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  2. Venezuela crude is very heavy (and has a high sulfur content) which must be diluted with naphtha or Texas Light to flow. That said, our gulf refineries were designed specifically for processing Venezuelan crude.
  3. Warsh's War on Fed "Groupthink" Breitbart / February 4, 2026 In March 2016, Kevin Warsh stood before the National Association for Business Economics and delivered what may be the most blistering critique of Federal Reserve decision-making ever offered by a former Fed governor. The speech, titled “Challenging the Groupthink of the Guild,” laid out a comprehensive indictment of how the Fed conducts monetary policy. “The clustering of economic forecasts reveals conformity of views inside the Fed,” Warsh argued. He noted that estimates among Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) participants were “very closely aligned” and “closely match the outputs of the staff forecast.” This wasn’t just an academic concern. The Fed’s internal groupthink was “deepening the groupthink among other stakeholders, including outside economists, Wall Street pros, and business leaders.” Five years later, the Fed’s catastrophic miss on inflation vindicated Warsh’s diagnosis. An institution more open to challenging the transitory inflation narrative would have tightened sooner. An institution less obsessed with achieving consensus and more open to internal dissent would have been better prepared to navigate our post-pandemic economy. Warsh’s most fundamental critique targets the Fed’s devotion to economic models that consistently fail to predict reality. He uses a provocative historical analogy: the Fed’s attachment to its models resembles the centuries-long adherence to Ptolemaic astronomy, which placed the Earth at the center of the universe despite mounting contrary evidence. “When the real economy fails to comport with their heralded model-based forecasts, they judge that the error invariably belongs to the real world,” Warsh observed. The Fed explains away persistent forecast failures as “headwinds” – temporary factors that will soon dissipate. But “seven years of headwinds suggests a problem not with the weather, but the climate.” The dominant models employed at the Fed and establishment macroeconomists are, in Warsh’s assessment, “at best, a way station between Ptolemy than Copernicus.” They systematically underestimate the importance of global economic developments, largely ignore the financial sector despite the 2008 crisis, and assume markets are efficiently priced, at least when prices are rising. The problem isn’t that models are useless. “All economic models are wrong, some are useful,” Warsh acknowledges. The problem is treating model outputs as gospel rather than as rough guides that should be heavily supplemented with judgment and market signals. Perhaps no phrase is more sacred in modern Fed communications than “data dependent.” Warsh calls it potentially “the most dangerous words in the conduct of monetary policy.” Why? Because what counts as “data” for Fed purposes is “anachronistic, backward-looking, and subject to massive revisions.” The monthly employment report that moves markets has standard error bounds “about equal to the net estimate.” The February 2016 report showed 242,000 jobs created, but that estimate was “statistically significant… plus or minus 100,000.” Moreover, policy affects the economy “with long, variable and uncertain lags.” As a wise central banker once told Warsh: “Policymakers must move early because they are late.” Instead of obsessing over backward-looking official statistics, Warsh argues that the Fed should pay more attention to market prices, which offer “contemporaneous insight into the real economy.” In particular, watching the prices of commodities—especially metals—would improve the performance of monetary policy. The Fed should “focus our countercyclical policies on the left side of the decimal point, not the right side.” That is, the Fed should be responding to large, persistent changes in economic activity, not “fiddling with measures of the NAIRU” to explain away inconsistent data. Warsh saves special scorn for the Fed’s proliferation of forecasts. In 2015, FOMC members provided “more than 70 individual point estimate forecasts” and gave “about 62 formal ‘economic outlook’ speeches. That was double the number from a decade earlier.” “To what end, exactly, this proliferation of forecasts?” Warsh asks. “The Fed has not forecasted a US recession accurately 12 months before its arrival since WWII.” Paul Samuelson famously quipped that “Wall Street indexes predicted 9 of the last 5 recessions.” Warsh’s retort: “That is better than 0 for 12, the Fed’s post-war batting average.” The forecasting obsession carries massive opportunity costs, Warsh contends. “The economic brain trust at the Fed is a precious public resource. It ought not to be squandered by repeating outputs of broken models.” That talent should be “aimed squarely at the toughest, most consequential economic issues of our time.” Warsh’s critique connects to his broader concern about Fed mission creep. The central bank kept promising its extraordinary policies would deliver broad prosperity but that never happened. The Fed’s QE worked through a “wealth effect” — and “the wealth effect works best for the wealthy.” While household wealth increased impressively “for those who already possessed financial assets,” Warsh noted that “about half of American households have no accumulated balance sheet wealth.” QE was a non-entity for most Americans whose purchasing power and wealth is less exposed to the flood of liquidity it created. It’s tempting to think of Warsh’s nomination as a puzzle: Trump wanted a dove but picked a hawk, as some have said. But this assumes the only thing that matters is where rates go. Warsh has consistently argued for looking at market signals and real-time information, engaging in robust internal debate, and avoiding forward guidance that locks the Fed into a path. That framework is compatible with a range of rate decisions. And lately he has signaled that he thinks the central bank should look past any tariff-induced price hikes and that improved productivity can raise output growth without raising inflation, precisely the rejection of Phillips Curve thinking he articulated in 2016. The real question isn’t whether Warsh is a hawk or dove. It’s whether his analytical approach will improve Fed decision-making. The establishment types endorsing Warsh and the populists who are concerned are both likely to be surprised by Chairman Warsh’s policies.
  4. I recently replaced my egr pressure sensor when i removed the sensor both holes were almost plugged solid I cleaned out the holes and used a very small round bore brush how long are the ports? Do they just go into the large portion of the venturri or do they run the length of the of it?
  5. Today
  6. In Australia we have preferential and compulsory voting, both at our National and State elections. The preferential system is the worst possible election voting system. like the US it is realistic to say the founding fathers never intended for our govts to be controlled by parties, especially as they have cemented their control. The way the Australian Labour Party has structured the electorate, its immigration intake and the fake Teals and Greens, being like subsidiary companies, ensures that Labour has a front row seat to win many elections to come, National and State. Sadly our people have been conned and the effects are coming.
  7. Maybe economics and market forces will level out the oil price, quite feasible for the Venezuelan oil sell prices to ease down to the discounted Russian offers. In turn this will reduce Russian oil revenues and that may add to the Russian economy woos. There are many more opportunities for India to keep close to USA as India grows its economy and progressively replaces a multitude of China made products. Russia is a minor market, smaller than the California economy. The Indian NSA, Ajit Doval was the key operative in the TRUST agreement, I doubt he will allow that to be damaged or compromised. There is another huge oil reserve next to Venezula, that is Guyana. No one mentions this sleeper! It too can supply India. There is another key development relating to the above. The Panama High Court has decided that the 2 ports ownership/leaseholds held by the Hutchinson Group from Hong Kong (effectively controlled by the CCP since the HK hand back by the UK) at either end of the Panama Canal are unconstitutional. The Panama govt has handed the lease/rights for the 2 Panama ports to Maersk of Denmark. Maersk is no 2 in world container shipping. Maersk separated its oil and gas operations, but still Danish controlled. Maersk oil is exploring for oil in Suriname, which just happens to be next to Guyana. I have not seen any objection from the US administration about the Panama ports being granted to Maersk. Or did the US administration encourage this granting to Maersk? Surely this makes for smooth uninterrupted sailing of oil ships from Venezula (and Guyana and Suriname) through the Panama Canal and onto Indian refineries. Greenland and Denmark!!!!!!!! And Maersk, Panama and oil to India!!!!! Just thinking. Maersk have major operations in India and also shipping services for oil.
  8. Most quad boxes are really just a Triplex with a deep under which is only good in 1st gear. So you don't really shift it that many times. A double OD quad has even less gears as you don't split 5th at all. Just a heads up if you aren't aware of how they shift.
  9. I cleaned it when I had it off submerged it in egr system cleaner over night and rinsed it really good. It’s not over heating and seems to have plenty of of power
  10. Yes, it is likely thebtop tube only. Do not take the whole thing apart at this time. Just pull the 2,, 13mm bolts on the end of the top tube and you can remove the tube alone. The oring where the leak is, is inside the hole. You should not need RTV, but a light coating may be needed if you see a grove in the tube. I do use a very light amt on the oring where the bolts are to hold the oring in the groove during reassembly
  11. Thank you all - Steve s thanks for the pdf and the answer very helpful -Brocky thats a good point need to check that -freightrain yes im sure i will need new shaft for the 20 speed. The reason for me wanting a 20 speed is i always wanted a 20 speed truck you know shifting for 10 minutes to go from 0mph to 20mph no other reason i just think they are super cool
  12. Thank you Joey Mack, good to know. I see the reseal kits online show 3 of the hexagon shaped gaskets, does the middle gasket seal oil on one side of the cartridge when it gets sandwiched in the lower section? I suspect my oil leak is up top but if that doesn’t solve it I’m assuming I’ll need to dig into the lower section.
  13. Yesterday
  14. I ordered generic felts from a supplier and once I pressed them into the channel they pinched tight and glass is tough to move. I kinda rubbed some fuzz off with a razor blade and used some Vaseline on them to make it easier. I would have been in trouble if I had actually gotten power windows for it. They wouldn't have been able to move. I hung the new door shells on my truck in my tiny stall. Ya, it was a PITA. Did wait to install glass, so it was "easier". I hung them, aligned them, then drilled pilot hole in hinge so I could take them off and get them painted. Wash, rinse, repeat.
  15. I did a 20k axle kingpin set today, and one aditional thought was after installing the new bushings in the spindle to check that the pin moves freely in the bore before installing on the truck.
  16. Tks for the heads up,that’s what I was thinking.The new felts for the vent channels I have are a bit to loose am thinking of getting some double sided tape to hold them in place.I got the vent window in on passenger side,going to get door panel in tomorrow.The best part of all this is I have the cab on the ground,makes things a lot easier.Would be a real bitch to hang doors if cab was on truck.
  17. I found a shop that’s making it for me for $2250 hopefully I will be able to get it this week.
  18. If i remember right, they would get clogged and are not cleanable. I have changed out a few of them at Mack, but, since 8 years has gone by, combined with with dislike for the MP Engine, I erased some of my memory and used that space for older Mack engines...
  19. Yes, be aware that the oring inside the filter housing is a bit smaller around then the one under the tube mount.
  20. My local shop did my core for $1200. Bit smaller then your large version.
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