Energy

There is No Magic Money Tree

Climate Change, Culture Wars, Electric Vehicles, Energy, Politics / By / April 18, 2023

This video is annoying as fuck. Ana Kasparian, who is supposedly one of the left’s thought leaders, obviously has no clue how economics work or where money comes from.

Stupid is as stupid does…

Poor Ana is “freaking the fuck out” that her HOA is going to have to take out a huge loan to buy electric vehicle charging stations and pass those costs on to the homeowners. It seems like she is just now realizing that the policies she has been promoting and voting for will cost a shit ton of money and make her personally poorer. She doesn’t yet grasp that global warming, and the switch to EVs in particular, is a fucking scam which will provide exactly zero benefits to society. She will probably really lose her shit if that ever happens.

It never seems to dawn on leftists that diverting resources from useful and practical endeavors that make life better to trendy inefficient boondoggles that they find ideologically pleasing will mean less material wealth and prosperity for them.

Yes, Ana. The switch to EVs will make you poorer and less mobile. THAT IS THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT! How do you not know this???

What is even more infuriating is what Ana thinks the solution should be. She wants the government to “just give me the money.” Arrghhh. This is just proof positive that even the “smart progressives” are completely clueless about economics. Where does Ana imagine the government will get this money to “just give us” to switch to EVs? Are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer going to get 2nd jobs on the weekend? Donate some of the millions they have dishonestly attained through insider trading and shady deals? Of course not. Any money the government gives you, they first have to take away in the form of taxes. The are essentially giving you back your own money…. as long as you spend it the way they want you to. Or maybe they will just print more of it, making the money you already have worth less. Or maybe, God forbid, they borrow more money from China to pay for it, dooming our grandchildren to a life of poverty.

The point is there is no magic money tree. No free lunch. When you waste money on stupid things, you are less wealthy. Period. Having the government waste the money on your behalf does not change the equation,

But this is the level of thinking we are dealing with. This is how the younger generation has been taught to view government. As mommy or daddy here to take care of you and handle all of the adulting. And make things right when you come up short.

The left has waged a decades long culture war on American society. They started by taking over academia. Moved through pop culture and entertainment. And now have even seized the corporate board rooms and the military. Deprogramming the army of mindless bots they have groomed would take a massive and sustained effort. There is no sign whatsoever that the right has it in them to do it. America is good and fucked.

To Progressive Elites, Rolling Blackouts are a Feature, Not a Bug

2 Comments / Energy, Progressivism / By / September 6, 2022

A lot of conservatives are snickering that California is facing rolling blackouts due to their anti-energy policies. “Ha, ha, we told them this would happen! I’ll bet those dummies are sorry now!” seems to be the prevailing sentiment. Trust me. They aren’t the least bit sorry. At least not in the seats of power.

Rolling blackouts… the sustainable green future the globalist progressives want to impose on you.

Understand, that for the progressive globalist left, rolling blackouts are a feature of their policies and not a bug.

In the United States, Modern progressives 1st allegiance isn’t to everyday Americans. Their prime identity lies with the globalist elites. They consider themselves “citizens of the world”, and reject nationalism and domestic self-interest out of hand. They believe that nationalism is a regressive and unsophisticated way of thinking. The tenets of the American Founding (liberty, self-government, limited federal power, and private property rights) are deemed by the globalists to be outdated and counterproductive. The globalists believe the US has an economy that is too big, it uses too many natural resources, it isn’t focused enough on sustainability, it doesn’t give enough weight to Diversity / Equity / and Inclusion, and it allows it’s citizens far too much autonomy. Americans’ expectation that the lights will always be on is a form of white privilege, according to the globalists. Limiting their energy consumption is all part of putting the proles in their place.

Of course, these hardships won’t have to be shared by the elites. The common shlubs are expected to get with the program and do their part in bringing the progressives’ sustainable Utopia into being. However, don’t expect Gavin Newsome to be sitting in the dark any time soon. Nor will Nancy Pelosi’s gourmet ice cream be melting in her giant freezers for a lack of power. It is the little people who will be expected to embrace the “fun and comradery” of mutual self-sacrifice demanded by the leftist overlords. To feel the personal satisfaction and sense of purpose derived from serving the goals of their progressive masters. And if a few peons keel over from heat stroke in the summer or freeze to death in the winter, that is a price the progressive globalists are more than willing to pay to limit prosperity to levels they feel are equitable and sustainable.

So, go ahead and laugh at the stupidity of the progressives. But know that they are dead serious about imposing their agenda. And they are coming for you next.

Germany Braces for Putin’s Frostbite

Current Events, Energy, Politics / By / July 26, 2022

Right now, the Germans are scrambling to scrape together enough energy to keep from freezing to death this winter. Russia just announced they are cutting the flow of natural gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 20% of capacity. There is a good chance they will soon cut it to zero. And all the Germans can do is whine like silly little bitches about how unfair it all is. What did they think the Russians would do while Germany was waging a proxy war against them in Ukraine? How fucking stupid are the “foreign policy experts” and “global elites”, really? The man that the left loved to slander as “Putin’s Puppet” warned them about this exact thing 4 years ago. And the smarmy Euro-weenies just laughed at him. It is simply fucking amazing how many times Donald Trump was 100% right about something that nearly all of the “experts” got totally wrong.

Why I Won’t Be Getting An Electric Vehicle Anytime Soon

Electric Vehicles, Energy / By / June 17, 2022

The WSJ recently ran a story recounting one woman’s journey across the country in an electric vehicle. It totally reinforced all the negative impressions I have of EVs.

For me, the biggest downside by far of electric vehicles is the recharging time. On a long road trip, you can fill up the gas tank in your car and be on your merry way in under 5 minutes. Under the absolute best circumstances, it will take over 30 minutes to fully recharge your EV. Under more typical conditions, a recharge can easily take 2 hours or more. That fact alone all but rules them out for everything except infrequent short trips about town. And the charging time for EVs isn’t likely to dramatically improve anytime soon.

Over four days, we spent $175 on charging. We estimated the equivalent cost for gas in a Kia Forte would have been $275, based on the AAA average national gas price for May 19. That $100 savings cost us many hours in waiting time.

– Rachel Wolfe, Wall Street Journal

And that $275 for gas is with the Biden spike in effect. Under normal circumstances, operating the gasoline car would have actually been cheaper. There is a reason “President” Pants Load and the Democrat operators pulling his strings are intentionally torpedoing the domestic oil industry. They know they have no chance in hell of forcing American’s into EVs while gasoline is still affordable. Forcing people into expensive and impractical cars is hard enough. Adding higher operating costs on top makes EVs an almost impossible sell.

In addition to the recharging time, there is also the cost difference. Electric vehicles typically cost $1000s more than their gas-powered counterparts (33% more on average), even with huge government subsidies. And because the vehicles cost more, they are also more expensive to insure. As mentioned above, the operating costs of EVs are actually higher than gas-powered vehicles when Democrats aren’t intentionally spiking oil prices. You might save a little on maintenance costs with an EV (no oil changes, for example), but the overall cost of ownership is definitely much much higher when the government doesn’t have their thumb on the scale.

To go along with their long charging times and high cost, most EVs also have a very limited range. For most, a full charge will only get you about 1/2 as far as a gasoline-powered car will go on a full tank of gas. Under ideal conditions. In very cold or hot conditions, the range of a battery-powered vehicle can drop by 40% or more. That is a little detail EV advocates don’t like to discuss much. Don’t plan on driving your EV very far in the winter if you live up North! And like all batteries, the amount of power EV batteries can store degrades slowly over time. The range of your EV after 80,000 miles won’t be the same as it was when new.

Then, there is the question of infrastructure. There are barely any EVs on the road right now, yet finding an available recharging station is already a royal pain in the ass. Think of how many gas pumps there are right now in America. Now imagine how many pumps we would need if it took 10 times longer to fill up a gas tank. Who thinks we are going to have 10x as many recharging stations as gas pumps any time soon? (I know 10x is probably an overestimate of the required number of charging stations because many people will recharge overnight at their home, but the point still stands. A truly massive amount of infrastructure would be required to recharge 10s of millions of EVs on a daily basis.)

But paying more and suffering through some inconveniences is worth it to save the planet, right? First of all, I think Climate Change is a bunch of bullshit. A scam. But like all really good scams, there is a kernel of truth to it. Humans have increased the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, no doubt. And all else being equal, global temperatures will be higher with more CO2 in the air. But the claim that the warming will be “catastrophic” demanding the world’s economies submit to a new international order is completely unsupported by the evidence and data. (Kind of strange how the “solution” to every “crisis” seems to align with the political goals of the globalist left, no?) If anything, moderately warmer temperatures might be good for the planet. And CO2 isn’t pollution. It is plant food, for Pete’s sake. You exhale CO2 with every breath you take. Even if you believe the climate alarmists’ claims, the electricity for your EV has to come from somewhere. If it comes from a windmill or a nuclear reactor, then fine, you haven’t emitted any CO2. If the electricity is coming from a natural gas-fired power plant (like most electricity in the US currently does), then the net CO2 emissions are about a wash. If the electricity comes from a coal-fired plant, then operating the EV actually results in more net CO2 emitted than a gasoline-powered vehicle.

And EVs require a massive amount of precious metals to produce. These raw materials are currently supplied by 3rd World countries via strip mining. The environmental damage being done is quite massive to get the materials needed to make the little batteries for cell phones and other consumer electronics. Imagine what will happen when we start producing 10s of millions of 1000-pound batteries for cars and light trucks. Saving the planet with EVs is like curing a headache by lopping the patient’s head off.

Politicians, especially Democrats, really want to push you into buying an electric vehicle despite these facts. They claim that EVs are the key to a Green and prosperous future, where humans will live in a sustainable harmony with nature. They want to be credited with saving the world while accruing more power for themselves. But do electric vehicles make sense in the here and now? Not by a long shot.

Biden Gives the Dagger He Stabbed Motorists with Another Twist

1 Comment / Biden, Energy, Politics / By / May 14, 2022

Lying sack of shit and garbage human being Joe Biden went on TV a few weeks ago to try and gaslight the American people into believing he was doing everything he could to bring down gasoline prices. He even dipped heavily into the strategic oil reserve (intended for dire crises like natural disasters and wars) to temporarily provide some minor relief and get the soaring price of gasoline out of the news cycle. One thing Sleazy Joe and the left wing zealots pulling the strings on his crusty old carcass aren’t willing to do is let the US oil industry actually invest in any infrastructure to increase our domestic supply for the future. Even in the midst of a massive spike in energy prices, the Biden administration slammed the door on domestic production yet again. The proles will be made to live off of windmills and unicorn farts whether they like it or not.

“President” Sleazebag straining to keep himself from crapping his pants while feigning concern for the plebes.

President Pants Load Poops on Motorists

Biden, Current Events, Energy, Politics, Ukraine / By / March 8, 2022

Joe Biden is a lying sack of shit. Or a moron. Or both. On thing for sure, he is a detestable asshole.

Gas prices have already skyrocketed on his watch. And they are about to shoot into the stratosphere. And the rotting corpse occupying the White House just went on TV and had the absolute gall to say it has nothing to do with the policies of him or his party. Even ignoring the effect his weakness and incompetence had on encouraging Russia to invade Ukraine, that claim is just infuriating. It is so obviously false as to be insulting to our intelligence. Biden is the guy who halted new drilling leases. Biden killed the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office. Oh, but that pipeline wouldn’t be finished for years his apologists will whine. You can’t blame Dementia Joe for what is happening now. It’s a total dodge. It is true that a lot of the pain we are feeling now is due to anti-energy policies that date back to the Obama years. And the direct consequences of Joey Hair Sniffer’s recent stupid decisions might not be felt for years.

None of that changes the fact that Dementia Joe, and the Party he represents, have been waging a war on domestic oil production for years. Democrats want oil prices to skyrocket. To their fevered way of thinking, $7 per gallon gasoline is a good thing. They believe making fossil fuels unaffordable will force people to adopt expensive and unreliable Green energy sources they favor for ideological reasons. Their leaders have the temerity to claim transitioning our energy production to moonbeams and unicorn farts will be good for our economy and standard of living. And their voters are dense enough to believe it. To quote our decrepit ruler, “Let me be perfectly clear.” The Democrats want to punish you at the gas station. And they will do everything they can to drive the price of gas up. They want to force you into a into a much more restricted and meager life style (equity and sustainability, they call it.) They just don’t want to take the blame for it.

The Star Trek World of the Modern Left

Energy, Politics / By / February 27, 2022

Star Trek was a TV show back in the 60s that imaged what life might be like in the future. In the world of Star Trek, man and his technology had advanced to the point where material needs were no longer an issue. Any item a person could want could be effortlessly “replicated” out of thin air. People no longer needed to work for the things they wanted. And all of the old motives for crime and war were removed. Free of the shackles of the physical world, man was able to pursue his intellectual curiosity and spend his time seeking personal growth and enrichment.

Liberals act like we live in that Star Trek fantasy world today. How else to explain the take of Lurch’s uglier twin on the war in Ukraine?

You rang?

So people are dying. A (sort-of) democracy is being crushed. And the scourge of the last half of the 20th century is reasserting itself. And the biggest concern this twat has is the amount of carbon emissions being expelled? These are not serious people. They ignore the real here-and-now problems. The problems that have difficult solutions and result in very dire and immediate consequences. The problems people not living in a fantasy world bubble actually care about. And instead choose to focus on what motivates and inspires themselves. Civilians are being blown to bits and John Kerry is worried about what a computer model says the weather might be like 100 years from now.

But the Swift Boat Ghoul is not alone in being unserious. AOC thinks it would be a great idea to rebuild every structure in the country in a more environmentally efficient way. Just reconstruct every building created over the last century or so, undoubtedly representing many billions of man-hours, to have a higher Energy Star rating. And that sounds feasible to her. Ya just gotta want it!

To the left, we don’t burn fossil fuels because they are indispensable for powering our modern world and lifting billions out of grinding poverty. They truly believe fossil fuels could be replaced by windmills and solar panels tomorrow. With no major degradation in wealth and standard of living. Most have zero comprehension of how drastic the required reduction in energy consumption would be. And the ones who do understand what the left’s policies would mean for wealth and prosperity don’t think the consequences will apply to them. The cost of sustainability will be borne by the little people. The proles. The so-called elites will continue to live in comfort and luxury, just like always.

Renewables… how it’s going

To sane people, these sound more like childish fantasies than realistic policy goals. But liberals believe the world could actually be like this. We just have to want it badly enough. There is nothing we can’t do if we put our minds to it, they say. To the left, this isn’t just a feel-good bumper sticker slogan, but a core belief. The Party of Science is more aptly described as the Cult of Science(ism). They have an unbreakable faith that The Science will solve all their problems and make all their dreams come true. In a way they find ideologically pleasing. The problem with living in a sci-fi fantasy world is, sooner or later, reality rears it’s ugly head.