That was until I tried to figure out the electricity scam. After a few hours going in circles, as far as I can see there is no real way to figure it out.
Moreover, I can not see the point in having so many "retailers' selling a product that is a utility and should be simple to understand. All those extra companies and people and plans must simply add cost and zero value to a basic product produced and delivered by the same few basic utility companies as far as I can see. If I change plans, they won't be running in a new power line or switching my connection to another generating facility. It will be coming down the same transmission lines from the same energy pool.
Water and sewer are simple. Why isn't this?
Whose brainchild is this boondoggle anyhow and why do we put up with this?
Having gotten that off my chest, has anyone here actually figured it out?
"Let me give you a number that should end every argument about national security. 417 kilograms.
That's roughly how much rare earth material goes into a single F-35. A Virginia-class submarine needs about ten times that.
Now ask the question nobody in Washington wants to answer out loud: who controls the supply? The chokehold, metal by metal.
NdPr. Neodymium-praseodymium oxide is the heart of the super-magnet.
China controls about 90% of rare earth processing and 93% of magnet manufacturing. America has exactly one rare earth mine, Mountain Pass.
And Beijing has shown the leash. Export controls in April 2025. A harsher second wave in October 2025. That sec
https://mailchi.mp/wealthresearchgroup/brics-chokehold-intensifies-russia-china-and-greenland-critical