplejack:
It’ll be a tough climb for either of them. Crist is polling ahead of Fried because of name recognition and local support. She needs to generate some excitement to shake thanks up. Although maybe the Gillum thing will spook people into going with plain vanilla.
Baud
@The Moar You Know:
Good comparison.
Betty Cracker
@Steeplejack: I don’t chalk Crist’s lead up solely to a Twitter vs. Real Life thing — name recognition has a lot to do with it. Crist was governor once and ran for the US Senate and governor again (losing both times) before picking up his US House seat. No one had ever heard of Fried until she won the Ag Commish seat in 2018, and most people have no idea who the Ag Commish is.
That said, I think Crist will probably win the nomination and lose the general. Again. I hope not! But that seems like the most likely scenario, barring some unforeseen deus ex machina.
Baud
@raven:
Of course. How else can we stay miserable?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Steeplejack:
@Baud:
Additionally I’m not sure Twitter followers are a good metric, anyway. How many of DeSantis’ 2.5 mil followers are real vs bots for example
Steeplejack
@Betty Cracker:
I meant “Twitter vs. real life” just in the sense that I seem to see a fair number of tweets predicting a rude surprise for DeSantis in November (probably just wish fulfillment), and Crist’s tweet was a dispiriting corrective.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: yeah, that was me. He called me the c-word multiple times. He seemed nice.
Gvg
@Betty Cracker: we tried more exciting over more electable when we chose Gillum over Graham. It didn’t work either. Biden was safe and he won. Obama was exciting and he won. There isn’t a sure formula.
Fried put me off with the flaky support for crypto. I don’t know about other issues. Christ used to be Republican and supported some gay unfriendly legislation that his party would have kicked him out for not supporting. Right now I want to hear how he stands on abortion rights and several other key rights. For that matter I want to hear Nikki too. Then I want her checked out really well. Things don’t go well when we trust without verifying new exciting politicians. I wouldn’t mind a few more candidates too. Not a whole bunch but about 4 good ones would be about right.
jnfr
@zhena gogolia:
Woo hoo! Is it shiny?
J R in WV
@Gin & Tonic:
Wife’s neurosurgeon was a very attractive young woman with nearly 20 years of experience after years of work to become a neurosurgeon. Of course we’re really old so everyone looks young and attractive to us.
Did a great job on a tricky problem that was years in the making, a disc in Wife’s neck was out of position and had been so long everything was calcified in the wrong position. Spinal work is at least partly orthopedic in many ways.
Jinchi
I don’t think the gas tax holiday has any real upside and a lot of downsides for Biden.
Gas prices are where they are because that’s the price gas companies can get people to pay for them in this constrained and competative market (hence the massive profits). Cut the gas tax and the difference will only add to the bottom line There could easily be no actual decrease in gas prices, a real loss of revenue for infrastructure, followed by constant headlines warning of a 20 cent price increase in the fall and liberals demoralized that Biden’s action transferred billions to mega corporations.
Normies will only give Biden credit if year-over-year inflation falls back to normal levels.
sab
@J R in WV: Yikes. Husband is due in for neck surgery next month with similar problem but lumbar not cervical.
Another Scott
@Carlo Graziani: It looks to me like gas futures prices peaked a few weeks ago and are heading down. E.g. December gas futures have dropped about 37 cents a gallon from the highs. The traders seem to think that prices are going to move lower throughout the rest of the year. Biden pushing for additional actions is good politics, won’t hurt the Highway Trust Fund, and is pushing prices the way they are already heading so has a good chance of success. Sometimes jawboning and bully-pulpiting and green-lanterning works.
We’ll see!
Cheers,
Scott.
Dan B
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: I was shocked, Totally Shocked! Gergen believes Fossil Fuel company CEO’s have delicate thin skins and will respond well to polite requests…
Numbnuts is too kind. GQP’ers love the combative RW pols but Lie’bruls must be “nice”. To paraphrase a Jackal: Fuckem! They want to bully and abuse. We fight back. They have no interest in dialogue and compromise. They only want our surrender.
Carlo Graziani
@Another Scott:
The jawboning/bully pulpit part is fine by me. It’s the own-goal of believing he can address the inelasticity of supply through tax relief that makes me wonder whether he’s been possessed by one of those Petersen Institute Think-Tankers from the Oughts. It’s the exact opposite of a solution.
Geminid
@Gvg: I think both Cfist and Fried will check out fine on abortion rights.
You have an interesting choice. Crist plods along like a tortoise, while Fried is more like a hare. She just hasn’t gotten a lot of traction. I suspect one might perform a couple points ahead of the other in the general election, and a couple points might make the difference. But I couldn’t say which one would do better.
Gin & Tonic
@J R in WV: That’s precision work. Hip replacement is carpentry. Isn’t the old joke that to become an orthopedic surgeon you need to be strong as an ox and twice as smart?
Geminid
@Gvg: But I’m looking at this from 800 miles away, in a very different state. I feel like I can apply some of what I see in Virgina politics to Georgia or even Texas. But Florida seems like a different political species entirely. I bet it’s tough even for Floridians to understand their state’s politics.
@Geminid:
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: I’m a 7th generation Floridian who has followed politics here all my life, and I have no idea what the hell is going on.
lowtechcyclist
@Omnes Omnibus:
I concur. Inflation is when you have too much money chasing too few goods, causing the price to rise. There’s no indication that this is why the price of gasoline has gone up this year.
StringOnAStick
@Omnes Omnibus: That, or it could be that Biden knows a gas tax holiday will get 24 maybe 48 hours of press coverage before the All Seeing Eyes (msm) move on to the next shiny thing, and since this is a state level governance issue, nothing will actually happen. But it will sound like something for a little while..
I’m inclined to lean hard on Carlo’s argument that this is a pure constrainted supply and inelastic demand issue. Refineries are incredibly complex beasts and after shutting some down in the early Covid days, it is expensive and time/resource intensive to bring them back online. The oil and refinery companies are making record profits selling less for more, so what is their incentive to mess with that new steady state, especially with EV’s fast coming to market?
Another Scott
@Carlo Graziani: He’s punting it off to Congress and the states and telling them to deal with it. He’s not doing some Executive Order thing and having all the blame thereby be on his head. His full comments make it clear that just Congress passing a federal tax holiday isn’t going to do much on its own. Lots of things are possible if everyone does their part (refiners get their plants running again, etc.).
It looks like the EIA.gov graph of ‘weekly US gasoline days of supply’ is kinda normal and kinda independent of the price; or alternatively, supply and demand adjust pretty quickly (as one would expect in such an old and important market).
Cheers,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
@Gvg: It’s about 2 month to the primary, and I’ll be voting for Fried. I definitely have some concerns, but Crist lost to Skeletor already and helped Lil Marco get to the Senate. I want to try something new.
Another Scott
@Betty Cracker:
FloridaPolitics.com (from May 22):
Sounds like good news. I hope she can/has capitalize/d on it.
DeSantis is a monster. Here’s hoping that whoever you folks pick finds a way to defeat him.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jinchi
Yes, please. Enough with trying to get Crist elected. He’s lost repeatedly already. I don’t understand Florida Dems wanting to try that horse again.
WaterGirl
@Jinchi: I’m guessing that they hope they will get crossover Republican votes from Crist – which they would most certainly not get with a real Democrat.
They may also think “he won before, he can win again” but these are not your father’s Republicans, so I don’t think that’s a fair assumption.
Yutsano
@zhena gogolia: I had avascular necrosis in both hips. When I got the left one replaced, the relief from the pain was so noticeable I was like, “Go do the other one!” If inpatient rehabilitation is an option for you I highly recommend going. It’s exhausting but you’ll have much better results. Welcome to the Cyborg club!
Chris T.
@Ruckus: Dead thread, but you know what they say: PT doesn’t stand for Physical Therapy. It stands for Pain and Torture.