MidDays with Gerard Gibert 2026-10-06

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Get ready to go beyond the headlines and join a meaningful conversation with people from around the state. You're listening to MidDays with Gerard Gibert here on SuperTalk Mississippi.

Gerard Gibert (1:01)

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to MidDays, SuperTalk Mississippi. I'm your host, Gerard Gibert, along with Rhino in the Hellelman Wealth Studio, guiding you through the middle of your day with facts, fodder, and fine music. Morning there, Rhino.

Rhino (1:18)

Howdy, howdy.

Gerard Gibert (1:19)

All right, what about this weather system that's spinning around out in the Gulf? It looks like it might result in a little rain across the Magnolia state coming in for the weekend. What's up with that?

Rhino (1:34)

Yeah, it looks like they've pushed it back a little bit from the forecast yesterday. The forecast yesterday had stuff moving into the Magnolia state about mid-Friday afternoon.

And now it looks like it might come in on Friday, but it's going to really be here Saturday and into Sunday. Geez.

Gerard Gibert (1:54)

Across the whole state, mainly the south?

Rhino (1:56)

Mainly the south and central Mississippi, but if the storm stays strong enough, we could very easily just keep on trundling north.

Gerard Gibert (2:04)

Man, oh man.

It's October. We're supposed to have weather like today, although it's a little warm for October, I would say, but it's early October. And we got the Mississippi State Fair opening up. That's not good to have rain at the fair. It's coming in, is that Thursday, when it launches, I believe?

Rhino (2:21)

But the rain will be bringing in some cooler temperatures, which is just in time for the fair.

Gerard Gibert (2:26)

Yeah, exactly. That's what makes the fair. It's kind of the first little bit of sweater weather, as they say. So, okay, shoot. Well, we had a pretty robust discussion yesterday about the price of diesel and gas and what potentially government can do about it. And the primary option government has, of course, is to adjust taxes. So we pay excise taxes to the federal government and to the state government here in Mississippi on every gallon of gasoline and on on-road diesel. Off-road diesel, however, so-called dyed red diesel, is exempt from the tax. And we teased yesterday that we thought the president was going to make an announcement concerning the federal excise tax on diesel later in the day. And sure enough, he did.

He signed an executive order yesterday to expand access to tax-exempt diesel. He did that, by the way, from a rally stage in the Cornhuskers state of Nebraska. So diesel, which hit a record of about $6.52 last month, this is a huge problem going into the midterms. There's no question about that. And of course, control of Congress is at stake there. So it looks like that this executive order directs the Treasury Secretary.

I'm not really sure I understand this one, Rhino, but the report is, in consultation with the Pentagon. What's that got to do with anything?

To quote, to defer payment of the federal excise tax imposed for on-road use of died diesel fuel for the remainder of the year. That's the other critical piece I failed to mention, is that this is a 90-day deal without interest or penalty. So it's collected at the state level, and then it's sent up to the federal government. And to also explore pathways to eliminate the obligation to pay the deferred taxes. Well, we should point out that the taxes are being deferred. Just means, okay, you don't have to pay us now.

So I don't know, I just can't imagine that, okay, you didn't collect it for 90 days, and then you got to go back and pay it. I just don't see that happen. So I think the federal government, and remember, they got unlimited supply of money. The budget is of no concern, and they should say the amount of money that is coming in is of no concern relative to the amount going out. If it were, we wouldn't be producing two trillion dollar deficits. It's hard to even wrap your head around that. So the order, it's a pretty short order. I read it last night, and by the way, I was in Tate County last night for their annual Tate County Republican Club banquet. Well done. Congratulations to the Tate County folks, to the people there. And en route. Actually, just about the time we parked up on the campus of Northwest Mississippi Community College. What a great community college. All of them are great. We're so blessed in Mississippi. I received a note from Mike McCormick, who we've shared before. He's been on the program many times. He, of course, the president of Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation. He sent me, he told us last week, you're ever going to get some guidance out of Washington this week. That being this week, and sure enough, we did. And this is it. And he sent me a copy of the link to the executive order signed by the president. But it directs, does the order, the US. Agriculture Secretary, that would be Brooke Rollins, to, quote, ensure farmers access to died diesel in high-demand areas. I don't know what that means, exactly. High-demand areas. While asking the Transportation Secretary to coordinate with states' industry leadership and labor organizations. There's some logistical challenges here on access to the died diesel. It's expected that all this behind the scenes preparation will last for the duration of this week, and hopefully, the actual order itself, waiving or allowing died diesel to be used, and thus not paying the excise tax, goes into effect sometime this weekend.