It has its problems but America really is great

Greetings from sunny LA. It’s mid-morning and the temperature must be in the mid 20s. Sometimes there are benefits from being a well-known(?) WP columnist. There was I and my good wife boarding the Aer Lingus flight Dublin direct to LAX when, at the top of the boarding stairs, I was hauled to one side by Audrey who was to be part of the team to look after the passengers destined for LA. Audrey, in best Aer Lingus hostess fashion, welcomed the pair of us on behalf of the pilot Capt Damian Leonard. Now, I hadn’t a clue who was going to be the pilot, but I was pleased that I had been welcomed by the man in charge of the behemoth that is the Airbus 330-200 to LAX. Not surprisingly I jumped to the conclusion that he must be one of the Leonards of Lahardane, so I asked Audrey to check. In a jiffy she returned with her Capt in tow and I discovered that this Capt Leonard was a Dub, now living in Cork and had no Lahardane connections. But he had been requested to look after us and so began the pleasant experience of the long haul up over Greenland (I can see why Mr Trump would want his hands on this frozen outpost) down through Canada, over the Rockies and on to LAX.

There’s nothing very pleasant about an eleven-hour flight, but needs must. I’d been to Los Angeles airport previously, but it has changed and is currently in a state of flux as Los Angeles prepares for the World Cup and the Olympics (2028). Son number 1 was there to greet us and take us to our base in Long Beach where the process of overcoming the jet lag commenced.

It is early days yet as I sus out how the people of the US view the world. So far, it seems to me, the people are concerned with the same issues as people in Ireland and at the forefront of their minds right now it is the price of gas at the pumps. I would not have any statistics to back up my observation, but it would seem to me that there are more cars in Los Angeles than any other city in the world. There are roads going here, there and everywhere and there are three or four lines of cars chasing at breakneck (to my mind) speed to the ends of these roads. Where all the cars and trucks are going to is something of a mystery, but what is not at issue is the fact that the cars don’t move without gas. US drivers are used to gas at a reasonable price but they have been ripped off and, no more than in Ireland, they have concluded that the retailers are doing the price gouging which is a little bit unfair when you consider that Netanyahu and Trump started the war that gave rise to the increased cost of oil. Having said that, I have not seen any noticeable decrease in the traffic flows in this town.

I hear that our esteemed Minister for Finance has taken action and has reduced the excise duty on fuel at home. The cut is temporary and will remain in place until the end of May. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth but now is a good time for motorists (not the petrol retailers or the fuel industry) to tell the government that the taxes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil are excessive and the well-oiled Irish economy can do with less income from Irish motorists who are already hard pressed taxpayers in most instances. It is time for a motor lobby, representing the motorists, not hauliers, not fuel retailers nor fuel distributors, to tell the government enough is enough. Cut the excise duty to reasonable levels and do away with the need to provide expensive short-term remedies such as fuel allowances to people in need of help. Get some focus and get a grip and get rid of daft measures introduced to save the planet. Irish action will not save the planet.

But to get back to Long Beach. I have not seen any indication of unrest in this city. Long Beach is a city within the city of Los Angeles and is looking exceedingly prosperous. I’m sure there is poverty to be found and homelessness, but I have not found it yet. The Port of Long Beach butts up against the Port of Los Angeles and together they make the biggest and busiest port in the world. Most everything in the US is developed on a big scale and of course Long Beach Port is no exception. It can deal quite efficiently with the largest container vessels afloat. One can understand why Mr Trump thinks America is a great country. It is a great country, but that is not a reason to ride roughshod over every other country in the world.

What exercises my curiosity when I look around me is how oil producing platforms can sit quite easily off the Port of Long Beach and nobody is exercised about the impact on the visual aspect. In Los Angeles itself you can see oil derricks bobbing up and down, pumping oil in built up areas as you drive along the freeway. You can see huge power plants, some in a state of renovation, quietly residing alongside built-up areas and shopping malls. There does not seem to be anything out of the ordinary in such incongruity. Imagine trying to get planning permission for an oil derrick pumping oil in built-up Ireland!

And so, to more important matters. While Ireland was exiting the World Cup and Ireland’s hype bubble was being burst, I was in Dodger’s Stadium for the 2026 opening of the World Baseball Series. No more than the hype around Ireland’s world cup ambitions, the baseball world series is a bit of a contradiction seeing as how only the US and Canada (one team) take part. The Dodgers are the champions and going for a threepeat (note, not a repeat! the Americans do things differently). Dodgers Stadium was the place to be on Thursday afternoon and 40,000 Los Angeles denizens turned out to see the champions make the first defense of their title against Arizona Diamondbacks. All the razzmatazz that one associates with the Superbowl was on display, admittedly at a more muted level, in the Stadium with the most famous basketballer ever, Magic Johnson, given the honour of (symbolically) pitching the first ball while the American national anthem was performed with great passion by Gospel singer Keith Williams (jnr) while two US Airforce Thunderbirds, looking very much like inky black stealth bombers, flew past in a stadium-filling blast of noise that shook the place into a frenzy of patriotic emotion. And the emotion was further stoked during the game when a veteran of World War 11, Army Sergeant Joseph Pietroforte was introduced to the crowd. There was a standing ovation for the 107-year-old. As I said, the US does things differently and does things well.

The Dodgers, as was expected, won the game 3-0. I was introduced to the intricacies and skills of the game with a commentary by LA lawyer Ken Roberts and now, with some understanding of baseball, I’ll be back.