▪️There is some truth to this meme, but it takes the numbers and trends out of context. According to the EIA, U.S. domestic oil production is expected to avg 12.76M barrels/day (bpd) by the end of the year, although those are projections, not actual numbers.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-crude-output-rise-record-1276-mln-bpd-2023-eia-2023-08-08/
▪️But under Trump oil production was already over 13M bpd by 2020. In Feb ‘20 it was at 13.1M and on track to avg well over 13M that year. Production then plunged during the pandemic & the yearly avg never got there. So basically oil production has returned to late 2019 levels and will probably reach early 2020 levels by next year.
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WCRFPUS2&f=W
▪️Keep in mind, when Trump came into office in 2017 oil production was at just 8.9M bpd, so it saw a dramatic nearly 50% rise to reach 13M in just a few years. The current levels are just returning to pre-pandemic levels with small growth projected in the future.
▪️Meanwhile, domestic oil consumption is forecast to rise to 20.5 bpd by 2024, meaning there’s still room for rapid growth just to meet US needs, let alone the rest of the world. We need more than another 50% growth just to keep up with growing demand,
▪️With $80+ oil (compared to $50-60 under Trump) a president would really have to clamp down to keep companies from taking advantage of the 60% price increase. It would take draconian restrictions to keep companies from producing more oil at these prices.
▪️Which, thankfully they haven’t done yet. So despite Biden’s stated promise to “end fossil fuels” in 2019, he hasn’t, likely for pragmatic reasons. The meme is correct in pointing out what few people know (oil production could soon reach record levels) but ignores that the administration’s rhetoric is also openly hostile to domestic oil production.
I first critiqued this terrible take by looking at how food has actually improved substantially. Even though I said the same could be done in every category, people said “you’re only doing food.” So let’s do air travel and see why it’s not gotten better, not worse.
▪️Aircraft have greatly improved. Just 15-20 years ago, many domestic routes (~15%) were flown by turboprops like the Brasilia, Dash 8 or Saab. Now, almost everything is in jets, and most aircraft have WiFi. Some even have Starlink, where you probably have faster WiFi than your home. Most major airlines offer dozens or hundreds of movies and shows to watch.
▪️Newer designs like the 787 have lower cabin altitudes and improved humidity, which make a huge difference in passenger comfort on long haul flights. The first/business class international market has gotten very competitive globally, with many carriers offering excellent service and amenities. Pods, suites, showers, etc. Coach still sucks but is dramatically cheaper ...
This is the complete opposite of an empirical fact. The right has now joined the left in being pessimistic about the modern world and completely unappreciative of the amazing abundance we now have. I’ll just focus on food here, but you could do it for almost every category.
▪️Fresh produce used to be available only in season. In the winter it was canned or frozen. People used to send fruit for Christmas gifts, it was that much of a luxury good. Now, you can get giant, sweet berries year around in every grocery store. Corn on the cob in February. Not to mention once rare items like dragon fruit, heirloom tomatoes or baby bok choy.
▪️If you didn’t live on the coast, seafood was either not available, frozen, or extremely expensive. If you lived in the Midwest and traveled to coastal locales you would quite literally be able to eat food you had never seen. Salmon has become much more abundant and accessible. You can get fresh ahi at Walmart today. Sushi and oyster bars exist everywhere ...
▪️This is a proposal that pertains only to graduate level nursing degrees, not undergraduate ones (which were never considered professional degrees). The proposal will have a 30-60 day public comment period next year, where groups can object, before the DoE will decide on it.
▪️This is about how much federal student loans someone can take out for a particular degree. The cap on graduate degrees is $100k ($20,500/yr), while a “professional degree” limit is $200k ($50k/yr).
▪️Under the new rule proposal, professional degrees include:
🔹Pharmacy
🔹Dentistry
🔹Veterinary medicine
🔹Chiropractic
🔹Law
🔹Medicine (including osteopathic medicine & podiatry)
🔹Optometry
🔹Theology
▪️The nursing degrees excluded are ones like master of science in nursing (MSN), doctor of nursing practice (DNP) and PhD in nursing. These degrees would be limited to $100k in federal student loans, like all other graduate degrees.
▪️These changes came from the One Big Beautiful Bill’s...
