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I'm John Batchler. I welcome Jim McTay, former Washington editor of Berenst Magazine,
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now a novelist in Lancaster County, the best county in the Keystone state,
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and we begin with the war news from Iran and the price of everything including gasoline.
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Jim, the skies are not clear yet. Spring is in the air, at least it is here in the Southern New
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England and I'm not going to hear dissent from Pennsylvania. But in any event, we've gotten through
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the worst of the winter, so it's time to look at the price of gasoline affected dramatically
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by the events in the Middle East. The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg say that
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Brent Crude, that's the European version and West Texas, that's our version, are both above
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$90 in barrel. Not only wouldn't change for West Texas, moving all the time, natural gas is also
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climbed. And that means that gasoline will climb in these coming days. You often get gasoline at
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Costco and you also watch the gasoline totepords in Lancaster County. Have you seen movement? Good
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day to you Jim. Good day, John. I'd be also mentioned in Lancaster County, we're not a walkable
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place except for Lancaster City. You need the car to get everywhere. And it's a big agricultural
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county that tractors are ready to hit the fields. Gasoline and Lancaster has been up 40.3 cents
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in the last week to an average of about $3.48. So that's quite a hit at Costco. I topped my tank on
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Thursday at $2.89. It's $3.15 now. In Pennsylvania, this eight has a 57.6 cents tax on gasoline,
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which is pretty steep. And with the federal tax, that's a combined tax of 76 cents. So gasoline is
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more expensive here than, say, Indiana, but you know, 40 cents in one week. You're
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timed that by 10 or 20 gallons. You're talking about a real hit the people's wallets right now.
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Well, you were wise to go to Costco before it went to $3.15, although $3.15 still is attractive.
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You tell me that there's a secret somewhere in the area around you where the cheapest gasoline
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is available. Where is that? Well, if you go out to Gap, which is an unincorporated town on
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Route 30 headed towards Philadelphia in one direction and the Delaware seashore in another direction,
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you can get gasoline today for about $2.85. But it's 18 miles back and forth. And it's at least
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a 30 minute drive because the truck traffic on Route 30 can be interminable. So, you know, there is
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an outlet in Gap, but I think there will be a few people taking advantage of it. Yeah, recommending
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tanking up for the weekend and out to Gap, Pennsylvania. A gem several days ago, you reported that there
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was a sudden turn to energy and likes to county after a difficult winter. Do you still see that on
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the roads? Yes, we're talking about, I'm talking about the kind of energy enthusiasm, a rebound in
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the retail animal spirit. I noticed a sudden reversal when I do my shopping cart surveys.
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I was in Wegmans, which is a supermarket chain, very popular in Lancaster, Costco. I was at the
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mall. The people are buying their shopping baskets are much fuller than they have been in the past.
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So they're less selective. And I just felt like a confidence here in the economic environment.
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We have had no headlines with layoffs. I've seen help wanted ads to help wanted are for very
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specialized leadership positions at various companies. But nonetheless, there are good jobs
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available. Now, having said that, we've talked about the K-shaped economy. I've talked to people
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at the lower end of the K level health care workers. They're having trouble finding full-time
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positions. And that's put a strain on people. I talked to immigrants from Africa. And they're
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essentially getting peace work. And it's very stressful for them. We turn that to, and Lancaster
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kind of the tourist hasn't won't come yet till springtime. I appreciate that. But the shopping
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in Costco, you say that that is more intense than it has been. That's a good sign, Jim.
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Yeah, it's a very good sign, but it has happened right before the war. So the war lifts spending.
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It also lifts inflation. It lifts the national debt, requiring possibly higher taxes. So it's a
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mixed bag, I think. But fortunately, before the war, things had picked up substantially here
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in my view, in my, you know, what I was seeing. Right. And if we get a ceasefire, they'll pick up
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again. I note that you don't have to say more than $91 and change for a barrel of West Texas oil
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to get everybody's attention that things are not going well. Let's go to a piece of history, however.
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I learned from a new book that I'm reading. I'm going to talk to the author Ed Larson.
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The book isn't out of declaring independence. It's about the year 1776. And during that year,
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the British forces commanded by General Howe made a decision to move from New York
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that they'd easily conquered, although half the city had been burned by
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accident or orders of the retreating Hutton on the troops. They conquered New York easily.
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So they decided that they'd take Philadelphia for the winter of it. And that man in 1776,
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the Congress was sitting in Philadelphia and had to run for their lives. And they spent one day
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at Lancaster County. And that was the capital of the United of the Confederate States of the colonies
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for one day in 1776. Mr. McTeg, you've never mentioned, is there a statue of the one
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signatory of the Declaration of Independence that would be George Ross from Lancaster?
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Is there a plaque on the wall anywhere where Congress set for a day?
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Now remember, I moved up here in 2020. So I continue to feel like a tourist. And I've been to
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downtown Lancaster multiple times. I've never seen any kind of a plaque like that.
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It's almost like we have no memory of the revolutionary war. I mean, you know,
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Lancaster during the Civil War, prior to the Civil War, we were a big stop on the underground railroad.
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And so most of the history looking backwards seems to stop at the Civil War.
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Yes, you have a big soldiers and sailors monument in the middle of town. That's the Civil War.
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Yeah. And Gap, which I mentioned, which out near the air, there was a famous incident about 10
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years before the Civil War, where a southerner from Earl and came to reclaim his runaway slaves.
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And they killed him. They shot him. And the perpetrators fled to Canada. And some quakers were
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arrested by the US government and tried for treason and acquitted. So it's sort of a civil war
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mine set up here, as opposed to anything earlier. Well, you're in the capital of the United States
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for one day. And that's not a insignificant achievement. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, George Ross is
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the name of the man who signed the declaration. And he turns out to have been the uncle of another
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Ross. We know immediately when I say our first name was Betsy. Jim McTay, I'm John Batchler.
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