China thorium

India is the largest of the undeveloped countries and represents their feelings about climate change. They point out that the industrial revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries was fueled by coal and western countries built their economies on coal. Now when it comes time for the underdeveloped countries to use coal to grow their economies the west says no. When the common refrain these days is fairness these countries have a ligament complaint. The Paris agreement and today's conference in Glasgow are all about transferring money from the west by using guilt from the past. It also nicely fits into the concept of globalization. The best solution is to have these countries skip the oil and gas stage and go right to thorium nuclear and China is leading the way.

Wind solar and nuclear

Most everyone agrees that the increase in CO2 is at the center of the climate change controversy. Most also agree that to combat this all sources of energy must be considered. Most agree that geothermo and hydro are acceptable which leaves wind, solar and nuclear. Thorium nuke plants are small, inexpensive and safe so they could be the backup power for solar and wind when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. Thorium is readily available and unlike wind and solar does not cause environmental problems when mined. Thorium plants are small and compact and can be mass produced in an assembly line process and shipped to differently locations and assembled on site. They can start by replacing power plants and in time start producing hydrogen for transportation. In time wind and solar will no longer be needed. Thorium plants do not have the problem of disposal that uranium plants have and can even use stored nuclear waste as fuel. This will be possible if politics is removed from the equation and climate change is not uses for social change. Come on man we can do this.

Inflation

Most people have not been concerned about inflation since it has been about 2% for the past 25 years. During this time the money supply increased from $5 trillion to $20 trillion. Econ 101 defines inflation as too much money chasing too few goods and that is exactly what has been going on for over 20 years. It now appears that this is coming to an end and the country is facing wage/price inflation. This is because too many people had extra money handed out to them and thus demand has increased. While this is going on supply is limited as products sit in ships off the California coast. The government is about to spend another $1.75 trillion and the supply chain is broken so inflation should continue.

Big spending

The new big spending bill contains $555 billion for climate change meaning replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar. This will require large numbers of solar panels which are primarily made in China and large amounts of rare earth metals which are mined in China. The amount of CO2 is constantly referenced when talking climate change but the damage to the earth and water are rarely mentioned. They are willing to trade clean air for dirty water. This could be avoided if the emphasis was on natural gas for transportation and thorium nuke plants for electric power. After enough plants are built excess electric power could be used to make hydrogen by electrolysis of water and use that for transportation. That way we can have clear air and clean water. It will be economical to desalt sea water and use that to grow crops in the desert.

1.75 trillion bill

Pushback from moderates over the size of the package has meant tough decisions about what to cut and what to keep. Progressives argued for preserving as many of the proposal’s policies as possible, while saving money by having them expire sooner than initially planned. Some moderates, meanwhile, advocated for the opposite: funding fewer programs for more time. The strategy is to start a give away program, keep it going for three to five years and then ask the politicians not to renew the program. This is the way Obamacare stayed under a trillion dollars in the first ten years. The benefits were only paid six of the first ten years. President Joe Biden backed the former strategy as well, and that appears to be the course Democrats will pursue. Biden and the progressives hope the policies will be so popular — even if they’re only implemented for a short period — that it will be difficult for future lawmakers to let them lapse, regardless of who controls Congress.

Epstein

Ghislaine Maxwell is going on trial. You remember her, the girl friend of Jeff Epstein the man who had the sex island where many important people went for entertainment. Epstein was convicted of sex trafficking and sent to jail. He was placed on suicide watch for six days and returned to the jail. He was to have a cellmate and be checked on every 30 minutes. On the night of his death his cellmate was transferred leaving him alone. The two guards that were supposed to check on him every 30 minutes fell asleep. The three cameras that were to watch him all malfunctioned. He wrapped a bed sheet around his neck and tied it to the bunk and hanged himself. The day before his attorneys visited with him and said he was in good spirits. He made his will and left everything to a trust. All charges were dropped after his death. It was earlier reported that the FBI had confiscated a large number of videos showing these important people in various compromising situations but those videos have since disappeared with no explanation as to what happen to them.

Nike

A bill called the Uyghur Force Labor Prevention Act has passed the house and the senate and is awaiting the presidents signature. The bill prohibits the import of products made by Uyghurs in China. Working conditions at these factories are notoriously bad and often referred to as slave labor. Big companies like Nike and Apples make their products in these factories. Nike is the company that raised Colin Kaepernick to national prominence when they backed his claim that America was racist. They were fighting for the down trodden here while getting their products made by slave labor. Banning these products could be the first step to bringing production back to the US.

Police and guns

As the defund the police idea fades away another proposal in NY City has some concerned. One of the candidates for mayor suggested that police not carry guns. If you want to change the way policing is done this would certainly do it. Some suggest that after a few officers were killed the whole idea would also fade away.

Tesla

If you purchase a new electric car you can get a $7,500 tax credit. This means if you owe $10,000 in taxes you only have to pay $2,500. In addition companies that make these cars receive government subsidies in the form of emission credits. The government pays them for not emitting CO2. This is how Elon Musk survived the early years and in recent years finally started making a profit when last year the company earned $600 million from sales and $350 from emission subsidies. Tesla is worth more than 19 other car companies combined and yet they only sold 240,000 cars last year world wide.

New tax

Biden has proposed a tax on unrealized capital gains for very wealthy people. Under current law people can post pone the tax until they sell. If they die and pass the money to their heirs then that is subject to a 40% estate tax. Biden's plan would tax the gains each year so the total accumulation over time will be much less and thus less estate tax. The benefit to Biden's plan is that the government will get the money sooner, each year instead of waiting for the person to die. The amount of total tax will not be much different. The government will make more on people who sell if they raise the capital gain rate to 43% from the current 23%. At what amount of investment this will kick in is not yet determined but it will be high enough so as to affect only the super rich. Then there will be the unintended consequence things like clever accountants finding ways to circumvent the law.

Communism

Young people today, which in my mind is most people, are not aware of how communism fears capitalism. As WW2 ended and the Soviets took over Eastern Europe, the city of Berlin was left in the middle. This resulted in dividing the city into east and west Berlin. The economy under the Soviets stagnated while the west using free market capitalism grew rapidly. The contrast was apparent early on and the Soviets could not allow a capitalist economy so close to home so they blockaded the city. The US replied with the Berlin airlift which lasted for about a year and the Soviets backed down. In just a couple of years the contrast was so stark than many of the better educated in the East began to move to West Berlin. While the population in the west rose quickly the east was losing people. By the mid 1950's the GDP of the west was double the east. By 1961 the Soviets began building a wall to keep people from leaving. The Soviets maintained control of their territories through fear and force while in the west the people were kept satisfied with economic growth. This Berlin wall remained for almost 30 years but it was clear from the start that the central control government could not compete with free enterprise.

Hunter emails

Hunter Biden's laptop was discovered in a computer repair shop and turned over the FBI in December of 2019 nearly a year before the election. It lay quiet until October just before the election when a story about it and its contents was published in the New York Post. Within a few days 50 former intelligence officers signed a paper saying it was Russian disinformation. Next Facebook and Twitter took measures to limit the reach of the story. There is a drastic shift from Politico which ran the October 2020 headline, "Hunter Biden story is Russian Disinfo" to fast forward one year to after the election when Politico national correspondent Ben Schreckinger writes that there’s evidence pointing to the Hunter Biden emails being legit, which now backs up the New York Post’s story that liberals wanted washed from the Internet. The next day White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday insisted that emails recovered from Hunter Biden’s discarded laptop computer were Russian disinformation, despite new confirmation of the authenticity of the emails. Federal investigators are examining whether emails allegedly describing activities by Joe Biden and his son Hunter and found on a laptop at a Delaware repair shop are linked to a foreign intelligence operation. Special counsel John Durham is also investigating Hunter's activities. Some skeptics say these reports will be released when Biden leaves office.

Way of life

The mother robin used her instinct to keep one nestling from leaving too soon by holding him back until he was ready but the second chick needed a push to leave. Parents sometimes face the same dilemma. One child wants to leave home before shes ready and the second needs boost to get going. Governments face a similar situation with the safety net. They must give out enough assistance to get people back on their feet but not so much as to discourage personal growth. This happened last summer when people who earned $1,000 per week working suddenly found themselves in the position of getting $1,100 per week for not working. They should follow former President Clinton's words when he said, welfare should be a helping hand not a way of life. A young single mom needs help but when she had a baby when she was 16 because her mother had her when she was 16 because the grandmother had the mother when she was 16, we now have a way of life. Clinton knew the difference.

Panama immigrants

September 30,2021 Panama’s foreign minister warned Wednesday that up to 60,000 migrants, many of them of Haitian origin, are making their way through the Central American country toward the US-Mexico border — threatening the Biden administration with a fresh illegal immigration crisis. Up to 180,000 Haitians moved to South America in the 2010s. “This is the tip of the iceberg of an inevitable northern migration." On a call this week with senior Department of Homeland Security officials, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asked whether the department was prepared for a worst-case scenario in which 350,000 to 400,000 migrants cross the border in October, according to two DHS officials familiar with the conversation.

Germany

Early in her career Angela Merkel went all in on climate change, stopped fracking and started phasing out nuclear and Germany now has 45% of its power coming from renewables. Coal plants are being closed leaving Germany dependent on natural gas to back up its wind and solar. Germany gets its natural gas from Russia and Russia is manipulating market supply to keep the price up. The November gas price at the Dutch TTF hub, a European benchmark , hit an all-time high of 97.73 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) earlier on Friday, up around 400% this year, before easing slightly. The quick rise in natural gas prices impacts Germany, but the economy ministry at this point does not aim to use government action to protect consumers The United States seems to be headed toward a similar fate.

Parents FBI

For many years the conservatives have concentrated on local and state elections and now control the majority. Meanwhile the liberals have taken control of education. While this was going on liberals, based on their belief that conservatives are evil, started trying to shut down any unwanted opinions most notably speakers on campus. The recent flap regarding school boards has brought this to attention of parents and has resulted in a back lash. Do not upset the mama bear. Teachers unions have gained considerable power within the democratic party and are now using that power to promote ideas that are not popular with many parents. Keep in mind that the union's main responsibility is taking care of teachers not students but their large donations to the democratic party allow them to influence policy. Asking the FBI to investigate, because a small number of parents became violent, is over kill and many think it was designed to discourage parents who behave sensibly from showing up at meetings. The proper response for parents who threaten is to call the local police not the FBI.

84

As of today, I have been on this earth for 84 years. According to the life expectancy tables, I am six years past my expiration date. The good news is that the same table says I have six years to go. I'll get back to you when I'm ninety.

Inflation and interest rate

People under age 50 don't remember the inflation of the late 1970's but it was severe, topping 13.5%. The last 40 years inflation has averaged about 2% which is the fed target. The blessing of low inflation has been low interest rates and now that will start to change. The government has been borrowing money at less than 2% for many years and that is about to end. With the debt at $28 trillion a one percent increase in interest rates means $280 billion in extra interest. In the early 1980's the prime rate rose to 21.5%. If that happens that means $6 trillion per year in interest. This was all brought to a halt when Reagan had the Fed decrease the money supply, sending the country into a deep recession that lasted about 16 months.

Cut drilling

President Biden stopped all drilling for oil and gas on federal lands but recently the courts have negated his order. This expectation is based on numerous remarks the president has made on the issue. For instance, during a 2020 primary debate, Biden said "no more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. Biden's interior secretary, environmentalist and progressive Deb Haaland said, “I am wholeheartedly against fracking and drilling on public lands. Biden recently asked OPEC and Russia to increase production. He must know that burning oil and gas will produce CO2 regardless of where the oil comes from. Some say he cut back on production to raise the price of gasoline to promote the sale of electric cars but that makes no sense since he later asked for more production to lower the price of gasoline. It is difficult to understand what is going on.

Townhall

Biden's town hall meeting last night showed how plans can come back to bite you. The democrats set up a trillion dollar program filled with ways to give benefits to people with the idea that the republicans would have to take away benefits during negotiation. In order to get agreement among democrats many of these benefits had to be removed and last night most of the question to Biden were about what is being removed from the plan by democrats.

China's nukes

Last week it was announced with great fanfare that China had sent a weapon into orbit. Of far greater importance is China building commercial thorium nuke plants and that does not make the news. The big concern in the minds of most people regarding nuclear power plants is safety. Thorium plants have what is called walk away safety. This means using the laws of physics to deal with safety. If a problem of safety occurs in a thorium plant the employees just walk away and let nature solve the problem. Thorium is plentiful and inexpensive. Thorium plant produce far less dangerous waste and can use existing waste as fuel. Stock piles of long term dangerous waste from uranium plant can we recycled into thorium plants. Thorium plants are smaller in size and less costly to build. China will be selling these plants around the world and this is the road to zero carbon emissions. The fossil fuel industry continues to emphasized nuclear safety and renewables see thorium as a threat as both see nuclear as a competitor.

Gas prices

The average cost of home heating with natural gas in $575 per year and this year the price is expected to rise to $825 or about $20 per month. The average person uses 625 gallons of gasoline per year and if the price is one dollar higher this is over $50 per month and this is what people will notice. President Biden says he does not have a near term answer to the rise in gasoline prices. US oil production fell by 8% in 2020, the largest decrease on record. There may be multiple reasons why gas is up but supply and demand must have something to do with the price. Perhaps closing down federal lands to drilling caused a decrease in supply.

Climate info

Today I saw a young woman driving a car with two bumper stickers. The first said, "New Green Deal', and the second said, "I like clean water". I wondered out loud does she know that mining for rare earths used to build solar panels is poisoning the water for 200 million people in China. If not why not. The answer is that the news media does not tell the story of how rare earths are mined. They talk everyday of how wind and solar will replace fossil fuels not understanding why that will not happen. This young lady is unaware that the new green deal is more about social change than clean water. It appears that many in the press are not well informed about mining rare earths.

Memory

It all started in the spring of 2022. The discovery of a memory chemical that could turn an average person into one with a photographic memory within a few months. The first test were conducted by volunteer college students and the results were nothing less than miraculous. Under a lot of pressure the FDA approved the drug for everyone and within a year 6th graders were graduating from high school. It wasn't long before problems developed. Some people did not want to take the drug fearing long term consequences yet to be discovered. These students who represented 20% of the population were holding up the class work of others and those parents complained. Some suggested that these students be put in separate classes which ran contrary to the concept of main streamming students with learning disabilities. Those who refused to take the pill were ridiculed as being ignorant and uncaring. When shaming didn't work employers were asked to demand that employees take the pill or lose their jobs. This lowered the non com-pliers to ten percent but they held strong. The final solution was to go house to house and give memory test and those who failed would be jailed. They followed the policy set down in 2021 when Dr. Anthony Fauci declared last week that people hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine should "give up" their individual freedoms "for the greater good of society." This could be taken right from the communist manifesto.

Presidents

Events have a way of overtaking Presidential candidates. Woodrow Wilson promised in November of 1916 to "keep us out of war". He was inaugurated in January of 1917 and in April of 1917 the US entered WW 1. FDR in October of 1940 said, "your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars" and he was inaugurated in January of 1941 and in December of 1941 the US entered WW 2. Presidents all agree that sending troops to fight is the most difficult of all decisions but promises did not stop these two.

White guilt

White guilt is affecting many people and it shows in the desire to remove statues of slave holders like Washington and Jefferson. It started with the lower hanging fruit like Jefferson Davis and Robert E Lee. Next comes the renaming of streets, schools and buildings. Changing the name of the nations capitol and the state of Washington will be considered as will two dollar and the five dollar bills. The names Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument will be changed since they don't contain statues. They have opened Padoa's Box since 41 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves.

Nuclear power

Here is a ray of hope that came out of the White House yesterday regarding climate change. One piece considered critical to Biden's climate goals, a mechanism to replace coal- and gas-fired power plants with wind, solar and nuclear energy. Please note the word nuclear. Now things are starting to make sense. Use wind and solar on fixed buildings and thorium nuke plants to produce electricity for the power grid. Use this inexpensive carbon free electric power to produce hydrogen for transportation. After searching the Internet there is no mention of the use of this word nuclear. Hopefully this was not a mistake.

Inflation

Most Americans heat their homes with natural gas and the price has doubled since June so what ever you paid last year you will pay twice that this year. The price of gasoline has increased by 50% since January so you will pay 50% more this year than last. Oil prices have go up 40% since January meaning the cost of most consumer items will increase accordingly since transportation cost is included in the price. One example is the cost of a shipping container from China has increased by 400%. This should be more reason to produce goods here in the US.

Food desert

The words food desert refers to some inner city areas where it is difficult to find a grocery store. Something similar is happening in regards to drug stores. In liberal cities like San Francisco laws consider theft up to $995 as a misdemeanor. This has emboldened thieves to steal up to that amount without fear of punishment. In response to this Walgreen's has closed 22 stores and these are located in poor neighborhoods so now the same areas that lack grocery stores lack pharmacies. Thieves actually go into a store with calculators and add up what they steal to make sure they don't go over the $995. They just shop lift and walk out.

Afghan women

The United Nations has issued an emergency call for aid to Afghanistan and the US has responded with a $60 million dollar donation. Someone suggested, tongue in cheek I hope, that the US buy back some of the equipment that was left behind. The Taliban publicly says that women are being treated fairly but reports tell a different story. Sep 5, 2021 — More than half of all Afghan women reported physical abuse and 17 percent reported sexual violence, while almost 60 percent were in forced marriages. Some question the motive of sending money suggesting that the administration is trying to buy favors from the Taliban.

Illegal crossings

The Mexican cartels represent the free market system. They advertise in foreign countries, places like China and Russia where they can get up to $35,000 per person to smuggle in to the US. They advertise on Tic Tok to get Americans to act as drivers to pick up people who cross the border and want to get further inland. Border guards are apprehending migrants from 50 countries, including India, China, Bangladesh, Egypt, Romania and Turkey. The cartels have lookouts on high ground watching where the border patrol guards are located and then they notify their friends who then direct the crossings to a safe place. They are well organized because they do not fear the Mexican government or the border guards. About 80% of the illegals are returned to Mexico to await their next opportunity to enter the US. Many are not apprehended and just move into other parts of the US. The whole process is like a comedy of errors.

Hunters art

The saga of Hunter Biden continues with his new art career. This follows questionable deals with the Ukraine and China. Even CNN finally had a short blurb about who is buying this art. Most of the coverage is on Fox as is the border and Afghanistan. This is the trend of selective news coverage based on politics. It encourages the division in the country over several important issues. Today on Fox Business the host Maria is spending he time at the border but on MSNBC the border is not mentioned. It is further proof that to get an accurate picture of the news it is necessary to watch different sources.

News differences

To illustrate the importance of checking different news sources here is an September 23, 2021 article from a liberal site. Practically since his first week in office, President Joe Biden has faced repeated criticisms from Republicans and some Democrats that his border policy amounts to “open borders.” This criticism is not simply inaccurate: it is unhinged from reality in a way that distinguishes itself from normal political hyperbole. Indeed, U.S. immigration policy is effectively closed borders, and Biden’s immigration policies and goals are largely the same as those of President Donald Trump. Trump threatened Mexico with tariffs if they didn't stop the flow of immigrants across Mexico's southern border with Guatemala and they sent troops down there and stopped it. That is no longer the case. Trump installed the remain in Mexico policy and that is no longer in effect. Trump was building the wall and that is no longer happening. These represents significant differences between policies.

Masks

Dr Fauci said herd immunity was at 60% and then 70% and now 80%. Currently there are only 20% who are not vaccinated and it can be assumed that many of those have had Covid and now have natural immunity. In spite of this some schools are still requiring masks. Many people wonder if masks have left the medical field and entered the foreboding territory of politics. Reaching 100% of safety in any area is not practical when you look at cost/benefit ratios but who looks at that.

Censorship

Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex but today another threat is looming on the horizon and it is the partnership that has developed between the main stream press and the democratic party. This group is now challenging the first amendment right to free speech. What you say can be silenced by calling it hate speech or disinformation. You can be shamed for what you say by cancel culture. Add to this the tendency to silence views considered not part of the narrative and this all leads to a form of censorship. News stories are changed by selectively using data or by leaving out critical information. The interesting thing is that about half the population seem to be OK with this.

Indium

All of the schools in this area have replaced their old smart boards with new ones. The old boards used overhead projectors to show video on the screen. The new boards have touch screens much like lap tops. Indium is a rare earth metal that is used to make touch screens work. This is one more example of how mining for rare earths is done to make things more convenient. No thought is given to the environmental damage caused by this mining.

Malaria

Each year malaria kills 400,000 people mostly in Sub Sahara Africa. The World Health Organization today approved a vaccine developed by US pharmacological company Glaxo Smith Kline. This is reminiscent of how the US saved many lives in Africa with AIDS drugs when Bush sent $90 billion in drugs to Africa. Once again the US taxpayer comes to the rescue.

Afghan airlift

As the Afghan was came to an end, President Biden said on a number of occasions "No nation has ever done anything like it in all of history; only the United States had the capacity and the will and ability to do it," he said. This statement was not challenged by any news media but many recall Dunkirk, where over an 8 day period, 350,000 British and French troops were evacuated and taken to safety in England. In 1948 the US air lifted food and supplies to Berlin. This went on almost a full year with 300,000 flights bringing supplies to 2.2 million people and saved them from starvation.

Violence

Attorney General Merrick Garland is concerned about potential violence erupting at school board meetings because there have been several instances in the past few months where members were yelled at and even threatened. Instead of calling in the FBI the local board should call the local police. This is taking free speech too far but all of last year riots were taking place across the country causing death and destruction of property resulting in many businesses being closed and not much was done about it. In some cities this violence continued nightly for months and the mayor of Seattle called it the summer of love.

OIl

The price of oil has risen $30 a barrel since Biden took office. Russia exports about 10 million barrels a day and that is now bringing in $100 billion dollars per year. This represents one/third of Russia's economy. Add to that Biden has approved the new natural gas line from Russia to Europe and Russia is doing quite well these past 6 months. Gas prices in the US have increased by one/third. U.S. will import 62% more crude by 2022 due to domestic production declines, says EIA Some feel that Biden wants gas prices to rise to encourage the use of electric cars and reduce CO2 just like Obama wanted when he said your utility cost will, "necessarily sky rocket". Neither of these two will be adversely effected by gas prices or utility cost.

3.5 or 2

The controversy surrounding the $3.5 trillion dollar spending bill is reaching a compromise at some lesser amount currently pegged at $2 trillion. The original game was to have lots of benefits in the plan and then ask the republicans what they want to cut. This has backfired and now the democrats will have to decide what to cut. The other option is to fund the full plan and sunset the benefits after five years and then vote to continue the programs or end them. It is not likely that any politician will vote to end a program that has been in force for five years. Once the government starts a public assistance plan it is very difficult to stop it.

Haitians

Panama foreign minister Erika Mouyness expressed frustration to Axios that the Biden administration seemed caught off guard by the Haitian migrant crisis because "we sounded the alarm when we should have". Now there are 60,000 more migrants heading to the border and there is no plan to intervene. This adds more fuel to the idea that the US government wants immigrants to come across the border. This has been a conspiracy theory by many for some time but this lack of action makes it seem more plausible.

Oil vs rare earths

The news today is about an oil spill along the California coast. What is not in the news is the environmental damage caused by the mining of rare earth metals. Here are a few examples. Brazil is a major producer of niobium. New claims for mining has skyrocketed from 3 to 36 percent within one year. If granted, 23 percent of the Amazon forest will fall victim to deforestation. China's Yangtze River, the third-longest in the world, is now so polluted that nearly half the people who depend on it, some 200 million, are without safe drinking water. Open pit mining, long ago banned in the coal industry, is the standard way of mining rare earth metals. The annual demand for rare earths doubled in 15 years and will triple by 2030. These estimates do not include the push by the new green deal. Once again politics will emphasize one area but not the other.

Huawei

Part of China's grand plan to take over the world involves Huawei a communication company poised to install 5G in every country. The daughter of the Huawei founder, Meng Wanzhou and several of its subsidiaries remain under indictment in a much broader case involving racketeering, intellectual property theft and alleged sanctions-busting work with North Korea, as well. This week Biden changed that. Last week, the Department of Justice announced it had reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the chief financial officer of Huawei and daughter of its founder, Meng Wanzhou, ending the case against her. The sellout concerns Huawei the quintessential representative of China's grand strategy to become the predominant global hegemon. Biden has been accused by many of owing China and many are watching how he deals with China. Not pressing them on human rights, the Covid virus and going soft on Huawei are signals that these accusers may have a point although he is keeping the import tax on many items from China.

Carbon free

President Biden announced that the US will be carbon free by 2050 and the press responded with no questions. These people assume that by that time all of our power will come from renewables. In other words wind and solar will replace fossil fuels. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh. Wouldn't it be good reporting to ask if 747's and military jets will fly on batteries. What about railroad locomotives, bulldozers and tanks. Would there be any concern about poisoning the land and water while mining for rare earth metals. Is having backup power needed when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. These things are not asked because, in the eyes of many, the real purpose for going green is not climate change but social change. Based on today's technology the best path to carbon free is an immediate change to natural gas for transportation followed up by thorium nuke plants. Inexpensive electric power from nuke plants will be used to produce hydrogen for transportation including planes. After no more CO2 is being produced then removal of CO2 from the atmosphere is the final step. I feel like a broken record.

Refund benefits

The big news today is that the $3.5 trillion bill is deadlocked. Late this afternoon one of the squad said they would be willing to take a smaller number. This is the answer. They can keep most of what they want and lower the price by sun setting some of the more expensive items. They just fund them for five years instead of ten and this reduces the ten year cost. In five years they refund for the next five. If people have been receiving a benefit for five years the politicians will not have the guts to not renew. Problem solved.

Del Rio

Del Rio, TX is in the news and I am reminded of my high school days when we would stay up late at night and listen to clear channel radio stations. One of these was XELO in Del Rio. They would sell various items and one I recall was rings. This is Zeke Manners from XELO offering you genuine diamond rings for only five dollars. Radio stations in Mexico start with X. The station was in Texas but the antenna was in Mexico so the call letters started with X. No, I never bought one.

Budget gimmicks

Senators Machin and Schumer have reached a private agreement regarding the $3.5 trillion dollar bill proposed by the house. The agreement apparently lowers the amount to $1.5 trillion. Before finding out what the changes are Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said a bill totaling $1.5 trillion wouldn’t be nearly enough investment to address the urgent threat of climate change. Here are some items in the bill that may not affect climate change. $108 billion for community college. $80 billion for Pell Grants. $450 billion for childcare. Medicare expansion to cover dental, hearing and vision. Extending child tax credit. Cutting prescription drug prices. $225 billion for paid family leave. Hundreds of other smaller items that have little to do with climate change. Many people who watch these things closely, realized long ago that much of this bill is not about climate change. Climate change was the political vehicle used to promote social change. The cost of these benefits are underestimated by using budget gimmicks. The standard way to “score” costs is to say what they’d be over the first decade. So to reduce sticker shock, the bill pretends that key new entitlements — in particular, a huge expansion of Medicaid — will expire after just three years. At that time they will be re-negotiated. Does anyone believe that after receiving a benefit for three years that voters will allow it to be stopped.