And you thought beating egg prices was a win … ?
Five days ago, I wrote that America looked like the wild Calvin and Hobbes disaster game bit with the exploding plane, derailing train, earthquake, gas leak, and match.
Cute metaphor. Horrible thing to watch age well.
Reuters now reports that publicly tracked vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen to the single digits crossing Wednesday, down from 13 the day before, and no Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers observed passing through.
Iran is calling America interfering with Hormuz an “invincible red line”.
The US has reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Oil is climbing again.
Meanwhile, S&P Global, citing EIA data, reports that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has fallen to its lowest level since 1983.
Treasury yields are not screaming yet.
But they’re still part of the trap. Oil pressure can become inflation pressure, and inflation pressure can become borrowing-cost pressure. That’s how the 10-year yield starts flirting with five percent again.
Not chill.
But the part I keep coming back to is diesel.
Just think back two years when many of you thought your vote would be the only act of resistance against Commies and high egg prices.
But they didn’t tell you about diesel.
And diesel is the war, freight, farms, mines, ports, rail yards, backup generators, and supply chain story that’s hiding in plain sight.
So when sugar-honey-iced-tea really goes down, Uncle Sam won’t give a lovely you-know-what about whether or not you have gas in the tank to hit Six Flags this weekend.
Because Washington may not say “regime change” out loud, but jet planes still have bellies to feed.
The plane, train, crack in the earth, gas leak, and match I wrote about have now become a metaphor that speaks beyond oil or egg prices.
We’re now discussing a system under stress.
War, fuel, freight, inflation, debt — and let’s not forget those fall elections.
As I said in the last piece: these aren’t separate lanes.
They’re all the same road.
And the match was already lit …
song currently stuck in my head: “bemsha swing” — thelonious monk
