Good News for Grain?
Turkey is reporting that it has reached an agreement with Russia that will allow it to “demine” or sweep parts of the Black Sea and then escort cargo vessels from Ukraine ports to neutral areas of the Black Sea. This will allow millions of pounds of grain held in storage at Odessa to reach hungry customers, especially those in third-world countries.
Will this help grain prices? If a decent amount of grain makes it to market, it may relive pressure which should help prices. It will have the largest impact on countries that buy grain from Ukraine, including Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Lebanon.
Good News for Solar, Bad News for Oil and Gas
The country (and the world) needs gas and diesel, but Biden missed an opportunity to increase production. He declared an energy emergency and issued an executive order to use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to facilitate the production of more solar panels. That’s analogous to giving free flu shots during a COVID pandemic. It’s nice, but it doesn’t address the real problem. Producing more solar panels won’t do anything to reduce the price you pay at the pump. It won’t cut the price of diesel, which is the supply chain runs on. It won’t help the next time you go grocery shopping.
Instead of “putting the full force of the federal government behind supporting American clean energy producers,” the administration should take the chains off the oil and gas producers, approve more permits and leases, and reverse many of the destructive policies they issued since coming into office.
I believe it was Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. It’s pretty clear that the Biden Administration’s push for green energy has resulted in nothing but trouble, yet they decide to double down when poles show more than 70 percent of Americans are angry about inflation and gas prices.
Time will tell if solar power for individuals becomes less expensive. Given the rate at which prices of everything are rising, I doubt it.
Anti-Gun Bills
The House of Representatives is wasting no time addressing the so-called “Protecting our Kids Act” which should be called “The Gun Banners Dream Act.” This bill raises the minimum age to buy a semi-auto centerfire rifle or shotgun to 21; bans the sale, manufacture and ownership of ghost guns and weapons without serial numbers; requires all guns to be locked up when not carried and not only includes a fine of $500 per gun, but allows “seizure and forfeiture” of improperly stored guns, close what they call the “bump stock loophole” and makes it illegal to possess a high capacity magazine.
While I don’t think this bill will pass the Senate during an election year, you never know. The pressure is on. Consider buying extra magazines for any of your weapons that hold more than 10 rounds.
I normally recommend you have at least twelve magazines per battle rifle and six per handgun, but it might be worth doubling those numbers. When the Clinton magazine ban passed in 1994, the price of standard capacity Glock 17 magazines jumped from $19.99 or less to $75 or more. That ban allowed the continued sale of existing magazines to civilians; it appears that this one does not.
Considering the number of gang members that use illegal autosears in their Glocks, turning them into automatic weapons used to spray a crowd during a drive by shooting, it’s clear this law will not deter that criminals. Instead, it will affect the average gun owner. Will it stop school shootings? Seeing as it does nothing to address the underlying conditions that lead to mass shootings, that’s unlikely. It’s akin to banning cars to stop drunk driving.
