Politics

[steve white]

Ask Jimmy Hoffa.....who is probably entombed under a bunch of concrete.....somewhere.

Actually....when Tammy Faye Baker was in for surgery, they took off her caked makeup and there below it all...was Jimmy Hoffa.

 

[Pheroze]

Or did unions go too far and push the offshoring?

I think off shoring was driven by consumer greed. We turned a blind eye to the slavery, horrible working conditions and the rising geopolitical threat because it satisfied our desire for cheap stuff. Unions certainly create an impediment to cheap stuff, but they historically prevented the kinds of abuses we ignore elsewhere.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Could Kharg island be used to make Iran pay for the war's expenses? Trumpadelic!

I bet Kharg Island is nothing like Epstein Island.

 

[Aaron N]

There, had to fix another one for ya.

Clever as always

 

[Aaron N]

Or did unions go too far and push the offshoring?

I guess everyone has a different definition of too far, but what’s the excuse for non-union professional jobs that were offshored?

 

[Aaron N]

You know it is not "us vs them" in regard to corporations and workers in most corporations. I had interactions with a multitude of Fortune 100 corporations in my career and employees' and contractors' safety came first at all times. Heck, one time I was asked to shave a two-day stubble so the gas masks would make a good seal in case of an emergency at a refinery.

Now, unions that is a different story, but the main thing a union cares about is themselves as an institution to the detriment of workers most times than not.

As a guy who’s spent his life in oil plants, yeah they are extremely anal about safety (some more so than others), they really hate higher insurance premiums and bad publicity.

Now to your second paragraph, I’d say at an executive level, sure, like any organization the chiefs are looking out for themselves (Look at the NRA debacle). But at least the union provides a way to push back at the floor level for a change

 

[Spartan5]

Now there's a minimum wage candidate for you. Doubt she's worth even that.

Well if you watch Cops at all, the minimum wage for what she is said to be best at is about $20

 

[skydiver386]

Clever as always

It's what I do.

 

[WAB]

Those are killer high prices. The good news though is premium isn’t much more than regular.

I was in OKC the past few days and gas was just below $3 and diesel just above $4.

California fuel prices have nothing to do with the oil companies and everything to do with the idiots they elect to govern.

 

[WAB]

As a guy who’s spent his life in oil plants, yeah they are extremely anal about safety (some more so than others), they really hate higher insurance premiums and bad publicity.

Now to your second paragraph, I’d say at an executive level, sure, like any organization the chiefs are looking out for themselves (Look at the NRA debacle). But at least the union provides a way to push back at the floor level for a change

You may find this hard to believe, but some guys who run oil refineries truly care about their people and don’t want them to get hurt.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

California fuel prices have nothing to do with the oil companies and everything to do with the idiots they elect to govern.

Federal tax is 18.4 cents per gallon on gas and 24.4 cents on diesel.

Top 5 States with Highest Gasoline Taxes (Jan 2026)
California: 70.9 c/gal
Illinois: 66.4 c/gal
Washington: 59.0 c/gal
Pennsylvania: 57.6 c/gal (approx.)
Michigan: 50+ c/gal (approx.)
Tax Foundation
Tax Foundation
+4
Key Details
Diesel Taxes: California also leads in diesel taxes at 87.3 c/gal.

 

[V.Veritas]

How about this?

 

[Scott CWO]

I think off shoring was driven by consumer greed. We turned a blind eye to the slavery, horrible working conditions and the rising geopolitical threat because it satisfied our desire for cheap stuff. Unions certainly create an impediment to cheap stuff, but they historically prevented the kinds of abuses we ignore elsewhere.

I guided an executive from HP many years ago on a sheep hunt who was the liaison to the Chinese government. He said they didn’t want to offshore manufacturing but had to join the exodus to compete once it started. Wages got high and consumers didn’t want to pay $3000 for a desktop computer or $1000 for a printer.

As for working conditions overseas, there’s no way to control those. Sounds good to promote but unrealistic.

 

[WAB]

Federal tax is 18.4 cents per gallon on gas and 24.4 cents on diesel.

Top 5 States with Highest Gasoline Taxes (Jan 2026)
California: 70.9 c/gal
Illinois: 66.4 c/gal
Washington: 59.0 c/gal
Pennsylvania: 57.6 c/gal (approx.)
Michigan: 50+ c/gal (approx.)
Tax Foundation
Tax Foundation
+4
Key Details
Diesel Taxes: California also leads in diesel taxes at 87.3 c/gal.

It’s way more than tax. Look up CARB specs or search my past posts.

 

[Big_Easy]

California fuel prices have nothing to do with the oil companies and everything to do with the idiots they elect to govern.

Thats not entirely accurate. California fuel prices go up and down, just like the rest of the states. There is a certain amount of extra costs due to taxation, environmental policy, and labor from that state. But one of the big components that nobody ever mentions is the simple fact that there are no petroleum pipelines that run from the Gulf Coast to California. Therefore, if the state of California can’t refine their own crude (they cant), it has to be refined elsewhere and then delivered via boat, which is going to be much more expensive. Just like the state of Florida. Most of the gasoline for the state of Florida has historically been refined and delivered via a boat from the Caribbean.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

California had 50 refineries back in the 1980s. I think it’s down to about 15 now. Crude is imported by tankers, as many of the refineries sit on the coast. Both of Chevron’s refineries are over 100 years old. Richmond in the Bay Area was the first and El Segundo (Spanish for “The second”) was , you guessed it, the second one.

 

[Mekaniks]

Thats not entirely accurate. California fuel prices go up and down, just like the rest of the states. There is a certain amount of extra costs due to taxation, environmental policy, and labor from that state. But one of the big components that nobody ever mentions is the simple fact that there are no petroleum pipelines that run from the Gulf Coast to California. Therefore, if the state of California can’t refine their own crude (they cant), it has to be refined elsewhere and then delivered via boat, which is going to be much more expensive. Just like the state of Florida. Most of the gasoline for the state of Florida has historically been refined and delivered via a boat from the Caribbean.

California refines about 1.5 million barrels a day. Crude oil is delivered by ship

 

[Pheroze]

I guided an executive from HP many years ago on a sheep hunt who was the liaison to the Chinese government. He said they didn’t want to offshore manufacturing but had to join the exodus to compete once it started. Wages got high and consumers didn’t want to pay $3000 for a desktop computer or $1000 for a printer.

As for working conditions overseas, there’s no way to control those. Sounds good to promote but unrealistic.

I am not thinking we should control the working conditions overseas. I do think we should think carefully how we do business there. With China we saw a compromise of our moral compass by the political parties that extolled its virtues, and the uncritical consumers who benefited. Everyone liked it as people bought all the cheap stuff they saw on tv.

I often wonder how different our society would be if we didn’t drink that particular kool-aid?

I wonder if the Trump administration’s plan to bring home manufacturing will cause a spike in the cost of goods as labour will no longer be done in the cheapest place.

 

[Big_Easy]

California refines about 1.5 million barrels a day. Crude oil is delivered by ship

Correct, but it appears they consume about 1.8 million/day, and theres one refinery ready to shut down next month, which would lower that amount to 1.36 million per day. So they import both crude oil and gasoline, and gas blending products.

https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/news-research/latest-news/crude-oil/112525-californias-gasoline-demand-met-with-increased-global-supply-as-refineries-close

They also need more intrastate pipelines to reduce trucking expenses.

 

[Mekaniks]

Correct, but it appears they consume about 1.8 million/day, and theres one refinery ready to shut down next month, which would lower that amount to 1.36 million per day. So they import both crude oil and gasoline, and gas blending products.

https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/news-research/latest-news/crude-oil/112525-californias-gasoline-demand-met-with-increased-global-supply-as-refineries-close

They also need more intrastate pipelines to reduce trucking expenses.

for sure....