The night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung on the chimney with care… Santa comes riding in on his sleigh driven by eight reindeer. This is the 1822 version.
The 2022 version is totally different. Santa is riding in on his sleigh powered by natural gas and able to make it around the world to deliver his presents in a fraction of the time and to celebrate with Mrs. Claus. Oh no! I am sadly mistaken! We are living in 2022, where Santa is now being forced to drive an e-bike to make his deliveries especially since our fossil fuels are being depleted from our strategic reserves. The battery time for an e-bike is 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the load. No more reindeer and no more trip around the world in a night. There is no way for all the presents to be delivered. It appears most good little boys and girls will not receive their presents from Santa wondering if they are on the naughty list. Due to poor delivery times and pure exhaustion, Santa will put in his resignation and the commercial side of Christmas will disappear. The elves will be given their pink slips and now must find a new job. And the reindeer will spend their remaining days at a reindeer farm. OMG! The stock market will have a negative return after this news. The Grinch has taken over Whoville, better known as the White House.
Why do I say our reserves are being depleted? Reserves are like a bank account. If you withdraw and do not deposit, the balance shrinks. Once it is gone, it is gone. The current president, as well as environmentalists, are adamant on withdrawing without restoring. There is more than enough fossil fuels in the US to become independent of foreign countries and to restore our strategic reserves to full capacity if the US companies were given the green light on permits. Permits are in a holding pattern and have been since 2021. Meanwhile, we will pay extremely high gas prices which are at their highest since the previous record in 2012. As of November 23, 2020, gas was an average of $2.194 per gallon, November 22, 2021 gas was an average of $3.493, and November 21, 2022 gas was $3.763 per gallon.* You do not need to be a Mathematician or a Statistician to know the increase in prices have hit our wallet. Only time will tell who will win this battle, Grinch or the US citizens. Currently Grinch is winning. We can only hope he loses the war as he did in Whoville.
While we are waiting, I am going to tackle my Christmas list and remember fossil fuels are responsible for most items I will be using and purchasing for this holiday season. Black Friday and Cyber Monday, will both help me reduce the attack on my budget with my computer purchase for my son and enough wrapping paper and bows to use to place it under tree. I also want to purchase candles for Auntie Em and a gift card for Uncle Fred. Grandma needs a new artificial lighted Christmas tree for her tabletop. I think I will also include new ornaments with a star tree topper and a manger. Since it is so hard to come up with gifts for everyone, gift cards will be perfect.
*ycharts.com/indicators/us_gas_price (US Retail Gas Price)
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