Thursday, December 27, 2018

ode to the economy 2 of 3 ( article 1 of 2 today )


ODE TO THE ECONOMY 2 
( article 1 of 2 today )
Disruption.  Or, in other words, crap just getting crappier.  For instance, gasoline.  Way back in the day, you pulled in for gas.  Some under educated type who wasn’t biologically wired to go to college, or more likely couldn’t afford it if he was, ran out and full served your vehicle.  You kept gasoline off your work clothes and you only spent a little more each gallon.  Was it a crappy job?  Sometimes.  Was it worth it for the customer?  He had no idea-gasoline had always been full serve.  Then, middle easterners decided they didn’t like us helping Israel to kill them.
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I think Israel is like all other countries.  They look out after their own.  I encourage that.  I find zero fault with that.  What I think is retarded is that we help Israel.  You can’t build a wall here, but you help fund their wall?  Which works quite well, by the way.  I understand the geopolitics of it.  I do NOT understand the hypocrisy involved in pretending it is anything other than that.  Israel is NOT special.  They are NOT God’s chosen blessed to feed off our taxpayers.  If our interests align, great.  But don’t blow smoke up my ass otherwise.
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Just like I can be laid off tomorrow because “what have you done for me today?” ( the boss NEVER caring about how well you’ve helped the profit line in the past if your salary interferes with profits today ), Israel can stop serving our needs at any time ( IF they are ).  Stop trying to make that reciprocal arrangement permanent.  So, I actually side with the Arabs on the 70’s oil embargo’s.  We wanted to appease the Jewish Lobby but also get our oil essentially at colony free prices.  Pick one, dude.  Greedy bastards.
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Anyway, the embargo’s came around and some schmo decided it would be super duper to introduce self service gas.  Few appreciated it.  But American’s are a funny breed.  We will overpay by hundreds of thousands of dollars for a crappy house, yet decry a ten percent increase in the cost of gasoline, acting like our very oxygen supply is being threatened.  We sacrifice our water tables to get slightly cheaper fracking oil gasoline.  Who needs clean water?  Cheap gas is WAY more important. So we sucked it up and learned to pump our own gas.  And now bitch if we CAN’T.
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I believe there are two states left where you are required by law to ONLY have full service gas stations.  And everyone bitches about that.  Oh, we can’t have minimum wage jobs protected!  Robotize Everything!  All Jobs Overseas!  Fire All Unions!  Stupid bastards.  I’m sorry, that is harsh.  But you can’t have employment while sucking the peanuts out of the ass of corporations.  The simple fact is that full employment requires paying the extra cost of redundancy and inefficiency.  Squeezing that out of the system ONLY benefits the corporations.  At the cost to all the rest of us. It is socializing costs and privatizing the profits.
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So, basically giving away the gasoline, how was a gas station to make money to stay in business?  Convenience stores.  Now THAT, right there, THAT is a miserable job.  Probably worse than pumping the gas.  I’ve worked in both kinds of places, accidentally falling into management at gas stations, and C-stores are usually little more than Turd World Grocery Stores, with all the crime and socioeconomic aspects of such.  No one wins with convenience stores.  They don’t generate any jobs, as Habeeb families work there for free.  They inflate all costs.
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You think Starbucks is a bad influence on discouraging frugality and self-sufficiency?  Convenience stores did that first.  You think fast food places pushed mega-super soda’s as a meal replacement trying to kill everyone?  I’d wager you C-stores were there first.  I’m not saying we aren’t responsible for our own health, but I am saying bad practices and businesses push out good.  C-stores pushed out better mom and pop businesses long before Wal-Mart got into the act.  And the worse thing is, it isn’t over.  The current gasoline dispensers practices are going to be massively disruptive at least one more time.
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Because Americans are fat and lazy ( that might be a chicken and egg issue ), they insist on eating meals out of convenience stores, keeping a LOT of them open.  And what is going to be one of the first industries closing down in a REAL economic contraction ( 2008 wasn’t really real as it fundamentally changed no consumption patterns )?  All those stores, only staying open selling deep fried soy meat and corn syrup drinks replacing water ( don’t get me started on bottled water ).  What happens to your cheap gas when eight out of ten gas stations close?
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For that matter, what happens to gasoline availability?  Stations will keep running out of gas, as far more people go to less stations.  All those tanks buried under the Slurpee machines?  They were inventory.  Now reduce inventory on hand and see the magic happen.  And yes, some demand will be destructed by employment loss.  But most people live in the suburbs.  You know, the places gas stations served.  Loss of income there accelerates station closures.  The stations with gas in the ground that stayed open to sell Lotto tickets rather than gasoline, now take inventory off of the shelf.
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Suddenly, without any oil embargo, we are back to long lines and “sorry, out of gas” signs.  I’ve been working at a station during a hurricane evacuation.  Full tanks that morning and in four hours we were down to one grade of gas.  And that was with only eight hoses.  You WILL see shortages.  Especially as diesel becomes more dear and delivery becomes problematic.  All this only due to reduced incomes ( you know, like we’ve seen non-stop for fifty years.  Just accelerated this next time ).  Without Peak Oil complications. 
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I could go on for some time, but we’ll conclude this series tomorrow.
( .Y. )
( today's related link here )
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note: free books.  Zombie road trip here.  Zombies here ( click on author name for all three in the series-this is #2 ).  
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24 comments:

  1. I worked in 2 full service gas stations in the early 70's and enjoyed it immensely. At one, I worked nights and weekends, and worked a full time job during the day designing buildings when I was 17. The day job paid $1.75 an hour and the night job paid $1.35 an hour. Gas was 29 cents a gallon - full serve mind you.

    The gas station was across from a big mall and on the weekends people would have their headlights on because it was raining and forget to turn em off. Come out to a dead battery a few hours later and walk over to the gas station wanting a jump. I'd take my 1966 Mustang over there and jump em and charge them $5 cash. Even at that early age I realized working for myself paid better than working for the man.

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    1. When I did extra like the battery jump, it was as goodwill for the employer. It paid job security, which came in handy after Evil Baby Momma. Not saying self employment is worse, mind you. But my fear of jail trumped happiness of being my own boss.

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    2. Don't know about when you were 17, but when I was 17 it was impossible to NOT have a job. They were plentiful. Never heard the words "minimum wage" in those days. If you were a foot dragger the boss'd put the heel to ya.

      My first "real" job was at McDonald's when I was 15, worked there about 6 months or so then moved on. There were NO females working at McD's in those days. And no whiney minorities. Just doods, and stuff got done, properly. The bosses didn't take shit from employees and the employees treated the customers with respect, or else. Businesses used to work like clocks, everybody getting stuff done, everybody making money, nobody getting rich overnight.

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    3. Too simple and makes too much sense, a professional male workforce. I never had an issue finding a job until 2008, after thirty years.

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  2. Yes Jim. The primary linchpin of the economy that if tickled with, that has the most downstream effects is fuel for transport. Study history events where fuel would make or break government functions, society operations, and militaries that conducted bloody contests over. If there is not a "lilly pad" of a profitable retail outlet to dispense fuel orderly the system will indeed fold up. Expect a government or militia use of force to control outlets and a regime of rationing or a high excise taxing to ensure a trickle of deliveries. Fat soccer moms whipping in their house valued suvs into cstores for junk food, cigarettes, mexican beer and a few remaining dollars worth of gas to drive another day or two will be distant memories. Have fuel enough in compound to outlast disruptions, or better yet do as a wise man taught, adapt to a post oil world.

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    1. Minions will give up their SUV keys when they are pried out of their cold dead fingers!

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    2. I'm workin on a plan to put a mast and giant sail on my Blazer.

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    3. Ha! Hang those useless keys from neckchain like a talisman, wards off evil spirits. Displays to homeys you were a Baller in a diferent time.

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    4. GS-I knew you'd come around.
      *
      11:05-sound AND glitter! Double guarantee.

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  3. re:
    Minimum-wage

    In a moment of lonely lustiness, I dated an individual working as wait-staff in a restaurant. The poor dear, almost qualifying as half-witted, barely made minimum-wage, slowly keeping the vehicle balanced on 'E' a few cents at a time.

    Using the infinite wisdom granted the weak-minded, an Internet investment was made to determine our astrological compatibility... to the tune of us$125... but got the birthdate and birth location incorrect. Naturally, this required a second investment of an additional us$125 to correct the oversight.

    Meanwhile, gas for the truck was purchased two-bits at a time. Meanwhile, my patience dropped past 'E'.

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    Replies
    1. Minimum wage used to serve a good purpose, prior to it becoming the new standard. You could find a job instantly, anywhere. I used this to my advantage while being nomadic, pre-children.

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  4. re:
    Self-service fuel

    Here in Oregon, gasoline is dispensed by perfessionals known as 'fuelers', highly-trained and, one might presume, bonded and insured. And licensed by the overseers over at The Authority Complex.

    To the delight of self-fuelers, I use diesel... and diesel is exempted. Oh!, the glares of fuming hatred I get from waiting gas drivers as they wait their turn for the fueler to finally manage to take their order for ethal or high-test, then wait again for the fueler to swing by to check the click-off, then wait for change.

    Waiting for change. [shakes vastly-amused head]

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    1. Have you been following the possible warning of diesel shortages coming soon? Just saying.

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    2. Nope on diesel shortages. That is a primary fuel due to industry and military necessity. Gas will be rationed first. Diesel will always be around in big ole Merika for a long time. Not like france or europe here by a long shot. Zero hedge or other borg written articles are puff pieces for click bait and stock price manipultation to trip algorithyms. Be wary of what is on the internet. Hell even I am full of bull some times!

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    3. I trust this guy:
      https://srsroccoreport.com/has-peak-diesel-arrived-the-data-doesnt-look-good/

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    4. Diesel is already in shorter supply than gasoline. Look at the number of stations that don't carry Diesel or pretend to have Diesel, but it's old-engine killing BioDiesel along with old-or-small-gas-engine killing 10% (sometimes 20+%!) ethanol "gasoline". BioDiesel is not good for the little Kubota engine in the genset, needing pre-heat as well as glow plugs a couple of times to get going when it's below 40F. Maybe, it's water and algae again.
      I sometimes have to drive out to the truck stop in Troutdale in the 240D to get better Diesel (less water, less algae). No worry about long distance driving in the MBZ since I found the extender tank at the junk yard: 37 US Gallons in the car with trunk space 30% smaller. That's a long way driving without filling up at 28MPG and 52mph with a 4100 pound comfortable car, with the Diesel advantage of cheap idling (vs. the gas V8 in most 2ton cars). You are punished with the sticker shock of 35x$4+ gallon, so might need a couple hundred bucks for the final trip outbound.

      pdxr13

      My problems with cars are the opposite of most people: I have to remember to put the charger on each car once a month and force myself to start and drive the beasts so they can circulate the 2 gallons of fuel in the bottom of the tank. Portland punishes anyone who dares to drive a car for normal activity.

      pdxr13

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    5. Even normal supply, you pay the premium, then even sometimes have to buy that silly additive for the smoke. Diesels do a lot of great things but I think the era of passenger vehicles using that fuel will soon be over, especially as we see the first even slight shortage.

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    6. Once a month chargers? You lucky dawg. Due to gore warming I have to keep battery tenders on all 3 of our vehicles or the batts go dead after 3-4 days. I'm considering getting a solar charger for my Blazer that plugs into the cig lighter. Sit the 6" x 16" panel on the dash. Gonna get 1 and try it and see and if it works get 2 more. Last winter my wife forgot to unplug the battery tender and dragged it down the road. That was the 2nd time that year that I had to beat her. J/K lol

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    7. You might consider a much larger panel. Here is a $40, 25 watt
      https://amzn.to/2GGV8OL
      The car charger is 5 or 5 watts and the same price. Granted, you have to worry about the charge controller, which is another $12-$20, but now you have extra juice for cloudy days and you can use for the house battery ( say, after the fuel is gone ). I'm also unaware if you can plug into the cig lighter or not, so it might not be as handy. But you seem to enjoy research on new projects.

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    8. HA! Mere coincidence, or vulcan mind meld? My wife gave me a panel for christmas that is almost the exact same thing and it came with a charge controller and some wiring. It's kinda big though, for putting on the dashboard. When it warms up a little, and the sun comes out of it's lair, I'll be doing some experimenting.

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  5. Great series - looking forward to the next one. I remember growing up, Grandpa McWilder would made 90% of the things he wanted or needed in his own woodshop. He made a new handle for a suitcase out of a belt, and it was better than any handle that suitcase had ever had on it. Now? We (collectively) would just toss out the suitcase and get a new one . . . if everyone did that 50% of the economy would disappear tomorrow.

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    1. Some of still do that stuff. Me for example. Couple months ago I made a brand new handle for a 1913 .30 cal German machine gun out of some scrap walnut I had leftover from another project. Fixed the frayed cord on my wife's floor sweeper this morning, and have a small slider type switch needing attention on a decorative lamp she has.

      I don't do these things because I'm miserly but because I enjoy it. And learn a little something along the way. Brain to eye to hand coordination. What could be more human?

      Unfortunately, much of the stuff I encounter that needs fixing is designed and built in such a way it cannot be fixed. Last winter a $50 space heater went out and the diagnosis was that a dime size thermo sensor went out. Guess what? That sensor is not available anywhere for any price. So I yanked the cord, hung it of a nail on the wall, uanked the on/off switch and threw it in the coffee can over there, and the rest went to the dump.

      Speaking of throw away. Those Keurig coffee machines use those K-cups for the coffee. It's all about convenience don't ya know. Well last year Keurig produced 8.5 billion of those cups, enough to circle the globe 3 times. Then after that long trip they spend the next million years in a landfill. Plenty of other company's make those K-cups too.

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    2. Just throw all that plastic in the ocean. It will cover up the radiation from Fuki.

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