Daily Prices 01/13/25

Everything is Big Oil’s fault even when it’s not

The gist of it: a tax break in California’s code helps energy companies save around $150 million.

The tax break is not only for energy companies.

But it is energy companies that are being singled out to blame for the underfunding of L.A.’s fire department.

That’s right.

It is oil and gas producers’ fault that the city of Los Angeles is underfunding a critical department.

Meanwhile, guess what Governor Newsom did as the fires raged?

He proposed further spending cuts in the state’s budget.

He’s probably secretly working with Big Oil to destroy California.

Only that claim doesn’t hold water.

Newsom sincerely hates oil and gas.

He has been using the industry as a scapegoat for every mistake his own government has made.

Including all the spending cuts, jab mandates, and DEI hires at the fire department of L.A.

Next steps

The obvious move for California is to remove the troublesome stipulation.

Then it should raise taxes again.

And keep making spending cuts because that passes for logic in Sacramento.

When the next disaster strikes, they’ll just blame it on Big Oil and the climate.

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Trump on the offensive

Trump first threatened Canada with tariffs.

Now, he wants to annex it.

It’s probably an either-or situation that’s developing.

But what got Wilkinson’s blood boiling was a claim by Trump that “We don’t need anything they have.”

Which is clearly not true.

So, the minister came to his country’s rescue.

He warned Trump Canada exports a lot of oil south.

Uranium, too.

Also fertilizers and critical minerals.

And electricity.

All this, Wilkinson suggested, would be affected by import tariffs.

Could this be the reason why Trump wants to take over Canada?

It may well be.

Responding in a thoughtful way

Wilkinson suggested that Canada should respond to Trump’s tariff threat “in a thoughtful way.”

Curious minds have a question, however.

They would like to know if the impact of tariffs would be worse than Canada’s emission cap.

Because for the oil and gas industry, it’s pretty much the same.

Either tariffs sap demand or the emission cap saps production.

So if Wilkinson and his fellow ministers care so much, they should answer that question.

Because it’s a bit absurd to defend an industry you’re actively trying to destrroy.