timco42

California's Next Growth Period: Will Oil Be Part of the Picture?

I live near Los Angeles. As soon as is practical I am leaving the state. California has put itself in a non-recoverable position (if one is comparing its future to its past), and all the king's horses and all the king's men cannot put Humpty together again. The suicidal denial of energy needs and resource availablity is only part of what will doom this place to a long twilight of nostalgia for a vanished standard of living and a future of certain decline. I hope the rest of the country for once will decline the invitation to Californicate itself.

Bullish Picture for Energy Once Economy Picks Up

Well said. The urge to trade mental independence for social acceptance has ruined most of North American society. What problem do we now face that hasn't had a thousand-mile visibility? Incredible. The Americans who could plan long-term are all gone, fatigued by the inane (and successful) prattling by political opportunists who will solve everybody's problems in time to catch the end of the sitcom, while out there in the night, the tireless Chinese are writing contracts (for petroleum) all over the world...

Why Is China Stockpiling Oil?

(We) Americans have completely lost the ability to plan long-term. The Chinese have played us like fiddles, and as much as it grinds me to say it, are displaying a superior grasp of geopolitical realities than we are. Oh well...our national comeuppance should make for riveting television. Oprah will have 20 more years of grist for her billion- dollar mill.

Boeing May Get a Second Shot at Large Tanker Contract

Boeing is the last remaining manufacturer in the US of large multi-engine jet aircraft, airliner-based platforms, suitable for evolution into tanker format. McDonnell Douglas, Convair, Lockheed, all either failed in their airliner product lines or were amalgamated into Boeing itself. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to behave as McCain has done, in pretending that there is a viable US manufacturer other than Boeing for tankers in 2008. And stop the ridiculous nonsense about Airbus tankers being "assembled" in Alabama. They would be in such a state of near-completion (by European workers) that they will be flown to the US for interior fitment, as Dassault has done for years with its line of Falcon bizjets.

Oil, Iraq and U.S. Foreign Policy: A Way Forward

Can someone please show me where the US "steals" oil? We are supposedly notorious for "stealing" other countries' resources, so why are we shelling out trillions for same? HELLO? And I seriously wish the apologists for the likes of Chavez would find a new set of excuses for his behavior. And I wonder why paragons of social justice like Russia, China, Venezuela and Iran seem to have almost nobody desperate to sneak in illegally, hmm. Strange, only the country in COMPLETE and TOTAL DISARAY, the US, has that overwhelming issue.

Chevron, Exxon Should Focus on International Production

Nicely put. In California, where I am, all one needs to say to cause screeching and flailing is "Drill for oil off the coast." And, of course, at the same time, we pay the highest gasoline costs in the country. A hallmark of our idiotic age is the mental disconnect between cause-and-effect, and a childlike addiction to magical thinking. Don't bother me with details, it's someone else like Big Oil that's causing all my problems, or maybe it's just The Rich? We Americans refuse many things, including being sensible about energy usage and production, and perhaps this time we will not escape the piper who waits to be paid.

Why Investment Banking Mergers Are Doomed To Fail

Excellent points. As a retail mutual fund shareholder for 20 years, I have experienced the failures of big-fish-swallowing-li... amalgamation, after which the original successful managers leave, the brand value is debauched out of existence, etc. With rare exceptions, the name of the game seems to be asset-gathering, as banks integrate investment managers willy-nilly, and somehow the promised economies of scale never materialize for the lowest on the rung of priorities, the small investors who buy into this process!

God Told Me The Market Will Crash Soon - Pat Robertson

Robertson is a nauseating figure, with no more religious value than that potted plant in the corner.