Ecnomics of Balloon Defense

Alex Lo provides some insight on the financials of combating balloon espionage.

The costs generated in this kind of an operation are immense, as is everything done by the US military. What do you suppose would be the reaction of a less well-developed nation in a similar circumstance? If a balloon of some sort drifted over Argentina or Mali would their governments spend literally millions of dollars to destroy them?

 

 sgtreport.com 

The military admits that no information was sent anywhere from the wandering balloon. Thus the "sensitive" military sites that it approached weren't compromised. Thank goodness.  

First Snow of the Year

 

Photo by Nikolai Ivanoff

 FIRST SNOW— Peaks in the Kigluaik Mountains are donning a snowy cap on Friday, Sept.8.

Nome Nugget, Sept. 21, 2023

Interesting Fact of the Day

From an article by Miranda Devine in the New York Post:

" The FBI spends an average of $42 million each year in payments to its Confidential Human Sources, according to the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General, which has raised concerns about the vetting process for these paid informants."

Apparently, the CHS are not employees of the FBI but they could well be employees of other federal agencies, including the Department of Justice. In fact, that seems highly likely. Since this information isn't public the public has no way of knowing. There's a possibility that the $42 million pot of cash could be used as a bonus for cooperative fellow feds. Or, as in the case of Boston hoodlum Whitey Bulger, influential criminals are paid for information on their accomplices and rivals. 

The monetary information means that CHS informants are paid, probably in US funds. How are these rewards explained to the Internal Revenue Service? Are taxes withheld as they would be for employees? There surely must be some paperwork that must be filed with a 1040a.

 

Janet Yellen Expects Oil Prices To Stabilize

 

 

NYPost.com

Not go down. Stabilize. The former Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank and current Treasury Secretary gave an interview expressing her belief that the US economy is in good shape, despite a $33 trillion budget deficit and oil currently trading at over $90 bbl. Retail gasoline prices in California are now $5.625/gal. In Mississippi a gallon of gas averages $3.21.  Of course, taxes of various kinds have an effect on gas prices. California, a national leader in so many things, also leads in state gas excise tax, 77.9 cents/gallon. Federal, state and local taxes add on another 28 cents/gallon. Small price to pay to sit in an immense, slowly moving parking lot at 4:30 in the afternoon.

Yellen, like all federal economists, has no prescription for solving either immediate or long-term economic issues. She'll wait and see what happens, like we all will, and then do something or other, raise an interest rate (fix the price of borrowing money), engage in "quantitative easing" or some other financial voodoo. It seems likely that the high price of motor fuel might be a part of the administration's unbelievable effort to replace internal combustion transport with an electric alternative. The EV people may be cheering the high price of fuel, which is a favorable aspect for their mania.  

Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau Explains Alaskan Oil Lease Cancellations

 eenews.net

The number two bureaucrat at the Department of the Interior has explained why Alaskan oil leases were cancelled and why his signature is on the paperwork rather than that of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

Antony Blinken At The Johns Hopkins School Of International Studies

 

 

cnn.com

 "Forging international cooperation has gotten more complex.  Not only because of rising geopolitical tensions, but also because of the mammoth scale of global problems like the climate crisis, food insecurity, mass migration and displacement."

The climate crisis seems to be invisible and more food is being produced than ever before in history.

The entirety of Secretary Blinken's speech can be found here. 

Wind Power Off NY Has To Cost More

Few people are as concerned about the weather as commercial fishermen. For them, a day on the ocean is always a life or death situation, in as much as their work is amongst the most dangerous there is. And few people are as concerned about the environment as commercial fishermen, whose very livelihood depends on the health of the biosphere.

Helping keep track of the industry is the venerable and reliable publication, The National Fisherman. An article giving the 411 on wind power and the financing to enable it in the New York City area is here. 

In order for renewable wind power to exist at all in the area, consumers will need to pay between 54% and 27% more than projected when these projects were approved. If the terms aren't modified it seems unlikely that turbines will be spinning kilowatts into the Big Apple. It's a bait and switch, a promise that has to be broken and a normal feature of the renewable industry. 

The Josh Kaplowitz keeping an eye on the Empire/Beacon project for the American Clean Power Association was for 5 years at the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of the Solicitor as attorney-advisor to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Offshore Renewable Energy Programs, the same bureaucracy tasked with regulating this effort.

According to their website, the American Clean Power Association:  is the leading voice of today’s multi-tech clean energy industry, representing 750 utility-scale solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen and transmission companies. ACP is committed to meeting America’s national security, economic and climate goals with fast-growing, low-cost, and reliable domestic power.

   

newsweek.com

One Member, Bison Energy Company, San Francisco, CA, has just completed two solar projects in Japan. Another, Grenergy of Birmingham, AL, boasts 11GW of projects world-wide. Imperial Star Solar is a member based in Cambodia. The ACPA  includes another 747 members dedicated to eliminating "dirty" energy and also making money. 

Update:  On 10/12/2023 the New York State Public Service Commission denied the petitions filed by a group of offshore wind developers and a state renewable energy trade association for modifications to existing contracts that would raise costs to consumers by billions of dollars.