The Venezuela-ization of California continues apace: Calif Regulators Propose Gov’t Takeover Of Oil Refineries To Stave Off Energy Crisis
Headline of the Day by Daily Caller News Foundation California regulators have proposed a variety of government intrusions into the petroleum industry in order to combat future energy price surges, according to a report released Thursday by the California Energy Commission (CEC). As the Golden State continues to pursue its green agenda, the CEC expects some […]
How California’s ‘neo-feudal reality’ became a warning to the world: ‘A new dominant class of oligarchs & woke bureaucrats has bled the Golden State dry’
JOEL KOTKIN: California is not only home to by far the highest number of billionaires in the US. But it also suffers the highest proportion of Americans living in poverty and the widest gap between middle- and upper-middle-income earners of any state. It endures among the US’ highest rates of unemployment, as well as massive net outmigration, an exodus that has increased sharply since 2019. It also has 30 per cent of the nation’s homeless population, with some now living in ‘furnished’ caves. …
Unable to provide upward mobility for most, California has chosen to expand what Marx described as ‘the proletarian alms-bag’ for the masses, who are increasingly disconnected from the state’s economy. The state spends a larger share of its budget on welfare than virtually any other state. Rather than seek to expand the economic pie, the oligarchic classes prefer an expansion of redistribution. They favour concepts like a ‘universal basic income’ or subsidies for basics like rent and electricity. Some claim California will be able to foot the bill with profits made from artificial intelligence. Once the epitome of competitive capitalism, the tech industry now promotes, as one Silicon Valley wag put it, ‘feudalism with better marketing’. …
These policies are a disaster for many. Today one in five Californians – many working – lives in poverty (using a cost-of-living adjusted poverty rate). The Public Policy Institute of California estimates another fifth live in near-poverty – roughly 15million people in total. With the exception of Asians, the state’s racial minorities do far worse – in education, incomes and homeownership – than they do virtually anywhere else in the country. …
Rather than address class issues, California’s progressive project focusses on issues like gender, abortion and race. All provide excellent ways to virtue-signal without threatening the ruling cabal of the oligarchical elite, the government bureaucracy and the political class. This has led California to pass such measures as mandates for stores to have gender-neutral toy sections and allowing children to change genders without parental approval. …
Draconian climate-change policies, now a central part of Democratic Party dogma, have driven California’s decline. Latinos are particularly impacted….The governor has even blamed climate change for much of the problem.
Watch: Morano on Fox talking Pope Francis climate summit Gov. Gavin Newsom: ‘It’s an unholy alliance’
Fox Business – The Bottom Line – Broadcast May 16, 2024 Sean Duffy: I’m a catholic and ashamed of the Pope, and in Europe, all the churches are empty, and the FBI is targeting catholic in traditional Latin mass and had — Latin mass, and Kansas City kicker that gave a speech, and attacked including […]
Watch: Morano on Fox News: ‘This is a good development’ that California can’t spend massive influx of ‘federal climate cash’ to ‘advance climate action’ – Plus Google’s EV bus crash
Fox News – The Bottom Line – w/ Dagen & Duffy – Broadcast November 9, 2023
Report: California needs more staff to “capitalize on the historic influx of federal climate cash” – University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment report:
This reminded me of the TV show Breaking Bad. There was a scene when the drug dealer finally has so much money in his storage shed that he literally can’t spend it, and he doesn’t know what to do with it. It’s just piles of cash.
Scene from Breaking Bad TV show – Season 5 – ‘How Much is Enough?’
Morano: “We’ve reached peak insanity now in the United States with the climate agenda led by California. This federal climate cash is sitting in the state with nowhere to go, no one to spend it, and here’s the thing as weird as it is, this is a good thing, right? Because the last thing you want to do is spend the money because they’ve already said they’re going look for ways to reduce emissions to meet the governor’s ‘climate neutrality’ Net Zero rule. And if they do that, it’s going to make Californians even poorer and pay for more expensive energy. So this is a good development, you don’t want them to spend it. Let the money pile up just like in the TV show with nowhere to be spent because spending it impoverishes Californians.”
Analysis: California’s climate/energy policies are a ‘National Security Risk for America’ – State ‘has increased crude oil imports from foreign countries from 5% in 1992 to more than 75% today’
Ronald Stein: Historically, California has been successfully reducing in-state oil production over the decades and has increased crude oil imports from foreign countries from 5 percent in 1992 to more than 75 percent today to meet the California consumption demand. Governor Gavin Newsom, by continually seeking further decreases of in-state oil production, Newsom’s emissions policies continue to force California, the 4th largest economy in the world, to be the only state in contiguous America that imports most of its crude oil feedstock to in-state refineries from foreign countries. …
California has more than 140 airports with huge fuel demands of more than 13 billion gallons of aviation fuel per year that includes these major airports:
- 9 International airports
- 41 Military airports
In addition, California has three of the largest shipping ports in America, with #1 Los Angeles. #2 Long Beach, and #7 Oakland. Ships arriving and departing from the shipping ports up and down the coast from San Diego to San Francisco require massive amounts of lower grade bunker fuels. …
The California Air Quality Management District (AQMD) policies have the potential to further reduce in-state refinery capacity, so the State can be more dependent on Asia for the fuels and petrochemical demands of the State. …
With more in-state refinery closures imminent under Newsom’s watch, California can look toward Asia’s 88 new refineries for the manufactured fuels used by California’s 9 International airports, 41 Military airports, and 3 of the largest shipping terminals in America for manufactured oil derivatives that are the basis of most products in our materialistic society,
California partnering with Chinese province to ‘fight climate change’ – ‘Accelerating zero-emission vehicles’ & ‘carbon neutrality plans’
California’s emissions regulatory death spiral
https://www.cfact.org/2023/06/18/californias-emissions-regulatory-death-spiral/ By Ronald Stein I just got back from a 2-hour lunch with one of the guys who serves on working groups and committees of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), and he shared his frustrations working with these agencies. The frustration stems from the devastating impact […]
California’s headlong rush to renewables has resulted in soaring electricity prices –- up nearly 15% year-to-year — but the state’s CO2 emissions aren’t falling
https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/california-screamin?publication_id=630873&isFreemail=true By Robert Bryce California’s headlong rush to renewables has resulted in soaring electricity prices –- up nearly 15% last year alone — but the state’s CO2 emissions aren’t falling. California policymakers are mandating renewables. Ratepayers are being mauled by huge price increases. But the state’s electric sector emissions aren’t falling. Graphic by Grant Chalmers […]
Calif. Gov. Newsom Signed 40 New Green Bills in Most Aggressive Climate Hypothesis Push
https://lidblog.com/newsom-signed-40/ by Faye Higbee Jeff Dunetz | The California legislature passed an extremely aggressive package of 40 new green bills, and Gov Gavin Newsom signed them into law on September 16. They come at a time when California didn’t have the energy available to allow people to plug in their electric vehicles or keep the AC running […]