Will there be fuel shortages? Some of us are old enough to remember 1973 and 1974 when gasoline stations went dry and lines to buy gas extended far into the street.
A report in Forbes magazine says it won’t happen, again. But The Wall Street Journal has interviewed oil and gas executives who have a different opinion.
Chevron’s CEO, Mike Wirth, warns that global supplies of oil are running low and he sees no end to the supply disruption. And even if oil became available, it needs to be refined and shipped.
Executives knew that a long closure of the Strait of Hormuz would lead to fuel shortages; it’s gotten worse as the Houthis in Yemen have disrupted supplies of oil coming from Saudi Arabia through the red Sea.
Oil reserves from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve are as low as they can get; they have been tapped to death.
The CEOs report that even if supplies increase, don’t expect prices to drop any time soon. President Trump and administration officials claims that sky high prices are only temporary.
Whom do you believe?
China had relied on its own reserves; no longer. It is now buying oil and creating further shortages for western users.
Farmers in the US are entering the harvest season using large quantities of diesel fuel that is topping six dollars a gallon.
In March, the CEOs of Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Conoco Phillips warned Trump that a prolonged closing of the Strait could lead to short falls of refined products.
In classic Trump fashion, he blamed the oil companies for high costs and screamed into the atmosphere that they must lower their prices. In this regard, see the last section of this post.
The US is short of interceptor missiles. Last week Iran launched a missile attack on Jordan. The missiles are becoming more sophisticated by the day.
Iran’s missiles contained multiple warheads and many got through causing substantial damage; no US troops were killed.
To counter that attack, not so successfully, the US shot up 70 Patriot interceptor missiles that cost a couple million dollars each.
Iran is adopting new tactics quicker than the United States can counter them.
The Pentagon denies that interceptor missiles have been depleted. Trump claims that there are large numbers of interceptor missiles in stock and production is ramping up.
The Inspector General for the department of defense reports otherwise.
The IG’s office claims there are shortfalls in strategic inventories, and industrial bottlenecks are hampering resupply. Sounds like the IG will soon be looking for a new job.
Iran has dug missiles out of buried underground sites and has also quickly run up production.
It will continue to use it’s munitions to deplete our arsenal of interceptors, which are needed not only in the Middle East, but also in the Far East and Europe.
Rebuilding our stock pile of critical interceptor missiles, it is said by some US officials, will take years.
So far the United States has expended over 2000 interceptors, and has spent an estimate estimated $38 billion fighting this war.
One of our very major suppliers was only able to produce 600 missiles this year.
The Iranians are doing a fine job of making the U.S. presence in the Middle East costly and unsustainable, all as reported in The Wall Street Journal today.
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On a totally different subject, I heard the very best reason yet why Trump voters continue to support him despite both the mess has caused and the multitude of constant lies he has told.
So many people accuse these supporters of being stupid because they buy his lies.
This explanation says otherwise. I think it makes sense.
A professor compared Trump to a professional wrestler, and his supporters to the audience. They are well aware that it’s all fake and to them that’s quite okay. They know he lies; they don’t care.
They are there for the entertainment, and Trump is their entertainer.
As to his policies causing them pain, the professor opined that Trump could burn down their homes, and they would return to sit in the ashes, turn on their TV sets and cheer him on as they do the villain in professional wrestling.
And as to a professional wrestling villain, he needs to be powerful and oppressed… misunderstood. That’s the formula that works for this audience.
Trump is the world’s most powerful man. And he claims always to be unfairly treated, and the subject of a hoax. Oppressed.
Sounds like he learned an important lesson from his days in Atlantic City when through his bankrupted casinos he promoted professional wrestling.
Back then, one of my advertising agency clients, was the agency of record for the Trump Casino. It gave me passes to Wrestlemania, and I took my 8 year old son to Atlantic City to watch the wrestling.
To the audience, it was all real in the moment, and they cheered it on, even though they knew it was not real.
Trump is as fake as professional wrestling, his supporters know it, and they love it. he cares not; he’s in it for the money and the ego.
Jim Astrachan is lawyer who represents clients in intellectual property law and litigation, mediation, and business, regulatory, and transactional matters. He’s a Life Fellow of the Baltimore City Bar Foundation, the Maryland Bar Foundation, and the American Bar Foundation.