Tag Archives: political economy

Vengeance

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The Progressive-Democrats are interested in it.

Shortly after Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the US Supreme Court on Monday, Democrats warned Republicans that they would regret their decision to hold a vote so closely to an election.

And

“My colleagues may regret this for a lot longer than they think,” [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D, NY] added.

Senator Chris Murphy (D, CT):

Will Democrats go to new, extraordinary lengths to maximize their power given the extraordinary lengths Republicans have gone to maximize their power? …what do Republicans expect?

Revenge. Not the business of the people.

Think about that as you vote.

The Biden No-Fracking Plan

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…and his assault on our oil industry and our energy production sector generally.

Progressive-Democratic Party Presidential candidate Joe Biden said, in last Thursday’s debate,

I would transition from the oil industry, yes.

Then he repeated his promise.

I will transition. It is a big statement. Because I would stop.

Here’s how he intends to prosecute his assault.

  • ban on drilling leases and development on federal land
  • “robust federal standards” on methane releases from pipelines as well as storage facilities
  • use the Endangered Species Act and National Monuments Act to limit lands open to development
  • all infrastructure projects that require federal approval or receive federal funds would have to undergo a “climate test” including federal agencies projecting costs from carbon emissions attributable to every new pipeline or liquefied natural gas terminal
  • choke demand by requiring, among other things, expensive carbon sequestration technologies on power plants
  • increase subsidies for wind and solar power in parallel with eliminating existing subsidies and credits for oil and natural gas production, reducing demand for the oil and gas

Fracking ban by a thousand cuts. And slashes.

Some Economic Data

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Our recovery from the Wuhan Virus situation is moving apace, both medically and economically. Here are some of the economic data. The breakdown by Progressive-Democrat- vs Republican-run States also is interesting. The Executive Summary is this:

…the labor market for lower-income workers is reviving, though it has become increasingly bifurcated between states that reopened sooner and those that maintained longer lockdowns.

Now those data:

  • continuing jobless claims for the week of October 10 declined by nearly one million to 8.37 million, and by 3.6 million in the last three weeks
  • in August the layoff rate hit the lowest on record
  • [i]n July and August, layoffs were fewer than during the same months last year
  • more new restaurants opened in September than in 2018, 2017 and 2016

That last obviously is from the artificially low level driven by the government’s forced closures from the lockdowns, but it still represents significant recovery.

  • [t]hird-quarter median weekly earnings increased 8.2% year-over-year and 9.2% for the bottom 25% of workers
  • [m]edian weekly earnings rose…11.8% for Hispanics and 9.3% for blacks

That’s a significant narrowing of the income (and so wealth) gap that the Left worries so much about.

  • September consumer spending was up 5.4% year-over-year

The over-year period is before the virus situation. That puts the spending rate back on its original track.

  • Atlanta Federal Reserve estimates the economy grew 35.3% in the third quarter

That’s ahead of the official GDP estimate due out on 29 Oct, but it’s a solid presage.

Now some between-State data. September unemployment rates in States that locked down more tightly and stayed locked down longer:

  • 6% in Nevada, 11% in California, 10.5% in Rhode Island, 10.2% in Illinois, 9.7% in New York

Rates for States that reopened sooner from looser restrictions:

  • 7% in Arizona, 6.4% in Georgia, 5.4% in Wisconsin, 5% in Utah

Labor force participation data for a couple of tightly restricted States:

  • 363,000 workers dropped out of New York’s labor force
  • 229,000 workers left New Jersey’s labor force

On the other hand,

  • Arizona’s labor force grew by 151,000
  • Wisconsin’s labor force grew by 82,000

Looks like recovery to me, albeit still fragile.

Labor Rights

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Whose rights are they, anyway?

Last Thursday, a California First Appellate District court upheld a State district court’s order that Uber and Lyft must reclassify their gig drivers as actual employees and so must add to their labor costs with benefits, paid leave of various sorts, payroll taxes, and so on. Never mind that this will reduce gig-oriented companies’ ability to recover from the State’s Wuhan Virus-related lockdowns and cost thousands of Californians access to additional income.

The time is fast approaching when it’ll be most useful for Uber, Lyft, and other gig-oriented businesses to leave California altogether.

It gets worse. As Uber noted in part,

…rideshare drivers will be prevented from continuing to work as independent contractors….

Indeed. The California court’s order (and AB5, the State statute that originally levied the classification requirement) go far beyond restricting gig-oriented businesses.

They’re attacks on gig workers themselves by denying them control over their own labor and the price and other parameters under which they’re willing to market their labor. The ruling and the statute convert those who wish to work in California into labor wards of the State’s government.

Almost like they’re State plantation laborers. But it’s all good, though; it’s for the workers’ own good.

The court’s opinion can be read here.

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

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Electric vehicles need charging stations, and there’s currently broad confusion over the role electric utilities, or anyone else, should have in building out and operating networks of them.

There are other considerations that need addressing, though before networks of chargers can operate at useful efficiencies.

Before any of this can work, though, a couple of other problems must be worked through. The number of miles that can be driven on a battery charge must be drastically improved. This one is improving, but it’s not yet adequate.

Too, the range available from a charge—even when it reaches the range available from a tank of gasoline or diesel fuel—must be achievable in just a couple of minutes—the time it takes to fill a gasoline or diesel tank.

Absent both of these, intercity travel, much less cross country travel, will be badly disrupted and made strongly inconvenient by a diktat mandating electric vehicles.

Beyond that, the ancillary costs of travel will rise. Lodging costs will go up as time spent at the recharging station will prevent many trips from being completed in a single day. Dining costs will rise as additional meals will need to be taken, or extra brown bag meals prepared for the extended time frame. Shipping costs will rise as truckers, with their heavier duty battery packs, will need to spend even more time at charging stations, increasing shipping times.

Progressive-Democratic Party Presidential candidate Joe Biden wants a network of 500,000 charging stations built out, which compares with the present 160,000 gasoline filling stations. However, a charging station in every pot won’t, by itself, solve any of this.