Tag Archives: US/Global Economics

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

We are not the typical American car buyers. In 40 years, my wife and I have owned exactly five cars, two of which we still drive: one is 21 years old and just ticked over 100K miles, while the other is 10 years old and will soon hit 50K. But who knows how much longer the 21 year-old Pontiac Vibe will last? When it dies, we’ll consider an EV or hybrid. There are certainly a lot of Teslas on the road, and there are other EVs that are cheaper than...

McDonald’s and other fast-food giants are struggling in the inflation economy. qz.com The inflation economy has come for Fat Food. As I read this, I would look at their costs. They talk about their reductions in Labor. It looks more to me like inventory turns and their investment in it. That is itself could make them more competitive. I would have to take a deeper dive into the industry to figure it out. ~~~~~~~~ Inflation has fallen far...

A while back, I exchanged emails with the International Energy Agency. My goal was to find out what I could present, what I could not present, and also gain permission to utilize their charts and detail. They said yes. The detail here is on EVs in general and what countries are doing the most. As you may expect, China is ahead of the curve. I would say the US is still trying to get it right. I need to look a bit deeper into these reports as there...