The California drought washed away. From the Pasadena Star-News. Worth archiving. The graphics are incredible.
An atmospheric river that formed over the Pacific Ocean in early 2017, sending storm after storm after storm toward the West Coast, officially ended the drought.
The winter of 2017-18, however, was unusually dry, and drought conditions spread back over California throughout 2018. They weren’t as severe as they’d been in 2016 — this time, none of the state entered that “exceptional” drought category.
Once again, 2019 has been rainier than average thanks to back-to-back storms throughout January and February. The Drought Monitor shows that as of Feb. 19, less than 4 percent of the state is in drought.
The 29 percent of the state that’s still abnormally dry includes most of Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties and parts of Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties.
And it's still raining.
It Never Rains In Southern California, Albert Hammond
Killing jobs softly: In addition to killing 25,000 direct jobs and perhaps as many as 100,000 indirect jobs (cabbies, restaurant employees, bookstores; big box stores, etc), the socialists in NYC appear to be killing the existing restaurant business. It's now being reported that restaurant jobs decreased in NYC after the minimum wage hike. Surprise, surprise.
So, you may lose your job due to the minimum wage, but if you are able to keep it, you will be paid more.
The left achieved what it considers a major victory in New York when the minimum wage was raised to $15 an hour. In the aftermath of this victory, however, New York City has experienced its worst decline in restaurant employment since 9/11. So reports the Foundation for Economic Education.
It doesn’t take much economic education to understand what has happened.
Restaurants tend to operate on famously low profit margins, typically 2 to 6 percent. So a mandatory wage increase [from $11 an hour to $15] over a two-year period is not trivial.
Later in the article, from Mark Perry:
In addition to lost jobs, the $15 minimum wage has caused a reduction in
hours for some employees who are retained. A reduction in hours can
offset partially, or even fully, any net gain in wages that would
otherwise accrue due to the hourly wage hike.
While standing in line at Starbucks the other day, I heard an employee remarking that he only got 22 hours the previous week, and needed more hours. That suggests to me that Howard Schultz knows the cost difference between a "full-time" employee and a "part-time" employee, despite both earning the same hourly wage.
Killing Me Softly With His Song, Robert Flack
Irony or coincidental? It's not lost on some -- the simultaneous emergence of the infanticide movement, increasing anti-Semitism among some members of the US House, and the rise of the US national socialist movement.
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Global Warming?
Link here. This really is a superb site, and the wildlife photography -- especially the birds -- is incredible. It's my number one site when checking in on the weather / climate.
From the linked article:
During March 1910, the average afternoon temperature in the US was 65 degrees, compared to 52 degrees last year.
This issue will ultimately be a win-win for both sides. One group will successfully use the issue to transfer wealth; the other group will be comforted by the fact that all those efforts to stop global warming worked.
Millennial is an identity given to a broadly and vaguely defined group of people.
There are two wings of "Millennial" that are often at odds with each other: Generation Y (people born between 1981-1991) and Generation Z (born between 1991-2001).
People of Generation Y often have characteristics similar to Generation X, which is why Generation Z will confuse Generation Y with Generation X and then claim to be the generation that represents "Millennial," when in fact, birth years for Millennial range from about 1981-2001, just as the birth-years for Baby Boomers ranged from 1946-1964.
Both Generation Y and Generation Z can be called "Millennials," with the primary difference between the two being technology.
Generation Y grew-up on personal computers, cell phones, and video game systems, while Generation Z has grown up on tablets, smartphones, and apps. Yet, the common ground between both generations is that both have been transforming and altering communication and identity--not just in the United States but globally.
US home-ownership: hits highest level since 2014.Link here. And look where the shift is occurring: among millennials. The shift from renting to ownership is occurring, especially among 35 - 44-year-olds. In round numbers, big numbers, the overall percentage not changing much: sill around 64%. Only seven comments.
born in 1981: 38 years old this year
born in 1991: 28 years old this year
And guess what? All those millennials who said they never wanted a house, also said they never needed a car. Moving to their new home in the suburbs? Yup: a new car. Or two.
GDP, 4Q18: the 2.6% reported the other day was the initial estimate. There will still be two or three more readings before the final number. I think it could go to 3%. But now, bad news: right now the GDPNow model estimates 1Q19 GDP growth at 0.3 percent. With incredibly cold weather hitting the nation the first half of March, it's very possible, that estimate won't improve.
the 1.1% year-on-year decrease in their rate of poverty: largest single decline that the US Hispanic population has very experienced
something tells me the Hispanic population does not support giving some of their dollars to other communities for wrongs in the past (reparations)
African-Americans: 13% of the US
Hispanic population growing much, much faster than the African-American population
the rate of poverty among all Americans declined slightly to 12.3%, the third year in a row that that numbers have gone down
Hispanic households also saw their median household income increase almost 4% to $50,486 in 2017, the third year in a row that the population saw a rise in pay
US taxes: thank you, tax reform -- WSJ op-ed. Kevin Hassett was right about growth in 2018; Larry Summers wasn't. 745 comments. First comment: "Didn't you mean, thank you, President Trump? Strange how in this entire article, the only thin the WSJ gives Trump credit for is 'risky' tariff policies." Even the folks in the blue states where property taxes are capped by the IRS, they want more tax reform.
The article doesn't answer that question. In fact, the article hardly addresses that question.
Instead, the article is about global reserves in general. Data points:
current estimated global oil reserves: 1.7 trillion bbls
global demand, about 100 million bbls/day
doing the math: 45 years at current demand and no further addition to reserves
since 1980, we've extracted about 950 billion bbls -- let's call it a trillion bbls -- and during that period proven oil reserves have soared by over one trillion bbls
why peak-oil production is wrong: the US has had a reported oil supply lifetime ("reserves-to-production" of just 8 - 14 years reported every year since the end of WWII. This suggests we should have run out of oil many decades ago. Yes ,over 50 billion bbls and 12 million bbls/day, proven reserves and total crude oil production are the highest in US history
why peak-oil production is wrong: there is little economic incentive to look for resources that will not be needed for many decades
global shale and deepwater opportunities are overwhelmingly under-explored but will become more attractive as demand continues to mount
most people do not know that 60 - 70 percetn of a reservoir's OOIP remains stranded after primary and second operations because it is so difficult to extract
tertiary recovery -- CO2-EOR could be the next oil revolution in the US after shale
By the way, something to think about.
For decades oil companies have said CO2 is not an issue. Now they are changing their story. Sure, they are being forced into political correctness. But didn't this work out just great? All of a sudden CO2 will be needed for tertiary production.
