Wolfram
09-02-2005, 01:52 AM
That beacon of light, the local paper, dulyarrived on schedule around 6:00 AM this morning, with the headline "Thousands May Be Dead" and "Gasoline Prices Skyrocketing; Pandemonium At Pumps." Further down, "You Soon May Be Paying $4 A Gallon For Gasoline."
Well, as to headline one, I note that Paul Craig Roberts mentioned something about Dubya having transferred funds originally targetedfor state needs to the War on Terrorism and the Iraq mess, so the resources necessary to bolster the levees were not available. Also, National Guardsmen sorely needed at home are now in the Middle East. In addition, global warming, which may well have been a factor in the three back-to-back hurricanes last year, and now Katrina (incidentally, this is only the beginning of the hurricane season) was flippantly dismissed as fantasy.
As to gasoline, I tanked up on Monday evening, so I should be OK for a while, since I don't worry about keeping up withthe Joneses and am satisfied with my stick-shift, five-speed Ford Escort. But my old friend and neighbor, who is also satisfied with a Ford, but a standard size automatic, at four
bucks per gallon will run him around $270 per month, just to and from work--assuming gasoline goes no higher than $4 per.
We have been warned for some time that energy costs--especially oil--were going to explode in any event, but now, thanks to Katrina, we have it now instead of a year or two later (by the way, I read that Steve Forbes predicted an end to "the oil bubble" and a return to $35 a barrel next year; I must preserve that article!). Now, as we all know--or should know--practically every daily need depends upon transportation, whether to the supermarket, hardware store, shopping mall, etc., so you can expect a substantial boost to the already substantial inflation, which "our"(?) government, by means of creative accounting, regularly understates.
If people have to spend more on getting to and from work (and, by the way, how about those minimum wage people who might end up paying as much to get to work equal to their pay check?) plus the general inflationary effect, they will have less and less disposable income, which means meals at home rather than at arestaurantplus a general cut-back on gew-gaws and other
things they don't really need from China, costing money they don't have. And if China finds the American market no longer profitable and decides to sell a few hundred billion dollars of T-bonds, it will be Ragnarok--Götterdämmerung--the Twilight of Something or Other. Also, how about those interest-only mortgages for five years before payment to principal kicks in--and probably at much higher interest rates?
Not having any exotic tastes in food or clothing, I can survive
quite happily on vegetable soup and rye bread, attired in clothing from K-Mart. Entertainment? Well, the computer will still be affordable (I hope), with plenty of books all over the place, plus around 300 CDs of everything from Bach to Weber. The only problem will be the bill for natural gas and real estate taxes.
Morituri Salutamus
Well, as to headline one, I note that Paul Craig Roberts mentioned something about Dubya having transferred funds originally targetedfor state needs to the War on Terrorism and the Iraq mess, so the resources necessary to bolster the levees were not available. Also, National Guardsmen sorely needed at home are now in the Middle East. In addition, global warming, which may well have been a factor in the three back-to-back hurricanes last year, and now Katrina (incidentally, this is only the beginning of the hurricane season) was flippantly dismissed as fantasy.
As to gasoline, I tanked up on Monday evening, so I should be OK for a while, since I don't worry about keeping up withthe Joneses and am satisfied with my stick-shift, five-speed Ford Escort. But my old friend and neighbor, who is also satisfied with a Ford, but a standard size automatic, at four
bucks per gallon will run him around $270 per month, just to and from work--assuming gasoline goes no higher than $4 per.
We have been warned for some time that energy costs--especially oil--were going to explode in any event, but now, thanks to Katrina, we have it now instead of a year or two later (by the way, I read that Steve Forbes predicted an end to "the oil bubble" and a return to $35 a barrel next year; I must preserve that article!). Now, as we all know--or should know--practically every daily need depends upon transportation, whether to the supermarket, hardware store, shopping mall, etc., so you can expect a substantial boost to the already substantial inflation, which "our"(?) government, by means of creative accounting, regularly understates.
If people have to spend more on getting to and from work (and, by the way, how about those minimum wage people who might end up paying as much to get to work equal to their pay check?) plus the general inflationary effect, they will have less and less disposable income, which means meals at home rather than at arestaurantplus a general cut-back on gew-gaws and other
things they don't really need from China, costing money they don't have. And if China finds the American market no longer profitable and decides to sell a few hundred billion dollars of T-bonds, it will be Ragnarok--Götterdämmerung--the Twilight of Something or Other. Also, how about those interest-only mortgages for five years before payment to principal kicks in--and probably at much higher interest rates?
Not having any exotic tastes in food or clothing, I can survive
quite happily on vegetable soup and rye bread, attired in clothing from K-Mart. Entertainment? Well, the computer will still be affordable (I hope), with plenty of books all over the place, plus around 300 CDs of everything from Bach to Weber. The only problem will be the bill for natural gas and real estate taxes.
Morituri Salutamus