Affordability: Prices We Can Afford–A Roundup of Local, State, National Stories
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Gasoline-Starved California Is Turning to Fuel from the Bahamas
Feb. 15: Fortune by Will Kubzansky, Lucia Kassai, and Bloomberg
US supplies of gasoline are being shipped out of the country to travel thousands of miles via the Bahamas before finally ending up in California, a state battling shrinking fuelmaking capacity and high pump prices.
Shipments on the circuitous route are increasing. California imported more gasoline in November than ever before, with more than 40% coming from the Bahamas.
The lengthy journey adds another layer of cost to California’s already expensive gasoline market. Yet the phenomenon isn’t likely to disappear soon, thanks to a combination of disappearing oil refineries, a lack of interstate pipelines and a loophole in a 106-year-old maritime law.
California has among the strictest environmental regulations in the US, making it costly for energy companies to operate in, though a wave of upcoming refinery closures is prompting officials and regulators to soften their stance. On average, the closures could raise the cost of gasoline for consumers by between 5 and 15 cents a gallon, said Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis.
After Phillips 66 shuttered its Los Angeles refinery in October, gasoline imports climbed in 2025 to the highest level since at least 2016, Vortexa data show. With Valero Energy Corp. set to close a Northern California refinery this spring, and no fuel pipelines connecting the US Gulf’s oil-producing powerhouse to the West Coast, the nation’s most populous state will likely depend on imports to bridge the gap.
Under the Jones Act, any goods shipped between US ports must travel on US-built, owned and operated vessels. Those tankers are in short supply and expensive to charter. There are about 55 Jones Act-compliant oil tankers worldwide, compared with more than 7,000 oil tankers globally.
Last year, California sourced more barrels of gasoline from the Bahamas than it had in the prior nine years combined – accounting for roughly 12% of gasoline arriving in California by ship all year, including direct deliveries from elsewhere in the US, according to Vortexa.
Financial Leaders of New and Old Guard Descend on Mar-a-Lago for World Liberty Forum
Feb. 20: Breitbart by Nick Gilbertson
Titans of the crypto and traditional financial worlds descended on Mar-a-Lago for World Liberty Financial’s inaugural forum on Wednesday. The World Liberty Forum in the Grand Ballroom saw major players from the crypto world, like Coinbase Founder Brian Armstrong, and those of conventional finance, like Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and Franklin Templeton Investments CEO Jenny Johnson, take the stage during the 11-hour event at President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach estate in Florida.
Although the president was not there, his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, are co-founders, as are Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s sons Zach and Alex Witkoff. Zach Witkoff is World Liberty Financial’s CEO. World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin USD1 is designed to strengthen the U.S. dollar with the aim of cheapening the national debt. Zach Witkoff told Breitbart News the process is “pretty simple.” World Liberty Financial is a decentralized finance (DeFi) blockchain-based organization that enables peer-to-peer lending without intermediaries like traditional banks.
Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson noted at the forum that the financial system should operate on blockchain rails, as Zach Witkoff highlighted during an afternoon conversation with Coinbase CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong. When Witkoff asked about the potential of stablecoins over the next two to three years, Armstrong noted that they are currently at about $300 billion and could eclipse $1 trillion.
JPMorgan Chase: Actually, Yeah, We Did Debank Trump — In A Huge Way
Feb. 22: Red State by Bob Hoge
President Trump has long contended that the world’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, and other financial institutions “debanked” the Trump Organization following the events of Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol. By summarily closing accounts without warning or explanation and refusing to deal with companies, banks can cripple their cash flow and ability to keep their business operating.
I attended a speech by Trump’s second son and VP of the Trump Organization, Eric, in October of ’25, where he described how devastating it was for the company, and how they had to turn to cryptocurrencies to survive. The elder Trump sued JPMorgan Chase in January for $5 billion in a case that is currently in its opening stages.
Up until now, JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon have only spoken in general about debanking, but did not confirm or deny that they did it to Trump. That changed on Friday when they essentially said, yeah, we did it — and it was on a large scale.
They gave no reason for the abrupt closures, writing simply in February 2021 that Trump would need to “find a more suitable institution with which to conduct business.” It was the beginning of the coordinated effort by the Biden administration, the corrupt media, and many in the corporate world to destroy the man and the real estate empire he had created.
Shocking New Report: CFPB Adds $160-253 Per Loan in Consumer Costs
Feb. 25: Red State by Ward Clark
- The regulatory burden imposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has increased the compliance and liability costs associated with consumer financial products, which financial institutions pass on to consumers in the form of higher prices and reduced product offerings. The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) estimates that since 2011, the CFPB has cost consumers between $237-$369 billion, including fiscal costs, increased borrowing expenses, and reduced originations.
- Of the total above, CEA finds that increased borrowing costs amount to at least $222-$350 billion[1]($160-253 per borrower) from the CFPB’s inception in 2011 through 2024.
- Broken down by loan type, the CFPB’s rulemaking has cost consumers $116-$183 billion in higher mortgage costs ($1,100-$1,700 per originated loan), $32-$51 billion for auto loans ($91-$143 per loan), and $74-$116 billion for credit cards ($80-$126 per loan). These costs significantly surpass the CFPB’s reported $21 billion returned to consumers (about $15 per borrower).
- In 2024 alone, the CEA estimates the combined annual cost of credit for mortgages, autos, and credit cards is between $24-$38 billion.
- CEA also estimates that the higher borrowing costs from CFPB policies significantly reduced loan originations, resulting in an economic efficiency loss of between $1.5-$5.7 billion to consumers.
Mike Hernandez is co-founder of the Citizens Journal–Ventura County’s online news service and writes for CitizensJournal.net and MountainTopMedia.com. He is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor, writer of “Prayer Over News Daily” and edits the weekly “Stories Speak Volumes” and other columns. Mr. Hernandez mentors citizen journalists with trainings held every other month (on Saturdays at Shasta Bible College and online) and can be contacted at MikeHernandezMedia.com.