Extended Iran War Will Tank Seattle Economy: That’s the message the city’s Office of Economic and Revenue Forecast told the public last Friday, “If the oil prices stay high for a prolonged time, there’s just nothing that can be done to avoid a recession,” the office’s chief economist said per the Seattle Times. With the US Navy now blockading the Strait of Hormuz to prevent Iranian oil exports (a response to Iran blockading the Strait of Hormuz to prevent oil exports from America’s Gulf state puppets), it might be a good time for your household to budget conservatively. The city on the other hand is being told by its budget advisors to plan as if the Forever War will end sooner rather than later. In that fantasy land, the Seattle budget forecast is “unchanged from last year,” balancing out layoffs and recessions with new taxes.
Last Tankers Through Hormuz Reaching Refineries: The city’s budget forecasters might be banking on this whole “largest oil price in history” kerfuffle to blow over, but according to the Financial Times, the oil is about to stop showing up in port. “The last oil tankers to traverse the Strait of Hormuz before the outbreak of war will reach refineries in the coming days, in a pivotal moment analysts warn could herald physical shortages in Europe and the US within weeks.”
Protesters Picket Spokane Air Force Tanker Base: The US-Israeli air war against Iran requires long-distance bombing missions that get refueled mid-air by the US Air Force’s fleet of KC-135 tanker aircraft, aka flying gas stations. They’re so essential to the bombing campaign that a number of these vulnerable Boeing planes have already been lost both in the air and on the ground, and one recently landed in the UK pockmarked with shrapnel. Many are deployed out of Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, where dozens of protesters, including many veterans, gathered this weekend to protest the US invasion of Iran. “As citizens of the United States, it’s not our job to support every war or every powerful individual who loves war or who makes money off of war,” Vietnam War veteran Rusty Nelson told the Spokesman Review…