Never mind shortages of natural gas here and abroad: we may be running short of diesel fuel before long. Energy analyst John Kemp reported the troubling picture last week:
Global shortages of middle distillates such as diesel, gas oil and heating oil are intensifying rather than easing – making it more likely a relatively severe slowdown in the business cycle will be necessary to rebalance the market. U.S. inventories of distillate fuel oil depleted to 106 million barrels on Oct. 7, the lowest seasonal level since the government began collecting weekly data in 1982.
Given how much of our goods transportation (think trains and trucks) use diesel, this is going to be another upward force on inflation.
Here’s what the chart looks like:
Bonus chart to start the week—a startling graph that underlines the reckless irresponsibility of Joe Biden:
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.