I Will Wonder; I Will Hope

 We can wonder if competition between ham, chicken, and beef helps keep the cost of meat down. How many times have you wanted meat, but not wanted expensive meat, so you bought tuna fish?

So, should we wonder if the lack of other cars (other than gasoline cars) has contributed to the high price of gasoline today? You may argue that all this is just silly, as the very reason there haven't been non-gasoline vehicles is that they are not anywhere near as inexpensive, in the first place.

I will wonder. 

All I know is that competition never hurts.

You might also argue that electric vehicles are now bursting on the market, yet car prices are higher than ever.

Inflation, in general, is up, and that might be the big factor in car prices. So, perhaps it is too quick to say EV's won't help. All I can say, is we can hope EVs flood the market, and that abundance pulls the price of all cars down. 

(Index -- Climate change info)

Love Samuel Adams Words, but not How They Are Being Used

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." -- Samuel Adams

 I love the quote. I love the sentiment. I just fear when I see it on Facebook, it is being used to foment rebellion against the U.S. government. These are times when, "Go home from us in peace. We ask not your councils or arms," can be used to suggest the time has come and only cowards would not take up arms against the government.

We Are Lambs Being Led to Slaughter If We Fall for These Posts

The following is a post being circulated on Facebook. I will repeat what I have suggested before: Someone (through social media posts) is stirring up discord, attempting to undermine America. The post promises that war is coming, and it endeavors to prove government is the cause of all our problems. The insinuation is clear: We need to rise up in rebellion against the U.S. government. Like blind lambs being led to slaughter? That's what we are if we fall for posts like this.

The FB post:

"I don’t give a Rats ass, who this offends, but I stand by it. War is coming, sooner or later! You the Government!! You are all a bunch of cowards! You raised the cost of living so high that both parents are always at work, rather than spending time with their children (single parents stand no chance)

"😥. You took God out of schools. Parents were told 'No you can't discipline your kids'. Well, now most of those kids are rude and out of control. You shall reap what you sow! We have taken a whole generation and turned them into selfish, entitled brats who have no respect for people, property or authority! You deem people with terminal illnesses and some with only a few months to live…fit for work!!! You allow our veterans of war to go homeless and hungry but give out millions to foreign aid!!! You save drug addicts over and over again but refuse to give free diabetic supplies to those who need them to stay alive. You bend over backwards to be politically correct, too scared to say enough is enough, in case you offend someone. You put the retirement age up so people must work until they drop. You take care of prisoners and give them everything under the sun (food, medical, education, representation, money, rehabilitation) yet you cause the elderly, those that have paid their debt to society and their families, to go broke caring for them either at home or in a nursing home... THINGS NEED TO CHANGE!
"Copy & paste if you have the guts! I did!!
"( I am betting most of my friends don't have any guts. Offended now? I don't need to be popular I just need to be true to myself and my standards!) Can I get an amen?"

I Searched, but Found no Justification for Gasoline-Price Increases

 So, the average price for a gallon of gas is down to $3.45. Should we be satisfied, or say, no, that's not near enough?

  Say, no, it's not near enough. It was 36 cents fifty years ago. What's changed? Is oil more expensive to drill for, produce, or distribute? Or, have the oil barons just been increasing their take all along? An almost tenfold increase in price argues that it is being sold for vastly more than it needs to be. 

  Crude oil was about $25 a barrel fifty years ago; today it's about $80. So, the increase in money being taken is being taken mostly after being refined. Has the process of refining oil gone up, became more expensive? We can guess it hasn't had that significant increase, but what of mandates imposed to cut down on pollution? 

   It was also about fifty years ago that the EPA started to phase out lead in gasoline. Lead gas was about 3 to 10 cents cheaper than no-lead. That is worthy to note, but hardly indicative of gas prices going up so much over the years. 

   There are fewer refineries in operation than there once were; has that led to such a massive increase in the at-the-pump price? I doubt it.

   We pay 18.4 cents federal tax on a gallon of gas. That's significant. It was only 4 cents in 1972, and did not jump until 1982 and 1990 -- but pump prices declined, if anything, after both jumps. So, don't blame it on federal taxes.

   State taxes have soared. They were about 7 cents a gallon fifty years ago. Now, the average tax is about 29 cents a gallon. That still doesn't account for a tenfold increase in prices at the pump. One of the bigger jumps came when the state tax average went up just more than 2 cents from 1990 to 1991. Pump prices dropped 14 cents. So, don't blame it on state taxes.

   There's my search to see if there's justification for gasoline prices being so high. I can find no reason. Reason for gas to cost more than it did fifty years ago? Yes. But reason for it to be tenfold more expensive? Not at all. Prices having soared from 36 cents a gallon fifty years ago to $3.45 now just are not justified. 

Internet Swift in Responding to Trump's Call to Suspend Constitution

 Reaction was swift and condemning as President Trump today called for suspending the Constitution in order to reinstate him as president. 

"Internet cries 'TREASON' as Donald Trump bizarrely calls for termination of Constitution!" -- news blogger  Meenakshi Sengupta

"You cannot only love America when you win,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates.  “. . . Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation."

CNN's Jim Acosta said Trump was demonstrating his "hostility to the American way of life and democracy in this country," then added, "It is a reminder of what the country was going through around January 6th."

"The only accurate thing Donald Trump says is that to do what he is recommending would require termination of the constitution which, of course, would leave us without a democracy." -- legal analyst Elie Honig

"A few hours ago the leader of the republican party donald trump called for destroying the Constitution and making himself dictator," -- New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell

"Have we become immune to how radical and dangerous this all is?" -- blogger Rick Hasen

"Just some casual Saturday treason," -- The Daily Beast's Matt Fuller.

 "No American conservative can agree with Donald Trump's call to suspend the Constitution." -- former National Security Advisor John Bolton

"Donald Trump has openly declared himself an enemy of the Constitution." -- Virginia Rep. Don Beyer

"The unsettling totalitarian tendencies of Donald Trump have long posed an imminent threat to American democracy and freedom." -- Daily Kos 

Trump's own words were, in a social media post:
"So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great 'Founders' did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!"

Genius is 50 Percent Staying Calm and Collected

    The wise ones will tell you about their compositon. "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration,” Thomas Edison -- one of the wisest of them all -- is said to have said.

   He should know.

   From the dunce's end of the court, I would offer an additional formula. Genius is 50 belief, desire, and staying cool under pressure. All people have brain cells. Not everyone uses them, but we all have brain cells. How about we theorize that since brain cells are pretty much the same, the ability of those brain cells is pretty much the same? 

   But, brain cells can freeze over under pressure. Even people with brains can be intimitated. They can decide not to give the effort. (Edison warned us on that one, didn't he?) They can fail to believe in themselves. And, they can be distracted by various forms of entertainment, and responsibilities.

   It's like the engine of a car: it only works if you put it in gear. 

Ads Need to Turn to Creativity, not Negativity

   How about just creativity -- not negativity -- in those political ads? I mean, we live in a world where music videos just blow you away, and where TVs and movies are so unbelievably creative. 

   I don't know. I don't watch much TV, so perhaps I'm just off a channel. But, it seems to me campaign ads have no where near the dramatic effects that music videos have. Not even close.

   So, how about we drop that into the ads and drop out all the negativity? I mean we should be able to do some phenomenally clever ads depicting candidates in favorable ways. Attack ads out; just good, clean, fun ads in their place.

   If you do a good job selling yourself, you don't need to sell the other person short. All the tools and talent are there to make this happen. Mudslinging, be gone. Cute and creative, be in.