Posts Tagged ‘oil’

Pinball Machine or Heat? Thanks Joe Biden!

Posted: November 11, 2023 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, economy, fun, hobbies, News/opinion, pinball, Uncategorized
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As all of you know I’m both a big baseball fan and a huge pinball fan and yesterday I got an offer that I thought I couldn’t refuse.

There is a first rate pinball game called Silver Slugger that was rented for me as a Christmas gift last year. I really enjoyed this game as it combines a standard pinball scoring system with a baseball scoring system (pinball points and runs) I can highly recommend this game to anyone who wants an inexpensive pinball machine. (New Machines generally run between $7-15K)

Well the fellow who rented the machine offered it to me for sale. He understood that I only had a limited area to place a game and said location might have issues with sunlight than can fade machine. This machine had a color scheme that would best be able to handle the location without damage.

Furthermore the price he asked was $300 less than the median current price on Pinside (the pinball market) and because he would be picking up a rental from my son anyways the delivery would not be extra which is huge.

It was an excellent bargain. I had enough to pay for the machine in the mad money that I’ve been putting aside every paycheck for the last year or two and I was debating if DaWife would tolerate a machine at the spot where it would go when the oil delivery truck showed up in front of the house.

So I went outside grab the mail and to get the bill for the 190 gallons of heating oil that the tank took.

$710

Mind you this is the first delivery of the year. During an average heating season I expect to have 3 1/2 more such deliveries turn up at the house over the four or five months. Which means $2500 more in oil bills yet to come.

During the Trump years that same oil bill would have been about $360-$400 at the most meaning I would expect to pay another $1260- $1400 dollars over the course of the heating season.

The difference? That the price of the machine.

Now if it were the Trump years I would be able to use that cash saved for the machine secure in the knowledge that I’d be able to handle any twists and turns that might come up. The only question would be the reaction of DaWife to it being a permanent rather than a temporary addition to the house that my sons might rent for me at Christmas & Birthdays.

But alas Joe Biden is president, everything from groceries to gasoline has skyrocketed and given the inept foreign policy that has enabled our enemies and funded Iran who funds Iran and the turmoil in the middle east I can’t be sure that my next oil bill won’t be a whole lot more by the time I burn through what I have, particularly since domestic energy production which was big in the Trump years, is discouraged now.

Given those facts It would be completely irresponsible for me to spend the money on that machine, much more prudent to hold off in case the side effects of the third Obama Term Biden years get even worse. And of course if we have a fourth Obama term second Biden term it likely won’t be much better.

So as I look longingly at the photo of the machine that I enjoyed so much and email the fellow that I really can’t pull the trigger right now all I can say is:

Thanks Joe Biden.

Under the Fedora The Fruits of Obama, Freeman and Angels, Biden now expendable, Nancy Pelosi as Ace Rothstein and awaiting the first $1000 Oil Bill

Posted: November 22, 2022 by datechguy in elections, media, politics, under the fedora
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One factor in the use of the government as a weapon against the Political foes of the left that isn’t discussed is that this is the fruit of the Obama years.

Obama was always a cheap Chicago pol and he used his high position to transform the federal government and the system into the Chicago way where government is used to enrich friends and punish enemies.

Till those Obama types are purged we’re not going to see things change.

In his famous appearance on Phil Donahue’s show Milton Freeman when questioned by Donahue on the excesses of capitalism replied: “just tell me where in the world you find these angels who are going to organize society for us?” This is a basic principle of life that people tend of act in their own self interest. And since most people aren’t angels particularly in government the best way to create ethical behavior is to make such behavior profitable.

That’s really the secret, if you make the rewards of honorable behavior strong enough then the risks of unethical behavior are not worthwhile.

CBS has suddenly decided that the Hunter Biden laptop stuff is real.

This in my opinion is a definite signal that they have decided than in a possible match with Trump in 2024 Joe Biden in expendable.

The real question is will Biden fight (Jill that is) I don’t think Joe has much fight in him, but he does know where the bodies are.

The moment I heard that Nancy Pelosi was dropping herself from the leadership but staying in congress all I could think of was the movie Casino with Hakeem Jeffries playing the role of Phillip Green. I suspect that the new leadership will not make any move that is not approved by Nancy as she, like Biden knows where the bodies are buried.

Personally I think the only reason for this is to remove Pelosi and a fundraising meme for the GOP.

Finally it’s starting to get cold and the heat has been on in the house. That means that the first oil delivery of the new Biden season is coming for me and a lot of other folks.

I get about 200 gallons per delivery which is going to likely run over $1000 as opposed to the $500-$600 that it would have in the Trump years.

If this doesn’t change the voting patterns of folks in New England nothing will.

India pulls a Trump on Saudi Arabia

Posted: April 3, 2021 by ng36b in middle east, Uncomfortable Truths
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Oil Refinery, from Wikipedia

One of President Trump’s greatest achievements was to drive America away from importing Middle East oil. It made the United States capable of sitting out any regional crisis, which in the Middle East seems to happen on a frequent basis. For example, if the Iranians threaten to close the Straits of Hormuz, the United States can take its time to act accordingly, not being pressured by rising gas prices at home. Heck, the U.S. could tell other countries to solve that crisis if it wanted to. Having options makes it harder for your opponent to win, and puts you in control.

India is, ironically, fast approaching where the U.S. was in terms of oil a few years ago. India is the third largest consumer of oil (behind the U.S. and China), and it imports almost 85% of that oil. This leaves India vulneable to any oil interruption, and with OPEC cutting production this month, India is actively trying to diversify its energy and vehicle oil usage. This is also why India is OK negotiating with Iran (which supplies 10% of India’s oil), mainly because it doesn’t have a lot of choices.

By the way, none of this is news, it was being called out last year and the year before that, so India “unsheathing a weapon” is a bit of a misnomer, since they’ve been working on this for some time. This could have been a great moment for the United States and Canada to step in and sell lots of oil to India. Not only would it be democracies helping democracies, but it would provide a 1 billion person counterweight to China’s aggression. Plus we’d make money on the deal. What’s not to love?

India probably paid attention to history and saw how the U.S. got screwed in the 1970s, plus how President Trump gave the U.S. more foreign independence. They are pushing lots of initiatives like solar cars and solar cells to reduce transportation and home usage, but these take time to build in, and India’s sporadic infrastructure doesn’t help the process. Again, all these initiatives provide opportunities for the U.S. to work with India and strengthen that relationship, something we sure don’t seem to be pushing all that much.

Oil isn’t leaving anytime soon as the fuel of choice, and inter-country relationships will continue to be heavily influenced by who produces, consumes and ships oil. The United States has a pretty significant interest in helping countries like India source their oil from friendly places while seeking to become energy independent in the long term. Not only does it make our planet better, but it makes our foreign policy a lot more stable, and we could all use that.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

Erick Erickson reminds us of just how short ten years…

Posted: March 7, 2011 by datechguy in economy
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…can be:

In the Atlanta area, where I am, gas prices are up $0.77 from where they were a year ago. It is worth noting that Democrats have been politicizing and blocking expanded oil drilling for quite some time. Consider this:

“Critics (of Arctic drilling), including Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., say the drilling plan would violate the nation’s last remaining pristine wilderness. Moreover, they charge, the oil would consist of a 6-month supply for the nation, and would not be ready for use by consumers for up to 10 years.”

That newspaper article was written April 2, 2001. For those of you in Rio Linda, that would be ten years ago.

To those of you who are paying between $3.50 and $5 a gallon this morning for gas do ya think that oil those fields would have produced not to mention the well-paying US jobs that come with it would be kinda handy right now?

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