Bert's Thoughts

 The 32 members of the "International" Energy Agency agreed to dump 400 million barrels of oil from their Strategic Oil Reserves onto the market, to knock the price of crude down a little. Guess who gets hammered? 172 million of that 400 million barrels is coming from our US Strategic Oil Reserve. We are a net exporter of petroleum products. Who are we propping up by dumping this oil on the market? We started filling our SPR in 1982. It held over 700 million barrels from March 2008 - September 2011.  When Biden took office, January 2021, it held 638 million barrels. He sold it off until it held only 347 million barrels in August 2023. From a November 2024 press release: The U.S. Department of Energy today  announce d  that 200 million barrels of crude oil have been delivered, contracted at a good deal for taxpayers, an average price of $74.75. following the closure of the most recent  solicitation  to acquire 2.4 million barrels of crude oil for the Strateg...

 This morning I read a BBC article about oil prices and actions by the “International” Energy Agency. The article discussed the increase in oil prices since the attacks on Iran began. It mentioned that oil prices had “spiraled” to $115/barrel at one point. The report stated that there was speculation that the “International” Energy Agency might release 300-400 million barrels from emergency stockpiles. Now, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story. The article caught my interest because it mentioned an “International” Energy Agency that has stockpiled crude oil, for emergencies. The article went on to say that 300 million barrels represented a quarter of oil stockpiled. Some research revealed that there are 32 member countries in the International Energy Agency and that they have a combined public ownership of 1.25 billion barrels of oil (the BBC article noted that global oil consumption is 104 million barrels/day). Members are required to maintain emergency oil stocks...

 Today I read a story about a lady whining that because Trump has cut the size of the Department of Education she can't get the federal government to involved in stopping bullying at a school in Pennsylvania. THIS IS NUTS! https://abcnews.com/Politics/wireStory/families-turn-states-civil-rights-support-trump-dismantles-130779794  The lady wants to get the feds involved because she claims racist bullying is occurring at the Pennridge School District in Bucks County Pennsylvania, about 30 miles from Philadelphia. Some statistics on the school district from https://censusreporter.org/profiles/97000US4218750-pennridge-school-district-pa/ Population of the district 52,740 (Jefferson City School District pop 73,144) Size 91.2 square miles (Jeff 215 sq mi) Race/ethnicity 88% white, 2% black, 6% Hispanic  (Jeff 78% white, 10% black, 4% Hispanic) Median household income $114,538 (Jeff $74,454) Poverty 5.2% below poverty line (Jeff 10.1%) Children under 18 below poverty line 4...