Category: Life Impacts

Getting Settled?

Well we are settled into our new retirement home, in beautiful Williamsburg, VA. We have a couple of tasks still outstanding, but one major pair will be completed before the weekend. A new bed with the ability for each sleeper to have their mattress positions in the most comfortable arrangement that suits their sleep habits and a dining table with matching chairs will be arriving tomorrow, Friday, January 31st.

But today, we will have two men from a company called College Hunks coming to do some rearranging for us in preparation for the arrival of the new bed. They will be moving a bed and chest of drawers from one of the upstairs bedrooms to the smaller of the two, and then moving our bed from the master bedroom on the first floor to the larger of the upstairs bedrooms. This is in preparation for the delivery of the new numbers bed arriving tomorrow.

We will also ask these young men to move out large SONY tv from the ground floor up to Char’s office area on the second floor. We were having some problems with connectivity for our television networks (we stream for a couple of services) and would up buying another large tv for the Great Room. Since our house is wired for whole house wireless internet connectivity, Char will have the ability of using the older TV upstairs in her loft office to catch news and other items of interest.

So this week, we will have been able to conclude a couple more tasks on our settling in checklist. Starting to get to the end!

Big Red, our new GMC Terrain SUV has been able to easily traverse the streets during our recent snow storms (not much of a storm, but we did get accumulations). Glad we paid the extra for the All Wheel Drive version.

Short Note: I just read an article about several of the right winger GOP Attorneys General attempting to force the new Trump assault on hiring practices for companies, this instance, on COSTCO. Trump and his political hack minions are attempting to reverse legislation established under the previous congress’ for diversity, equality, inclusion in our nation. This is actually an attempt by Trump and company to remove the ability of companies to act in their own interest regarding staffing their company facilities. In this instance, however, turned out the CEO and Board of COSTCO basically told Trump and his wrecking crew to go pound sand. Good for them and renews my faith in that business. We have been members of COSTCO for several Decades and enjoy shopping for necessities (of course we usually buy things in addition to what we started looking for) there.

It doesn’t surprise me in the least that the bigoted South African Musk is behind this blatant attempt to force the companies to bend to the will of the Fuhrer Trump and his burgeoning gang of ChristoFascist/Fascist authoritarian enablers that make up the once decent political party of Republicans.

On the Road Again

Well, soon we will live through the end of the 2024 year in our new retirement home in Williamsburg. We spent not too many months in a condo in Alexandria for a close distance to my wife’s new company offices. While she had been hired with a capability of work from home and some physical office visits, we felt if best to be in a much closer proximity to the physical building rather than subject her to a 400 mile round trip from our then home in Newport News. As it happened, she actually still worked from a home office a majority of time. Technical capacity as it was, in our home, she had the ability of face time, conference call, and still a drive into the physical office as necessary.

Things were working pretty good for her in performing her senior management tasks, performing her external activities (with company support of course), and even allowing us time for visits with my kids, grandkids and our super daughter in law. Then, my wife celebrated her formal entry into the senior citizen class, by turning 65. A super celebration party was created and hosted by my daughter, daughter in law, and a couple of the grand daughters. They made her birthday something truly magical. She was happy, I think to make this milestone. We had some great discussions and post celebratory activity (dinners, presents, etc).

Then one evening several days after the celebrations, she mentioned that she had seriously considered her entering the pre-retirement age group and decided that she really wanted to retire somewhere near the waters and most assuredly not in the Alexandria/Metro area. Her thoughts were that we were pretty happy in the Tidewater area (the Virginia peninsula cities and towns), and thought it would be best if we set up a retirement home in that area, from Williamsburg, eastward all the way to Virginia Beach.

After a short search, a consultation with our Federal Credit Union mortgage loan officers, and the recommended real estate agent, we found a 55+ community in the city of Williamsburg. Yea, us.

After purchase closing in late March, we found that we truly loved our retirement home in Williamsburg, VA and it’s surrounding area of historical significance. This city one of our nation’s most historical towns. It was here that the first legislative body of the New World was formed and functioned. The House of Burgesses was the beginning of our modern Congress, with a major difference, it represented the British Crown for the most part, and the representations were solely composed of white men who were property owners. The Bride and I are happy with the opportunity of touring this historical area and plan on many excursions for the triangle of history, Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.

Many firsts in our history are found in this area. Known to most as the Tidewater Area, we find the city of Hampton which is the oldest continuous English speaking settlement in the nation. Founded in 1610, Hampton was known by the name of Kecoughtan given from the name of the first settlers, the Kecoughtan tribes of native americans whose overall Chief was Powhatan.

Hampton was, until the stupidity of Congress and the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure), host to the oldest continuously active military post, Fortress Monroe. BRAC decided it was not needed and closed this very historical military base. The actual fort, built as a true fortress, including a moat, itself was preserved as a National Monument/Park, thank God for small favors, but the rest, including a great number of historical houses, office buildings and warehouses were turned over to a group of rapacious developers who will no doubt create a pitiful remainder of this once beautiful, gracious and honored facility. Hampton is also the home of the NASA Langley Research Center which boasted the oldest test wind tunnel in the country. Co-located with the LRC is Langley Air Force Base, where this author’s dad was stationed for a couple of years.

Also in our new home area is the City of Newport News which hosts the largest shipbuilding yard constructing massive ships for the United States Navy. The shipyard has been around for many many decades, actually over 100 years. A large portion of the working class income is brought to bear through employment at the shipyard.

We are settled into our new home now and our friends are surprised that we purchased a fairly large home in our senior years. Yes, I know most seniors downsize their living space, but we have increased our “final” house by a rather large margin, our previous “large” home was in the area of 1500 feet several years ago, in Leesburg, VA. This new town home in a senior only 55+ community and is slightly over 2200 feet. From a two bed condo, to a three bed and office/balcony town house we now have a large enough space to accommodate any visitations from family. Yeah, like that’s going to happen!

All is moving along though. My cancer chemo treatments have been changed to a stronger dosage, and of course with our current medical industry, a much higher price. My numbers, from the tests on my last visit with the oncologist are looking better he said. Still bothersome, but lower than the previous test. Yea ME.

So now, the Bride and I will try to do a few day or overnight visitations exploring our very interesting area, from the DelMarVa area, to the Outer Banks area and of course our very own Tidewater locales. Look for some words and pictures of our little Road Trips coming in Future Blog entries.

Take care of yourselves and your families, hold on to your sanity, things may get pretty bumpy for a while very soon.

What’s up with the old man and other dumb thoughts?

Well, nothing super that is certain. But I am still on this side of the grass, am upright and breathing! So that’s a pretty good thing.

Of course that’s not to say that the old man is in tip top shape, actually far from it. But what the hell, I am 82 years old and still ambulatory, I’m not in a care facility and still aware enough to drive a car. What’s not to like> well, things like the malignant tumor they removed late last year, the diabetes that I have been blessed with for over 14 years, the prostate surgery that I had just a few weeks ago, the cancer that they found in my prostate when they did the surgery. Oh and now, an aneurism found in my lower abdomen just a couple of days ago.

I tell you boys and girls, as that older movie star Betty Davis once said, “Getting old is not for sissies”. But we must travel on, until we don’t anymore.

ME? I am happy enough I guess. I live in a comfortable home, have a wife who loves and cares for this old curmudgeon, with children and grand children who are also glad the old guy is still around. And now I hear that I have a great grand child, born of my eldest granddaughter. So there is that!

Apartment Living

We now live in a high rise condominium building with a nice two bedroom unit in our name (and the Credit Union of course). We moved to this apartment back in late March of 2023 from a house in Newport News, Virginia. I thought I would deliver my thoughts on the differences in living in a single family home and neighborhood, as differentiated from living in a multifamily condo apartment complex. They are very different of course and here’s a few points for explaining the difference in my humble opinion!

We have during the course of our over 45 years together, lived in a number of apartments, both rentals and in condo owned. During our time together we have lived in many areas of the United States and offshore as well.

We once lived on a 54 foot motor yacht as members of a DC area Yacht Club and as live aboard people in the yacht club’s marina. Four years we lived on that boat and in that yacht club marina. We found the residents/yacht owners to be very friendly, helpful, considerate and watchful of our selves and our yacht. Frankly, every where we traveled on that yacht, in marinas large and small, we found the people associated with marine life to be egregious, outgoing, and welcoming in their attitudes.

In all of the apartment buildings we have lived in, some for several years, we never knew our neighbors other than to say hello on the elevator, in the lobby or garage. There was no welcome from our neighbors on our same floor, and the hello nods was pretty much the extent of our neighborly interaction. Sad, huh? Part of this was our fault, we are not party people and shy away from large gatherings. So this inhibits our interaction with neighbors in these settings. But by the same token, in the marina or in our single family house neighborhood, we quickly integrated ourselves with the community mainly through the resident’s inclination to be outgoing and welcoming us to that community, either water borne or land lubber.

EV vs ICE

Confused, well the EV stands for the all electric battery powered cars and trucks that are rapidly entering our world. And the ICE stands for Internal Combustion Engine or the motor drive cars and trucks we are all familiar with that use fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel.

Having lived through several instances of the oil and gas industry companies foisting phony crises on the driving public over the years, this latest one was basically the straw that broke the camel’s back for this old man. So we have arrived at the decision point, stay with our Buick ICE Small SUV, trade if for a newer model of the same car, or purchase an all electric drive vehicle (EV). What ever way we finally wind up, (heavy leaning toward the EV side), our next vehicle will be from GM. We have, over the years owned quite a few General Motors vehicles, from Chevy, Buick, GMC, Saturn, Oldsmobile, and even Caddy’s. We are staunch GM supporters, not only for the great cars, but also for the OnStar systems that comes with these vehicles. OnStar has saved our bacon for a number of instances, some minor and some intensive and worrisome.

But be that as it may, I am sick and tired of the big oil companies screwing over the American motorists. So, the EV is looming large in our next vehicle decisions. We will wait until the spring of next year to hope that the knuckleheads in the Federal Reserve get their heads out of their nether region and correct the idiotic high interest rates. The economy is in pretty damn good shape so those jerks need to stand aside, lower their interest rate back to where it was before they started their stupid game of manipulation.

EV? Oops

In the several months since I first began this blog entry, I discovered that the major auto companies are not really serious with regard to the EV environment. 

Ford has dramatically withdrawn from the EV production of their vehicle products. The Mustang EV is still being sold, but there are little indicators that Ford is really behind this product stream.

GM has also played games with the EV. This company had one of the best selling EVs to be made available. The Bolt and Bolt EUV were extremely popular even with the older type of battery packs. Yet GM decided that 2023 was the last year for this car, , , until they found out that the public was irate at their decision to kill this great small electric vehicle. GM then decided to bring the Bolt back in a new format, using GM’s newly designed batter system. They also promised an EV platform for the Chevy Equinox. It was to be priced in the same area as the Bolt. Every indicator had this small SUV to be released in the product year of 2024, but, times changed and GM postponed the release of this vehicle to the year 2025 approximately.

Chrysler (owned by Stellantis) was barely in the playground. Their focus was on their Dodge and Ram products both with ICE drivers. They claim to have a great EV coming soon. One simply must trust that this corporation will follow through.

WELL, this old man decided that he might be dead before any of these powerhouse vehicle manufacturers actually started moving EV cars for the masses, not the wealthy. So we will stick with the ICE class of automobiles for now. Going back to the GMC small suv, Terrain.

Would we ever go cruising again?

Can a fat kangaroo cha cha? Is a pigs butt pork? Silly questions, just as the title of this entry is silly. Well of course we would go cruising again, but not like we did in the 2016-2020 time. We would love to find a reasonably priced, solid small vessel say from 30 to 46 feet in length. And have a reasonable location for a slip rental. Then of course we would happily go aboard again and cruise the waters of our eastern United States waterways.

It would most likely be a weekender type of boating experience. No more full time live aboard. Physically, I am not capable of that sort of life anymore. Too many things wrong with this old man’s body and internal systems now to even contemplate a live aboard lifestyle anymore. But I could certainly entertain the potential of weekenders and vacation type cruises.

I would still prefer a motor yacht with diesel engines, but would also consider a gasoline powered boat as well. I consider the diesel powered vessel as more safe than the gasoline, primarily based on the flashpoint of diesel fuel versus gasoline fuel. The reliability of the diesel engine for marine purposes is greater than the gasoline fueled engine. Our two Cat 3208T diesels had approximately 1200 hours on the clock and all of the marine engineers indicated that they were nowhere near their lifespan. Although we did blow the starboard engine when we first took possession of the Misty Lady, that failure was due to catastrophic failure of the water hoses supplying cooling water to the starboard engine, rather than a problem with the engine itself.

But, for a weekend or vacation cruise, either engine power would suffice for us. Having owned a gasoline powered motor yacht in the past, I still recall how to preflight the boat prior to engine start. Granted the prestart checklist for a gasoline powered boat is longer and more critical than that for a diesel powered boat, but either would make this old man happy as long as they were capable of taking our boat into the waters, cruise along the eastern waterways and have the ability to sleep overnight or for several days. Having a refrigerator, a stove top, microwave, coffee maker and a toaster would be all that one would need for a two day weekend, or for a four or five day vacation cruise. I still have my nautical software for my computer, tablet and phone to provide clear and concise navigational capability and especially the depth of the waters beneath us.

As for the boat’s age, well, I would look more at the boat’s condition rather than when it was built. Sure I would love a 2000+ year build for my next boat, but have also seen some 67 year boats that were clearly winners in the well put together status. For instance I viewed a 68 Hatteras the other day on the Boat Trader listings that was pristine as the day she was first launched. Her owners had maintained this yacht as it should always have been. Both of her engines had been completely overhauled just two years previously. Her woodwork, brightwork and bulkheads were all solid, no moisture leakage and her decks were pristine and obviously had been well cared for. So in short, she was a new old boat. The quality of workmanship for this manufacturer was excellent during the buildout of all her Hatteras product lines, and was even more so in the 60s and 70s. As for her engines, they were viable for several more decades or so of cruising these waters. Her electronics were a bit dated, but not by much. When we bought the Misty Lady, she still had several LORAN equipment units installed. We then replaced all of her bridge equipment with a multifunction single point control system. Augmented by our iPad with the navigation software we were capable of traveling all up and down the east coast from Maine to the Florida Keys. This Hatteras was better equipped than our old Blue Water by far.

So this 60’s Hatteras was a great value, and her size was near to perfect for what we had envisioned our future boating activity might entail. Sure having a 50+ length would be super, but far too much for what we would be using. This Hatteras was in the mid 40s length and that would be almost perfect for a viable weekender or vacation motor yacht. But alas, as with much of one’s searching online for things like boats, houses and even cars, by the time one makes a decision to visit or purchase, the odds are the item will already been purchased by someone else as was this Hatteras.

But never mind, we aren’t ready to seriously consider a motor yacht or even a slip rental at this point anyway. Far too many other considerations, from finishing the dress out of our new condo home, to the solution for our health considerations (especially the COVID attack we just had), to the potential of other financial requirements. So, for now, a motor yacht is simply a wish list item for down the road.

Update on the New Home

Inserted Update: I will have some words (promise to refrain from naughty words), about my earlier decision to give the finger to the Oil and Gas Industry by buying an Electric Vehicle. A paragraph or two, so try to wade through the initial paragraphs/subjects and then see the diatribe about the EV markets.

Well, here we are, the first of June and May is in the rear view mirror. I have been 82 for several weeks, my surgery has been sort of mitigated (pains have subsided quite a bit), and we are starting to make some progress on the settling in for our new condo home. We signed a contract for rental of storage space from the CubeSmart company and have made a couple of trips to put the plethora of boxes, plastic tubs and misc items that we will not need for a bit, into the storage facility Nice to see the carpet and walls in the guest bedroom/Harvey’s soon to be office work area. Yea ME!

Still have to worry about the health situation brought about with the bladder cancer and the newly discovered prostate cancer. Lots of trips for therapy for the edema swelling of my lower legs, and many tests to judge the status of the prostate cancer. But hey, I am upright and breathing, I can still type on my computer keyboards and can still drive my car so what’s not to like huh?

My bride, Charlotte traveled to Denver, Colorado (actually a suburb of Denver known as Aurora), on the 14th of May and she returned from her APA Congress sessions in Colorado on Saturday the 20th, it was so good to have her home. She spent the week at the APA Congress in the Rocky Mountain Gaylord Hotel and Conference Center. She conducted two seminars at the APA’s request and from all indications they were very successful, in fact when she was having her evening dinner after her last seminar, a lady stopped by her table to let her know just how much she enjoyed Char’s presentations. That would make a body feel pretty good huh?

Think I am a little bit proud of this lady who married me? You betcha.

We finally found a person to do some minor repairs and installations in our condo. We had started to despair of every locating a “handyman” to do several things that we found after we got moved in. You just know that is always the way, right?

Anyway, we laid out a task list for the gentleman, including leveling our kitchen stove (the former folk had it uneven, leaning toward the back and the difference was almost an inch from front to back. When frying eggs for our breakfast, I would put three eggs in our large skillet and very quickly they slid backwards to become one large egg, requiring me to separate them as they solidified later. We had several other things to work out, and our contractor person just submitted his proposal for costs, very reasonable pricing by the way. So in a few days, we will have all the necessary material in the condo and he can start to correct these problems.

Okay, now about the EV. As I stated in this area and on Facebook, I am tired of being shafted by the Oil and Gas industry every few years as they jack up the price of their fuel, both gasoline and diesel, at the retail pumps. As I have stated many many times over the years, people can point to all sorts of areas as the reason for fuel price increasing and every darn one of them is WRONG. Fuel prices go up and down at the manipulations of the oil and gas industry executives. Yeah I know, the Oil and Gas apologists try to put the entire blame on market impacts, well I call BS on that diversionary load of horse manure. These crooks sit in their big corner offices and decide it is time to increase the net profits and to pad the pockets of their big shareholders (not you and me), so they start playing with the price of fuels. Oh first they play the game of some crisis or other reason for creating a “shortage” and that is the “reason” for their increasing the price of a gallon of gasoline or diesel. Usually they raise the price very high, then after a period of screwing the driving public, the drop the price a penny or two, then a bit more and finally they are below the price point they are aiming for. So the price stays relatively low for a few days, then back up they go until the executives feel they have brainwashed the driving public enough to have the prices settle in to the costs they were shooting for in the first damn place.

This last time, when they used the pandemic, supply line impacts and the war between Ukraine and Russia to jack prices up sky high. In some places they hit 6 dollars or more. Of course they pretended it was such a hardship in delivery that caused the price to jump. And our right wingers in Congress went along with the ruse. We spent weeks being screwed by millions of dollars a month that flowed directly into the pockets and bank accounts of the oil and gas industry.

So, this old codger had been evaluating the evolving electric vehicle market, still not convinced that this was a good alternative to my little 4 cylinder Buick SUV. Then when it became more obvious that this time the criminals in the big offices of Exxon, Shell, BP, etc. were not going to reduce the prices of fuel anytime soon, I began to seriously consider trading our most favorite vehicle for a GM electric vehicle. Of course at the time, the Bolt EUV was the only thing I considered because it was reasonably priced, had very good distance numbers on a charge, and was a GM with my OnStar system. (We will never buy any car that is not OnStar capable). We decided to wait until the 2023s were out and more readily available and we were also looking at the relocation from Newport News back up to Alexandria. But the idea of a new Bolt electric vehicle was still very much in the forefront of my mind.

Then yesterday, I read an article that GM was going to stop production of the Bolt EV and EUV with this 2023 model year. There would be no 2024 version. DRAT! As I read the article the replacement was identified as the Chevy Equinox SUV which would be targeted at the customers who would have been looking for the Bolt. The Equinox would be the same size as the current gas powered ICE vehicle but would be powered by the General Motors Ultium platform. This platform was designed as such as to be the platform for ALL future GM electric vehicles, from the Caddy, to the Hummer, and then all the other GM products destined to transfer from gas/diesel to electric power.

So, even though I believe Ms. Mary (GM CEO) and her executive class have totally screwed the pooch with the death of the Bolt, I will still consider the aspect of purchasing a Chevy Equinox EV SUV when they become available for purchase. And I have informed our local GM dealers who sell Chevy of my interest and a check for a new 2024 Chevy Equinox electric SUV. Now, aren’t you impressed with this old man’s brilliance? Yeah, thought not!

My condo neighbor (we were sitting in the lobby library), asked why I wanted to wait when a Tesla store was nearby and I could have one of those. When I stopped laughing, I told him that if that egomaniacal asshat Elon Musk were giving the damn things away I still wouldn’t want one. Because by driving one and using his charging stations, I would still be putting money in his pocket and I would rather throw the money into the Potomac than let a single penny of my money go into his bank. Despise? Oh yeah, I would dance the Snoopy Dance of Joy down Constitution Avenue in downtown DC if the USA got smart and deported that fascist scumbag.

Anyway, so for now, we will keep on driving our Blue Baby Buick and wait to see what GM has up their sleeves (other than their arm), for the driving public. I would much rather see an electric version of my Buick Envision SUV come out and would happily wait until it was available. But believe this folks, as sure as God made little green apples, this old man will move away from the gasoline and diesel dependence on the corrupt thieves in the oil and gas industry as soon as a good GM vehicle becomes available, but I will stick with my sweetheart car, Buick Envision until that time.

High Gas Price-Who is responsible

I hear from a lot of people who claim various people are responsible for the high gas prices. Well, I have been around a few decades, have driven thousands upon thousands of miles and buying gasoline from every single company putting the gas pumps out there. Those gas purchases include in the Middle East, Europe, and the Far East nations in addition to the majority of our United States of America. So, this essay/commentary is actually based on true experiences of my more than 8 decades of life.

I can tell you for a fact, that the president of the United States (every one of them since the invention of the internal combustion engine) IS NOT responsible for the high prices of gasoline in this country. The market has a small impact on price. The congress is partially responsible, mainly through their corrupt inactions that enable/assist the actual responsible parties. But even Congress is not totally at fault, they are simply the enablers of those who are truly the evildoers behind the gas price gouging.

One needs to look no further than the corporate offices of companies like Exxon, Shell, Conoco, BP, Valero, etc. These people have been manipulating the price of gasoline and diesel at the pump for decades and they are not going to stop until or unless the Congress passes some sort of law regulating price gouging. Which so far, the Republicans have blocked every legislative bill that has been put forth in this regard.

Not manipulating, because law reflecting some activity like that has been around for years and no one enforces it at all, period. More corrupt practices from our political class and the corporate class of super wealthy corporations that focuses on the rape and pillage of the working people in this nation will continue unabated and it will continue to do so as long as we have corrupted political hacks and immoral corporate executives.

And also consider that these selfsame oil and gas barons working with their wholly owned politicians have been stealing taxpayer dollars through congressionally allowed supposed Research and Development GRANTS and tax abatements to the tune of billions of tax dollars each year. Then they increase the level of theft by not paying the royalties to both the government and the native American tribes for the oil and gas they drill and extract from lands belonging to the public and to the Native American tribes for drilling wells on the Reservation lands. Over the decades, these companies have been guilty of avoiding these royalty payments and as a result their profits and stockholder payments have been obscenely large, much more so than if they had actually used integrity in their business dealings.

However, as one who has actually worked in that industry and for those executives, as an outside technology consultant, I can say pretty darn firmly, that integrity, honor, and honest dealings are not part of their make up.

This manipulation of fuel prices spans decades and across various types of fuel. For instance, they charge an exorbitant price for a gallon of diesel fuel when the cost for refining a gallon of diesel fuel is far less than gasoline. This quote from a question to the various resources shows this difference.

“Diesel fuel is heavier and less volatile than gasoline, which makes it simpler to refine from crude oil. As a result, diesel tends to be cheaper than gasoline in most countries around the world ” But not in the USA.

“Both gasoline and diesel fuel are produced from crude oil and therefore the cost of crude oil is the main factor influencing gasoline and diesel prices. However, fuel prices also reflect refining costs, taxes, and distribution and marketing costs. Additionally, retail prices are affected by market demand. These factors lead to a price spread between gasoline and diesel.

Refining costs: During the process of refining, crude oil is separated into different components and these components are converted through further treatments into gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum products. Diesel fuel is heavier and less volatile than gasoline, which makes it simpler to refine from crude oil. As a result, diesel tends to be cheaper than gasoline in most countries around the world. However, the introduction of Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) between 2006 and 2010 increased diesel production costs since ULSD requires more refining.” But not sufficient to justify the actual gap in prices between diesel and gasoline.

These comments were extracted from publications of various organizations who follow, monitor and report on the oil and gas industry. The facts are, that in this country, diesel is well above the gasoline prices at the pump. These same price structures are prevalent at marina fuel pumps where the fuel pumped are for motors in boats of various sizes. Whether gasoline or diesel, marine fuel is a major rip-off, because it is the same price as for cars and trucks on the highways, and I know that my old motor yacht never touched a highway. The idiocy is that the same highway taxes are applied to marine fuels as for fuels in automobiles driving on those highways.

One thing I noted with almost every single report of this type is that the authors are hesitant to point to the executive manipulation of the cost/price relationship. I can understand their reluctance, since much of their work is highly dependent on these same executives allowing them access to many items of their research. However, the facts remain that in the oil and gas industry, the senior executive level are very powerful, they have exorbitant amounts of money for lobbyists, and their demands as a result, are treated at coming from the absolute mandate for operations.

I have suffered through at least three instances in my driving life of the oil and gas companies manipulating the price of gas to move their desired base price point to a higher level. They increase the fuel prices blaming some “catastrophic happening” usually quite higher than their desired point price. Then they magically allow the price to float down slowly until their price point is reached. By then the driving public has been convinced the higher prices were necessary, but lordy, lordy, how nice and great these gas companies are for bringing the costs back down.

A prime example is in the early 70’s when the fuel companies convinced us that the Saudi Arabians had put a boycott on selling oil to us. What they didn’t admit to is their negotiation with this oil nation to perform this fallacy and then they would reap the increased price for their barrel of crude oil when the “crisis” is resolved! I recall waiting in long lines to purchase gasoline for my car when the last number of my license plate was either odd or even. I got the honor of paying three times the price for a gallon of gasoline as I had before this “crisis”. Then after a few weeks, the cost at the pump started to slowly drop. When it reached the price point of 1.25, the miracle of miracles happened and the fuel crisis was over, no more odd and even buy days, and plenty of gasoline was available.

Strange thing, some similar crises occurred a few years later when the price of gasoline soared to 5 dollars a gallon! That is when I sold my GM cars and bought two Toyota hybrid vehicles to save on fuel. Yep, even though I knew it was a made up crisis, I still was trying to break free of total subjugation to the Oil Barons and their need to increase their salaries, their bonuses, and some increase for the stock prices. BTW, I went back to my GM vehicles after a couple of years.

Well whoops, here we go again, in 2020 when they again manipulated the price at the pump again!!! This time it was the Covid Pandemic AND the invasion of the Ukraine nation by the Russian hordes. Well, well, fuel prices soared again to the 5 dollar and even beyond in some areas. Price gouging anyone? Of course and it was rampant. Then the master manipulators in Houston and elsewhere (oil and gas corporation HQs.), played a yoyo game, lowering the price, then jacking it back up, but not quite as far as before. Now lower, but raise again, not quite as high, lower again, raise again. Starting to get the picture now?

Hells Bells folks, time for the driving public to all grow a pair, hammer our congress critters over their delicate spot (their congressional seat, their access to bribe money, and their POWER). They need to understand that the driving public has gained some knowledge of the cons that the oil and gas companies are pulling, that they know about the price gouging, and that the members of congress are doing not a single damn thing to put a stop to the rape and pillage of our nation’s citizens.

Will we do it? See the first instance of this price manipulation and price gouging that I remember was in the 70’s for gosh sake, that was well over 50 years ago. And this time they are truly kicking our slats out, this fuel “crisis” is affecting most aspects of our daily lives. The supply chain depends on transportation of goods, fuel prices dictate the adverse pricing of goods and service. When the trucker fills up his transport vehicle paying an ungodly sum for that fuel fill up, (150 gallons usually) you can bet that we will pay the price at the cash register when we buy things. So, I truly wonder if we ever will put the fire to the feet of the politicians and the oil barons. Make congress stop their taxpayer money handed over in grants to these very wealthy companies. Make Congress pass enforceable laws/regulations that will stop or at least hinder the oil barons playing games with our lives and enriching themselves by billions of dollars.

Or we can just sit back, let the propagandists make us believe that the high fuel prices are the presidential administration’s fault or because of the war and other external things.

Sure, and Santa Clause will ride again on Christmas.