Puffs

Seems we can no longer paint California with negative issues because of all of the earthquakes that occur in that state. The Webster-Nuckolls County areas in Nebraska have had three earthquakes in the last two years. And . . . they seem to be getting closer to Lawrence all the time. This past Sunday a quake strong enough to be heard and felt happened some six miles northeast of Guide Rock. We have not heard of any damage caused by the quake.

This was the third quake in this same general area in the past two years.

A O

Try . . . Try again . . .

It worked once . . . maybe it’ll work again.

I noticed a front page article in the Lincoln newspaper concern the gambling issue in Nebraska and Iowa.

I’m sure you remember all the crying made over all the Nebraska gamblers driving over to Iowa to gamble. . . and all the tax money being lost to Iowa.

Well, the issue was brought to a vote and those who wanted casino gambling in Nebraska won their cause.

However, there were regulations put into the program. One item that was prohibited was the voting on some sporting events. Seems that in most states that allow sports gambling also allow people to use their cell phones to place their bets.

I don’t know how it is done, but now people who want to gamble on sporting events have to drive to Iowa (or any state that allows it) to take their chances on sports betting. And . . . they don’t like it. So, once again the state news media is making it an issue. They think, again, that it is a crying shame to lose all that tax money to Iowa.

I did recently read that Iowa’s revenue income from taxes on casino gambling near the Iowa-Nebraska boarder has fallen since Nebraska has allowed casinos to operate in the state.

Do we really need to encourage people to gamble on more things, like sports gambling?

And yes, I have gambled (a little). I’ll never forget the time I lost my lunch money on a weekend poker game while I was in college. The amount was certainly not large, but it was what I had planned to use to eat the next week.

Needless to say, I went without eating lunch for a week.

A O

Since I’m not talking about politics yet, this week, we’ll talk about gasoline prices.

Remember three years ago when President Trump was voted out of office, the first major change in gasoline prices came not long after. From a price well below the $3.00 level the price rose to almost $4.00, and you know what, the new president said that was not his fault, he had nothing to do with gasoline prices.

That may have been true in a certain sense. However, he did have control of many of the inputs that influence gasoline prices through the many regulations and rules he put into effect since he became president.

Have you noticed lately how much gasoline prices have fallen in recent days? I received my monthly bill for auto gasoline last week and noticed during the month, the price fell from $3.60 a gallon to just a little more than $3.00 during the month. Then, in early December, the price is below $3.00 at around $2.96.

I have to admit I don’t understand economics any more. Most often in the past a conflict in the mid-east would result in gasoline prices headed up. However, this year that has not happened.

On the good side, however, I haven’t heard the current president take any credit for the drop in the price. I don’t know if that is because he really doesn’t have any influence, or is it because the coming year is an election year and although he doesn’t have control, he still wants to take credit and that may help him get elected.

A O