WASHINGTON – As our toppy stock market nears Friday’s closing bell, the massive Texas grid failure, kicked off earlier this week due to a, record cold snap, is apparently easing. But, dominating the news, the damage, the hardship and the blame game has just begun for Texas and Texans. The Democrats, who’ve done nothing since inauguration day except preside over another asinine, expensive and futile “impeachment” farce unconstitutionally aimed at a former president just looked on. After all, Texas is a red state (for now). Let them marinate in their foolish politics.
Biden’s belated response to the disastrous Texas grid failure
The Biden Administration apparently roused Joe from his slumber and persuaded our senile acting president that he ought to journey to the Lone Star State this weekend. Why? To offer aid that should have been offered a week ago and, more than likely, to politic in favor of Democrats who will save them from this allegedly Republican energy debacle in the next election. His first response, apparently, was to declare a defensive lid Thursday. But the country’s ruling politburo propped him up long enough to ready him for a brief appearance in Texas. Any questions? If so, Jen Psaki will circle around on that.
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CNBC summarizes the ongoing Texas tragedy, uses it to apply a standard smear to the state’s GOP government
Earlier this week, CNBC offered its biased summary of the Texas winter disaster, blaming the state’s grid failure on the GOP, particularly in the snide final paragraph of the following excerpt.
“The Texas grid failure has ignited a feud between Democrats and the GOP over Republicans’ decades-long oversight of the energy industry.
“Texas has avoided federal regulation by having its own power grid. But the system collapsed this week from a surge in energy demand coupled with frozen utility plants during a brutal winter storm.
“GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, along with other conservative state leaders, falsely blamed the outages on renewable energy sources like wind and solar.”
More verbal arabesques from the left meant to tar Texas Republicans for the Democrat-induced Texas grid failure
“Falsely blamed.”
That became one of the latest fashionable terms universally employed by the media this past November. Its aim: to discredit any attempt by President Trump and the GOP to remedy the stolen 2020 national election. “Falsely blamed” on fr__d.
The way the MSM falsely employs this term could be accurately described by using another favored anti-Trump, anti-GOP, anti-election fr__d smear. Namely, “without evidence.” So prove that Abbott “falsely blamed” the frozen windmills and sunless solar panel arrays for the Texas grid’s lack of back-up power in the current emergency. Yeah, I didn’t think you could.
Texas attempted to free itself from increasing Federal and EPA demands to pretty much eliminate fossil fuels from its overall energy mix by establishing its own power grid. Problem is, the state was essentially forced to overmix its energy sources to favor solar and wind power because other Federal regulations favoring the same were being imposed on the entire country (and still are), and the state was trying to stay ahead of the game.
The mass power outage in Texas was, in fact, proof positive that fossil fuel plants – and nuclear plants – still remain the only viable source of reliable emergency backup power in a situation like the current one. Given that some gas transmission lines froze during the current crisis, that’s also why coal-powered plants need to continue to exist, given that they can be fired up at a moment’s notice from each plant’s always available pile of coal.
Coal-fired power plants could still provide instant backup emergency power. The left’s Green Meanies won’t allow this
But Texas and most other states have been shuttering coal-fired plants at a record rate since the Obama Administration declared its idiotic – and costly – war on coal. And on American jobs. Texas tried to strike a creative balance to keep the Feds from messing with Texas.
But the Federally induced lunacy of expecting and imposing wind and solar facilities nationwide – only fitfully reliable power sources in times of emergency – has just been proven an epic fail. Too bad it had to happen to Texas. Texans tried to dodge the bullet. But they likely felt forced to rely too much on intermittent wind and solar. This week, their citizens paid the price – in terms of cold and in terms of cost.
Look for the Democrats, as CNBC has already trumpeted, to whip up opposition to the GOP, big time, based on this snafu, which actually started years ago with the enviro-freaks and EPA bureaucrats in Washington. But today in The Swamp, the truth remains in short supply. We must rely on Big Brother instead.
Texas grid failure scare stories overshadow a toppy stock market
The Mess in Texas dominated the news cycle this week. The reason? It’s useful for damaging the GOP brand in that state. Texas is key to the Democrats’ perpetual drive to keep the fires burning under the only real policy they ever really espouse. Namely, political power by any means. Until the US becomes a One Party socialist state. At the rate our current Fake Administration is going, they should be done by December 2022 at the latest. What a bloody mess.
Meanwhile, Wall Street and their good buddy Mr Market look tired as we wrap up this holiday-shortened options-expiration February 19. Market averages busied themselves setting new record highs earlier this week. But trading action seems increasingly lethargic, like Mr Market is partying on a cushion of air. A toppy stock market like this one inevitably goes down. But, as always, how far down this particularly toppy stock market sinks is anyone’s guess at this point.
True, the huge Texas cold snap – which has plagued considerably more states than just Texas – goosed oil prices up to the $60 per barrel area this week. That drove beleaguered oil stocks still higher. Even so, stocks seem poised to descend as early as next week. At least if you look at the most recently available (Feb. 18) chart for the regularly calculated McClellan Oscillator, our favorite indicator of sentiment change. That measure, illustrated below, has been steadily drooping lower and lower below the zero line. This indicates we have yet to reach a bottom. Not good.
Standard version, McClellan Oscillator as of COB 02/28/2021. Chart courtesy Stockcharts.com.
Precious metals aren’t working too well this week as a disaster hedge
Even precious metals are moribund, as trading in cryptocurrencies seems to be more fashionable than silver or tech stocks. The WallStreetBets dudes don’t seem to be offering any help here. I suspect many of them lost their mad money by holding onto GameStop (NYSE: GME) way too long. Those who did sell into the highs, couldn’t drive silver bullion or the main silver ETF (NYSE: SLV) up more than a few points before both settled back.
So, as I wrap up this article, circa 2 p.m. ET, the Dow and the NASDAQ are up marginally, while the broader-based S&P 500 mopes around beneath the zero line, currently standing at -5.60 points, a 0.16% decline.
Better luck for traders and investors next week. Happiness could happen if the now totally Democrat controlled Congress ever becomes serious about another round of stimulus payments. Perhaps even involving a few more dollars for the average American worker’s piggy bank. (The Dems plan to reserve the rest for payola to unions and other assorted rich guys that supported the November Steal.)
Have a good weekend. We’ll drag ourselves back to our computers Monday morning. At which point we might see if some ways to make money still exist. Before Washington’s political lunacy rips the bottom out of Mr Market’s happiest fantasies.
*– Headline image: A scary Snow Goon, perhaps standing somewhere in Texas. Via a shared, anonymous Facebook graphic post, no attribution available.*
