Late Night Ramblings -- The Olympic Games Edition -- July 21, 2021

Flashback: 1979

Why was there a gas shortage in 1979?

Higher prices and concerns about supplies led to panic buying in the gasoline market. Crude oil prices nearly doubled to almost $40 per barrel in twelve months. The energy crisis of 1979 led to the development of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Link here. 

The 1979 energy crisis, the second of two oil price shocks in the '70s, resulted in a widespread panic about potential gasoline shortages, and far higher prices for both crude oil and refined products. Oil output declined by only 7% or less, but the short-term supply disruption led to a spike in prices, panic buying, and long lines at gas stations.

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Olympics

Pandemonium, confusion, and hysteria: days before the Olympics, more athletes test positive for Covid-19. The challenge of staging the world's biggest sporting event during a pandemic is becoming clear as a stream of athletes and others test positive for the virus after entering Japan. This won't make the old folks happy. Link here. 

Sturgis Rally: remember how much grief the South Dakota governor received for allowing this rally to go forward --- and here we have the Japanese 202One Oympics just as "the delta variant" -- the most virulent variant yet -- surges.

Missing from the Olympics this year: the "running part." Link to The WSJ.

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Summer Travel

From The WSJ:

It’s been an especially strange summer-travel surge: The fifth-busiest airport in the world is now in Charlotte, N.C., according to aviation-data firm Cirium. Charlotte hosted more June flights than Los Angeles International or Beijing Capital International.

The Queen City had 21,192 flights in June, down only 6.7% from June 2019. LAX was down 29%; Beijing Capital was down even more because a second major airport opened in that city in late 2019.

The crowded terminals in the once-sleepy southern airport known for its rocking chairs and barbecue reflect the U.S. domestic-travel surge—there’s still not a lot of international traffic—and a move by American Airlines to concentrate its flying at two hubs: Dallas-Fort Worth and Charlotte.

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The High Cost of Electricity in California Just Got More Expensive

I don't think folks know the real reason for those high voltage transmission lines in California ... it's a long story ... conveniently forgotten ...

From The WSJ:

PG&E Corp. said Wednesday that it plans to bury 10,000 miles of power lines to reduce wildfire risk throughout Northern California at an estimated cost of up to $20 billion, reversing its earlier stance that doing so would be prohibitively expensive.

The utility company, which serves about 16 million customers in northern and central California, said the effort will substantially reduce the likelihood of its power lines sparking wildfires as drought and climate change heighten the risk of large, fast-moving blazes.

“We know that we have long argued that undergrounding was too expensive,” Chief Executive Patti Poppe said. “This is where we say it’s too expensive not to underground. Lives are on the line.”

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Inflation Likely Isn't The Biggest Problem Facing The US

From The WSJ:

The monthslong decline in bond yields exemplifies investors’ belief that inflation likely isn’t the biggest problem facing the U.S. and global economy.

Monday’s sharp selloff in major U.S. stock indexes highlighted investors’ mounting concern that the biggest risk to markets right now is underwhelming growth, rather than the runaway price increases feared earlier in the year. At the same time, many investors think inflation readings may run hot for some period, then subside on their own or lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates and slow the economy.

Investors are still expecting a decent economic recovery. Both stocks and bond yields climbed Wednesday, extending their previous-day rebound. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 286.01 points, or 0.8%, to 34798.00, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite registered similar gains. All three major indexes remain near records.