📝 Lomez on X:
"Zoomers are the first cohort to be fully immersed in the reality of generational downward mobility. While millenials will also earn less than their parents, they were formed under the expectations of America ascending to a kind of Post-History stasis where at worst their status and wealth was permanently locked in.
Zoomers have none of these illusions and rightfully reject the obsolete and facile narratives they’re expected to swallow and obey to make sense of their lives and ambitions. Those are dead narratives. They do not reflect reality at all. They do not reflect the deranged cultural and political circumstances they’re expected to navigate from a position of negative expected value for pretty much any career path outside of genius tech outlier.
Scolding them is a stupid and pointless exercise that will only drive them further into despair and resentment.
Yes. Don’t be resentful. Don’t give in to despair. Be resourceful and lay a claim on your own life. But it’s also going to require offering Zoomers much better and updated narratives and opportunities for how to accrue status and wealth and the basic conditions for living a dignified life for the average guy who is not an outlier tech genius.
There are short, medium, and long term fixes for this. Some straightforwardly political. Some more complex cultural questions. But the implicit promise of boomer America, even Gen X America, is no longer viable, and that broken promise has absolutely nothing to do with Zoomers themselves."
📎 Lomez
🇺🇸⛽️ US refiners face historic stress test as global crisis looms
U.S. refineries have operated near maximum capacity for the longest sustained period in over a quarter century, scrambling to capture windfall profits created by the Iran war. But history offers a cautionary tale: “Super refining” runs that push plants too hard can cause major failures.
This has global implications. U.S. refineries’ ability to sustain today’s elevated operating rates for months, or potentially years, could mean the difference between an exceptionally tight global fuel market and a full-blown supply crisis marked by acute shortages, demand destruction and widespread economic pain.
The result of the U.S-Israeli war on Iran has been a collapse in global fuel production. Global refinery throughput in July fell to 81 million barrels per day (bpd), nearly 5 million bpd, or about 6%, below the level at this point last year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The U.S., the world's largest ...
📝 🇸🇪 🚷 Peter Sweden on X: 35.7% of the population in Sweden now has a foreign background.
Only 64.3% of the population has a Swedish background.
Swedish people are already a MINORITY in the third largest city of Malmö.
Here is what the media doesn't tell you about Sweden.
New statistics show something that would have been unheard of in the 90s.
What would you think if I told you that Sweden is changing, it is happening fast.
In fact, Swedish people are now already a minority in Malmö which is the third largest city in the country.
If you had told someone in the 90s that this would be the case, then you might have been labelled a ”far-right conspiracy theorist”.
However, it is happening.
The borders are still wide open in Sweden it seems. Because since 2020, around 600.000 people have gotten residence permit in Sweden. That is over 5% of the population in just a few years.
Some on the left see this as a good thing, with more cultural diversity.
But others on the right think this is going too far....
🇺🇸⛽️ Costco Is Now Rationing Motor Oil Because the Global Shortage Is Getting Real
A Kirkland Signature oil change has nearly doubled in price, but that's not the most concerning change to how Costco's selling lubricants these days.
Not only does 10 quarts of Kirkland Signature full-synthetic now cost $58 when it used to go for as low as $30, but stores are now imposing a two-per-customer, per-week limit.
The obvious culprit is supply—or, rather, a lack thereof. Demand remains strong as ever as global stock has dwindled due to our ongoing Middle East entanglement. As The Auto Wire highlighted in its own story unpacking the factors at hand, motor oil ultimately comes out of the same barrel that also gives us gasoline and diesel, and right now, refineries can earn more money finishing crude into gas compared to what Costco stocks on its shelves. We’re all getting the short end of the stick at the pump as it is, so it’s not difficult to imagine the pressure the motor oil ...