MAGA versus an American

It was hot but the breeze keep it comfortable. The sun was beating down intensely, but a sky filled with puffy clouds broke up that assault. The elderly man got out of his car to fill his tank. He sighed when he looked at the price inching ever closer to five dollars. He took a moment to access an app on his phone. He had earned some points, and he wanted to cash them in to get a discount on gas prices if he used the card associated with the application. He barely noticed the large pick up pulling up on the other side of the pump.

"Man, this is going to be painful," claimed the younger man getting out of the pickup.

Looking over at the truck, the elderly man notice the image of Trump. It was put on the inside of the window which made it look as if Trump was his passenger.

"What are you complaining about? You voted for this."

"What? I didn't vote for this!" responded the younger man moving to see who just addressed his previous comment.

"Why sure you did. You saw what he did his first term, and you continued to cling to him."

"He didn't cause oil prices to go up. That was all Biden. When he shut down the Keystone pipeline."

"He never shutdown the pipeline. He just stopped..."

"Yes, he did! Yes, he did!" insisted the younger man getting much louder as he interrupted the older man, "Gas prices only started to go up when Biden shutdown the pipeline in January when he first took office. And this isn't because of the Straits of Hormuz. We don't get any oil through the Straits of Hormuz. All of our oil is produced domestically through the Keystone Pipeline. And, you know it, you old fool!"

The older man sighed returning his attention to his phone shaking his head and muttering something.

"What did you say?" demanded the younger man.

"I said typical MAGA."

"What!?"

"So far every MAGA I have spoken to always gets loud and launches insults and then walks away. Just like your leader, insults, gets loud, avoids challenges, and does not give the other person a chance."

"Sorry for insulting and yelling," said the younger man after a few moments of thinking.

"Now let me explain a few things just as you have. First the Keystone Pipeline isn't American; it's owned by a Canadian Company in which Trump did have some money invested. Supposedly, he did either sell or transfer those stakes around the time of his first inauguration. Secondly, Biden never shutdown the pipeline. He did cancel the plan to expand it which the company decided not to pursue even after Trump gave them permission to proceed. I should mention here that most of the crude being pumped through the pipeline is highly corrosive which does cause the pipeline to leak often, but this is okay because it is all happening in America and on the property of people who aren't Trump. Most of that oil is going to overseas consumers after being highly processed into finished products."

"Okay, I don't know about any of that. But I do know that fuel prices only started to go up after Biden was in office."

"Are you sure about that? Because I remember things very differently and I encourage you to look up and research everything I am saying."

"Okay, what do you think happened."

"Well, before you say it, Trump didn't cause oil to drop when he was in office the first time."

"Don't assume things about me."

"You're right, I'm sorry for that," responded the old man feeling a bit embarrassed. Sighing a bit to regain himself, "Gas prices dropped because of two big reasons which was because of the collapse of demand due to the COVID shutdown--no one was consuming fuel on the level required to maintain the price before COVID. Then to add on top of that, Putin and the Prince of Saudi Arabia were fighting over oil production. Not sure what the details were, but both had increased production driving the price down."

"Okay, so what does that have to do with Trump?"

"It is believed that several oil investors were complaining to Trump about losing their shirts. Trump and several republican senators told the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia that if he did not cut production to normal levels the U.S. was going to withdraw all military aid to the Saudis."

"I never heard about that."

"It was in numerous newspapers and on various news outlets during March and April of 2020."

"Trump wasn't even president then."

"Yes, he was. The election wasn't even until November 2020. Biden inauguration was in January 2021."

"And that is when prices started to rise."

"No, they started going up noticeably after April 2020. Trump even bragged about creating the largest price increase in oil which it wasn't, but to Trump everything he does is always the biggest; the best."

"But even after Biden took over, the prices continued to increase."

"If you knew anything about the oil industry, you would know that it is a volatile industry where you have either feast of famine. Oil investors had taken a serious hit during COVID and the Putin/Saudi Price War. After the production was cut which helped to bring prices up, it was seen that consumption of fuel wasn't severely affected. Thing is, in 2008, prices such as $3.69 and above were crippling. However, since then median and average income had increased significantly since that time people still had enough money left over to enjoy other things, so people consumed oil as if it was the same price as it had been before and continued their trips and other recreations.

"Oil investors and companies saw this as a great opportunity to recoup losses from COVID and the Price War. So, the price leveled off to an acceptable level for all parties involved.

"Biden did do what he could to bring the price down, but the desire to attract fresh capital and recoup losses kept the price up."

'Sounds like a fanciful tale cooked up by the false media."

"Young man, it is only false media if you only get your information from one source."

The young man thought for a few moments and finally said, "Well, what about the runaway inflation?"

"Again, energy costs helped to contribute to that but at the same time it was more of a logistics' issue than a Biden issue."

"What do you mean?"

"Very simply, that during the COVID shutdown stocks of merchandise disappeared. Every company out there which is successful knows what it will sell within a given period and all of their efforts are geared to that level of sales with a slight margin either way. I mean it is no sense having a billion cans of tuna on hand if you are going to only sell a few hundred a month. That level of stock is just added costs and risks such as spoilage to your company. At the same time, too little available will cost you in lost sales and possibly, customers. So, it is very important that you know within very good reason what your sales for a certain period will be.

"With this in mind, most of our producers and stores were geared to pre-COVID sales figures. They weren't geared for a complete restock overnight. Producers had to jump through hoops to get production going. Between dealing with constant sick days and shutdowns because of COVID, and just not having the capacity to produce what was needed to restock the shelves quickly caused producers to search for increased production which called for more capital for production expansion and outsourcing. Because if they couldn't restock the shelves, their competitors were willing to try. Like the oil industry, to attract investors and loans to raise the needed resources, the companies had to offer attractive rewards and the prices of ths was passed on to the consumer. At the same time, the higher prices reduced demand for products enough that producers could get their supply caught up with demand. And in case you didn't notice, prices were coming down and settling to what demand was willing to pay before Trump came into office."

"Yeah, seems like another convenient excuse."

"What are you talking about? I work for a company that still had a hard time getting all that it needed up to a year before the election. Look, if you really are interested in making America great, you need to learn to think for yourself instead of letting Trump think for you."

"He doesn't think for me."

"Yes, he does. If all you ever do is listen to what he has to say and don't question it at all, he is doing all the thinking for you.

"What made America great was the ability of the average citizen to question their representatives; to be able to do their own research. It wasn't found by blindly following a leader. We as Americans need to work together and develop ideas with one another instead of being trapped in the myopia of a leader whose chief concern is remaining the leader and feeding his empty ego.

"Let me guess, one of the reasons you voted for him was because you believed that since he was a billionaire he wouldn't be greedy."

"Well, that's part of it but he is taking back America for all of us."

"First of all, he is a billionaire because he is addicted to money and secondly the only one who can take America back for us is us."

"You can say what you want but is tariffs are working."

"I love that. He is going to show the rest of the world by making Americans pay more. His tariffs are at best a very short-term solution. All economies have a pull to be in equilibrium, and he is attempting to force the global economy to be America-centric. He is currently able to push around other nations because like our logistics' issue I mentioned earlier, they are geared with Americans either being consumers or suppliers. So, they have little choice if they wish to remain in business and profitable. However, as China keeps showing Trump, that every time he tries to push them around, they are just motivated to develop relationships with other nations, and they are. Each moment of pushing by Trump is creating an impetus in other countries to make the United States irrelevant."

Seeing he wasn't affecting the opinion of the younger man much the older man kept up the effort, "Let's say you and I are in business together. We have developed a relationship for years in which we are finely enmeshed with one another. Your operation and mine are geared and finely tuned to suit one another's needs. But let's say I decide that I want more from the relationship, so I start demanding you to meet my new desires. Of course, you will do your best at first because you are built around my operation but with me maintaining the pressure, I will be motivating you to develop relationships with companies which will work with you--not constantly demand more for them and less for you. Once you develop those relationships, you will be able to dictate to me. This is what China and other nations are doing right now.

"In order for his tariffs to work, the rest of the world must go along with his demands, but they won't. They will develop other relationships which gives the negotiating power to them. In which case, his tariffs will be pointless. Or if the world does go along with him, and he drops his tariffs there will be that natural pull for the economy to go back to its equilibrium which just means he'll either have to renew the tariffs over and over, constantly straddling the American consumer with his taxes while at the same allowing our companies to become soft because of his protectionism which will spell doom in the long-run."

"Again, you can believe what you want. I know Trump is doing all he can for me. Just look at what he has done with Iran and stopping their nukes."

"If Trump was truly interested in preventing Iranian nukes, I think that a far better approach would have been to keep the treaty which Iran was following in place while encouraging Iran to work with us. But just like everything such as his tariffs, threatening other nations, blowing up boats, pushing and bullying others, endless lies, and even cheating at golf to the point that he buys his own trophies for himself, why would Iran or any nation trust anything America promises?"

"Well, you can believe what you want," responded the younger man after thinking for a moment, "I know we are doing better than under Biden."

"Then why are you complaining about the fuel prices?"

"They suck right now, but it is a small price to pay for the greatness to come. Besides, that has more to do with the English Futures Market."

"What? That just sounds wild."

"It's true. We're not dependent on the Straits of Hormuz at all. All of our oil is produced domestically. Our prices are because of the English Futures Market."

"You need to take some time to learn about futures markets or the global market. I guess that is the difference between you and I. When I hear things like that, I immediately start asking questions and attempt to find the answers and will look until I do answer those questions and other resulting questions until I have no questions to the point that I can competently explain what answers. Yes, the global futures market can have an influence over the world's prices, but a solitary market doesn't control the world's prices and besides prices are far more complicated than that. There are numerous parts to a price but the main two are what you are willing to sell something for and what I'm willing to pay for it.

"Besides, think about what you just said. If it was true, that means that Trump and his oil buddies which supported his re-election are basically robbing you at the pumps. But the reality is, we do import a lot of oil. However, we do export more finished oil products than we import. We do import around half a million barrels a day through the Straits of Hormuz. We do import a lot of oil as you mentioned with the Keystone Pipeline.

"Don't be afraid to question everything. Just as you're questioning and doubting everything I am telling you, you need to research it and look it all up. Ask questions and seek the answers. Ask why of everything until you can't ask why anymore. Don't let him, a billionaire who has no idea who you are, what you are going through, a billionaire who has never had to do without or struggle living paycheck to paycheck, control and manipulate you through fear. Remember, fear comes from the unknown so the remedy for fear is to ask questions and a lot of them. I am so glad that I'm not afraid.

"What will make America great is the people working together to create ideas to resolve their issues. Not to be led around by a leader who wouldn't notice even if gas went to $1,000 a gallon. Being an American means asking questions, working together on developing ideas, and questioning and holding our politicians accountable. The answers to our issues are in our communities, not in Washington, hundreds of miles away or billionaires, billions of dollars away."

"You have a good day, old man. I have to get going."