California is changing the bargain it made on solar power. Yep, if you want to be cynical, you might believe that the Public Utilities Commission has decided to hit Elon Musk in the pocketbook but they’re really coming for you Barbara.
Ok, so let’s get the chronology correct. California has shutdown every sort of electrical generating capability in the state except wind and solar.
Nuclear gone
Natural gas gone
Coal gone
Hydroelectric gone—at least until we either get much more rainfall or ration water to LA.
Meanwhile we have outlawed internal combustion engines, forcing everyone into battery powered cars while outlawing fire fighting pumps and electric generators. Genius move!
California has also mandated that all new construction beginning in 2024 must include solar power.
Now, like Nevada did a few years ago, California has significantly altered the bargain.
At a recent PUC meeting, a taxpayer dared to complain, “I thought we had a bargain.”
To which the PUC chair replied, “I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”
PUC Chair with victimized citizen
So, what changed? California now has a new revenue stream. Remember that imaginary budget surplus Gavin says we have for the second year? Apparently, he doesn’t either.
Yep, gullible people that think they are saving the planet are about to learn that Communism and fixing imaginary global warming has a cost, one that you get to pay, not Mr. Musk.
Enter the California Public Utilities Commission which has apparently decided it’s time to alter the deal. This new plan called Net Metering 3.0 hasn’t been passed yet but is expected to be voted on next month. If it does pass, the state will start charging new solar installations a fee based on the size of their system. The fee is $8 per month for every kW of generating equipment you have installed on the roof. So if you have an 8kW system, you’ll owe SCE an additional $64 per month or over $700 per year. You don’t get anything for that money, it’s basically just a tax on everyone who installs solar equipment.
In addition, the new plan will reduce the amount the power company pays you for your excess energy from about 25 cents per kilowatt hour (still less than what the power company charges you for a kilowatt hour of power) down to about 6 cents per kWh. And that means there’s no way to break even on your bill anymore unless you also install an expensive battery system to save the excess energy for your own use. Of course the batter costs almost as much as the entire system.
If this article makes you angry, you ain’t seem nothin’ yet. Wait until they come after your electric vehicles, complete with the mileage tax; then everyone will get to pay.
Unless you live under a rock, think Joe Biden is a good president, or are related to one of the Park Brothers, you likely have heard our supply chain is in dire straits. Our Commander in Chief is obviously bothered as well. I saw the Clinton News Network hosted a “Presidential town hall” with Biden last night to give him a chance to explain away all his failures.
Joe Biden does CNN Townhall
Anderson Cooper was a great host as he cherry picked questions from 15 folks in the “audience chosen at random.” Like any Biden Q and A session, the participants were carefully vetted and handed a softball question to ask. Of the 15, 10 were registered Democrats, 3 were Republicans and 2 were Independent. Definitely a hostile crowd for Ole Slow Joe. This campaign event, I mean propaganda event, I mean town hall was based in Republican voter rich Baltimore. Biden basically said he had no answers for the fuel crisis. But he was considering calling up the National Guard for the shipping crisis. And…. Yeah, thank god my hour on the treadmill at the gym was done, because that was torture to watch. Shame on CNN for airing that, and shame on us for electing this fellow to be President.
Anderson Coper asks hard hitting questions
I will sum up clearly and succinctly what the supply chain issues are really about. They are not just the doing of Joe Biden’s failed presidency; this has been going on since Bill Clinton. Believe it or not, NAFTA aka the North American Free Trade Agreement was a major catalyst. The goal of NAFTA was to create a free trade zone, free of tariffs, to allow a flow of goods and services across borders. In theory this is a good idea, it tears down borders and disputes and creates “friendly neighbors.” However, NAFTA has evolved and not in a good way.
NAFTA in the last 15 years has become a catalyst for corporations to reduce expenses and outsource jobs. One of the most argued points cited by myself and others are “we used to build things in the USA, now we no longer do.”
The reasoning here is we used to have factories to assemble the parts imported from Mexico, but with increased expenses here domestically, we now build it in Mexico. Furthermore, Mexico sends it here and we “finish it,” in essence we put the stickers and decals on it, and a few other accents and can still call it “made in the USA.” In many ways this was palpable because expenses were cut, and our producing workforce could transition to a “paper pushing” workforce. Workers were mostly happy, shareholders were trilled, and executives bonused out at year end. Win. Win. Win. Right?
Incorrect. As time went on, more and more jobs were sent to Mexico, and Mexico has become a developed country. I say that in a sense that the workers there now want more money and benefits. As a result, the job merry go round has started again. Jobs from Mexico have migrated to China, and neighboring countries. Many of which employ slave labor, child labor, prison labor or just flat-out deplorable conditions. But that’s ok, because you need your new TV, iPhone etc. and you ain’t paying full price. So, you ignore that part of the supply chain.
Enter the virus.
I’m leaving the political BS out of this blog in regard to the Corona Virus. We locked down in the USA, and other countries followed suit. It was supposed to be 14 days, which has turned into almost 2 years. The vaccine was the end all, cure all…. not so much. It didn’t affect the US that much because other countries produce most of what we consume. But over time, the virus spread to countries we import products from, and this has exasperated the issue. Most recently Vietnam has locked down its factories; don’t believe me look it up yourself, most of our clothing is made in Vietnam. With those countries locked down, we get no additional clothing sent here. Contrary to the belief of some, we here in the US are not able to build a factory to make said clothing here.
Furthering my point, the lockdowns here taught us one thing, the workers have the upper hand. Currently and recently, we have seen striking workers for; Nabisco, Frito-Lay, Deere, Kellogg and parts of the healthcare sector. These workers were ordered to work during the pandemic, most given mandatory overtime and restrictions on time off requests. At year’s end they were given a small bonus of a few hundred, maybe a thousand if they were lucky. Management got far bigger bonuses and shareholders got even richer, keep in mind the former stayed at home during the pandemic because it was safer for them and their workers. We are now seeing a revival of unions, don’t believe me, but look around.
The problems at the port are another issue. However, we are focused on the cranes and the operators, what we need are semi-trucks and trailers to move those containers once off loaded. We don’t have those, so the containers are stacked on shore. Running the port 24/7 as senile Joe suggests isn’t the problem. Corporations for years have mistreated the drivers of said trucks, so now we are unable to find workers to do that. Most corporations, especially Target made the drivers contractors, and required them to bid on a route, and pay for the gas, lease payment, insurance et. Al. This resulted in truck drivers making close to zero when expenses were paid. Don’t believe me, look it up. Again, Target is one of the worst offenders here, but that’s ok, because they told Biden they want to help.
Editor’s Note:The Federal government and California in particular has also punished truck drivers in a number of ways including limiting the number of hours per day that they can drive and outlawing independent operators via AB-5, diesel engine regulations, and other restrictions.
The long blog short here is the workers in factories are burned out, and years of consolidation are partly to blame. Look at Campbell Soups, they used to have a plant in California, but due to costs they shut it down, production moved to Texas. This is a no-brainer, until Texas is snowed out. Pretty hard to get soup from Troy, Ohio to California. In addition, try building a plant in the USA to make something, forget for a minute the ungodly amounts of red tape (unless you want to build a basketball arena downtown, somehow the red tape vanishes for that) you also have to build it, hire, train workers, and have production lines set-up and built. This is not easy, and it’s a tough sell to shareholders who expect you to beat last quarter’s earnings and lower your expenses. American workers get breaks, lunch, benefits, and extra time, these are federal and state laws.
While Senile Joe may have won the day yesterday, he has lost long term. The issues of years of outsourcing and production cuts, met with lockdowns have created a toxic cocktail. Sadly, for people like Jorge Riley, this isn’t a cocktail that you want to drink. The problem is going to get worse. Here are a few examples of just what we are facing here.
I bought a jacket on sale $22 marked down from $44, I ordered the wrong size, I shipped back for a return. The company I purchased from said due to supply chain issues I could not exchange unless I paid the difference. Another package I ordered sat in a FedEx office for 7 days in Sacramento prior to making the trip to the world headquarters of reallyright.com. Keep in mind we live about 15 miles from Sacramento.
The Chief
Editor’s Note:Our family has been buying gift baskets from a company that ships from Oregon to California. Every order that we have placed in the last year starts with an estimated delivery date of about a week but in reality, it takes 6 to 8 weeks before it actually ships to our Sacramento suburb. Ditto for our new Samsung phone order. Delivery keeps getting delayed.
Like the title says I went on what has to be the craziest first date I’ve been on in a long while. Not anything she wore, did, or ate/drank made it strange. What was wild was the look into her lifestyle and her definition of the word “busy.”
First some backstory. We had been texting for a few weeks and we had been in the “lets pick a date” stage for about 10 days. She was the busy one, I can respect that as my “busy” evolves from work, and extra-curricular events, such as church and gym. I figured she had legit reasons, so I let it go. D-Day finally came, I showed up early, as did she. Things got off to a good start but then things went awry. I inquired as to her work, and she obliged. She was a young professional working for the county; however, this is where things got odd. She was describing her job as a typical 8-5 desk job, while she was explaining her work, I noticed she appeared to be wearing some kind of war paint, as she had brown smears on her cheeks. Turns out after she realized her makeup malfunction that she excused herself to use the lady’s room. She did properly “put on her face” and then returned to our table. I guess no harm no foul. First dates can be hectic, and most guys have it pretty easy in this regard, as most of us don’t spend much time on getting ready. After she returned, we tried finding common ground but very little was found.
The Fonz
Then things took a turn for the bizarre in my opinion. I asked her what she liked doing for fun, and she replied, “she is always very busy.” When I asked about hobbies, I got the same response. Ditto for places she wants to go, and things she wants to do. That being said, I basically asked what goes on in your life outside of your 8-5? Keep in mind I already had mentioned all my goings on. She went on to mention she watches the SF Giants baseball team religiously, never misses a pitch. Also watches; The Voice, America’s Got Talent, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, America’s Next Top Model, Shark Tank, Top Chef, and to be honest I quit paying attention after that. This girl isn’t busy with life, she is busy with fantasy land TV shows. Just by my count, Giants games are roughly 3 hours, and the other plethora of shows are about an hour long each. While I will readily admit I doubt all these shows run on same days/seasons we can all agree that’s a lot of T.V. The night continued and after dinner she offered to pay, she actually insisted going as far as grabbing the bill. Her card was returned/declined/rejected twice. I picked up the tab.
The night ended with her driving me back to my car. I was parked about 3 blocks away. Her car was messy and trashed. I wished her good night and we exchanged “we both had a great time.” She texted the following day how much fun she had, but I could not let this go any farther.
To wrap this up, here is my reasoning and why I call it a bad first date. First, I don’t let the makeup thing become a deal breaker, I believe she was rushed; however, I think it was her “prep time” interfered with “show watching time.” The idea of all these TV shows paints a bad picture. It paints a picture of her being glued to the couch whilst watching one show after another. Embracing fantasy land as opposed to real world things. None of the shows she watched except maybe the ball game are even based on the real world. The cards being declined is a peek into the way she manages her life, no regard for money, buy now pay later. The car being trashed is just icing on the proverbial cake, she lives on an “I’ll get around to it basis.” If the car is trashed what does the apartment look like? Nice girl, but she comes off as a 24-year-old recent college grad as opposed to a working professional. The TV is always on, and personal finance and hygiene take a back seat. I wish her the best, but this was doomed to fail badly.
When looking for a match, having very little in common isn’t a deal breaker, but the “busy” in her life were things she has chosen to be busy with. I cannot fathom sitting in front of a TV with a messy car, and my financial house not in order while watching shows that are of little significance to my life. Not to mention the “after shows” that usually take place following.
I get it; you’re collectively saying “who?” Raimondo is the former governor of tiny little Rhode Island who “failed upwards” by being anointed Commerce Secretary by the current Democrat Party. I won’t say Joe Biden because we all know he “aint callin’ the shots.” Raimondo who is famous for shutting her state down during Covid, might just be what pure evil is. Like all other Democrat governors and weak-kneed Republican ones, under the fake guise of Covid being the plague, she actually stopped commerce. I guess she deserved promotion?
Raimondo was approved by the Senate and most recently made headlines again for wanting to use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to produce more “electronic chips” like the ones in computers, and most new cars.
“The Biden administration is considering invoking a Cold War-era national security law to force companies in the semiconductor supply chain to provide information on inventory and sales of chips, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Thursday.
The goal is to alleviate bottlenecks that have idled U.S. car production and caused shortages of consumer electronics and to identify possible hoarding, she said in an interview.
Her team for months has sought clarity into how companies allocate their semiconductor supply. But previous meetings that convened firms from different industrial sectors haven’t led to increased transparency and many companies have refused to hand over business data to the government.
The Commerce Department is now asking companies to fill out questionnaires within 45 days providing supply chain information. The request is voluntary but Raimondo said she warned industry representatives that she might invoke the Defense Production Act or other tools to force their hands if they don’t respond.
“What I told them is, ‘I don’t want to have to do anything compulsory but if they don’t comply, then they’ll leave me no choice,’” she said. “I said today we’re evaluating all of our options right now, all the tools. I hope not to go there but we need to see some progress and we definitely need compliance.”
I will go ahead and say it. What an evil b***h this women is. Hand over your data to the government? Fill out questionnaires? What the heck is this? Compliance of what? Just remember folks she is from the government, and she is here to help! Big shout out to the “never Trumpers” I say to them I hope they reap what they sow. Things may be bad but at least the Orange Man isn’t tweeting mean things!
If you are wondering, the DPA is a large government order that essentially requires business to adapt and do anything possible to ramp up production of needed materials for national defense. The DPA has been around for since 9/8/1950 around the Korean War I believe. Trump used this during early Covid stages essentially forcing Ford/GM and others to make ventilators since, well every American would be on one…. because Covid.
Now apparently computer chips are a vital national security thing, I guess we need to make sure junior has a faster laptop to play Grand Theft Auto, or my new F-150 super duty can be finally put together. Since you know those are real priorities right now.
My biggest gripes are this. Benevolent Queen Raimondo shut her state down, and kept it shut, not following science, she was following Fauci. Now she wants entire industries to not only work but work harder. Yeah, did you know any person ignoring her decree about DPA is subject to a felony and a $10,000 fine? All while government workers, most corporation’s office staffs, long term unemployed, and executives stay at home, because errrrr Covid. Yeah. Makes no sense to me. Push paper? Well, you can do that at home. Work in a factory? Get your butt to work and prepare for 60-hour work weeks! No time off, no vacation. This is a decree from your benevolent queen.
Sadly, idiots like Raimondo honestly think this decree will help. The worst part is, more and more workers will simply walk off the job, it simply isn’t fair to them to sacrifice while others stay at home. We have seen it play out at Frito Lay and Oreo plants across the country, with workers walking off the job due to conditions and poor work life balance. Sadly, Raimondo and the Democrats will never understand this. Maybe that is why the jobs report wasn’t that great the other day?
Hopefully I can get a chip from China for my new laptop or my new truck soon!
The Chief
(Editor’s Note: President Trump was accused of xenophobia and hating minorities when he expressed concerns about microchip production being vital to our economy and saying that it should be in the US and not overseas. Raimondo invoking DPA is another case of symbolism over substance. She is grandstanding on an issue which she has no control over. )
Folks we all know that America’s citizens are honest, hard-working folks; just ask any politician. Conversely, we all know that our leaders would sell-out their dear old granny for another term in office. Stuck in the middle are America’s families.
Families are faced with the question of where to send their child/children to college. I know this process can be a daunting task. My son is looking at a college with an annual tuition of $50K plus room and board. Given the high cost of college, perhaps you should rethink college.
Why, you may ask? We have solid proof that college is a waste of money.
How? We have data from people without four-year degrees self-reporting their 2019 earnings to the government. If widely circulated, the data we are about to present would shatter the myth that college is the path to wealth. The data that we are about to present is not manipulated by government bureaucrats or defenders of college. Why encumber yourself with debt when you can earn the wages that we are about to present for more menial jobs?
What you are about to read is data that was randomly collected during a one-week period processing unemployment claims at California’s Employment Development Department. You may ask how I know this stuff is true and all I can tell you is that the following wage information was visually verified by our blog’s staff.
Occupation
Salary
State
Beauty Operator Apprentice
$ 65,000
New Mexico
Beautician
$ 80,000
Montana
Bone Cooking Operator
$ 70,000
North Carolina
Barber
$ 70,000
Georgia
Photographer’s Model
$ 80,000
New York
Contractor
$ 75,000
Pennsylvania
Hairdresser
$ 75,000
Indiana
Beautician
$ 68,000
Nevada
Abstract Manager
$ 83,000
Texas
Assistant Manager
$ 95,000
New Hampshire
Retail Area Supervisor
$ 96,250
Illinois
Maid
$ 950,000
Arkansas
Photographer’s Model
$ 78,000
Virginia
Retail Area Supervisor
$ 82,000
Texas
Security Guard
$ 60,000
Texas
Retail Area Supervisor
$ 50,000
Michigan
Cashier
$ 56,500
Illinois
Beautician
$ 82,850
Texas
Chef
$ 72,000
North Carolina
Delivery Driver/Warehouse
$ 90,000
Arizona
Cashier
$ 80,000
Arizona
Cashier
$ 56,500
Illinois
Abstract Manager
$ 120,000
Utah
Manager-Fast Food
$ 900
Missouri
Apron Cleaner
$ 65,000
Florida
ASC Certified Auto Tech
$ 33,034
California
Invoicing Clerk-warehouse
$ 78,855
California
Business Office Cashier
$ 120,000
California
Gardener
$ 79,000
California
Banker
$ 120,000
Texas
Account Information Clerk
$ 125,000
North Carolina
General Maintenance/Janitor
$ 150,000
Minnesota
Abstract Manager
$ 300,000
Florida
There it is unequivocal proof that you don’t need college.
Analysis
Gospel truth, the highest paid person in our list was a maid who made $950,000. I guess that she learned from Al Capone that if you report illicit income, they can’t send you to prison for tax evasion.
The Beauty Operator Apprentice was one that I didn’t recognize. I had to ask the wife. Her understanding of the job is that this babe is the one sweeping up the hair clippings after you get a haircut. I never knew people pushing a broom were paid $65,000.
I tried searching for Abstract Manager on the Internet but came up with nothing that made sense. Given the wage scale, you’d think they were government employees, but we all know that government never lays off anyone. With a pay range of $83K to $300K, it must be a good gig.
The last job that needs special remarks is the General Maintenance/Janitor gig. Please note the wage of $150K. Folks this person claims to have earned this wage in Nevada County California. Per Nevada County statistics, the per capita income for this county in 2018 was just over $37K.
Hopefully by now, you are suspecting that I have withheld some information. If you think this is the case, then you are correct. Remember that I said that these wages were self-reported. This is true but I didn’t say why and therein is the rub. These wages were reported by people applying for California unemployment. The State category in my list is the state the person lives in now. Oh, none of these folks had any reported income on record with the State of California.
Who said crime doesn’t pay? These folks are doing all right or so they would have you believe.
Final thought, I hope this small widow into the fraud making its way thru EDD would be of interest to our readers.
We here at the blog have warned you; lockdowns, extra $300 a week benefits, vax vs anti-vax, and general fear would eventually lead to issues in the overall economy. You likely thought we were tin foil hat wearing wackos. Well, include Sysco as a wacko as well, or maybe they are credible?
Sysco is the largest food distributor in North America. You may recognize their trucks delivering to restaurants. Sysco provides food supplies to restaurants, jails, schools, and most concert venues or event halls. Chances are if you go out or “grab a bite” somewhere you likely are eating something from a Sysco truck. Well Sysco reported earnings earlier this week and, on the call, gave these dire warnings and I quote.
Sysco, North America’s largest wholesale food distributor, which is turning away customers in some areas where demand is exceeding capacity.
“There are certain areas across the country that are more challenged by the labor shortage and our volume of orders is regularly exceeding our capacity,” Sysco Chief Executive Officer Kevin Hourican said in a letter to clients earlier this month. “This has, unfortunately, led to service disruptions for some of our customers.”
Hourican’s troubling observations were confirmed by an analysis from DecaData, which tracks retailer transactions with shoppers and manufacturers; it showed that retailers are bumping up against manufacturer capacity as they stockpile ahead of the holiday season. In July, the incidence of suppliers limiting or putting a cap on orders from customers was more than double what it was in January, its data show.
I know what you are thinking, its one supplier, crying wolf, well united Natural Foods is another large distributor, here is what they said.
Another major distributor, United Natural Foods is having trouble getting food to stores on time. The company blamed not just labor shortages, but also delays in the procurement of some imported goods like cheese, coconut water and spices, as causing the problems.
“We anticipate additional supplier challenges in the short term with gradual improvement through the fall and winter,” a United Natural Foods representative said. The company’s top priority is to support customers “by working diligently to recover and bring their shelves back to normal inventory levels as quickly as possible.”
Look at how desperate these corporations are to hire workers.
U.S. companies across industries are reporting a dearth of workers amid sweetened unemployment benefits, stimulus payments and a pandemic that has reduced the appeal of in-person employment. Houston-based Sysco is aggressively hiring warehouse workers and truck drivers and offering referral and sign-on bonuses along with retention money for current staff.
The entire food sector is seeing “massive labor shortages,” Benjamin Walker, senior vice president of sales, marketing and merchandising at Baldor Specialty Foods told Bloomberg. “Service levels are the lowest I’ve seen in my 16-year career, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going away anytime soon.” Finding truck drivers is “next to impossible,” he said, while freight costs are rising daily. The company’s orders are arriving late and consequently facing delays in being sent to customers. On the outbound side, on-time deliveries are still above 50% but have fallen from the usual rate of more than 90%.
“We all thought it would be over by now. It’s just one thing after another,” he said.
“This is going to be the norm for a while.”
Folks get ready. In addition to menu shortages, inflation is coming to restaurants in a very big way soon. For the elite, that means they may not have a steak on the menu, for the serfs, the chicken dish you ordered; they may be out of it. The price increases hit the corporations first as they have to buy from distributors, but they are coming to a grocer near you, mark my words. You can already see it in the “ads” each week, you may notice sales prices don’t seem as great anymore. You may have also heard about water and toilet paper shortages or quotas placed on how many you can buy. This is not a test or a joke people, we are facing inflation like never before seen in a millennial’s lifetime. A burger (2 patties) no cheese, or bacon at Five Guys runs almost $10, that does not include fries and a coke. That price would be laughable a year or two ago, it could be a sale price in another year.
Truth be told, the labor shortage is due to a variety of things, yes, the $300 a week is a thing still and will continue to be. Also, most truckers have worked non-stop with mandatory overtime since this started, they are burned out, and want/need a family life balance. As far as the slaughterhouses/production lines for veggies etc., those workers feel the same way, and frankly the wages are not typically conducive to long term employment at one place.
In addition, the shortage of labor has been brewing for years, and our education system is to blame. I will expand on this in another blog but for years of my childhood anything other than a management desk job with stock options and 10% annual salary increases was a loser job. Actually 2 former teachers of mine impressed that on me; work at a grocery store…loser, construction…loser, truck driver…loser. Well, we know are desperate for these positions so much so hiring bonuses are being dangled, they still cannot hire folks. The reason is truck driving is a skill you need a separate license for, your regular Class C license isn’t what you need. Getting a class A license takes time, and a behind the wheel test, and lots of training; the acquisition cost to a company is very high. This is not going to be a short-term fix.
A corporation as big as Sysco unable to deliver foods to some customers; and in some area’s not taking new customers at all. A recipe for massive disaster. Again, I’m not citing high prices yet, its scarce availability.
Well, that is not an easy question, and I certainly won’t have the answer after these messages from our advertisers. The answer also certainly isn’t in that click bait article you found on Yahoo News. Additionally, it won’t be on your cable debate show were a left and right pundit lock horns for a segment and both declare victory afterwards. The answer is easy to see, but hard to explain.
We are suffering in the overall economy; you just cannot see it yet.
Sign at Elk Grove Chili’s
First of all, we have to go back to the “essential workers only economy” this started the issue. If you were really an essential worker; food operations, manufacturing, grocery etc. type jobs you were required to come to work, no days off and usually mandatory overtime. Ask any grocery store worker, or someone at a slaughterhouse, or who makes toilet paper/Clorox wipes. These folks are burned out after doing that for a year, and rightfully so. They need a break; some in these fields are even quitting their jobs or leaving their fields all together. So, you have a slight shortage as folks are tired, I can’t blame them.
Next you have the supply/demand issue. As you may have forgotten, we closed down dine in, this essentially shut down food suppliers; think USFoods, Sysco and Restaurant Supply Co. Contrary to public belief, manufacturing lines/plants aren’t convertible, meaning you can’t change the toilet paper from commercial grade 1-ply to household based 2-ply by flipping a switch. Food service works the same way. The companies named earlier specialize in selling cases of food product to parks, restaurants, correction facilities and institutions, not a grocery store. While most still would argue corporations are large enough, a company like Kraft can innovate on the fly, they can’t. As a result, you had a supply chain meltdown, which is continuing to this day, as you can see with food prices. I will touch on that later.
The employment shortage is a massive issue right now. Yes, it is 2 pronged; first of all, you have the aforementioned overworked employees. Additionally, you have the workers who were laid off and collected the Trump/Biden extra money on top of unemployment. You may notice I blame Trump. Yes, he signed it into law. I also believe he was given awful advice by his aides. Either way, those folks are slowly coming back to work, but most are holding out since, well… its free extra money and the American Dream—according to the Democrats—is living at home and being paid not to work. This creates a far bigger problem than any other factor so far mentioned in this blog post.
The issue at hand is that experienced workers are not reporting back. You may not believe it, but a waiter doesn’t get their start at The Capital Grill Steakhouse, they get it at a local diner or short order chain restaurant. As a result, the top tier chains are having an impossible time finding help, leading to bigger issues down line. Just today I went to Chili’s. The place was 100% open, but the staff was non-existent, the bartender was also waiting all tables in the bar area, as well as cleaning! The lack of experience showed, but I cannot blame her, she doesn’t have help. I saw other folks giving her an earful, several of which were old enough to know better. The place had at least 3 signs that I counted, they are desperate for workers.
Which brings me full circle. The businesses now have to pay very high starting wages to low skilled workers. I saw a McDonalds speaker box advertising $17.50 an hour starting pay. A McDonalds, in a city of 175,000. That is likely the person working the till, what do you pay the line cook? Fry cook? Assistant manager and Manager? Are we going to see $85K a year managing a McDonalds in the suburbs? In reality, the wages are necessary as one must coax the folks at home on the sofa watching daytime TV to get back to work. Which means you must beat Uncle Sam’s $300 a week kicker to your paycheck. As a result of this, you see price increases that are only going to get worse. You see, most businesses hedge on food expenses meaning they lock into a long-term deal, at a fixed price. Well, “Force Majeure” is a fancy term for an event outside of your control that allows you to cancel a contract and get out of it. Due to Covid, suppliers invoked this contract clause. You didn’t really feel it at first since it was only grocery stores loading up on food. Now we see businesses re-opening trying to load up on goods as well. We haven’t even really seen the return of concerts, weddings or the like yet. These put upward pressure on food. A lack of workers puts upward pressure on wages, which increases food costs.
Think of it this way, Slaughterhouse USA can process 10,000 burgers in a day. That is not problem when they are selling to grocery clients, and a few restaurants doing mostly take out. When demand picks up, they can still only produce 10,000 patties, so now the grocer, the takeout business which is ramping up, the fine dining business, and others are bidding for the 10,000 patties. But my slaughterhouse is short workers who want to vacation/quit/breaks, so now I’m under pressure to produce 10,000 patties a day. A tall order when there are only about 4 producers of beef in the economy, this was due to merger and acquisition activity. Now due to a supply, demand, and labor shortage, price inflation is nuts. Don’t believe me, a friend who is a big shot at a food supply company told me he can’t believe what he is seeing, and says it’s going to get worse. Consider this a lesson as to why the 90-day calendar does not allow for any deviation from the mean from business. We saw this coming, and couldn’t keep up, as a result we will pay the price.
Joe Biden checking vaccine status in middle America
Enjoy your $20 fish and chips, with no drink mind you… Seriously check out the menu at Mimi’s Café.
The Chief
Editor’s Note: Mimi’s official online menu does not have any prices on it or I would have posted the link. In my experience, when a menu has no prices and you have to ask, you better go somewhere else that you can afford.
Folks we are experiencing one of the worst droughts in the history of California and nobody living in a populated area has any clue that its unfolding. Why?
When Jerry Brown was Governor, we had certain days that we could water our yard. Water companies would pay you several thousand dollars to rip out your lawn and replace it with rocks. The media was publicizing conservation at much the same pace and intensity that they have been pushing social distancing, masks, and vaccinations during Covid yet there is hardly a word about water.
Each story of the drought is treated as a separate and unrelated event with no real consequences. However, for those of us native Californians, the conclusion is unmistakable. Below are a few examples that should cause you concern.
The state’s more than 1,500 reservoirs are 50% lower than they should be this time of year, according to Jay Lund, co-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California-Davis.
A recent AP news release was titled ‘Water crisis ‘couldn’t be worse’ on Oregon-California border’. And the unfolding historic drought is predicted to worsen.
Clearly, the growing needs for domestic water to support human needs and food production as well as wildlife habitats must not be ignored. That said, dam removal proponents are short-sighted and are merely looking to their own needs, which do not consider the big picture.
The shocking truth is that; in the middle of a record period of historic drought and ‘water crisis’, the governors of Oregon (Kate Brown) and California (Gavin Newsome) have collaborated with Berkshire Hathaway’s profitable Pacific Corp and a relatively few minority stakeholders to circumvent a Congressional Act, the Klamath River Basin Compact, and wrongfully remove 4-dams during a drought that’s intensifying.
Three of the four Klamath River dams proposed for removal are in Siskiyou County, CA, where a referendum proved that 78.84% of voters were against the Klamath dam removal project.
In Klamath County Oregon, where one of the Klamath River dams is located, voters considered whether the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River should be removed. That vote proved 72% of voters are opposed to the Klamath River dam removal project.
Shasta Lake
Lake Shasta this summer is facing possibly its lowest level in at least 44 years, and that could be bad news for the people who rely on it for drinking and irrigation water, as well as endangered salmon that depend on it to survive.
Dam operators have to go all the way back to 1977 to compare how bad this year’s water situation is shaping up to be, said Don Bader, area manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the dam.
“It’s dry. It’s second worst, so far. It’s probably going to exceed ’77.But the kicker is in ’77 we didn’t have all the requirements that we have now,” Bader said.
Because of the drought and low lake level, several of those communities have already had their water allocations from the bureau reduced about 45%.
Most water being released from Shasta Lake now is not for farmers but fish.
Shasta Lake discharging most water for fish not farmers
A study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center tends to support that. The study says that more than 80% of the salmon eggs in the river could die this summer as a result of warm water in the Sacramento River.
As of Tuesday, Shasta Lake was at 54% of average for the date and Trinity Lake was at 62% of average, according to the bureau.
The rainfall total at Shasta Dam was just under 24 inches since Oct. 1, according to the California Department of Water Resources. The previous record for low rainfall was 24 inches in 1977, Bader said.
“Things have just fallen off the cliff in the last six weeks. So that’s where we are now. Day to day, they’re making all kinds of decisions down in Sacramento about what can we do to salvage the rest of the season,” Bader said.
DWR State Water Project Chief of Utility Operations John Yarbrough said Friday the lake capacity measured at 709 feet, where at normal capacity it would be sitting at 900 feet.
The last time the water was this low was during the 2014-2015 season, when the lake’s lowest point was 715 feet — making 2021 even drier, according to DWR Public Information Officer Liza Whitmore.
Yarbrough confirmed the department projects the lake could drop even lower than the historic low from 1976-1977 of 645 feet, by late summer or early fall.
“The thing that’s different this year and unique from other droughts we’ve experienced is this year the snow pack … the amount of runoff was only about 20% of what we expected,” he said.
“We started with a snow pack that was smaller than average but from that snow pack the amount of water we got was dramatically less than what we expected.”
Water in a key California reservoir is expected to fall so low this summer that its hydroelectric power plant will be forced to shut down for the first time, officials said Thursday, straining the state’s already-taxed electric grid.
An unrelenting drought and record heat, both worsened by the changing climate, have pushed the water supply at Northern California’s Lake Oroville to deplete rapidly. As a result of the “alarming levels,” officials will likely be forced to close the Edward Hyatt Power Plant for the first time since it opened in 1967, California Energy Commission spokesperson Lindsay Buckley told CNN.
The water in Lake Oroville — the state’s second largest reservoir — is pumped through underground facilities to generate electricity, which can power up to 800,000 homes when operating at full capacity.
Conditions were ripe for exploring the lowest depths of Folsom Lake, which is a reservoir of the American River. California’s historic drought meant water levels were incredibly low in the reservoir, just over a third of its usual storage capacity.
Around 6,600 farmers in the Central Valley — which encompasses Sacramento County to Kern County — may face potential disaster after being warned by the state of possible water cutoffs.
The warning is more than just a cautionary notice for the agricultural community, as farmers say it could lead to catastrophe.
The State Water Resources Board notified the affected farmers Tuesday that they could face water cutoffs as the state deals with the ongoing drought that has already cut off federal and state irrigation supplies.
“We are seeing unprecedented amounts of fallowing. We’ve already lost several corn crops across the state,” Raudabaugh said. She explained that a number of farmers have fallowed land, meaning acres will not be used and will be left untouched.
“If you have orchards or vineyards and you’re told to cut back your water, cut off your water, you’re essentially killing that orchard and that vineyard,” Bruce Blodgett, the executive director of the San Joaquin Farm Bureau said.
For about half of what California has spent at EED since Covid started, we could have fixed the water infrastructure enough to last for the next 30 years. A few years ago, the number was about 75 – 80 billion dollars. Instead, in the last few years California has dismantled three dams and has zero intentions of building any new water storage despite billions authorized by voters for just that purpose.
Given the above, how come Governor Newsom is not enacting draconian water restrictions? I suppose he has a reason, but clearly Newsom can’t recall.
Joe Biden doesn’t believe in tax cuts, but he is willing to mess with your refund and possibly prevent you from getting one.
My introduction to this brazen tampering with taxes was a form letter the I received from the IRS.
You may be eligible to receive advance payments of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) . If you’re eligible for advance CTC payments and want to receive these payments, you don’t need to take any action. You will receive a letter with more details.
The American Rescue Plan, signed into law in March, made important changes to the CTC for most taxpayers in 2021. The credit amounts increased for many taxpayers, and the credit is fully refundable, which means taxpayers can benefit from the credit even if they don’t owe any income taxes. The credit also includes qualifying children who turn age __ in 2021. The American Rescue Plan directs the IRS to make advance monthly payments of half the estimated annual CTC. The IRS will make payments from July through the end of this year.
For tax year 2021, the advance CTC payments will be half of the estimated CTC. The maximum annual CTC will be $3,000 per qualifying child between the ages of 6 and 17, and $3,600 per qualifying child under age 6, at the end of 2021. In general, qualifying children must live with the taxpayer in the United States for more than half the year.
The maximum credit is available to taxpayers with a modified Adjusted Gross Income of:
• $75,000 or less for single taxpayers,
• $112,500 or less for head of household,
• $150,000 or less for married couples filing a joint return and qualifying widow(er)s and• the maximum credit phases out for higher income taxpayers.
If you don’t wish to receive advance CTC payments, instructions on how to unenroll from these payments will be available by the end of June. Please continue to check www.irs.gov/childtaxcredit2021 for additional information about these advance CTC payments.
My first question after why, is what will this do to my taxes when I file on or before April 15th next year?
Folks, the question of whether you wish to participate in this is “dazzle the voters program” is in two parts. First what does the child tax credit do to my taxes? and second, how much will I get?
I took a look at my taxes from last year (2020 tax year). The Child Tax Credit in 2020 was $2,000.
The child tax credit is deducted directly from the amount of taxes that you owe.
Suppose per the tax tables, you owed $15,000 in Federal tax. The child tax credit is deducted directly from this amount. Thus $15K minus $2K is $13K. If you had $13K withheld from your pay, then you’d owe zero in additional taxes.
Biden is doing two things simultaneously with the credit this year. First, he raised the credit from $2K to $3K per child. (I’m omitting the amount for children under 6 in my example.) Then Uncle Joe is going to send you a series of checks between July and December which will total $1,500. The other $1,500 will then be available to deduct from your taxes.
Now I’m going back to my previous example to demonstrate the math.
Taxes per tax table $15K, minus Child Tax Credit of $1,500 is $13.5K. If you had $13K withheld from payroll, then you get to write a check to Uncle Joe for $500 next year. So much for free money. Thus, for every child between 7 and 18 years of age, you get to send in $500 per child to the government, come April 15th next year. So much for free money. Now granted, your mileage may vary but even if you usually get a refund at tax time, you will still get to pay by getting a smaller one or maybe having to pay.
If you are near the top of any of the earning amounts listed in the letter, then you probably better opt out. If you are in the bottom income brackets, then enjoy spending your refund this year instead of getting it next year like you usually do.
Frankly, I think this scheme will bite me in the fiscal butt, so I decided to opt out. Please note that doing so is difficult and time consuming. But I did it. Here is my guide.
Your adventure in opting out begins at IRS.GOV.
On right side, click on Get Answers on the Advance Child Tax Credit
Select Unenroll From Advance Payments
On next screen again click on Unenroll from Advance Payments
And just when you thought you were on your way, you hit a hard stop. You must verify your identity with ID.me. If you’re like me, you now get to create an account. Folks this process is cumbersome, frustrating, and time consuming.
You begin by entering your email and creating a password.
You then get to select a method of two factor authentication.
Then you need to switch to your phone and then take a photo of the front and back of your driver’s license.
You cannot do this step on a PC even if you already have the photos ready, the ID.me program is broken and won’t let you. Instead, ID.me asks for your cell phone number and then sends you a text message with an embedded URL in it. It reminds me of the U-Haul self-return process. You can only take live photos of your driver’s license.
After a few tries, you’ll get both sides of your driver’s license uploaded and then you get to take a live selfie with your front facing camera. It checks your face against the photo ID that you submitted. This step is especially buggy.
Plan on 20 minutes to do the ID.me process.
At this point, I was then able to return to my desktop PC and completed the process.
Click on UNENROLL FROM PAYMENTS
Click on I UNDERSTAND AND WANT TO PROCEED
Make sure box is checked and click on SUBMIT
Then you get a confirmation screen Unenroll From Receiving Advance Child Tax Credit Payments
Except, if you’re married and file jointly, the opt out process is not complete. Your spouse now gets to do the whole process that you just completed. Yep, when I opted out, I only opted out of half of the automatic payment. In order to truly opt out, my wife now has to go to the IRS site and do everything that I just did.
Folks opting out is painful but for many, I think you will experience more pain on Aril 15th if you don’t.
Folks you hear us at ReallyRight.com rail against cable constantly, here is yet another reason, a real-life example from this past week.
I was chatting up a fellow colleague, he also devoid of cable, and we were speaking in open terms about the coming doomsday scenario regarding the water shortage here in California. We joked about picking up pallets of water from a local Costco or Sam’s, whomever had it the cheapest, and debating who was more likely to load it in my truck. Joking of burning out all our lawn and replacing with AstroTurf, with the work being done by non-combustion engine machines. The 90-Day Guy walked in and started making fun. He had zero clue about the drought; I kid you not, zero. He wondered which channel we saw it on, to which we both replied, KCRA3 news app. He still said he hadn’t heard it anywhere, as if we follow some obscure tin foil hat form of media.
Gavin Newsom Declares Drought Emergency In Most Of California’s Counties 05/10/2021
In many north state counties (i.e., where no one lives) are on restrictions, and at some point, will be under severe cutbacks. These will be announced shortly. In the opinion of this blogger, it will happen right around recall time, after it’s been certified Newsom will either not be recalled, or he will go down in flames. Rumor has it farmers and others are already under severe cutbacks. 90-Day Guy had an ear to ear aww shucks grin. He is clueless.
Folks I call this the cable watchers’ conundrum for this very reason. Imagine paying roughly $2K a year for cable yet you are completely in the dark on local issues, however you know all about what McConnell, Pelosi, Biden, Harris, McCarthy, and AOC had to say on all topics of national attention. As a rule, cable networks have zero interest in California, or really most states for that matter. If it bleeds it leads, and sex sells, which is all they care about as these type issues drive ratings. For months now the news has been dominated by BLM, George Floyd murder cops, Joe Biden, the US Capitol “insurrection” and other trash, nary a mention of the real issues in this country. These are the issues he knows about, issues no reader of this blog cares about. Seriously, I could not give a rip less about the issues listed above.
The conundrum is this, they believe wholeheartedly all is well, similar to those on Titanic or Poseidon who thought it was no big deal while the rats and others were scrambling. Problem is when the national guys pick it up, it is far too late and the 90-day types panic as they react by grabbing all the toilet paper, Clorox wipes, Lysol etc. Sound familiar? 90-Day Guy even told me he did as much. He and all the others panicked. Guess he missed this on Fox. Water crisis ‘couldn’t be worse’ on Oregon-California border: Oregon’s Klamath County is experiencing its driest year in 127 years
The same story played out with the torrential downpours we had a few years ago, I had told him in advance they would flood the Wilton and other unincorporated areas around the county, he panicked. The levees overtopped as they were supposed to, flooding outlying areas. His response, he jumped in his car and headed toward Tahoe…keep in mind, that this choice saw him literally having to drive thru the areas where the flooding was occurring in the valley in order to get to higher ground. He thought the safest place was not in a building or a house, but in a compact sports car. As if he thought he could outrun the flood. About a week later, he returned and threw his wife under the bus, it was all her idea, he said she watches too much TV. He asked why I didn’t overreact, and my response was, you are far safer in a building where you can climb/get to higher ground than inside a car. The car is likely to die in 6 inches or so of water and if it goes higher you will be taken for a ride; it won’t be fun, likely ending in death. Keep in mind he was the smart one.
Harken back to when the Oroville dam was in peril. I had been discussing it for a couple weeks, he ignored or rolled his eyes at me, thinking I was an alarmist. Then the day finally came, the spillway at Oroville failed, he went nuclear. He got into his car and jammed it home, keep in mind we are so far from the Oroville dam that the flood or even remnants would not have gotten close to us. He panicked on command, just as cable wanted him to do.
The less time you have to react the better, notice the news doesn’t break in saying we may have a problem, the news shows the levee or spillway failing. At that point everyone with a brain knows it’s too late, but not the 90-day types, they think they have inside info. Look for the shelves to be devoid of water soon and look for panic to set in among all those who re-did their yards during Covid. It won’t be pretty, consider yourself forewarned. By the time Tucker, Hannity, or any of the other news networks pick it up, it’ll be too late. But maybe a vaccine will exist? LOL
BTW we are now on day 432 of “2 weeks to flatten the curve.”
