Encomium Petroleum

 

So, Joe Biden goes to the G7 where Boris Johnson pleads with him to stop ethanol production from grain in order to avoid worldwide food shortages. Biden refuses. Obviously, Biden has no concern for adequate nutrition for the globe. Let them eat CO2-depleted air. Or drink ethanol.

Given that burning CO2 produces a mere 4% less CO2 than burning gasoline per gallon, a reasonable person would ask why. And that doesn’t even include the CO2 produced by the fermentation of grains to produce the alcohol. Or the depletion of our fossil water resources on the Great Plains to produce the Ethanol. Or the CO2 required from fossil fuels to plant, grow (and the fossil fuels that provide the fertilizers), and harvest the grain. Or the CO2 production from transporting large quantities of ethanol. And etc., and etc. It seems to me that there may actually be a net disadvantage to using ethanol compared to gasoline. The situation may be different in Brazil, where sugar cane is used rather than corn or other grains.

Ah, but there is more methane and particulates from burning gasoline. But,  given that all of the biomass on the planet would have to be used to produce enough ethanol to power our transportation and supplant all of our fossil fuel use, one begins to wonder what planet the eco-activists think they live on. And that all of the planet’s forests would have to be clear-cut to provide enough land to produce all of that ethanol. One can only conclude that the eco-activists are intent on destroying the planet.

Studies from about 20 years ago indicated that the continental US is a net carbon sink, that the vegetation and other things that absorb CO2 take more CO2 out of the atmosphere than the US puts into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. And that was before the rather precipitous fall in greenhouse gas emissions in the US over the last couple of decades, no thanks to any federal or government policies. So, what exactly is the problem? Perhaps the opposite of what the eco-activists claim:  It appears that we are falling behind, and need to put more CO2 into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels to keep up.

Then they tell us that CO2 is a “greenhouse” gas, that rising levels of CO2 will warm the planet. That is argued based on the Arrhenius equation (an empirical equation, basically superseded by the Eyring Equation, but who cares about that), which shows that CO2 absorbs a lot of heat. The assumption is that that is the end of the story. But let’s do a Paul Harvey and look at the rest of the story: What happens to that CO2 molecule once it absorbs heat?  Does it just sort of stay in place, hang around, and go nowhere, warming the earth by providing, along with all of its fellow CO2 molecules, a nice heat blanket covering the planet.

That appears to be a misleading, Kiplingesque, just-so story. Years ago, Richard Lindzen, arguably the dean of climate scientists at the time, at MIT, showed, in high-altitude balloon measurements on heat radiation into space from the earth, that the higher the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, the greater the heat radiated away from the earth into space. Now why would that be?  Seems that CO2 isn’t a static molecule. When it heats up, e.g., gains more kinetic energy, it becomes more volatile. The net effect is that it rises, and conducts its heat higher into the atmosphere, to the point of conducting that heat outward from the planet. Sort of like boiling water. The water doesn’t just stay stationary in the pot as its temperature rises. It starts forming convection currents that more and more efficiently deliver heat from the burner underneath to the air above the pot. So, one might think of CO2 as a temperature damping molecule that stabilizes and modulates the temperature of the planet by aiding the conduction of heat away from the planet, or possibly aiding the retention of heat during colder epochs. An indispensable modulator of planetary temperature.

Of course, no one ever talks about what the ideal level of atmospheric CO2 should be. No one knows. And of course, despite all the models (which are about as accurate as the models of the COVID pandemic coming out of that great geyser of prognostication garbage, Imperial College London), no one knows the long (or the short) term effects of modulating CO2 levels in the atmosphere. As far as anyone really knows, we should be eager to release sequestered carbon by burning more fossil fuels. The effect of that may be an ever greener planet. With an ever more stable climate. No hockey stick in sight. Michael Mann notwithstanding.

So Joe is not worried about food shortages. Or if he is, I’m sure he blames Putin. Never mind Biden’s puerile behavior as Putin prepared and then launched his invasion of Ukraine. Or his fecklessness and impotence since the invasion, except to give Putin cause to laugh in our faces about how the sanctions on Russia are weakening the US economy. Thanks, Joe.

So to Petroleum. “Rock Oil.” (Not to be confused with Rock Auto). What has it done for us and the planet? First off out of the box, of course, it saved the whales. The whale oil industry collapsed overnight with the switch to petroleum in the middle of the 19th Century. And then, lo and behold, fossil fuel use “fueled” literally the industrial revolution, robber barons and all, during which the trajectory of economic growth went from flat for 8,000 years to almost straight up. Talk about a hockey stick!  And economic growth, human prosperity, health, and happiness have expanded almost exponentially ever since. Now of course all of that got its start, according to Dierdre McCluskey, in 1517, with a transformation in the valuation of the individual and the onset of ever-increasing human liberty. Until we have achieved such well-being and prosperity that some have seen the “End of History”.

So now such as Joe Biden are doing their level best to reverse that historical trend, trying to bend the arc of history to return us to a pre-medieval status of poverty, disease, and life that is short, nasty, and brutish. Sort of like Venezuela. Mostly by sequestering fossil fuels. Bjorn Lomberg has highlighted the utter hypocrisy of our Elites in this regard, as European countries scramble to return to burning coal. And a bevy of scientists has promulgated a letter in praise of the benefits of fossil fuel use.

To Biden, the use of fossil fuels is folly. Encomium Moriae? No. Encomium Petroleum. What to Biden is folly is, for everyone else, the epitome of prudence.

That is not to argue against nuclear power. But Biden is condemning that approach with faint funding and little enthusiasm, as more and more Greens start to realize the potential benefit of that source of energy. Only we have lost our expertise in this realm, through criminal disuse. Where’s an Admiral Rickover when such is needed?

Our elites are walking a fine line. The masses will not forever be forgiving of their incompetence and imbecility. One thinks of the French Revolution, touched off by what? A shortage of bread, due to a shortage of grain, due to a volcanic eruption in the Pacific halfway around the world that led to global cooling, that destroyed the grain crops, so the price of flour, and bread, skyrocketed, so French peasants could no longer afford their pan quotidian, those marvelous French sourdough baguettes. Certainly, a cause for revolution if there ever was one. Only this time, it will be pretty much a man-made disaster.

But I’ve gone on too long. I need to go find a gas station that has non-ethanol-added gasoline so I can fuel my Stihl hedge trimmer. The bushes are getting too bushy.

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  1. Chuck Coolidge
    Chuck
    @Chuckles

    Enough abortions and the problem is solved. QED

    • #1
  2. DonG (CAGW is a Hoax) Coolidge
    DonG (CAGW is a Hoax)
    @DonG

    Chuck (View Comment):

    Enough abortions and the problem is solved. QED

    Or, the G7 countries could pressure African nations into not importing Russian fertilizer and also not making their fertilizer.   Destroying farming is a tried and true method for the powerful to reduce the population.

    • #2
  3. GLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Malpropisms Reagan
    GLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Malpropisms
    @GLDIII

    Nanocelt TheContrarian:

    So Joe Biden goes to the G7 where Boris Johnson pleads with him to stop Ethanol production from grain in order to avoid world wide food shortages. Biden refuses. Obviously, Biden has no concern for adequate nutrition for the globe. Let them eat CO2 depleted air. Or drink ethanol.

    Given that burning CO2 produces a mere 4% less CO2 than burning gasoline per gallon, a reasonable person would ask why. And that doesn’t even include the CO2 produced by the fermentation of grains to produce the alcohol. Or the depletion of our fossil WATER resources on the Great Plains to produce the Ethanol. Or the CO2 required from fossil fuels to plant, grow (and the fossil fuels that provide the fertilizers) and harvest the grain. . Or the CO2 production from transporting large quantities of ethanol. And etc, and etc. It seems to me that there may actually be a net disadvantage to using ethanol compared to gasoline. The situation may be different in Brazil, where sugar cane is used rather than corn or other grains.

    Ah, but there is more methane and particulates from burning gasoline. But, given that all of the biomass on the planet would have to be used to produce enough ethanol to power our transportation and supplant all of our fossil fuel use, one begins to wonder what planet the eco-activists think they live on. And that all of the planet’s forests would have to be clear cut to provide enough land to produce all of that ethanol. One can only conclude that the eco-activists are intent on destroying the planet.

    Studies from about 20 years ago indicated that the continental US is a net carbon sink, that the vegetation and other things that absorb CO2 take more CO2 out of the atmosphere than the US puts in to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. And that was before the rather precipitous fall in greenhouse gas emissions in the US over the last couple of decades, no thanks to any federal or government policies. So, what exactly is the problem? Perhaps the opposite of what the eco-activists claim: It appears that we are falling behind, and need to put more CO2 into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels to keep up.

    Then they tell us that CO2 is a “greenhouse” gas, that rising levels of CO2 will warm the planet. That is argued based on the Arrhenius equation (an empirical equation, basically superseded by the Eyring Equation, but who cares about that), which shows that CO2 absorbs a lot of heat. The assumption is that that is the end of the story. But let’s do a Paul Harvey and look at the rest of the story: What happens to that CO2 molecule once it absorbs heat? Does it just sort of stay in place, hang around, and go nowhere, warming the earth by providing, along with all of its fellow CO2 molecules, a nice heat blanket covering the planet.

    That appears to be a misleading, Kiplingesque, just so story. Years ago, Richard Lindzen, arguably the dean of climate scientists at the time, at MIT, showed, in high altitude balloon measurements on heat radiation into space from the earth, that the higher the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, the greater the heat radiated away from the earth into space. Now why would that be? Seems that CO2 isn’t a static molecule. When it heats up, eg, gains more kinetic energy, it becomes more volatile. Net effect is that it rises, and conducts its heat higher into the atmosphere, to the point of conducting that heat outward from the planet. Sort of like boiling water. The water doesn’t just stay stationary in the pot as it’s temperature rises. it starts forming convection currents that more and more efficiently deliver heat from the burner underneath to the air above the pot. So, one might think of CO2 as a temperature damping molecule that stabilizes and modulates the temperature of the planet by aiding the conduction of heat away from the planet, or possibly aiding the retention of heat during colder epochs. An indispensable modulator of planetary temperature.

    Of course, no one ever talks about what the ideal level of atmospheric CO2 should be. No one knows. And of course, despite all the models (which are about as accurate as the models of the COVID pandemic coming out of that great geyser of prognostication garbage, Imperial College London), no one knows the long (or the short) term effects of modulating CO2 levels in the atmosphere. As far as anyone really knows, we should be eager to release sequestered carbon by burning more fossil fuels. The effect of that may be an ever greener planet. With an ever more stable climate. No hockey stick in sight. Michael Mann notwithstanding.

    So Joe is not worried about food shortages. Or if he is, I’m sure he blames Putin. Never mind Biden’s puerile behavior as Putin prepared and then launched his invasion of Ukraine. Or his fecklessness and impotence since the invasion, except to give Putin cause to laugh in our faces about how the sanctions on Russia are weakening the US economy. Thanks, Joe.

    So to Petroleum. “Rock Oil.” (Not to be confused with Rock Auto). What has it done for us and the planet? First off out of the box, of course, it saved the whales. The whale oil industry collapsed overnight with the switch to petroleum in the middle of the 19th Century. And then, lo and behold, fossil fuel use “fueled” literally the industrial revolution, robber barrons and all, during which the trajectory of economic growth went from flat for 8000 years to almost straight up. Talk about a hockey stick! And economic growth, human prosperity, health, and happiness have expanded almost exponentially ever since. Now of course all of that got it’s start, according to Dierdre McCluskey, in 1517, with a transformation in the valuation of the individual and the onset of ever increasing human liberty. Until we have achieved such well being and prosperity that some have seen the “End of History”.

    So now such as Joe Biden are doing their level best to reverse that historical trend, trying to bend the arc of history to return us to a pre medieval status of poverty, disease, and life that is short, nasty and brutish. Sort of like Venezuela. Mostly by sequestering fossil fuels. Bjorn Lomberg has highlighted the utter hypocrisy of our Elites in this regard, as European countries scramble to return to burning coal. And a bevy of scientists have promulgated a letter in praise of the benefits of fossil fuel use.

    To Biden the use of fossil fuels is folly. Encomium Moriae? No. Encomium Petroleum. What to Biden is folly is, for everyone else, the epitome of prudence.

    That is not to argue against nuclear power. But Biden is condemning that approach with faint funding and little enthusiasm, as more and more Greens start to realize the potential benefit of that source of energy. Only we have lost our expertise in this realm, through criminal disuse. Where’s an Admiral Rickover when such is needed?

    Our elites are walking a fine line. The masses will not forever be forgiving of their incompetence and imbecility. One thinks of the French Revolution, touched off by what? A shortage of bread, due to a shortage of grain, due to a volcanic eruption in the Pacific, halfway around the world, that led to global cooling, that destroyed the grain crops, so the price of flour, and bread, skyrocketed, so French peasants could no longer afford their pan quotidian, those marvelous French sourdough baguettes. Certainly a cause for revolustion if there ever was one. Only this time, it will be pretty much a man-made disaster.

    But I’ve gone on too long. I need to go find a gas station that has non-ethanol-added gasoline so I can fuel my Stihl hedge trimmer. The bushes are getting too bushy.

     

    It is called Avgas. I have been using for a decade now, and it has been preserving the life and eliminating my calls to small engine repair shop of all of my 2 cycle and 4 cycle powered yard machinery.

    Available at any local GA airport.

    As my snooty millennial whines at me when he thinks he was brilliant ….  

    Your welcomed.

    • #3
  4. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Nanocelt TheContrarian: So Joe Biden goes to the G7 where Boris Johnson pleads with him to stop Ethanol production from grain in order to avoid world wide food shortages. Biden refuses. Obviously, Biden has no concern for adequate nutrition for the globe. Let them eat CO2 depleted air.  Or drink ethanol. 

    Or, someone smarter than Biden realized that if they couldn’t dilute gasoline with ethanol, the shortages would get even worse.

    • #4
  5. Quietpi Member
    Quietpi
    @Quietpi

    Remember the 2007 Mexico City tortilla riots, caused by sharp increase in corn prices driven by increased demand caused by the ethanol industry?  

    • #5
  6. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Quietpi (View Comment):

    Remember the 2007 Mexico City tortilla riots, caused by sharp increase in corn prices driven by increased demand caused by the ethanol industry?

    Shouldn’t Mexico be growing their own corn?

    • #6
  7. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    Big agricultural lobby wants to raise the price of corn by increasing demand by ethanol production for fuel.  Plus it looks like you are ‘doing something!’

    Still stupid and evil.   And Farmland is continually being converted to Solar Fields and Windmill Fields.  More stupid and evil.   More ‘doing something!’

    How about we do something smart, or nothing at all?

     

    • #7
  8. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    Nanocelt TheContrarian: I need to go find a gas station that has non-ethanol-added gasoline

    I haven’t seen non-ethanol added gasoline in years.

    • #8
  9. EODmom Coolidge
    EODmom
    @EODmom

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    Nanocelt TheContrarian: I need to go find a gas station that has non-ethanol-added gasoline

    I haven’t seen non-ethanol added gasoline in years.

    @NanoceltTheContrarian. Try this site for your state  – it’s accurate as far as I can tell for NH. Understand that I never know if the link thingy links. 

    https://pure-gas.org/

    • #9
  10. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Nanocelt TheContrarian: Given that burning CO2 produces a mere 4% less CO2 than burning gasoline per gallon,

    I’m assuming you meant to say “burning ethanol”, not “burning CO2”.

    • #10
  11. Nanocelt TheContrarian Member
    Nanocelt TheContrarian
    @NanoceltTheContrarian

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Nanocelt TheContrarian: Given that burning CO2 produces a mere 4% less CO2 than burning gasoline per gallon,

    I’m assuming you meant to say “burning ethanol”, not “burning CO2”.

    Right.

    • #11
  12. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Excellent article. Thanks. 

    Personally, I think all of this freaking out about CO2 is wasting a tremendous amount of resources. 

    They won’t put up compact nukes because it’s less communist and that is the whole point.

    If you put up enough compact nukes, nobody’s going to need solar.

    Wind is pure stupidity.

    • #12
  13. Chuck Coolidge
    Chuck
    @Chuckles

    EODmom (View Comment):

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    Nanocelt TheContrarian: I need to go find a gas station that has non-ethanol-added gasoline

    I haven’t seen non-ethanol added gasoline in years.

    @ NanoceltTheContrarian. Try this site for your state – it’s accurate as far as I can tell for NH. Understand that I never know if the link thingy links.

    https://pure-gas.org/

    Kent’s not wrong.  Neither had I (Houston and Boca Raton) until I retired up here in Tennessee:  Now I find it everywhere.  BTW, haven’t checked at current prices, but back when fuel cost half as much, the MPG cost was actually less with ethanol-free.  Maybe that was just a local thing, but I’m not so sure.

    Also, when we were RV’ing through Iowa some years ago finding non-corn diesel was a bit of a challenge.  Again, don’t know about today.

    • #13
  14. DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

     

    But more importantly . . .

    This Twitter thread . . .

     

    And what does Biden do?

    He runs to Venezuela to beg some more.

    America could feed the world if we didn’t put food in our gas tanks. We could provide energy for the world if we weren’t so damned stupid about blocking fossil fuel production.

    Th e Biden administration is deliberately destroying the world.

    • #14
  15. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    In convenient image form, for sharing:

     

    • #15
  16. KCVolunteer Lincoln
    KCVolunteer
    @KCVolunteer

    Chuck (View Comment):

    EODmom (View Comment):

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    Nanocelt TheContrarian: I need to go find a gas station that has non-ethanol-added gasoline

    I haven’t seen non-ethanol added gasoline in years.

    @ NanoceltTheContrarian. Try this site for your state – it’s accurate as far as I can tell for NH. Understand that I never know if the link thingy links.

    https://pure-gas.org/

    Kent’s not wrong. Neither had I (Houston and Boca Raton) until I retired up here in Tennessee: Now I find it everywhere. BTW, haven’t checked at current prices, but back when fuel cost half as much, the MPG cost was actually less with ethanol-free. Maybe that was just a local thing, but I’m not so sure.

    Also, when we were RV’ing through Iowa some years ago finding non-corn diesel was a bit of a challenge. Again, don’t know about today.

    Energy density of common fuels.

    FuelDensity kg/m^{3}kg/m3Specific Energy MJ/kgMJ/kgEnergy Density MJ/m^{3}MJ/m3
    Gasoline 716 -47.3 -33,867
    Kerosene 830 -46.2 -38,346
    Diesel Fuel 830 -44.8 -37,184
    Ethanol 784 -29.7 -23,278

    So, if my math is correct, Ethanol has only about 70% the energy of gasoline, so it needs quite a price advantage to beat gasoline in an MPG v. cost comparison.

    Biden could fix the food shortage by ending ethanol subsidies and regulatory requirements, but that would defeat their agenda.

    • #16
  17. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    KCVolunteer (View Comment):

    Chuck (View Comment):

    EODmom (View Comment):

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    Nanocelt TheContrarian: I need to go find a gas station that has non-ethanol-added gasoline

    I haven’t seen non-ethanol added gasoline in years.

    @ NanoceltTheContrarian. Try this site for your state – it’s accurate as far as I can tell for NH. Understand that I never know if the link thingy links.

    https://pure-gas.org/

    Kent’s not wrong. Neither had I (Houston and Boca Raton) until I retired up here in Tennessee: Now I find it everywhere. BTW, haven’t checked at current prices, but back when fuel cost half as much, the MPG cost was actually less with ethanol-free. Maybe that was just a local thing, but I’m not so sure.

    Also, when we were RV’ing through Iowa some years ago finding non-corn diesel was a bit of a challenge. Again, don’t know about today.

    Energy density of common fuels.

    FuelDensity kg/m^{3}kg/m3Specific Energy MJ/kgMJ/kgEnergy Density MJ/m^{3}MJ/m3

    Gasoline 716 -47.3 -33,867
    Kerosene 830 -46.2 -38,346
    Diesel Fuel 830 -44.8 -37,184
    Ethanol 784 -29.7 -23,278

    So, if my math is correct, Ethanol has only about 70% the energy of gasoline, so it needs quite a price advantage to beat gasoline in an MPG v. cost comparison.

    Biden could fix the food shortage by ending ethanol subsidies and regulatory requirements, but that would defeat their agenda.

    But without ethanol to dilute the real gasoline, the volume of real gasoline would have to increase, which they can’t do if they’ve reduced production/refining.

    • #17
  18. MoFarmer Coolidge
    MoFarmer
    @mofarmer

    A thousand thanks to EODmom for telling us about pure-gas.org.  I did not know 91 octane was ethanol free. My many small engines are indebted to you!!

    • #18
  19. Gazpacho Grande' Coolidge
    Gazpacho Grande'
    @ChrisCampion

    KCVolunteer (View Comment):

    Chuck (View Comment):

    EODmom (View Comment):

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    Nanocelt TheContrarian: I need to go find a gas station that has non-ethanol-added gasoline

    I haven’t seen non-ethanol added gasoline in years.

    @ NanoceltTheContrarian. Try this site for your state – it’s accurate as far as I can tell for NH. Understand that I never know if the link thingy links.

    https://pure-gas.org/

    Kent’s not wrong. Neither had I (Houston and Boca Raton) until I retired up here in Tennessee: Now I find it everywhere. BTW, haven’t checked at current prices, but back when fuel cost half as much, the MPG cost was actually less with ethanol-free. Maybe that was just a local thing, but I’m not so sure.

    Also, when we were RV’ing through Iowa some years ago finding non-corn diesel was a bit of a challenge. Again, don’t know about today.

    Energy density of common fuels.

    FuelDensity kg/m^{3}kg/m3Specific Energy MJ/kgMJ/kgEnergy Density MJ/m^{3}MJ/m3

    Gasoline 716 -47.3 -33,867
    Kerosene 830 -46.2 -38,346
    Diesel Fuel 830 -44.8 -37,184
    Ethanol 784 -29.7 -23,278

    So, if my math is correct, Ethanol has only about 70% the energy of gasoline, so it needs quite a price advantage to beat gasoline in an MPG v. cost comparison.

    Biden could fix the food shortage by ending ethanol subsidies and regulatory requirements, but that would defeat their agenda.

    Iowa.  Because it’s the first, you’ll never see the end of subsidies, and that’s why we have ethanol in our gas.  It’s also why corn syrup is used as a sweetener in the cheapest of foods, because it’s cheap and ubiquitous.  Just ask a fat kid.

    People often ask me why I distrust the gov’t.  There is a reason.  Literally almost no good can come from politically-motivated policies.

     

    • #19
  20. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Government Is How We Steal From Each Other™

    • #20
  21. DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Biden Regime Admits On Camera: Ushering In ‘Liberal World Order’ Is More Important Than Affordable Gas

    These people must be removed from power.

    • #21
  22. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

     

     

     

    • #22
  23. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

     

     

     

    “:Honestly, the only real answer is to subsidize and make desirable other consumer behavior that moves the needle away from the project that has dominated US development since the late 1940’s. And there is good news – people LOVE walkable, bikable, transit filled cities.”

    If that was true you wouldn’t have to “subsidize and make [it] desirable”.

     

    • #23
  24. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

     

     

     

     

    “:Honestly, the only real answer is to subsidize and make desirable other consumer behavior that moves the needle away from the project that has dominated US development since the late 1940’s. And there is good news – people LOVE walkable, bikable, transit filled cities.”

    If that was true you wouldn’t have to “subsidize and make [it] desirable”.

     

    He wants to create a centralized utopia at gunpoint because he thinks the suburbs were created at gunpoint. lol

    • #24
  25. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

     

     

     

     

    “:Honestly, the only real answer is to subsidize and make desirable other consumer behavior that moves the needle away from the project that has dominated US development since the late 1940’s. And there is good news – people LOVE walkable, bikable, transit filled cities.”

    If that was true you wouldn’t have to “subsidize and make [it] desirable”.

     

    He wants to create a centralized utopia at gunpoint because he thinks the suburbs were created at gunpoint. lol

    Good luck getting the Bidens, Obamas, Pelosis, et al, out of their gated suburbs.

    • #25
  26. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    When you put up a choo-choo train when everybody is poor, it works. Development automatically goes around the choo-choo train and everybody is happy. 

    If society gets over a certain level of wealth, you will never beat the utility of cars and trucks for moving people and stuff. 

    They want to force it and in Minneapolis at least the violence and the rent levels are a joke. They are even fooling around with rent control. 

    Every choo-choo train metric is a disaster in this town and they aren’t doing a sinking fund for the big capital costs in a few decades. You have to do a sinking fund for the rails and the cars and all of that.

    When the bond market collapses everybody’s going to try libertarianism because they will have no other option. 

     

    • #26
  27. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

     

     

     

     

    • #27
  28. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Yes, and it was the Republican President Biden who shut down drilling, and stopped the Keystone Pipeline project, and…

    Oh, wait…

    • #28
  29. DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    When you put up a choo-choo train when everybody is poor, it works. Development automatically goes around the choo-choo train and everybody is happy.

    If society gets over a certain level of wealth, you will never beat the utility of cars and trucks for moving people and stuff.

    They want to force it and in Minneapolis at least the violence and the rent levels are a joke. They are even fooling around with rent control.

    Every choo-choo train metric is a disaster in this town and they aren’t doing a sinking fund for the big capital costs in a few decades. You have to do a sinking fund for the rails and the cars and all of that.

    When the bond market collapses everybody’s going to try libertarianism because they will have no other option.

    The Minneapolis Choo-Choo train was clearly a boondoggle from the start. But, like the proverbial choo-choo itself, there was no way to stop it once it started rolling.

    I wonder who’s making bank from it and how can I get a piece of that?

    • #29
  30. DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Yes, and it was the Republican President Biden who shut down drilling, and stopped the Keystone Pipeline project, and…

    Oh, wait…

    El oh el.

    100 years from now — or maybe even sooner — leftist media types will claim Biden was a Republican.

    • #30
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