The US Economy

[TOO]

It's warming up, gas prices gonna go up, happens every year, regardless of who is in office.

[In2ition]

Usually it waits until nearly summertime.

[Nodack]

The Russian/Ukraine war has had a big impact. Also OPEC is trying to raise prices. The US is flooding the market to lower prices. Definitely at odds.

[TOO]

Usually it waits until nearly summertime.

Not in California it doesn't

[In2ition]

Usually it waits until nearly summertime.

Not in California it doesn't

It's always higher in California. That's a given.

[In2ition]

Home Buyers Need to Earn $47,000 More Than in 2020
The income needed to comfortably afford a home is up 80% since 2020, while median income has risen 23% in that time.
Anushna Prakash FEB 29 2024
https://www.zillow.com/research/buyers- ... ded-33755/

[In2ition]

I'm not sure where to put this, but it sounds like blaming the woman for what she was wearing. Not a great argument and shifting the blame never works out well, imo.

[Mori Chu]

^ Eh, I mean, he's an idiot if he thinks that. He's just some random guy. Almost nobody would agree with him about that.

[In2ition]

Keith Ellison isn't some random guy.

[Mori Chu]

He has very little influence or sway. And his comment you posted is dumb and wrong, maybe we can agree on that.

[Nodack]

I can say that X post had zero influence on me whatsoever.

The USA is now producing more oil and gas than any nation ever has. It’s a triumph
https://www.yahoo.com/news/usa-now-prod ... 47232.html
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in January that US domestic production of crude oil for September 2023 set a new all-time high of 13,247,000 barrels per day. That fact probably deserved more notice than it received given that it was the most oil any nation on earth had ever managed to produce in a single month.

[In2ition]

Are you saying that you have zero opinion on what he said?

The US and Biden have been backed into a corner on the drilling and producing end. SA and Venezuala have refused to increase production themselves and since the price is set on the world stage, the US is providing oil for much of the world. They are doing that to keep the price relatively down right now. If gas prices went up to $7 a gallon, it would make Biden's current poll numbers even worse. How would you fix this? Could the US pull away from the world market and stop exporting oil? These companies are tied into international production and it would be nearly impossible to do that.

[Mori Chu]

The amount of oil left in the world is very small. We need to be rapidly transitioning to other forms of energy. The US increasing drilling, fracking, and oil rigging is fine in the short term but inevitably the price of gas is going to skyrocket as the planet literally runs out of it.

[In2ition]

It certainly makes sense to believe that there is a finite amount of oil. Idk if I would call what's left is very small, at least not yet. I don't think that SA and Venezuala are refusing because they only have so much oil. I agree that we need to be transitioning to other forms of energy. I tend to think that going the way of Nikola Tesla and use the Earth's own energy and make it free is the way of the future, but that wouldn't sit well with the energy sector in the economy. Nearly everything being touted as sustainable has major drawbacks, such as wind generators and solar panels and lithium batteries. We have to continue to figure out better ways.

[Mori Chu]

Wind and solar are great. If we heavily ramp up on them, it will go a long way toward solving the current + coming energy crisis.

[In2ition]

Wind and Solar are great until they aren't. They aren't the panacea we think. They don't last forever and it doesn't seem that they are recyclable. The Wind generators in the ocean are causing some serious concerns for the whales, and the ones on land have problems with birds. There is a lot more maintenance than you would think and can break down relatively easily. I remember visiting my dad in rural KS, and many weren't even running, even during high winds.

[In2ition]

Respect to Costco, not just a hot dog, but a drink too. You can't even buy a drink for that price anymore. Inflation has really hit the Dollar Store at more than the reported 3.6%, haha.

[Mori Chu]

They sell it at a loss to get you in the door. It's what they call a "loss leader." Pretty common idea.

[Superbone]

I don’t think they’re losing much if any. Pretty sure they buy their hot dogs in bulk.

[In2ition]

They sell it at a loss to get you in the door. It's what they call a "loss leader." Pretty common idea.

The CEOs people have proposed many times to raise the price. I understand that they do it and why they do it. It's interesting that it wasn't a loss leader when they started out. It doesn't change what I said, I still have respect for them for keeping the price so low.