American Politics

[Tiny 12]

Biden stupidity at its finest. White House bragging 2 weeks ago that Biden releasing 1,000,000 barrels of a day from the USA strategic reserve in March was reducing gas prices and Biden taking credit. Today OPEC reduced production 2,000,000 barrels a day saying to Biden screw you. OPEC wants to see the USA Stategic reserve depleted to create national security issues for America. Biden begging them not to was laughed at by OPEC. Biden weakness has put the USA in an energy crises. The dumb asses will blame Putin, Trump or the Easter Bunny but the intelligent point the finger at Biden and they are correct. Yes and California will suffer more. That is why so many people are leaving California for other states.

A couple of weeks ago when oil was in the mid 80's, the Biden administration elected to extend sales from the strategic reserve through November, probably to add a little extra insurance before the election. Not the brightest move, unless perhaps you're a Democrat running in November. Like you say, the SPR was created for purpose of protecting our national security. The amount to be released in November would average 330,000 BOPD, and like you said OPEC is reducing production by a lot more.

[Tiny 12]

I'll bet money that you thought Travv's post was true. It wasn't. Like every member of. The Moron Brigade who posts on this board, he didn't list the source. His source was the "Babylon Bee" a well-known satire site. https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4098352/posts.

You really do need to get off your "everything blue is bad" horse.

Smdh.

That's what that blue flag in the photo is, right? The Democrat flag.

I'm actually closer to the Democrat way of thinking on social issues. But I vote with my pocketbook. And believe, like the majority of Americans, that Republicans are better for the economy.

[Tiny 12]

How many refineries exist in Texas right now? The answer is 32. How many refineries exist in California right now? 15. The total refining capacity of California refineries is about 1. 7 million BPD. The Texas capacity is more than triple that at almost 6 million BPD.

There is a lot going on re: reformulated gasoline. California uses as special blend called low-RVP gasoline. It costs more to produce and therefore costs more.

That was my point in pulling the prices for gasoline in the southeastern USA, Denver and New York. The price is only a little higher in southeastern states than Texas. I tried to tell you why the price is higher in California, that is why the state is like an island unto itself when it comes to gasoline. The unique formulation requirements are big part of the reason but not all of it. Apparently I didn't do a very good job explaining as you didn't understand me.

Now, one can gripe and complain all they want, but the vast majority of Californians voted to lower their property taxes with Prop 13. The government needs to get the money somewhere.

That's the strongest argument you've made. You have to get the money somewhere, and if you put gasoline in the same category as tobacco and alcohol, then it makes sense to tax it similarly. A carbon tax that exempts exports makes a lot more sense than government mandates, for EV's or fuel economy or whatever, IMHO because you're letting the market work, instead of relying on the omniscience of government.

The drawback is that it's a regressive tax that hurts the poorest among us. Or maybe I should say the poorest who own cars. I have one friend in particular who had a tough time paying for gas to get to and from work. It blew out his budget when gasoline prices went up. Also, I don't think anything we do will make a significant difference in global warming. We account for 15% of carbon emissions, and that number's going to go down a lot. The future is in the hands of rapidly growing and industrializing countries like China, India and Indonesia, and they're still building coal fired power plants.

[Cali Guy]

Biden stupidity at its finest. White House bragging 2 weeks ago that Biden releasing 1,000,000 barrels of a day from the USA strategic reserve in March was reducing gas prices and Biden taking credit. Today OPEC reduced production 2,000,000 barrels a day saying to Biden screw you. OPEC wants to see the USA Stategic reserve depleted to create national security issues for America. Biden begging them not to was laughed at by OPEC. Biden weakness has put the USA in an energy crises. The dumb asses will blame Putin, Trump or the Easter Bunny but the intelligent point the finger at Biden and they are correct. Yes and California will suffer more. That is why so many people are leaving California for other states.

Yes stupidity and in another 250 days the Strategic Reserve will be close to depleted. Then what? Yes Biden will be begging Saudi for $150 a barrel oil.

[Elvis 2008]

Just a wild guess since I am not from USA, but isn't California probitively expensive for many people, while Texas is much cheaper cost of living? Especially for families. I speculate that it might be a more common reason that the one you put fwd for Elon Musk.

TK, they are both true. Musk moved to Austin, TX because he asked his employees where they wanted a second Tesla plant, and they all said Austin. They could not even come up with a second place. There are lakes, stunning scenery, golf courses where deer roam free, great places to eat, fellow liberals, and I talked to one Californian who moved here and she said there are not the threats of the drug doing homeless on every corner like there is in California.

Unlike its snobby brethren in Dallas and Houston, people in Austin are hippy types, the black sheep of the family. It is called the velvet rut. You go to Austin because you are burned out and stay because you are having so much fun that you cannot leave.

My ultimate Austin experience is Franklin's BBQ. The owner and his wife could be put in that 70's show and no one would blink. Their restaurant is a downtown trailer, but every day they are open, there is a line out the door and it takes hours to get food. Unlike California or New York, Texans do not do lines. You have one popular place you build 10 more but not Franklin's. There is just one.

There are great, great BBQ joints in Austin where you do not have to wait, but I have waited in this line, and you make friends. You talk about if you are stupid for waiting in line this long. You drink the local craft beers. You buy them for your new friends, make stupid toasts, and pretty soon the line no longer is a burden but a line of friends you love being with. That is classic Austin, friendly people who do not shy from admitting they are different and waiting three hours for BBQ is different. It is weird, and that is the slogan of the city, Keep Austin weird. It is the perfect slogan for this city. It really is.

So you get your meat. Plastic tray. Wax paper. Gourmet setting this is not. And then you take a bite of the brisket, and I will leave it to deceased international food critic Anthony Bourdain to take it from here. "How is it possible that this brisket is so good?" How do you take crummy brisket meat and make it more tasty than the most expensive filet mignon? The brisket is not just good. It is life affirming, proof that there is always something better to find and try.

But without the ranchers who tend to the beef, the Bible lovers who get the trains to run on time, the blue collar conservative oil workers who give the state its energy, the gun loving hunters, and the straight laced businessman, there would be no weird. The problem with California is the whole state is weird whereas in Texas we just have this one part, and that is why it works. You have a place with a nice climate, great food, friendly people, no state income taxes, and a city that although strangled by traffic is one that works.

Austin is what California should be.

[Tiny 12]

Just a wild guess since I am not from USA, but isn't California probitively expensive for many people, while Texas is much cheaper cost of living? Especially for families. I speculate that it might be a more common reason that the one you put fwd for Elon Musk.

Well, yes, we know the price of gasoline is higher in California.

This is a wild guess for me too, as I don't live in California. But judging from the following, you appear to be right, and the two biggest culprits would be high taxes and the high cost of buying or renting housing:

https://kmph.com/news/local/people-a...t-record-rates

It sounds like California just isn't affordable for the Workingman and retirees.

Just speculating, but I bet headaches and costs associated with permitting and rezoning are the main reasons the housing shortage exists in the Peoples Republic of California. Probably California Democratic politicians would instead blame that on limited land, and "everyone wants to live in California. " The part about limited land is true. Because if the governments won't grant permits or rezone, there's limited land to build housing on. And rent seekers like one of our posters here can clean up. And, sincerely, kudos to him for that. I wish I owned some prime California rental property I picked up many years ago.

[JustTK]

Hmmm, I wonder why a net 261,902 people left California in the year ended June 30, 2021, while 310,288 moved to Texas. Texas is hot as hell in summer, cold in winter, doesn't have many mountains, has crappy beaches, and doesn't have a fraction of the things to do that California has. Well, the 13.3% state income tax rate probably had something to do with Elon Musk moving.

Just a wild guess since I am not from USA, but isn't California probitively expensive for many people, while Texas is much cheaper cost of living? Especially for families. I speculate that it might be a more common reason that the one you put fwd for Elon Musk.

[ScatManDoo]

Ethanol is another false savior. It takes more than a gallon of gas to make a gallon of pure ethanol.,.

I am very surprised to read this.

From what source did you get this?

I know just a little about the blending of Ethanol. Since I see the few stations that sell Ethanol, sell it at a slightly lower cost than regular gasoline, I was expecting that the opposite was true.

[JustTK]

"When a nation stays neutral, it's a sovereign country with free will, but when it joins a bloc like NATO, it becomes an army base of an over-ambitious superpower that wants to control world order. ".

"I hate war. Everything is bad about war. Pain, wounds, death, loss, tears and cruel memories for all life. But, once somebody told me, when everything is going negative, try to find out something positive there and this is life. Nowadays, everything is going badly in this world, but maybe after the Ukraine and Russia conflict one thing has been settled down. Maybe now no country will give their soil to illegitimate partners to use for terror against neighbouring countries. " - Mohammed Zaki Ansari, "Zaki's Gift Of Love".

[PVMonger]

That doesn't really explain it. Looking at unleaded regular in the year to date 2022, the PADD 1 C states, being states from Florida north to Virginia, the premium is 4% to Texas. For New York it's 14%. And for Denver it's 7%. Numbers again were downloaded from Bloomberg.

Reformulated gasoline to control smog is required in Houston and New York City, and I don't believe the cost is substantially higher than the respective statewide averages. Which again aren't at huge premiums to the price in Texas.

A quick glance at requirements for California gasoline makes me think the state is micromanaging formulations, without giving appropriate consideration to costs and benefits. That is, without allowing the refineries to use cheaper methods to produce similar results. But I don't know enough about refining to really know.

I don't view the issue as Republican vs. Democrat. Colorado and New York are blue and their prices aren't that out of whack with the rest of the country. I view it as a California issue. California is kind of like a "gasoline island", in that it doesn't have the oil and product pipelines (gasoline pipelines) that crisscross most of the rest of the USA. The reason was because California had lots of oil production and refinery capacity, so no need to interconnect. A person could make the same arguments about California and gasoline as you made about Texas and electricity, the big difference being that California is no longer a power house in terms of oil and gasoline production. And, in terms of power and fuel, Texas still is. California is exacerbating the problem, for people who spend a large % of their disposable income on gasoline, with high taxes and fees, by discouraging oil production, and, I think, by micromanaging gasoline formulations.

As to the refineries, I note that ten with capacity of 205,750 barrels per day were permanently shut down in Texas between 1990 and 2021, while fourteen with capacity of 998,050 barrels per day were shut in California. I'm using "total downstream charge capacity."

https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/refinerycapacity/table13.pdf

How many refineries exist in Texas right now? The answer is 32. How many refineries exist in California right now? 15. The total refining capacity of California refineries is about 1. 7 million BPD. The Texas capacity is more than triple that at almost 6 million BPD.

There is a lot going on re: reformulated gasoline. California uses as special blend called low-RVP gasoline. It costs more to produce and therefore costs more. But California does add a lot of excise tax to gasoline so it does cost more. Now, one can gripe and complain all they want, but the vast majority of Californians voted to lower their property taxes with Prop 13. The government needs to get the money somewhere.

[Canada]

Not great if you live on California but I have been advising all my clients to be buying oil and gas stocks the last few months and it is working for them. Oil stocks are the only stocks going up today. Biden is begging OPEC countries today to not make the cuts in oil production but they just laugh at him. OPEC knows Biden is a fool for devastating his energy program in USA and begging other countries to produce more. But the dumbest people in the USA will continue to support Biden stupidity and incompetence and just blame Trump or Putin.

Biden stupidity at its finest. White House bragging 2 weeks ago that Biden releasing 1,000,000 barrels of a day from the USA strategic reserve in March was reducing gas prices and Biden taking credit. Today OPEC reduced production 2,000,000 barrels a day saying to Biden screw you. OPEC wants to see the USA Stategic reserve depleted to create national security issues for America. Biden begging them not to was laughed at by OPEC. Biden weakness has put the USA in an energy crises. The dumb asses will blame Putin, Trump or the Easter Bunny but the intelligent point the finger at Biden and they are correct. Yes and California will suffer more. That is why so many people are leaving California for other states.

[PVMonger]

Hilarious! Our tax dollars at work.

I'll bet money that you thought Travv's post was true. It wasn't. Like every member of. The Moron Brigade who posts on this board, he didn't list the source. His source was the "Babylon Bee" a well-known satire site. https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4098352/posts.

You really do need to get off your "everything blue is bad" horse.

Smdh.

[Tiny 12]

FT MYERS, FL In a desperate attempt to get help for its citizens and deal with the growing humanitarian crisis in the area, a Florida town devastated by Hurricane Ian has taken the unusual step of raising the Ukrainian flag, hoping to convince Congress to send aid...

Hilarious! Our tax dollars at work.

[Tiny 12]

I thank god every day that California knows how to apply sensible and responsible regulations and tax policy in order to make living and working there more attractive and profitable than most anywhere else in the country if not on Earth.

Hmmm, I wonder why a net 261,902 people left California in the year ended June 30, 2021, while 310,288 moved to Texas. Texas is hot as hell in summer, cold in winter, doesn't have many mountains, has crappy beaches, and doesn't have a fraction of the things to do that California has. Well, the 13.3% state income tax rate probably had something to do with Elon Musk moving. Not sure about the rest. Anyway I hope all the Democrats stay in California. I don't want them moving to where I live and voting.

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2022/04/25/-/media/data-visualizations/interactives/2016/fiscal-50/docs/2013/PopulationChangeData.xlsx?v=20220420

[Tiny 12]

Gee, why not count the number of refineries in California and the number of refineries in Texas? I'll bet dollars to donuts that Texas has more than double the number of refineries than California. And I would also bet that the disparity has existed for a long time. Sure, let's not mention that, right?

Let's also not mention that California has unique fuel blends that help control smog. After all, that wouldn't have anything to do with price either, would it? Sheesh, the lengths you guys go to dig yourselves into a hole is astounding.

And, since you can't read, Canada said in his post "Why is gas 80 to 100 percent higher in dem run cities? I pointed out that Houston and Tucson (both cities that he used in his rant to prove that gas was cheaper in Republican cities) both had Democratic mayors. I can't help it if his analysis was faulty and I can't help it if you can't read.

That doesn't really explain it. Looking at unleaded regular in the year to date 2022, the PADD 1 C states, being states from Florida north to Virginia, the premium is 4% to Texas. For New York it's 14%. And for Denver it's 7%. Numbers again were downloaded from Bloomberg.

Reformulated gasoline to control smog is required in Houston and New York City, and I don't believe the cost is substantially higher than the respective statewide averages. Which again aren't at huge premiums to the price in Texas.

A quick glance at requirements for California gasoline makes me think the state is micromanaging formulations, without giving appropriate consideration to costs and benefits. That is, without allowing the refineries to use cheaper methods to produce similar results. But I don't know enough about refining to really know.

I don't view the issue as Republican vs. Democrat. Colorado and New York are blue and their prices aren't that out of whack with the rest of the country. I view it as a California issue. California is kind of like a "gasoline island", in that it doesn't have the oil and product pipelines (gasoline pipelines) that crisscross most of the rest of the USA. The reason was because California had lots of oil production and refinery capacity, so no need to interconnect. A person could make the same arguments about California and gasoline as you made about Texas and electricity, the big difference being that California is no longer a power house in terms of oil and gasoline production. And, in terms of power and fuel, Texas still is. California is exacerbating the problem, for people who spend a large % of their disposable income on gasoline, with high taxes and fees, by discouraging oil production, and, I think, by micromanaging gasoline formulations.

As to the refineries, I note that ten with capacity of 205,750 barrels per day were permanently shut down in Texas between 1990 and 2021, while fourteen with capacity of 998,050 barrels per day were shut in California. I'm using "total downstream charge capacity."

https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/refinerycapacity/table13.pdf