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Unprepared News Brief: Falling Gas Prices Won't Last

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Unprepared News Brief: Falling Gas Prices Won't Last

Plus: why Starbucks says America has become unsafe, dealing with the healthcare collapse, China's plans for Taiwan, and where all the workers have gone.

Josh Centers
Jul 18, 2022
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Unprepared News Brief: Falling Gas Prices Won't Last

www.unprepared.life

It’s been a minute since we’ve had a news roundup. This one is shorter so it’s easier to follow. Let us know what you think in our Discord community.

We told you weeks ago that the current trend of falling gas prices won’t last, and it looks like we were right. The Washington Post reports that oil analysts are predicting a sharp uptick in fuel prices just in time for the midterm elections, with averages rising over $6 per gallon and the cost of a single barrel of oil tripling.

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Twitter avatar for @RyanMaue
Ryan Maue @RyanMaue
Washington Post report: ⛽️ Gas prices could surge again in October before midterm elections with new sanctions on Russia oil. 📈 Gas would push "beyond" $6/gallon washingtonpost.com/business/2022/…
washingtonpost.comGas prices may surge again ahead of midterm electionsDrivers are finally getting relief at the pump. But the White House is scrambling to keep prices from surging back to record-breaking levels in the fall.
2:29 AM ∙ Jul 17, 2022
13Likes4Retweets

Of course, it wasn’t hard to see this coming, because the fundamentals of the oil market haven’t changed: Putin is still at war with Ukraine, nations around the world are sanctioning Russia, the US still isn’t producing much, OPEC is at capacity, etc.

And claims that gas stations are gouging customers are absurd. Gas stations make little to nothing from gasoline. The margins are all in things like snacks, drinks, cigarettes, those little roses in a glass that are actually just crack pipes, etc. If anything, station owners are incentivized to advertise lower prices to draw in more customers to buy the higher-margin items.

American Has Become Unsafe: That’s the word of progressive Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Starbucks is closing 16 stores nationwide due to safety concerns, and Schultz said there would be “many more.” In the video, Schultz said the stores “are not unprofitable,” they’re just no longer safe for the staff, and that since there is a Starbucks in nearly every community, it’s a “window into America.”

Twitter avatar for @thehoffather
Ari Hoffman @thehoffather
EXCLUSIVE: Today at an internal meeting CEO Howard Schultz said: "Starbucks is a window into America... we are facing things in which the stores were not built for... we're listening to our people and closing stores, & this is just the beginning. There are gonna be many more. 🧵
7:53 PM ∙ Jul 13, 2022
4,465Likes1,634Retweets

In related news, Knotts Berry Farm had to close early Saturday night because several fights broke out inside the park. Knotts Berry Farm advertises itself as the “friendliest place in the west.” And a a good guy with a gun stopped a mass shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall in Indiana.

Twitter avatar for @FOX59
FOX59 News @FOX59
Here's the update from Greenwood PD where Chief Jim Ison confirmed three people are dead and two others are injured following a shooting at the food court. An armed citizen at the mall shot and killed the suspect.
fox59.comGreenwood Park mall shooting update from Greenwood Chief Jim IsonThree people are dead and 2 more are injured after a shooting Sunday at the Greenwood Park Mall. The shooting suspect, who police believe acted alone, was killed soon after by an armed citizen at the mall, police said. Read more here: https://fox59.com/news/indycrime/at-least-2-dead-in-shooting-at-g…
12:53 AM ∙ Jul 18, 2022
207Likes114Retweets

Healthcare Collapsing: Edwin Leap, an emergency physician in South Carolina, is warning that the healthcare system is collapsing due to the stress of COVID. Workers are quitting in droves and the few remaining or overworked and fed up. Dr. Leap recommends doing whatever you can to avoid hospitals and emergency rooms: keep up with your meds, get in shape, don’t do stupid stuff, quit smoking, etc.

A key tip from Dr. Leap is to purchase life flight insurance, which is cheap and could save you up to $90,000 if you have to be airlifted to a hospital. My wife bought this for us years ago and I thought it was frivolous, but she outfoxed me as she often does.

The Taiwan Question: As the war in Ukraine rages on, a hot-button question in geopolitics has been when or if China invades Taiwan. Dr. Pippa Malmgren’s crystal ball is as cloudy as ours but she offers an excellent analysis of the factors that could influence China’s decision to invade. Normally, the CCP is extremely patient and could wait out the conquest for decades, but tensions between Xi Jinping and the politburo could force his hand to retain power. China’s economy is in tatters and the country is experiencing bank runs and defaults of major firms like Evergrande.

Twitter avatar for @jenniferatntd
Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 @jenniferatntd
This is huge. Don't know how this will end. Henan bank is NOT the only one that is having problems with liquidity. All four Chinese banks are having the same issue. Some depositors found they can save and can NOT withdraw money with their bank cards. #bankrun #China #CCP
4:23 PM ∙ Jul 10, 2022
19,835Likes9,164Retweets

Where the Workers Went: We recently discussed the crisis of despair, but a lingering question has been how all these people are affording to exit the workforce, even long after the stimulus money dried up. The Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office may have the answer: parents are homeschooling their kids and moving in with their Boomer parents to take care of them in lieu of expensive nursing homes. The houses are paid for, so the minimal expenses are covered by retirement and Social Security.

Twitter avatar for @Athan_K
Athan Koutsiouroumbas @Athan_K
Where did all of the workers go? A PA state agency released a provocative & underreported theory last week. Homeschooling is taking a parent out of the workforce, while Boomers are paying their kids to care for them outside of a nursing home...🧵
2:00 PM ∙ Jul 17, 2022
1,007Likes295Retweets

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Unprepared News Brief: Falling Gas Prices Won't Last

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Horizons
Jul 18, 2022Liked by Josh Centers

I bought us a med evac policy before a lengthy international trip. It was cheaper to buy a year's policy than the three months' coverage we needed, so I did that. A few months later, back in the US, we were camping in a remote area when my husband had a medical emergency. I would never have bought that policy for our in-country camping trip but, because it was still in effect, it saved us about $60,000.

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