Well that wasn't such a good start to the year. No telling where we'll be by the third day of the year when someone reads this.
But that wasn't what this one was going to be about. I ghosted the auld lang syne column last week. The roller coaster ride I'm stuck on was doing loopdyloops and I could never be nostalgic for the year that ended Tuesday. Better to walk away, don't look back, eyes forward.
The first column of the year is looking forward. Personally, the view is much better. I can see the end of the ride and it looks like it's ending in the right place. Starting the year with optimism beats ending the year with dread doesn't it?
It does for me.
So this was going to be positivity and good humor from my perch looking over the next big hill. I had it written in my head Sunday morning and almost went ahead and typed it out.
But there's always that other shoe. Jimmy Carter went to heaven on Sunday. My first actual presidential vote when I turned in 1976 was for Jimmy Carter. I didn't vote for him again in 1980. Didn't vote for Reagan either.
Carter's presidency was brought down by OPEC and a handful of self-inflicted wounds that overshadowed the accomplishments of his four years. When Carter was elected the average price of gas was 59 cents a gallon. The same gallon was $1.19 in 1980. That doubling of fuel price drove the inflation that really sealed his defeat.
Carter established the Department of Energy that pushed the auto industry to develop more fuel efficient vehicles besides exploring fuel alternatives. The price of gas peaked for the period in 1981 at $1.31 but fell throughout the Reagan years thanks to a more fuel efficient wave of foreign and domestic vehicles.
Carter also pushed gas companies to increase domestic production. In 1976, U.S. oil production was 8.1 million barrels a day. It was over 8.6 million barrels a day by 1980. It continued to rise 3 years after Carter was defeated, fell back to 8.1 by the end of Reagan's tenure.
If Reagan hadn't undone much of the groundwork Carter laid, our energy sector would be far greener and we would not be so far down the global warming hole.
And so on. Today's column was going to be a mix of tribute to Jimmy and looking ahead positively.
But today, New Year's Day, 15 people are dead in New Orleans because the life of an American born in Texas with ten years of military service became so unbearable he chose suicide by terror. We'll focus on who we think the terror was in service to, but the real question is what do we do to lessen the number of Americans who feel the need to go out in such a blaze of ignominy.
The Tesla truck exploding at the front door of Trump Vegas will turn out to be a sad comedy of errors that is a clear sign from Heaven of what's to come from that partnership.
If you believe in that kind of thing. Thanks Jimmy. Here's to 2025.