EnderWi99in

No it’s not a good comparison. The bulk food prices themselves are indeed sold on a similar commodity market, but the pricing of packaged goods is marked by companies selling those packaged goods. Oil and gas are sold at the rates bought and sold through futures contracts directly from the producers. You’re paying the rate the traders got it for, usually with a regulated mark up. If you’re buying from a private utility then you’re on your own buddy.

Very fair take on moral philosophy, but what does that actyally have to do with how commodity prices work??

The US was in a good position to take on a lot of these contracts and the Biden administration, despite what the right might think, is actually extracting more domestic O&G than at any point. The shift is also that when oil prices climb high enough it makes shale production profitable enough to actually extract. I don’t see how it falls back to pre-war levels but the US can also more than make up for the demand with a high enough price per barrel. I think much under $50 a barrel of NYMEX, most of the US producers stop operating.

Good lord that isn’t how commodity prices work. There’s no cabal with complete control over global oil and gas prices. There are groups with varied interests depending on the amount and quality of oil they possess, but even that gets complicated. It boils down to what is on the market and how it’s bought and sold on contracts by global energy traders. Yes, OPEC and Saudi Arabia have some power over prices by increasing and decreasing supply on the market, but that’s been reduced with how much supply has come online over the years in the US and Canada. Russian supply cuts to Europe had a pretty obvious ripple effect, but after a year or so, supplies and relative demand have shifted. This reductionist take is so tiring and is such an obvious sign of lack of understanding how commodities markets, and quite likely economies themselves, actually work in the real world. It sounds almost as crazy as the right wing conspiracies about global cabals.

Did a bot write this? Potentially a bot made from plastics?

It’s worse unfortunately. Even if we stopped using plastic materials today the effects from this will carry on for many generations. Fortunately, I’m confident we will also find ways to mitigate the issue over time as well, but it’s a far greater challenge than lead. Perhaps as a positive the symptoms might not be akin to the violent behavior lead caused around the world. We shall see.

It’s not bad though. Zoom is great. Apparently their leadership sucks, but as a product its always done what I needed it to do without issue.

No, but it’s going to take a pretty good ding to eat that Evergrande turd.

How exactly is China going to take over our financial systems?

The US has never pretended to be a pure democracy. It’s a representative republic. A truly democratic system would work fairly poorly in most places.

Russia, probably.

You think the average human can just “choose” whatever life they want? Just get up one day and be like, “you know what? I’m going to save up for a horse and buggy.” That’s not a possibility for the vast majority of people. Go to the YouTube channels featuring people who HAVE made that switch in life and it’s usually people who had a lot of money, time, and independence before they made the decision.

I know you probably have very decent intentions when you say this, but the lack of depth in consideration around how much actual freedom of movement people have is just really frustrating that it borders on victim blaming. Most people simply cannot do what you’re making sound like it’s a choice like flipping a light switch. It’s not.

Even making simple changes in lifestyle can be challenging. What is up and down? A well educated person might still be confused as we had decades of a recycling industry that was basically non-existent, corporate interests intentionally confusing, and a whole corner of the public discourse outright lying to people about reality. It’s extremely challenging and often very expensive to choose the more environmentally conscious items when buying food and basic needs. Most people don’t have public transit options, can’t afford an EV, or don’t even have access to better options for what they buy either way.

This problem is way more complicated than you’re making it and the fact yours is a common position on social media is extremely tiring. It’s also just a lazy take that is akin to yelling at traffic while you yourself are part of it. So I hope you at least counted yourself when you made that comment.

We have to go back to a world where we remember that “news” is not analysis. It’s meant as black and white reporting of events as they are happening or happened. I’m not sure the specifics of this forum, but they are best kept separate.

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you’d prefer to capitalize on a number

Well, I reckon, I suppose they did.

Yes we actually do have the ability to track hurricanes quite effectively.

This happened in April…

Paid for by the paper towel industry which was in response to the hand dryer industry putting out it’s own paid study about how paper towels just spread fecal matter around your hands. It’s all shit no matter how you spread it.

Taking concern for someone’s well being when it is quite clearly not in a good place has very little to do with the accusations being levied. I hope the right people are at least aware of that and are reaching out to her. I said in my reply the accusations need to be explored.

If you read that full thread it sounds like someone who was let go from a place I worked years ago and just rings of serious mental health concerns. Slicing open your leg so you go to the ER to avoid going to work is not a sign that someone is of sound mind. All accusations need to be taken seriously and explored regardless given their severity, but I also seriously hope she can get help.