OlDawg

Why? Updates are good. I saw many stations around here at $3.29 yesterday. I'm just pointing out the bigger picture. We'll pay the price down the road. SPR will have to be refilled with our tax dollars at some point. With payment on our debt now at over $130 Billion/mo. as of May--up from $80 Billion--I'm not sure where all this money is going to come from... No way I see the Fed raising interest rates with that debt payment, which means sticky inflation for a while. We may well be in an era of 4% inflation being 'normal.' Hope not. But, we may be there. Beginning to wonder if it might be a good time to look at I Bonds again. They're already at a decent 4.26% until October. Safe money for 6 months.

The Strategic Oil Reserve is now down to 243 MM barrels. This is the lowest level since 1982. The SPR is supposed to be an insurance policy, It's not meant to be used for price controls, or election politics. For context, the U.S. consumes about 20MM barrels/day. Basically, our 30 day insurance policy is now down to 10. Refilling SPR to capacity at the highest fill rate of 785,000 BBLs/day means it would take until at least 2031 to refill if it were being filled at maximum rates--which is next to impossible given the age and condition of the infrastructure.

Yeah... I don't see much of the summary happening--especially not the withdrawal of troops from the region. Nuclear ambitions weren't even mentioned. Someone's still not on the same page, the propaganda machine is still working overtime, or both.

U.S. National Debt numbers - June 2026: Relative to one year ago, total gross national debt is $2.99 trillion higher; relative to five years ago, it is $10.94 trillion higher. Assuming the average daily rate of growth over the past three years continues, the U.S. will reach $40 trillion by approximately September 23, 2026. At that rate, an increase of another trillion dollars would be reached in approximately 141 days. [Hidden Content] Debt Update.html

I said ‘credible mentions.’ 😝

Where did this become ‘stealing Iranian oil?’ I read where the U.S. had assisted vessels loaded with about 100 MM barrels through the Strait. I read no credible mentions of it being Iranian oil, or ‘stolen.’

Guess I should say, my son—after 13 years as the Nuke power Chief on the USS Ronald Reagan—got his Nuclear Engineering degree. Funny thing is, he actually works for TI in Dallas as one of the technical engineers that build and maintain their ultra pure semiconductor wafer machines. His Navy clean room, real world engineering experience made all the difference. Texas Instruments likes to hire Navy Nuclear Power vets for this position, and they pay them very well. Hopefully, he’s got a pretty solid job future. He’s been there going on 6 years I think, and really seems to like it.

Off of TexasForever’s initial topic. But, good discussion. Grew up on the farm. THAT was work! lol I also initially went to college on a scholly, became disillusioned, and joined the Navy. I’ve spoken about some of that experience. When I got out, I was hired on at a local petrochemical as a ‘B’ operator partly because of being a vet, was encouraged to go back to school while working, and got an AAS in Engineering Design. From there, I got my Mechanical and went to work contract at multiple firms. Got my PMP, and led projects for years. Got tired of working 80’s for straight pay, went back to school for my BSBM, and was asked to join Sales. I finished up as lead Downstream BD for Mustang/Wood Group, Fluor, Jacobs and a couple smaller outfits before calling it quits to take care of family. Better 1/2 was an Aggie ChemE, and son is a Nuclear Engineer.

Lamar is—comparatively—very affordable, close to industry, and has a good track record from my understanding. I assume most of the US grads stay fairly local. There’s a good network for referrals. Baddog and I are discussing a time decades before your attendance. Were there many international students in the Engineering program when you attended? Curious about it since the immigration system has been tightened up. Incidentally, I always liked hiring ET's. I also liked hiring ex-fitters. Both brought more 'common-sense engineering/design' to the table than many other new engineering grads. Maybe, because I was ex-operations before my degrees, and could see more of the value. I just never ran across many--or any--resumes from Lamar. So, I always presumed they stayed more at the direct client level in the Golden Triangle. Glad to hear there are still others who aren't just going for Liberal Arts degrees. We need them, and all crafts, skills, and trades.

I believe that was the situation. I remember hearing LU had a special program for them to do just that. Not sure how it worked with visas and such.

The running joke about Lamar & Engineering degrees back when was they were Pakistani State. I’ve honestly never met anyone with an Engineering degree from Lamar, and I was in the business a loooooong time.

I'm of the opinion that SOME of the politicians start out with good intentions. Then, the political Parties, and other influences get ahold of them, and they lose sight of why they wanted to represent. They get corrupted--so to speak. That's just me though. Term limits would be a wonderful thing. But, it's a pipe dream.

Agree. But, you wrote - "...none of these politicians...don't have the public's best interests at heart." Basically, you're saying they all DO have the public's interest at heart. That's why I said I think you meant the opposite. 🙂

I think what you wrote is exactly the opposite of what you meant. All I know is, I'm getting a little nervous with all the admitted Socialists being elected.

As with many things, this is actually highly misleading. The SP500 is weighted, and the Top 10 stocks are all high tech Googles, Apples, Nvidia's and the like. They currently make up about 40% of the SP500 to reflect their power over the economy. This skews every other sector. They didn't have this sort of clout until fairly recently with the take-off of AI.