Author: Norman Leahy

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin broke progressive hearts once again when he refused to back a refurbished version of the ill-fated “Build Back Better” bill. His reason? It’s just not “prudent” to roll out massive government spending programs on climate change, taxes and health care right now. While the Democrats work through their stages of grief, there are fresh reasons to think that a massive government effort to reshape the economy in order to (possibly) shave a degree or so off average global average temperatures over the next century isn’t going to be as smooth, easy, beneficial or even possible,…

As the Biden administration continues to plead with OPEC autocrats to pump more oil, a massive and complex problem stands in the way of any new supply affecting prices at the gas pump. (RELATED: The View Through Debbie Stabenow’s Windshield) America’s — and the world’s — ability to refine crude into gas, diesel and other end products is in rapid decline. And given the economics of refining — including the green incentives to produce some products rather than others — the decline may be irreversible. According to a Bloomberg News report: During the pandemic, plants that distill crude into gasoline,…

There are a number of superlatives that can be applied to federal spending, deficits and debt – none of them good. How can they be when Congress and the White House have been on a bipartisan spending bender for the last two decades. But explaining Washington’s spending binge during and after the COVID-19 pandemic strains even the best thesaurus. Consider this report from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation highlighting some federal financial data horrors from the Congressional Budget Office. The whole report is worth reading, but here’s the note about interest payments on the federal debt: Interest costs on the…

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine finally, though perhaps not permanently, awakened Western Europe to the dangers of relying on a thug for its energy supply. The EU nations have scrambled to replace Russian natural gas, which they have feasted on for years even as they bullied emerging nations (some of whom have abundant oil and gas reserves) never to use the stuff. The hypocrisy has gotten to be too much – and some emerging nations are calling out the Euros for putting their own comfort ahead of local needs: While African leaders are eager for the millions in revenue that…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its inflation data for June and the figures were worse than expected, with headline inflation reaching 9.1 percent – a level last seen in 1981: …the numbers seemed to counter the narrative that inflation may be peaking, as the gains were based across a variety of categories.“CPI delivered another shock, and as painful as June’s higher number is, equally as bad is the broadening sources of inflation,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “Though CPI’s spike is led by energy and food prices, which are largely global problems, prices continue…

Joe Biden’s now-infamous tweet demanding gas station owners to lower pump prices “and do it now” exposed how out-of-touch the White House is with the retail economy and small business in particular. (RELATED: Senate Democrats Pushing $250 Billion Tax Hike on Small Business) As is usually the case, such high-profile gaffes are also prime teaching moments. And that’s exactly what The Wall Street Journal did in a story on the microeconomic reality facing small franchisees. Here’s an excerpt on what drives prices: When wholesale prices go up, gas station owners tend to raise the price at the pump slowly so…

As the Biden administration moves on from hectoring gas station owners to cut prices and returns to begging the Saudi government to pump more oil, there’s a case in Alaska that shows how hard it can be to develop new oil fields on federally-owned land. As The Wall Street Journal reports, ConocoPhillips has been trying to develop a new project on federal land in the Alaskan Arctic called “Willow.” The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to shrink the project’s size, but still allow it to proceed. A big reason BLM is making the project smaller: a court ruling that…

The federal government’s proposed $52 billion program to subsidize domestic production of semiconductors appears to be in trouble. And that has the otherwise highly capitalized and profitable companies that have lined up for a handout upset. According to The Wall Street Journal, the circumstances that spurred bipartisan congressional majorities to embrace chip subsidies have dramatically changed. And now, the multi-billion dollar industrial policy looks less essential. And of course, there’s the midterm election angle: More experts now think ultimate passage of the measure is unlikely—especially if it doesn’t clear Congress by the beginning of its August recess. Paul Gallant, Cowen’s…

Leave it to markets to do what political poseurs can’t. The most recent example: crude oil, which has gone in a very short span of time from an unstoppable bull market that threatened to tank the global economy to a potentially grinding bear market that just might reverse prices at the pump: Rising fears of recession were blamed for sinking crude, which has joined the broader commodity complex in giving back a large chunk of the gains seen in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.“Oil is getting decimated with little new information about production or consumption. Still, with commodity traders…

It’s no secret that high gas prices have President Joe Biden and other Democratic pols in a tizzy. Enough of one that they have decided it’s good policy, and better political optics, to bully gas station owners over how much they charge at the pump. The president’s Twitter team published this gem over the long holiday weekend: My message to the companies running gas stations and setting prices at the pump is simple: this is a time of war and global peril. Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you’re paying for the product.…