It’s Mailbag Friday!

Dustin and I had too much fun going through the mailbag, so it’s a light Friday. [The Rude Awakening] January 06, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( It’s Mailbag Friday! - What do you mean we need infrastructure to support EVs? - Capitalism fixes storm damage like a boss. - Does Alba really have better truffles than Asti? [The Solution to America's Retirement Wealth Massacre]( By clicking the link above you agree to receive email updates and special offers from The Right Side & Gold and Silver Summit. We will not share your email address with anyone. And you can opt out at any time. [Privacy Policy](. 2022 was brutal for retirement portfolios. Like it or not, it's about to get a whole lot worse. But there is something you can do about it, and we'll show you all the details at our upcoming Gold & Silver Summit LIVE on Jan 12, 2023 @ 7 pm EST. Most investors will see their retirement accounts decimated further in 2023. You, however, have a chance to weather the storm and come out ahead. [Click Here to Register FREE.]( By clicking the link above you agree to receive email updates and special offers from The Right Side & Gold and Silver Summit. We will not share your email address with anyone. And you can opt out at any time.. [Click Here To Learn More]( By clicking the link above you agree to receive email updates and special offers from The Right Side & Gold and Silver Summit. We will not share your email address with anyone. And you can opt out at any time. [Privacy Policy](. [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Happy Friday! Pam has already ordered two bottles of Barbera for tonight’s pizza proceedings. But before we get to the adult beverages, first things first: Vitamin C with the “C” standing for “Caffeine.” The McCarthy Malarkey carries on, as he’s now lost 11 votes for Speaker. Eleven. Why would you still want the job? They say it’s the longest Speaker vote since 1859. It feels like this vote is lasting 163 years! From the Twitterverse this morning: [SJN] [SJN] Credit: [@grandoldmemes]( Your Head of Business Development and good friend Dustin sent me this: [SJN] Credit and watch the video: [@PapiTrumpo]( That was the moment Matt Gaetz kept a campaign promise and nominated The Donald for House Speaker. Watch this “altered” video. I nearly wet myself. Trump himself stirred it up by posting this on TruthSocial: [SJN] Credit: [@PapiTrumpo]( In short, this is a shitshow-and-a-half. And no, there is no chance DJT will become the next Speaker. Just in case you were hoping. So, let’s confine ourselves to the mailbag, a refuge of intelligence in this insane world. [Dollar to Be Replaced With Biden “Spyware”?]( [Click here to learn more]( On March 9, President Biden quietly signed Executive Order 14067. This Order could pave the way for Democrats holding onto power in 2024. In fact, they could control America indefinitely. A former advisor to the CIA and Pentagon believes this order could allow for legal government surveillance of all US citizens; total control over your bank accounts and purchases; and the ability to silence all dissenting voices for good. To protect your freedom and your wealth, [see his dark warning now](. [Click Here To Learn More]( EVs and Infrastructure I really enjoy starting my day by reading your missive! It is always both instructive and entertaining. I would like to offer the following for food for thought for a future column. One thing about the Green Scam that has always puzzled me is why nobody is pointing out that the political hacks in their typical irrational emotional bias mode are pandering to their radical constituents by once again putting the cart before the horse. To truly go green with unreasonable EV mandates (think The People’s Republic of California), you have to first have the infrastructure in place to support such a drastic shift. Our power grids can't keep up with the current demand, so my question is, where is the power going to come from to power all these new EVs? Here's an interesting exercise...see how many registered vehicles there are in your state and of those, how many are electric, then imagine the strain on the power grids if the number of EVs increased by, say, 20% of the total. Or if you're too lazy (or unable because you are a recent graduate of our failed education system) to do the math or are still a nonbeliever, see what's happening in Switzerland this winter. I'm from Texas, and this exercise scares the hell out of me because the last time we had a hard winter thousands of people were without electricity and in some cases water for weeks, yet I see no great rush by our great state to build more generation capacity but instead to go around seeing how much juice we can mooch off our neighbors. Thanks! William B. Thanks for the kind words, William. I’ll return the compliment by saying you’re far too sensible for our current state of affairs. My parents live in Cibolo for the moment, so they suffered through that crazy winter last year! We have a few glaring problems that haven’t been solved yet: - Biden has kneecapped investment in infrastructure. - We simply don’t have enough lithium for all the EVs the government wants us to drive. - Lithium is an element for a battery to hold energy, not a power source. Sure, the [Biden administration earmarked $70 billion in investments in its infrastructure law](. But that’s what it costs every year. And concerning lithium, from Bloomberg via Time: [SJN] Credit: [Time]( There’s just not enough mining capacity to sort out the fleet of EVs required. As usual, governments are just pandering to get green votes and praying the problem will sort itself out. Broken Windows and Its Fallacy Sean: I am always interested in your take on things, and your description of the storm damage in Cebu was no exception. I live in Cape Coral. You might not have heard about our recent one-in-a-hundred-years hurricane (Ian). Southwest Florida and in particular Cape Coral has been decimated -- no power, no water, no internet, very limited telephone, no stores or gas stations were open. Residences and commercial buildings lost their roofs. Roads were blocked by downed power lines and fallen trees. On the barrier islands, the storm surge destroyed homes and businesses. Grandmothers were calling their kids to say they were on the kitchen countertop and trying to climb onto the top of the refrigerator. For weeks the military and charities were providing ice, water, and boxes of emergency food. The lines for gasoline at the few stations with generator power were miles long (5 to 8 hours if you were lucky). We do have a police force, but they were primarily responsible for traffic control since there were no traffic lights. Rescue and recovery were accomplished by multiple task forces in boats and helicopters. The most immediate assistance was volunteers. The most interesting part of every disaster is recovery. Capitalism at its finest. Home Depot and Lowe's run on generated power to supply the crowds in search of generators and construction materials. Supermarkets, gas stations, and wholesale box stores (Sam's Club, BJ's, Costco) attempting to supply food and gasoline. Hundreds of linemen, roofers, construction workers, plumbers, and electricians put in long sunrise-to-sunset days attempting to restore normality. Then, of course, there is the reconstruction of housing, commercial buildings, and infrastructure which takes months. In general, everyone who wants to provide service is compensated by our capitalist system (with some occasional funding from the state). The press is always quick to point out the property damage done in dollars and cents. The death toll is quickly forgotten, but the cost is mentioned in every news story for years. While the loss is often devastating to the property owners, the end result is an economic boost to the area. Housing and commercial buildings get rebuilt. Infrastructure gets repaired and replaced. That is the strength of our capitalistic system showing. On a less serious note: I am glad you are enjoying the Ian Fleming books. Bruce P. Thanks for writing, Bruce! Our good friend and colleague Ray Blanco was caught in the middle of that storm, so we got excellent updates. Capitalism is a superpower, and when government gets out of the way, it works miracles. But I will take issue with your result. It’s not an economic boost. To prove that point, I rely on the inestimable Frederic Bastiat, who wrote about the broken window fallacy in his essay “[That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Not Seen]( But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, "Stop there! your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen." It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent six francs upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs in some way which this accident has prevented. The awesome Henry Hazlitt also writes about it in [Economics in One Lesson]( one of my favorite economic books and a must-read. Click on those links to read them, although the Hazlitt book isn’t gratis. To extend the metaphor, if you think war is wasteful now, just wait until you read those gems! Asti and Alba Ciao, If you like Contratto, visit their cellars in Canelli, not far from you. They have very interesting tours (in both English and Italian). The wines are so good that Champagne changed their style to copy Contratto to capture the English market. (We have Queen Victoria to thank for that!) Buon Natale Patrick N PS In just as cold Alba, but with better Truffles.😊🍾☕ Patrick, thanks for the wonderful tips. I had no idea about the Champagne thing. That’s brilliant! By the way, the Astigiani are very sore about the truffle thing. Apparently, they think theirs are better! Last But Certainly Not Least Sean, you killed it this year! Keep up the good work, my friend…yours is the only must-read I get in my emails! Regards, Jorge dC Just want to let Paradigm know Sean Ring’s Rude Awakening is my favorite read in the morning! Amusing and yet thoughtful and educational at the same time. We all need a dose of his sanity in our insane world!!! Sincerely, Eloise P Northern California Thanks Jorge and Eloise, for the lovely words. It keeps my engine running hot! Wrap Up Sorry for the long Rude on a Friday, but I didn’t want to omit any of the compelling commentaries you took the trouble to write. Have a fantastic, restful weekend ahead. You deserve it! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. 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