So You'll Be Screwed Either Way...

So you're headed out to visit Aunt Maude and Uncle Herb this Labor Day Weekend.  And that involves filling up the old steed.  Something we've come to dread because gasoline costs are way to high.  And they have been since O'Biden took office.  

Shutting down the XL-Pipeline before lunch on Day One had a lot to do with it.  Killing fracking and refusing to issue new drilling leases did the rest.  And gas has fluctuated from too expensive to way-to-expensive ever since.  Our National Average per gallon was $2.42 on the Day O'Biden/Harris took office.

It's $3.41 today.

Which brings me to the subject of today's rant.  I've always wondered why gasoline costs so much more here in Taxifornia than it does anywhere else.

Perhaps you have as well.

As in, gas costs $5.00 a gallon here or even more.  It costs $6.00 or $7.00 up the Coast, which should outrage them, but somehow doesn't.  It's up to $8.50 in Baker, I hear.  That's halfway to Vegas and I guess they're just practicing "we have it, you don't" economics.  

I think they think if you're dumb enough to drive 5 hours to offload your $Cash, why should they cut you a break on the price of their gas?  

And while we're shelling out our $Cash for this overpriced gas, we're watching the Talking Heads on TV tell us about how low our National Average for gas now is.  Have you ever noticed that our "Corporate Media" never mentions that fact that 15% of the U. S. population, 41 Million People, Taxifornia residents, are paying $2.00 a gallon more?  

Maybe it's because they're Democrats, and the folks running Taxifornia are Democrats, so they don't want to risk embarrassing them.  Assuming they possess the genes permitting them to actually be embarrassed, that is.  

That's capitalism, folks!  If you need it, and somebody else has it, they they can charge anything they want.  And you have to pay it.  Which is how I envisioned how the dicks in Sacrascrewyou have been orchestrating this trainwreck; make gas so expensive the rubes have to buy those little electric buggies.  For twice what other cars cost.  That don't run in either cold winters or hot summers.  With dammm few places to charge.  So that the planet can continue to survive.*  

CO2 and all that...

But I really wanted to know if there was anything more than just rank politics in the price of our gas.  Nobody else's gas, just ours!  And I did.  Perhaps you can learn from my efforts as well...

Taxifornia is pretty much divorced from the rest of the gas and oil market.  There are no pipelines crossing the Sierra Nevada.  We don't compete with any other producers on price or availability.  Only our own local drillers and producers.  And the "Jones Act" prevents us from shipping barrels of crude oil by ship.  Natural disasters and all that.  It's also much pricier to ship oil when others are delivering it by pipeline.  

The State is also isolated by choice.  The Idiots in Charge have mandated a special blend ("bubble, bubble, toil and trouble") of smog-reducing gasoline.  They say.  I sure hope that helps to offset the 54% of all of Earth's atmospheric pollution contributed by China and India.  For which they're doing Absolutely Nothing to minimize.  The U.S. is responsible for only 27% of all pollution, and because our private refineries have been investing in clean energy, that number has been going down annually for more than two decades.

And then there's the $1.67 in State and Federal taxes Taxifornia adds to every single gallon (the Feds charge $0.18).  Which is the highest in the Nation and nearly twice what the #2 state charges (NY, $0.87).  Why?  Because our BoyGuv ("Hairgod") Newsom says so.  And he's calling the shots.  Somebody voted for him and he's making us pay.  

And he also wants to depress demand for gasoline so his unilateral (and unconstitutional) pronunciamento ordering Taxifornia to permit nothing but "zero emission vehicles" to be sold here by 2035 is followed.  

So if you can make it too expensive for Juan to get to his tree trimming job unless he buys an electric car, and electric cars cost a $Bundle more than gas cars, and Juan cannot afford to buy one, then Juan goes out of business.  And has to fire his brother and two of his cousins.  Sorry, Juan!  Juan will no longer have a choice.  The very choice that Capitalism demands.  

I can only assume Capitalism no longer exists in Taxifornia.

Is that what states are supposed to do for their citizens?  TO their citizens?

Then there's the problem with the signal this sends to the State's refiners.  They now know their future is limited, so they'll back away from any major financial investments to either improve or expand their operations.  Yet, the State needs them to continue operating at peak levels to meet current and future demand, while they tinker with their little autocratic electric car, save-the-planet thingie.  

That their citizens do not want.   

But Read This:  Import dependency has just about doubled relative to the 5 years prior to that.  We are now importing more than 75% of all our oil!  We're standing on it, yet they're importing it!  And it's coming from places like Colombia and Venezuela.  Remember when Hairgod told us more than half our energy was now coming from so-called "clean" sources?  Another lie?

And then there's the refinery crisis waiting-to-happen.  There were 14 operating refineries in the State as of 1/1/2024 compared to 21 a decade ago.  Making us more vulnerable should a refinery goes down.  Which they do all the time.    

Looks like scared money to me...  

Pluuuuuussssss, we're sitting on a river of oil.  The U.S. Geological Survey tells us we have proven crude oil reserves under our feet, right here in beautiful Taxifornia, of between 1.7 and 5.6 Billion Barrels of Oil.  That's enough for the next 200 years.  And although one would think we'd be exploiting those reserves, our oil production is less than half of what it was 30 years ago.  Aging fields, coupled with the enviro-wacko tree-huggers, have forced the Gubmint to refuse permmiting for any new ones. 

So here's the deal, as the cops like to say.  If you're one of those few who still live here in the once-Golden State, you're basically screwed.  Either way.  We're gonna' wind up like Cuba.  Everyone driving '54 Chevies and '56 Fords because of embargoes.  We'll be scrounging like Mad Max for black market gas, while the Rich drive bloated, overpriced PIE golf carts.  

Charged by electricity, BTW, which is manufactured by gigantic outfits like PG&E and SCE, fired by oil and gas.  

Ever wonder what will happen when there's no more oil and gas?  And the wind isn't blowing?  And the sun isn't shining?  

Horses and buggies.  Is that where they want us?

*    Remember, plug-in electric (PIE) cars did not exist until 10 years ago.  And now those we've elected are trying to stuff them down our throats.  While the manufacturers of PIE's are dumping their programs.  Ford loss $4.5 Billion on them last year.  That's a $44,000 loss for every car they sold.  And their trade-in values have plummeted since Hertz dumped 90,000 PIE's due to overly high maintenance costs.  Which should scare every prospective PIE purchaser.  Oh yeah, 4 out of 10 PIE purchasers say they're going back to gas-powered cars.  I guess saving the planet isn't all that big of an incentive...