Dear neighbors,
The price of gasoline is dominating conversations today and will definitely play out in the primary election just around the corner.
While many point to the recent Russia-Ukraine conflict as the sole cause of our high gas prices, the sentiment is actually incorrect as gas and oil production was already decreasing far before the conflict. In 2020, the amount of active US oil rigs reached an all time low with the pandemic and although since then they have been steadily increasing we are not even at the same level as the active oil rigs in 2019.
Over $30billion since 2015 in Mystery Gasoline Surcharge: Californians have contributed billions of dollars annually in fees and no one know where that money is going. Is this the “Office Space” fraction of pennies algorithm at work. We have to stop it. $4 billion. per year in 2021 that we cannot account for. There is a differential. The California Attorney General has to get to the bottom of this.
California's proposal to announce a $400 rebate proposal for every taxpayer in the state amid increasing gas prices is only a start. But the fees and taxes are a bit much.
Americans are likely to face higher prices on everything from gasoline to groceries well into next year — threatening to turn a simmering economic issue into a major political one.
The danger here is: rising natural gas prices could raise electricity and home heating bills. The increasing costs for transportation, power and heat would all contribute to inflation, which is already at its highest rate in 40 years in the U.S. The inflation will continue to rise over the course of this year. Some estimate that price per gallon may rise to $10/gallon by summer and that will be disastrous for our economy. We need to stem the tide NOW!
Here is my view in a short 5-minute video
And finally, let us NOT gut California's solar program if we are serious about clean Energy. We should explore mass transportation options now for every urban economy. For example - VTA is pondering the future of its light rail system. such as VTA’s low ridership numbers. Last year, the agency projected expenses to exceed revenues by $6.9 million in fiscal year 2022, and that gap is expected to grow over the next decade to reach $47.5 million by 2031. VTA has the highest operating cost per revenue car hour in the nation. Time to shut down such waste in our public sector and plan for the future. We absolutely need to come up with a plan for the next decade that is designed on the basis of net zero greenhouse gas fast cutting-edge transportation systems and the last-mile autonomous cars. This is the time to make innovative decisions for the future of our country and design supply chain systems that will stand the test of time, including cyberattacks and cyberthreats.