The Schumer Shutdown, T+363. "People Die In Government Shutdowns ... I Don't Know How I'm Going To Vote" -- Diane Feinstein

The Schumer Shutdown.

"People die in government shutdowns -- I don't know which way I'll vote." -- Diane Feinstein. During one of the worse US flu epidemics in modern history the US Senate looks to shut down the government. What am I missing?

The road to New England: current fuel trends put New England at risk for rolling blackouts. Look at where that story was reported. Wow. New Hampshire public radio.

The study accounts for the coming closure of fossil fuel-fired and nuclear power plants and the expected addition of more renewable energy to the grid. But George says they did not assume any new natural gas pipelines would be built by the year in question.

"We thought, it doesn't make sense for us to necessarily include anything because we don't really see any activity on that front right now,” she says.

ISO New England: spot prices to $250/MWh continue despite a warming trend. But note that almost all electricity being generated is coming from nuclear plants (to be closed; see previous story above); and, natural gas. Coal is maxed out (and will be less in the future (based on story above). Renewables, solar and wind are contributing about 4% to the overall electricity mix. Wow.

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More Fake News

The Obama rally was better and bigger than the Trump rally. Really? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. It depends from where you begin your  measurements, to where you end your measurements. Trump's first year rally began on November 9, 2017. Trump's rally came after an incredible previous year on the stock market (as Obama folks will tell you). Obama's first year rally came after the greatest recession in modern US history. Comparing first year rallies in this case is comparing apples to oranges.

Finally, I don't recall anyone, certainly not CNBC, practically falling all over themselves telling us how great the Obama rally was. In fact, I don't recall anyone talking about an Obama rally. I guess that was because Obama's first year was marked by a) largest tax increase in history; and, b) huge disappointment in jobs recovery.

But everyone, especially CNBC, has been absolutely flummoxed by the Trump rally.

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Amazon - Whole Foods

Yesterday there was a WSJ story about the irritations/frustrations Whole Foods customers are expressing with the availability of fresh produce in their stores, now that Amazon has taken over, and has instituted new "time-to-shelf" deliveries or whatever it was called.

On the way home from an early morning school function today, I passed our local Whole Foods store. I was curious. Observations:

• one checkout line open; one customer checking out
• approximately five customers in the store
• aisles stacked up with unopened boxes of new product; there must have been no less than ten individuals re-stocking the shelves; I've never seen anything like that before in any grocery store
• fresh produce: not empty, but certainly not as robust as one would expect, but then again, very little foot traffic, so it appeared that the amount of produce available seemed appropriate for the foot traffic 
• one customer buying coffee at the coffee shop