WEATHER, 2.0

Well, that weather stuff got out of hand, didn't it? Cold, freezing rain, power outages, water main breaks causing boil orders, no internet, no gasoline and shortages in the stores.

Texans bounced back. The boil order was lifted this morning (Saturday, a week later) and there are no significant power outages. Let the finger-pointing begin.

My opinion, that's what this blog is about, right?, is that the power issue goes back to Three Mile Island. In writing to Jerry this morning, it dawned on me that it happened in 1979, right at the beginning of the 24-hour news cycle. They jumped on that wagon. The longitudinal health effects study was discontinued after it was discovered there were no health problems caused by TMI. Likewise, the lawsuit was thrown out of court in Harrisburg, PA. Meanwhile, the American nuclear industry died. We are so far behind France and Japan that it may take forever to catch up.

Another meanwhile--Germany is negotiating with France to get some of its (France's) nuclear-generated power because their solar panels are coated with snow. The US Navy has been operating nuclear-powered vessels for 60 years without a nuclear accident although the Soviets have had plenty.

C'mon man, to quote our linguistically and cognitively challenged President. Are we such sissies about a bit of cold weather? A term that we have been throwing around a lot, "first world problems."

Let's launch off into the land of energy managed by politicians. Yeah, that's the ticket.

WEATHER

It is midnight in Corpus Christi, Texas where we have had the most ideal weather you could ask for over the last couple of months, but right now it is 25 degrees with a north wind of 25 miles per hour (25 squared?) and rain, freezing rain and snow.

OK, not much snow, not the kind of wind and cold we had in Nebraska/Iowa/South Dakota, but a miserable night for man or beast.

Here's the rest of the news--it isn't going to get any better for a while. We are pretty spoiled in the winter down here, it will be cold until next weekend when we are expected to be back to low 70's. 

Yep, Corpus Christi is pretty miserable from the heat for a lot of months, but the winter is good.

Other places:

Lone Tree, CO negative 6

Dakota Dunes, SD negative 15 (headed for negative 24 by morning)

Omaha, negative 11 pretty steady the rest of the night (Note the difference 90 miles makes!)

St. Edward, NE negative 14, headed for negative 22, light wind.

Prescott, AZ 32 degrees, no more snow, light winds.

Neptune City, NJ 35 with wind from the north at 10 and rain.

Fredericksburg, TX 6 degrees, snow (1 to 4 inches) northwest wind of 10. Bundle up our elephants!

Yep, it's winter in the US of A.

NYT AND DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTS

The New York Times has published an analysis that “proves” that Democratic presidents are better because “Virtually any reasonable look at the data shows a big Democratic advantage.” They base this on data around the GDP and jobs.

Not surprisingly, Trump is at the bottom of the list of 14 presidents dating back to Roosevelt, it is the NYT after all. The one that caught my eye, however, was Carter. Jimmy Carter was president from 1977 to 1981 and he is touted by the NYT as number 6 on the list of 14, surpassed by only one Republican, Reagan, and well ahead of Eisenhower at number 9. Well, I lived through those times, and I want to assure you that Carter deserved a one-term presidency. Interest rates at 20% plus, hyper-inflation (think of what those two do to your “data”) plus the Iran hostage situation with military failures.

There is a value to statistics, but when evaluating Presidents, a simplistic approach such as this is nearly criminal. No, Roosevelt’s “reign” wasn’t the greatest ever, it was a mixed bag of a horrible, long Depression, 1939 was 6 years into his terms and the country was worse than ever. Without World War II, no telling what his Presidency would be remembered for. How about his promise that Social Security payments would “never” be taxed?

Another slanted, biased and untrue “analysis” from the NYT. 

Wait until future historians assess the huge deficits piling up now. There are only three ways to deal with that—push the deficits onto future generations and hope that the Fed has the power to control interest rates; increase productivity in the economy which the US has done quite nicely; and, inflation. Which one will it be?