The good folks over at the National Weather Service have posted that La Nina, the ENSO negative Pacific Ocean pattern is here to stay for a threepeat. What this typically means for us in the US is that we are looking at drought. More drought. From the Texas South to the Dakota’s. This also means […]
Another Trying Season, La Nina Now Through Summer
Oil – Everything worse but only nudged the old records out by a week or two
RJS, Focus on Fracking, The Latest US Oil Supply and Disposition Data from the EIA US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending March 4th indicated that even after a big drop in our oil exports and an increase in our oil imports, we had to pull oil out of our stored […]
The Iran Nuclear Deal And The Ukraine Invasion
The Iran Nuclear Deal And The Ukraine Invasion At New Year’s I disagreed with forecasts made by David Ignatius that Putin would fully invade Ukraine and that the JCPOA nuclear deal with Iran would be revived. I have been proven wrong on the first matter already. As of a week or more ago, it looked […]
A Footnote to IT WAS BEDLAM!
A Footnote to IT WAS BEDLAM! Lewis Corey was a pseudonym for Louis Fraida, one of the founders of the U.S. Communist Party. In a letter to Marcuse dated August 16, 1960, Raya Dunayevskaya replied at length to his request for references to the American literature dealing with the issues of “the transformation of the […]
VA health care system treats vets better than private facilities
Coming fresh off of featuring Kip Sullivan’s “Single Payer Health Care Financing Presentation – Three Part Series,” also “Continuing the Conversation concerning Medicare and Medicare Advantage Part 1 and Part 2.” and Kip Sullivan and Ralph Nader Talk Tradition Medicare vs Medicare Advantage; I came across this article by Suzanne Gordon concerning Veteran healthcare and […]
Omicron looks like it has burned through all of the “dry tinder”
Coronavirus dashboard for March 8: Omicron looks like it has burned through all of the “dry tinder,” leaving perhaps only 10% of the US population still fully vulnerable to infection Back in autumn when Delta was raging, I thought that, once it burned through all of the “dry tinder,” so many unvaccinated people would have […]
One-week price-jump leaves Prices at 13½ year high
RJS, Focus on Fracking, Largest one-week price jump on record leaves oil prices at a 13½ year high Oil prices increased for the tenth time in eleven weeks this week, and finished at a 13 1/2 year high, after a combination of sanctions, the threat of sanctions, and threats to shipping in the Black Sea […]
Ukrainian oil and American sacrifice
I have not commented on Ukraine because I am horrified and have nothing special to say. I would like to think the international community can find an “off ramp” for Putin, but I am pessimistic. I believe the Russians will slowly improve their logistical position, and in any event that the most likely outcome is […]
IT WAS BEDLAM!
IT WAS BEDLAM! From The Decline of American Capitalism by Lewis Corey (1934): Capitalist production saves on labor and multiplies the productive forces. But two contradictions arise which constantly torment capitalist enterprise. Saving on labor decreases relative wages and limits the conditions of consumption. This sets in motion the forces of excess capacity, sharpened competition, and mounting […]