New Republican presidential candidate, Tim Scott

I saw Tim Scott on TV today, doing his acceptance speech. He is officially in the presidential race now.  I was impressed.  This guy gives a good speech, had his audience cheering on the applause lines.  I have not gotten a hold of a printed copy of his speech to check where his political stuff is coming from, but it all sounded good.  I might vote for him.  To win, he has to give that speech to a lot more Republican audiences.

The federal debt limit.

We have one.  It says that the US cannot borrow money above the debt limit.  US Treasury is saying that they will need to borrow more to pay the government’s bills starting in June. Speaker McCarthy has written and passed a bill to raise the debt limit and do some noticeable cutting of federal spending. No spending cuts, not debt limit increase.  Needless to say the Party of More Free Stuff (democrats) does not want to go along with any kind of spending cuts.

   It should be possible to dicker and come up with a compromise that has enough spending cuts to satisfy Republicans and spends enough for feed democrats.  Right now Biden and WRBA are not negotigiating; they are junketing way out in the Far East.  They won’t be home til Monday.   With out Biden and his heavy duty advisors at the table, face to face, nothing can get done. 

   Default is not the problem, despite what the TV keeps saying.  Default is the failure of the US to pay its obligations, namely federal bonds and treasury bills when they come due.  Federal tax revenue is about 60% of the needed money to run the government and pay the obligations.  Obligations are like 10% of the tax revenue.  Do a little trimming, pay some suppliers late, and we have plenty of money to pay down on bonds and T-bills.

   I expect when Biden and WRBA get home they will be able to cut a deal with the Republican and McCarthy and get on with things.  

Biden wants to put our lights out.

Slow Joe Biden wants to put our lights out.  He wants his Environmental Pollution Agency to require that fuel burning electric power plants reduce their emission by 95%.  Wow. That is like ordering all our power plants to shut down.  It cannot be done.

Consider a coal plant.  Let’s burn a ton of coal to make steam to turn the electric generators.  Coal is pretty much pure carbon.  The ton of coal burns by combining with two oxygen atoms to each carbon atom.  This gives 3.6 tons of carbon dioxide up the stack for every ton of coal burned.  There is nothing you can do to improve this.

Gas fired plants are a little bit different, but the end result is about the same.  

 

In New Hampshire we ought to have a New Hampshire bureau that sets reasonable performance standards for electric plants and inspects New Hampshire plants for compliance with New Hampshire standards.  Out of state trouble makers who cause trouble for our electric generators are sabotaging our electric supply and should be thrown in jail.     

Reparations in California

California ought to become amusing.  They have promised “reparations” of $1.2 million (per individual? per family? Per extended family?)_to not well defined groups.  California is $8 million in debt.  It will take many many times $8 billion ($200, $400, $800 billion?) to pay the proposed reparations to every one eligible for them.  The TV has not been clear about who might be eligible.  Good luck California.  I will bring popcorn.

Keep on Trucking. Anywhere but California.

 California is going to ban the sale of diesel trucks as of 2036.  Was I a trucking company or a mere owner-operator, I would start thinking about relocating out of California.  Reregister all my vehicles some state outside of California.  They did not say if they would permit out of state trucks with good paperwork to drive into California.  If they go that far, I would look of out-of-California customers to serve. 

  I am glad I bought a new Chevy this year.  I am beginning to hear talk about banning the sale of real cars (internal combustion engines) and forcing us all to buy battery cars.