Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Ston

Watching gas prices jump 40-45 cents a gallon overnight last week was quite a shock bringing gas to $4.39 thereabouts around here.

I remember paying more than that for gas in 1968 but I was in Germany at the time and the Europeans tax gas heavily because virtually all of it has to be imported. The same is true for most of the rest of Europe.

I looked back to see what I have been paying this time of the year for the past few years. Here’s what my records show for a gallon of 87 octane regular: 2017, $2.35; 2018, $2.79; 2019, $2.57; 2020, $1.89; and 2021, $2.79.

The big drop in 2020 was attributed to the fact most of us cut our driving back during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The slump in demand left gas producers and retailers with lots of gas to move. Remember the pictures on the news of all the oil tankers at anchor? Those ships were full, nobody needed oil. At one point the price of a barrel of oil briefly reached a negative number, it was worth nothing because if you bought it there was no place to store it.

It was back in 2008 when gas prices got close to $4 a gallon around here, it was less than that here but over $4 a gallon elsewhere. It was during the recession caused by the financial meltdown. They went up again in 2014 to above $3.50.

The reason now seems to be the war in the Ukraine. Oil is priced on the international market largely based on supply and demand. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a number of European countries are saying they won’t buy Russian oil because they don’t want to be paying cash to Russia, a nation that seems to have desires to expand its borders.

That means there is more demand for what oil is left and the price of oil increases.

Of course this also means a windfall for oil companies who produce their own fuels, the price went up and their costs didn’t go up with it.

These things often don’t last for long, although the best predictions are that this will last into the fall. Someone may step into the market to sell oil to take advantage of the high prices, places like Venezuela or Saudi Arabia. They’re holding tight now but that could change as they watch billions of dollars going to those who are selling oil.

The sooner this nonsense (both the war in Ukraine and high oil prices) ends the better!

           

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In 2020, the most recent year for which I could find numbers, there were 45,222 firearms deaths in the United States.

The largest number of deaths, 24,292, or 54%, were suicides. Murders accounted for 43% or 19,384. Three percent (535) were considered unintentional, accidents in other words. Law enforcement was responsible for 611 deaths and 400 were undetermined.

These numbers, as presented by the Pew Foundation, represent a 34% increase in firearms deaths as compared to 2019, a 49% increase over the previous five years and a 75% increase over the previous 10 years.

In 2020 the United States had 13.6 firearms deaths per 100,000 people.

Fifty-nine percent of the deaths were caused by hand guns, three percent by rifles, one percent by shotguns, while 36 percent were undetermined (reports did not indicate what time of firearm was used).

The top states for gun deaths per 100,000 people are Mississippi, 26.3; Wyoming, 25.9; Missouri, 23.9; and Alabama, 23.6.

The lowest number of gun deaths per 100,000 people were Hawaii, 3.4; Massachusetts, 3.7; New Jersey, 5.0; Rhode Island, 5.1; and New York, 5.3.

How do these numbers compare with other countries? These are again in terms of deaths per 100,000 people. Canada was 2.1, France was 2.7 and Germany was .9. At the other extreme were El Salvador at 39.2, Venezuela at 38.7 and Guatemala at 32.3.

The states with the most gun deaths in 2020 were Texas, 3,353; Florida, 2,704; and California, 3,184. Minnesota had 432 gun deaths.