Ramblings and Musings

 

                  Various Ramblings and Musings

         There’s no real theme this week, so let’s see what develops.

I was recently talking to a gentleman who was playing with the orchestra that accompanied my wife’s choral group and, in the course of conversation, it came up that he was a retired pastor, and he was from Texas. Somehow the conversation turned to the price of gasoline, and he said, “Well it's because they've banned all drilling.” It became obvious, by other opinions of his, who “they” were. This categorically proves the educated can still be ignorant.

Let's get this straight right off the top: there are over 6000 US drilling permits currently active and the Biden administration has not banned any drilling for oil. So why is the price of gasoline so high? And the answer is (drumroll) because the petroleum companies like it that way. Reality is, that until very recently, American refineries were not operating at capacity and, as Adam Smith said in his epic 1776 economic work, On the Wealth of Nations, scarcity causes price to increase. Now the economic reality of the oil business is this: drilling for oil is an awfully expensive process which requires a significant investment up front with no guarantee of profit on the other end. If you don't find oil you've not only lost your time and effort, but you've lost investor’s money. For some smaller concerns, this may even mean that money borrowed to finance drilling is a loss. On the other hand, getting a higher price for what you do produce with absolutely no extra outlay of funds or effort is free money. Free money enhances your bottom line and the stockholders in your energy corporation love that because it means more return on their investment.

     And yet, you may say, “But if they produce more gasoline, they'll sell more and make more money.” The downside to that is that what they're already producing will also decrease in price and so, if they do nothing, they can continue to exact a high price for it which, by the way, is only high compared to what we're used to and is low compared to what the rest of the world pays. It costs them no extra money to exact this high price. 

    Oil, like any other commodity is a market product, and in this case, it is a world market product. If a president, any president, could simply push a button or issue an edict and reduce the price of gasoline, they would do that. Alas, there is no magic wand and there is no magic solution when greed at the top of the energy corporation chain says otherwise.

Reflect, if you are old enough, on the 1970s Arab oil embargo. At that time, the US was dependent on Arab Oil to the point that the shortage of crude oil to refine actually did create a situation where there was less gasoline available than there was demand. Those who were drivers at that time may recall long lines of cars at gas stations and gas stations actually running out of gas. Now reflect on the current situation. Have you seen lines at gas stations? Have you seen gas stations without gasoline to sell now? You have not; it's just been more expensive. The people that run ExxonMobil and other petroleum companies are not unhappy with this situation regardless of what they may imply.

Shifting gears: While I am over the moon about what happened to Alex Jones and sincerely hope the man is impoverished and remains so the rest of his life, it is worth noting that he's not the only lunatic out there spouting the most outrageous and vile drivel simply because it fits a very Far Right view of the world. There is a man by the name of Stew Peters who has produced a film entitled Watch the Water. “Watch the water” is a favorite refrain of the QAnon lunatic fringe who believe that, in some alternate universe, the government is treating the water with various things to our detriment. In Alex Jones’ case it was some sort of substance to either spray on or add to water and turn people gay. As bizarre as that is, the subject of Mr. Peters film is even more outré.

This anti-vaccine documentary makes the ludicrous assertion that the coronavirus is not a virus, but a synthetic version of snake venom that evil forces are spreading through remdesivir, the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and drinking water to "make you a hybrid of Satan." The general format of said video is an interview between Peters, who has a history of using inflammatory rhetoric and spreading multiple COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and Bryan Ardis, a former chiropractor who built a brand around falsely claiming that the drug remdesivir is killing people.

It shows Ardis, who now hucksters acne products and is also using the film to sell what he calls "anti-v" supplement kits online, invoking the Garden of Eden story to “legitimize/justify” his insane claims. He proposes, in part, that: "I think the plan all along was to get the serpent's, the evil one's DNA into your God-created DNA," Ardis said. "They're using mRNA, which is mRNA extracted from, I believe, the king cobra venom, the king cobra venom. And I think they want to get that venom inside of you and make you a hybrid of Satan."  As usual, “they” are not identified. (For the record, humans manufacture mRNA in their own cells, and vaccine mRNA is manufactured in a lab setting, no cobras involved.)  Of course, the preceding babbling lunacy also assumes the existence of a “Satan,” as well as the assumption that this fictional fallen angel turned into a snake so God could use him/it to mess with humanity.

And finally: We in The Villages were spared the worst of Hurricane Ian, primarily because we are west of Orlando as well as north. Additionally, the storm was uncharacteristically weaker on the north side than most we have seen. While O-town was drenched, we had just three inches or so of rain. So, we were lucky. Not so fortunate, however, were those on the southwest coast who died, either by drowning (90% of fatalities) or wind driven damage which proved fatal. While we all mourn these deaths, there are several points of discussion which are relevant.

First, watching the video of roofs and walls of houses collapsing due to wind and water also showed that most of these were older homes almost certainly built before the 2001 Florida construction codes were enacted. Prior to that, Florida was a construction free for all. If you could build it and make it pretty, you could sell it. This was made abundantly clear when the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew was surveyed. Many pricier homes were damaged or totaled, but none of them were homes built by Habitat for Humanity. Those homes definitely weren’t more expensive, but they were just built to a higher construction standard.

More troubling are the deaths of those who simply decided to “ride it out.”  There was no lack of warning or descriptions of how severe this storm could be. Similarly, there was no shortage of evacuation warnings by civil authorities. The prevalent characteristic of storm victims seems to be complacency. For newer residents, this is exacerbated when a storm fails to materialize as severely as the predictions would lead one to believe, which can lead to the belief among those who know no better that it will always be thus. Around ninety drowning victims of Ian proved that it isn’t so.