A Windmill on Every Corner? Ha!

I have heard Conservatives say that Progressives want "a Windmill on every corner! Ha!"

So? Maybe you've noticed that in some parts of town we have a Gas Station on every corner. Is that some how better? But, windmills? On every block? Don't know?

You'd have to be a jingo imperialist to dismiss out-of-hand efforts at energy conservation by other nations, right? Especially the poor, "can't afford to pay up" third-world economies or, say, economies like China?

Here's how China is dealing with energy costs and availability: a windmill on every street lamp. Scroll down on that page if you missed it - picture after picture of real, live Chinese technology - free energy and improved standard of living for the Citizens of the People's Republic. In these photos is home-grown Chinese technology locally engineered and produced just like, well, like the Model-T.

Why can't America seem to "get" the advantage of this? Are we just too proud to use free fuel, or what? How does that last paragraph make you feel? I'll share how it makes me feel - like we'd better get CAUGHT UP over here!

Toyota Motors can't build the Prius Hybrid fast enough; is moving production to the US to try to meet demand. Ford and GM lose Billions and Billions every year; lay off tens of thousands; close plants; advertise "very limited" quantities of their brand of hybrid electrics that get 2 mpg better fuel economy than their gas models (source: Saturn website). Are we, as Americans, proud of that astonishing record by our grossly overpaid and over-rated Automotive Executive Heads of American Industry?

I, for one, am tired of America looking The Fool in the worlds of Industry and Technology. Are you?

Why do Conservatives ridicule the notion of wind power? [Try this - say it laughingly for the proper effect: "a windmill on every corner?".]

Even T. Boone Pickens is into it now.

Who has the Leadership skills and Vision to go to Washington and catch this country up with the rest of the world?

- JT

To The Highest Bidder - BusinessWeek

Free Markets.

Long revered as the single best way to grow jobs, profits, wealth for all (trickle down), and to insure the enduring success of corporations (and consequently, you) - free markets.

Less regulation with hands-off policies yields benefits for all.

And where could this be MORE obvious than in the struggle today over new oil drilling on our coastal shelves and Alaska? So, all the more SURPRISE that BusinessWeek would come out with an Emperor Wearing No Clothes piece this week on that very topic.

BusinessWeek cites reports that opening disputed areas to new drilling today would take until 2025 to impact world production BY ONE PERCENT! I'm no Macro-Economist, but I got a hunch that a 1% increase in production, especially 17 years out, would be like well, a drop in the bucket. Plus, I don't really have 17 years to wait for an impact on my fuel bills.

Do you?

What else did BusinessWeek report? Well, how about:

But while companies and their lobbyists are gunning for access, there's no guarantee they'd ultimately produce more fossil fuels. First, seismic exploration data have not been updated for more than a quarter century, and extensive testing would be required before companies made decisions on capital allocations. And any oil that is recovered would go into the global marketplace — not directly into U.S. consumers' cars.”

OUCH - oil would go into global markets?

That seems wrong. (Of course, John McCain thinks that's OK - he voted against retaining new US Oil Production for US Consumers.)

So, let's recap - BusinessWeek says a 1% improvement is 17 years away, the new oil would go to the highest bidder (like, oh, China?). What else?

Well, how about why this would take so long? They said it would "require years of extensive seismic research before a single rig could operate".

Finally, they reported:

If the oil ever does flow from U.S. coastal areas, its ultimate destination offers another wrinkle to the issue. Crude oil sloshes around a vast global marketplace, where energy producers aim to secure the best price. That means U.S.-sourced crude could be sold anywhere a consumer is willing to pay more. Former Vice-President Al Gore, who opposes lifting the moratorium [on new off-shore drilling], raised that point at a July 17 news conference on energy policy. "You take an oil deposit right off the coast of California—that's more likely to be sold to China" - said Gore.

So, my final question for you: is Gore really so much smarter than everybody else to see through these things, or, is everybody else too dumb (or too "interested" - read: financially motivated) to report the obvious?

Tell ya, I gotta hand it to BusinessWeek - the Emperor really IS bare-assed.

Other interesting topics:

One Commenter on this story says: "I'd rather we sell oil to China than see them burn more polluting coal." Shezz.

Then, there's the whole refinery thing - that being: there's really no place in the US to refine more oil (into Gasoline) - Oil Companies have been reducing Refinery capacity to "control costs", resulting in less production. Net-net, we import Gasoline as well as Oil into the US.

All of which leads me to conclude that this is a Stinking Mess that needs some better leadership in Washington than we've had in the last 25 years.

- JT

(See entire story.)

Ghost of Enron?

John McCain has a new campaign ad attempting to tie high gas prices to Barack Obama. This is thin ice for McCain - as reported today on MS-NBC, during his three decades of "work" in the US Senate, his Energy Voting record includes voting AGAINST production from new oil wells in the US being earmarked exclusively for US Markets.

Did I lose you? That is, John McCain COULD NOT SUPPORT legislation to save US Oil from US Lands for US People. Hmmm.

Oh, McCain did also have the distinction of voting against numerous alternative energy initiatives. (Now, he didn't bother to vote AT ALL on the latest GI Bill, but that's another blog.)

So, as I say, trying to attribute blame to Obama ... that is a stretch but, well, maybe they think their supports won't really, well ... realize?

So, where can we attribute some blame for this ballooning oil price trend? Well, of course, there is the demand thing - rising ever, rising globally. But, there is also some overhang from legislative action pushed by (yup) Gramm and Co. (see previous post). Here's an overview -



That's all I have time for on this Oil thing today - there's just too much more to talk about. For example, this (77,000 petition signatures and counting as of 7/21/2008).



- JT

One Hundred to One - Once in a Life-Time Chance!

One Hundred to One - What an Opportunity!?!

Some people are making a killing on IMB (IndyMac Bancorp) these days. Your $10,000 invested a year ago could be worth well over $1,000,000 today. Only problem: you had to bet AGAINST IndyMac (go Short) a year ago to make this 100x money.

A year ago, IMB was trading for $31.00. Today it closed at $0.12 (yes, twelve cents) - down another 50+% from Friday's close of $0.28. What an investment (actually 200x)!

Didn't have Failing Financials on your radar a year ago? No problem -

Today, the Financial Sector UltraShort ETF, SKF, was UP over 10% - a nice little one-day return. And that one you might have seen coming! Still more to be made there? Tough to say - but it's clear that some people have done well shorting financial stocks in the past year. A year ago SKF was trading at $71.05. Today it closed at $192.01. Careful - it hasn't been straight up. It was down $41 one day earlier this year.

Tonight, early word from across the globe has foreign markets - Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, So. Korea, all fainting under the exposure they have to US Financials. Can you say World-Wide Do-Do?

Forget for a minute that you have foreign-market exposure in your 401K. Forget that you can't short stocks in your IRA. And set aside that you're not trading your retirement on one-day gains. Forget, too, the 10,000 individuals guilty of trusting IndyMac with more of their money than the $100,000 limit for federally insured funds (your tax dollars at work?).

Then, maybe you can appreciate what Phil Gramm (of Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act fame) must have had in mind when he spearheaded the Financial Deregulation of 1999. He pushed a left-for-dead bill across the finish line late while most of Washington and the Nation were glued to the Supreme Court's commandeering of Florida's Presidential Election results. The regulatory protection of the overturned Glass-Steagall Act had held America's financial institutions out of such trouble since the bank panics of the Great Depression in the 1930's.

I can recall as a youngster my Father, now 88, telling me of those dark days with wide eyes and stern tone - "The money was gone! There was nothing left!" I guess that's how IndyMac's depositors felt this past weekend.

Gramm himself says "I see no evidence whatsoever" that the subprime collapse was caused by this deregulation. Gramm has some strong support for his position. After he set the financial community a twitter with plenty of rope, he left the US Senate and went to USB. USB has since lost a reported $38 Billion (so far) on the subprime collapse. They still like this guy that gave them all that rope.

So does John McCain. I watched in amazement the video on MS-NBC of a McCain rally with McCain handing off the microphone to Phil Gramm - already on stage with McCain. This, so Gramm could explain the economic plan they have in store for us.

Maybe we ain't seen nothin' yet. Perhaps there's still time to place your bets.

How can these guys be so wrong? Gramm with a plan for his company's shareholders to lose $38 Billion of their assets? McCain with no capability to discriminate economic skill from obviously flawed and, now, woefully irresponsible ideology.

But most of all, what about the Voting Public that has this team running nearly dead even with Obama - a man who's main objective is a total change from all this on our behalf?

Oh. That's right. Bush won twice. That explains a lot. That, and, some people just can't get enough of these latest stock market gains, I guess.

JT