Memorial Day . . . I am sure everyone is out cooking burgers and hot dogs except in the desert where the temperature is triple digit. And what is this old Marine Sergeant gonna do? Certainly not get out in the heat. I will drink a beer to honor the friends I lost and in the silence of my home. No parades, no John Wayne movies, just silence and thinking of the times I drank a beer with them. Robert Reich has an interesting commentary up about...
Read More »I am In the Business of History. It is not Always a Happy Subject . . .
Can you spare 21 minutes of your time? [embedded content] Ken Burns, H’24 Keynote Address to Brandeis University’s 2024 Graduates, youtube.com.Some easy listening . . . Tags: Ken Burns
Read More »IEA Global Electricity Statistical Analysis February 2024
The IEA report covers a February-to-February timeframe 2023 – 2024. When the IEA speaks of evolution, they are reviewing the OECD usage and direction for 13 months. There is a brief summation in the beginning for Fossil Fuel. Renewable Sources, and Nuclear power production. The charts tell the rest of the story for the OECD associated countries. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Electricity Production, IEA (2024), Monthly...
Read More »Decisive Rejection of an Economic Orthodoxy Dominating American Policy for nearly Half a Century
Nice Evening Read. I am not a big believer in tariffs. However, as it is today and from the seventies, domestic companies have relocated to countries to escape avoid associated Labor and Domestic costs prevalent in the United States. Cost such as healthcare, OT, work conditions, Workman’s Comp, SS, etc. and there are issues such as child labor, etc. It is purposeful avoidance I am hoping the tariffs will apply to those companies as well as...
Read More »The U.S. government is draining 42 million gallons of gasoline from its reserves
by Melvin Blackman QUARTZ Last week? We were talking about market manipulation at the business level and also the state level. The industry intended to cut production so as to maintain prices if California capped prices. California was putting a new program in place to regulate pricing. An AZ state rep was going to California to ask them not to pass the bill. All are forms of market manipulation and one oil industry person did not like what I...
Read More »February 2024, total net Electricity production
The good news is electricity productivity is up. Natural gas is fueling the productivity increase in the Americas while its usage decreased globally. Coal usage is down. Too bad Manchin did not move West Virginia to better economics. Fossil fuels are still a large part of the production of electricity. In February 2024, the total net electricity production in total OECD reached 869.1 TWh, marking a 2.3% increase compared to the same period last...
Read More »BP Softens tone on 2030 oil output cut to reassure investors
by Ron Bousso Reuters A brief on what BP is doing. My guess is they are going to cut output to drive the market. It could be that other oil companies could fill the gap or move with BP. However, they prefer trump in office so making Biden look bad is a realistic plan for them. Their attorneys are already writtening the executive orders. Speaking to Reuters on Tuesday after BP announced $2.7 billion in first quarter profits, CEO Auchincloss...
Read More »Generic Drugs Antitrust Case
Pharma companies providing pharmaceuticals exclusive to them have vast amounts of control in availability and or pricing. Either can result in increased costs to the patient. Economist Timothy Taylor reviews one particular instance with Teva Pharmaceuticals. Collaboration with other companies to control pricing appears to be Teva’s Director of Strategic Customer Marketing Nisha Patel’s strong suits. by Timothy Taylor Conversable Economist...
Read More »Weekly Indicators May 6 – 10 by New Deal democrat
Weekly Indicators for May 6 – 10 at Seeking Alpha – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. The majority of short leading and coincident indicators continue to show strength rather than weakness. This week it was commodity prices’ turn to show that the global economy is getting stronger. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the virtual moment as to the economic data, and reward me with...
Read More »Oil industry is Writing Executive Orders for Trump to Sign
In preparation for a renewed reign of the insurrectionist, energy sources and their associations are writing up executive orders to reverse much of what Pres. Joe Biden has done over 4 years. If you recall, the same was done after Barack Obama left the presidency. Many or most of Obama’s initiatives were reversed by an incoming president who would have trouble writing a paragraph much less an executive order. A bit different in the latter as it took...
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