Electricity, of course, would be even a better indicator than gasoline for gauging the health of the US economy (I would imagine).
Total electricity sales fell in 2015 for the 5th time in past 8 years -- EIA.
This pretty much says it all about the Obama recovery. In fact, the only year that electricity sales stand out is in his second year, suggesting it takes a while for a huge economy like the US to turn around ... but then look at the data for every subsequent year in the administration of a president who probably played more golf than Ike.
ObamaNation.
From the EIA caption:
Total electricity sales in 2015 fell 1.1% from the previous year, marking the fifth time in the past eight years that electricity sales have fallen.
The flattening of total electricity sales reflects declining sales in the industrial sector and little or no growth in sales to the residential and commercial building sectors, despite growth in the number of households and growth in commercial building space.
Declining rates of electricity demand growth reflect a combination of factors, including the market saturation and increasing efficiency of electricity-using equipment, a slowing rate of economic growth, and the changing composition of the economy, which has reduced the role of electricity-intensive manufacturing.It is interesting to compare this graph with the change in overall US wealth, posted earlier.
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Connecting Russian Dots
Ayn Rand, 1905 - 1982.
Coco Chanel, 1883 - 1971.
Doctor Zhivago, the novel spans 1903 -- 1943.
I have no idea, now, exactly how it started, how I got into my "Doctor Zhivago" stage. Most likely it started when we visited the Dallas Museum of Art and saw the "reconstruction" of the Riviera home of Coco Chanel. That led me to read Garelick's biography of Coco Chanel (which I am still reading).
Probably unrelated, but coincidentally and with serendipity, I watched "Doctor Zhivago" for the first time in several years, and then re-watched it several times in the past few weeks. That led me to ordering a used copy of the novel which I am now reading.
About the same time, but slightly before the Coco Chanel biography and watching "Doctor Zhivago" I read Ann Heller's biography of Ayn Rand.
I think if I were teaching Russian history at the AP level in high school or to freshmen/sophomores in college, I would have them become familiar with these three books as their "outside" reading, along with "standard" history books.
In addition to the "history" of this period, these books provide a wonderful feeling for the things that were going on the daily lives of people during that period, mostly in Russia but also elsewhere vis a vis how Russia thought was influencing global events.
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School Is Out For Spring Break
I'm sitting in Starbucks in Southlake, TX -- yes, I know -- some time ago I said I would never visit Starbucks again after they raised their prices, but I make exceptions. Today is one of them. The smallest ("tall") coffee is $2.00 here with tax; bottled water of the same amount: $2.45. If I come here in the afternoon after a bike ride, I buy the water; if in the morning, a coffee. After 5:00 p.m., a martini. Just kidding. LOL. I wish. More on that later.
I say all that to say this: the weather is wonderful and the sidewalks are full of young women ages 12 - 16 carrying those cute little boutique bags with purchases from Victoria Secret and the like. What a great country. My eyes watch out of curiosity but no longer out of "lust" -- my thoughts only return to my soulmate, and years past.
Years ago, as a junior in college (or thereabouts), four of us took a road trip from Sioux Falls, SD, to South Padre Island, TX. Lots of fun, but in retrospect, more trouble than it was worth. But it was a box to be checked off; part of an adolescent's bucket list, I suppose.
Yes, it's a great country:
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