October 2, 2026.We are, of course, about one month away from the General Election and it's universally agreed that, at least as of right now, the economy is not doing well, which is to say that it's not doing well for average people. Having said that, all the monkeying around Trump has done with the economy has not resulted in a general collapse, as some feared. This tends to give credence to the assertion that some make that the American economy in general is so strong that it tends to keep on chugging along in spite of everything.
Having said that, prices on many things have gone up, and are now at the paint point for average people. Beef prices, for example, are up about 25%. That can't really be blamed on Trump, as its due to a historically low cattle heard, but Trump's efforts to address it were pretty much non existent at first, and the ineffectual when they were tried.
Addressing the price can only really come through a recovery of the North American herd. Trump's constant crazy hatred of Canada and Canadians isn't helping this at all, as Canada is part of the North American market. Mexican cattle, which had been banned from coming into the US due to screwworm, which we're not hearing much about, which is concerning, have started to come back in. That is likely to have some effect.
Petroleum prices have shot up enormously since Trump started an ill advised and poorly planned war on Iran for no real discernable critical objective.
Wars are inflationary by their very nature, but attacking a critical global petroleum supplier is definitely going to be inflationary, and this is set to really start hitting home. Everything in the US, whether it moves by truck, by rail, or in the air, uses petroleum. That impacts the price of 100% of American goods. Gasoline, Diesel fuel and Aviation fuel is way up in price. Heating oil is up 50% to 70% just as we're entering the season where it starts to be used on the East Coast. NOAA, which usus science, predicts a warm winter in the East, like last years, so that might not be as impactful as it could be. The Old Farmers Almanac, which I put no stock in whatsoever, predicts a cold winter.
An interesting side impact of the cost of things is that even Wyomingites are looking at electric vehicles. I overheard a conversation the other day in which two people were wishing to get them, and they're both highly conservative individuals. A report on increasing EVs appeared in one of the local online journals today.
There are still a lot of naysayers out there, but there were when automobiles started to become common for that matter.
Anyway, the Trump Administration has handed out its flood of excuses for all of this, starting at first with "it's Joe Biden's fault". Everything is Biden's fault according to Trump, whom while he routinely falls asleep in public still calls Biden, on occasion, "Sleep Joe".
The it's all Biden's fault is no longer selling very well so the "it's not much to pay to keep Iran from getting a bomb" has been tried and is still being tried, but it's not selling that well . First of all, well informed people know that while Iran is a very secretive state, the evidence that it was about to make a nuke is thin. And frankly Israel's major early role in the war made it pretty clear that this was a joint Israeli American adventure in which the Trumpites had been heavily influenced by Israel. That's adding to an anti Israeli sentiment that's been building in the US for several years and you'll even now hear, in response to the suggestion that it's all worth it to keep Iran from getting a bomb, that maybe we don't really care if Iran has a bomb.
We didn't care enough about North Korea having one in order for the US to attack it, and Trump loves the communist leader of North Korea.
So that excuse isn't working either.
So time to distract.
The government just announced that children under 16 years of age are being automatically enrolled in "Trump" savings accounts. The Government, which has no money whatsoever as it's borrowing piles, will place $1,000 of the money it doesn't have into such accounts, but parents need to claim it.
Will this achieve something?
Well, it might, or might now. Truth be known with inflation being what it is, $1,000 that can't be touched until a person is 18 years old isn't going to seem like that big of a deal right now But it might turn out to be.
Trump also promised people $5,000 if the GOP retains both houses of Congress, but then that would require Congress to do it, and Trump earlier promised everyone a $2,000 tariff dividend. The government handing out cash it doesn't have isn't a good idea and frankly I thought it was a horrible idea when President Biden started handing out cash during COVID. I've heard the Trump proposal compared to that, and that was a bad idea.
The Administration also just sent out $500.00 checks as supposed refunds for Obamacare overcharges. They seem rather strategically placed, however.
Anyhow, stayed tuned for coming attractions. The trade war with Canada is just starting, the war is no where near over, and prices are really set to climb. Trump has less than thirty days to address all of this, or even some of it, which won't be easy at all. Voters who are inclined to vote their pocketbooks are likely pretty much set in their opinions by now.
October 6, 2026
Casper's Grant Street Grocery closed.
Grant Street Grocery in Casper Wyoming is the only surviving small neighborhood grocery store in the town and even advertises the same.
Opened in 1921, the store was converted into a specialty grocery store and deli some years ago, and features meats and cheeses, as well as many other items, that are unlikely to appear on the counters of regular grocery stores. It's featured here for its simple sign, as well as being a remnant of something that was once very common, a neighborhood store.
President Trump signed an order allowing for the temporary sale of red diesel, which you tend to only find easily in farm country, for regular diesels. Effectively its a sort of kind of temporary suspension of the Federal tax on diesel.
I'd quite frankly question the Presidents ability to legally do this, but if I see red diesel for sale, I'm buying it.
I probably won't find it for sale.
October 7, 2026
Something is definitely going on.
The store has literally been in business my entire life.
Paramount Skydance took over Warner Bros Discovery on Tuesday giving the company, now just called Skydance, CBS, CNN, Paramount+, and HBO Max
October 10, 2026
2026-009 Emergency Relief Permits for Transportation of Oversize and Overweight Loads of Agricultural Products
2026-010 Executive Order Recognizing and Adopting the Federal Monitor Carrier Safety Administration Hours-of-Service Waiver for the Intrastate Transportation of Gasoline and Diesel Fu
On the red fuel order, some states, or at least Montana, have warned diesel users that they're not lifting their provisions. Also, red diesel stains filters and engine parts, so when the suspension ends, and you take your truck in to be serviced, you may have a lot of explaining to do.
And now this:
Trump is so desperate to put the economic destruction of the Iran War behind him that he's made a deal with Putin to import diesel fuel.
First of all, this isn't enough diesel to make any sort of difference and I frankly do not think it will even occur. But more significantly he's made a deal with a country that is engaged in a completely immoral war against a neighbor and losing, and by doing this, helping them. The US, it might be noted, has just acted to increase sanctions on Russia.
Totally inexcusable.
October 14, 2026
Inflation jumped in September.
Now, it's not Trump's fault. It's Joe Biden's. He set the inflation meter on 10 and then hid the key with the Epstein files, so you can see the problem.
It's not like an illegal war we're losing or tariffs had anything to do with that.
Governor Gordon and Cynthia Lummis came out against the Trump Russian diesel plan. Barrasso, who is now a toady, predictably supported it. Hageman when asked about it cited regulations in the US as the problem, which is absolutely and completely absurd. She'd earlier voted against aid to Ukraine and has been in the Trump camp consistently.
By the way, the price per barrel for crude oil has gone up, as have the price of diesel futures, since Trump announced his "deal" with the Russians.
Last edition:
Labels: 2020s, 2026, Adam Smith, Alcohol, Autarky, Chuck Gray, Economics, Ignorance, Nazi Germany, Petroleum, Stupidity, Taxes, The Second Trump Administration, Wharton, Wilhelm Röpke, Wyoming's boom and bust economy
