Who would have thunk it a few years ago? 

The robot boom that many people thought would grow and grow and displace millions of workers has ebbed.

Certainly robots have proved their worth with some jobs in manufacturing. The dull task of loading and unloading parts is perfect for robots, but now many of those jobs have already been replaced. Industrial jobs as a whole are down now with new machines having peaked in the period after the Covid pandemic.

One place where robots are still hot is in food preparation and packing. Often done in a cold environment where humans struggle, robots made for the cold fill the void.

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The electric car boom that did not happen is still being promoted by big government. The myth that converting to electric would make a dent in climate change, which may well be a myth also, has not been accepted except by Californians who deal with $5 to $6 gasoline prices and have a climate without freezing temperatures.

In the rest of the country where trucks are almost religion, sales are not expanding and the electric car is virtually being forced upon them with subsidies and new quotas from the feds.

Notice that very little has been said about climate change by Democratic candidates except in Flint and Saginaw, where promises are being made to convince laid off workers that jobs are coming. Federal rules about the percentage of EVs that must be sold by 2027 are the reason. If people don’t buy electrics, Michigan and Ohio could cost Kamala Harris the presidency.

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Just a few years ago, when fracking crashed with oil prices, the Permian Basin was a wasteland. Today, with OPEC prices controlled by the Saudis and Russia, and President Biden being forced by the American public to calm the climate change mania, fracking is hot again. 

The United States is producing 12 million barrels a day thanks to the Permian and western Pennsylvania, also a key state in the 2024 election. 

The big oil companies have gone back to fracking and the huge investments made in offshore drilling and shale look less attractive. Chevron announced yesterday that it is selling some of its stakes in oil sands and shale assets in Alberta to Canadian Natural Resources Company for $6.5 billion dollars. Fracking is a much better bet and no longer a hot political issue. 

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And finally some baseball talk.

The New York Mets set a record for losses in a single season in 1962 under Casey Stengel going 40-120-1. It looked like an unbreakable record. 

In 2024, the Chicago White Sox managed to break the Mets record with 121 losses. It took some long losing streaks, horrible hitting and pathetic relief pitching, but they did it. Sox fans came out to see the fateful loss 121, but the team disappointed them by winning their final games at home. It took a road trip to Detroit to finally accomplish the feat. 

Who would have thunk it?

Questions: What is one thing in the news that has surprised you lately? 

Who do you think will win the World Series?

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