WayneS

Buffett's BNI Purchase: Bearish Bet on the Economy?

If our new government is commited to stopping global warming, they will have to stop all long distance trucking and force companies to use railroads. Railroads are at least three times more efficient than trucks.

Exxon Mobil: Further into Oil Sands

XOM is probably using their small footprint method with a couple of dozen wells per pad.
Pumping steam into shallow wells causes more damage to the tubing than damage to the environment. I would bet that XOM has/is developing a better method to extract the tar. I would suggest using CO2, it is a great solvent. In the 70's, I worked on research for New Mexico's tar sands, using microbes to convert the tar into pumpable crude.
If it wasn't profitable, safe and environmentally-neutral, XOM wouldn't be there. Remember Colorado shale in the 80's

Oil: Supply and Demand? Hardly!

Gas stations have never made money selling gasoline. American refineries have lost money this quarter. We drivers waste 25-40% of the gasoline we buy. The price at the gas pump needs to go up so we can learn to use less gasoline and maybe help to stop our reliance on foreign oil.


On Nov 01 09:37 AM The Greatest Rip Off of our Time wrote:

> Crude inventories are rising, gas inventories are rising, so why
> does the price at the pump keep going up?
> Every American need’s to call, write, fax and email their representative
> ASAP and ask these same questions! Where will the world be when the
> oil industry has all the money? The current world depression will
> not heal as long as fuel cost continues to escalate. The cost of
> fuel is the corner stone of any recovery because it affects every
> aspect of the world’s economy. It is so simple, just get off oil
> and start keeping our $25 Billion a month that we spend on foreign
> oil here at home to rebuild our economy. Our government has way too
> much oil money in it and Congress needs term limits. Where is the
> investigation into the oil and gas industry?

Why Exxon Should Significantly Increase its Dividend

In the early 80's, Exxon, instead of buying back shares, was hiring hundreds of people per month and investing in every alternative energy they could. All of a sudden, the bottom fell out of crude prices. 300,000 people within 100 miles of my house lost their jobs. My house was worth 10% of what I owed. My interest rate was 15.5%. What if, (since 2000) the oil business had followed the banks in investing in risky ventures? It took Exxon 20 years to recuperate. I'm glad I kept all of my 81-85 stock.


On Oct 09 10:07 AM bindlepete wrote:

> Is Exxon playing a game of low dividend =low stock price = more shares
> bought into their treasury? Is this manipulation? Is this good business
> and if so for whom? Management and their personal holdings until
> they decide to bump it and get out?

How Much Natural Gas Remains in the USA?

If you want to make some hydraulic frac fluid for Halloween, go to a drug store. In the the diet or food additive areas, buy a product that is mostly hydroxyethylcellulose. Put about 3-5% by weight water in a Waring Blender and "blend" for several minutes. Let it sit overnight. Turn the blender on slow and add boric acid (also found at the drug store) until it crosslinks.
If you pour 40% of this fluid out of a cup and then turn the cup back up, the fluid will flow back into the cup. It's good for ghostbusters slime and fake snot too.

The Energy Efficiency Paradox

The purpose of subsidies is to raise tax revenues. For every dollar of subsidy the government reneges on, they will lose 5-50 dollars of tax revenue.
Most refineries don't use outside energy, they make their own from previously wasted heat.
Vehicles that get greater than 30 mpg have been around for 50+ years. People want intimidating vehicles, not transportation.
Everyone is capable of saving at least a thousand dollars a year with efficiency, but choose not to save.

Any change to the status quo will be a hard sell.

The Economic Impact of the G20 Ending Oil Subsidies

A subsidy is not money given to a tax payer, it is an adjustment to the taxes paid. It is a socialist policy. It is not under the jurisdiction of law. Tax them the maximum amount they can pay without going under. With "Big Oil", the difference between subsidy and no subsidy is 3%. If they lose subsidies, they will just move to where there is profit (overseas). For the 500 other oil companies in the U.S., this would mean bankrupcy and loss of millions of jobs. For the IRS, this would mean loss of $Trillions of revenue .
Polosi's idea of double-taxing "American Big Oil companies" is a better plan, except that is illegal at this time.

The Middle Ground with Global Warming

Be careful Fred. This has been Exxon's take on "Global Warming" since 1985 and they were vilified for it.


On Aug 20 10:24 AM Fred W wrote:

> The REAL answer is that we DON'T know the answer. But you must ask
> yourself, "What is the penalty for being wrong?" On one side of the
> coin you have the possible downside of dramatically slow economic
> growth and large shift toward efficiently using of resources.
> On the other side of the coin you have the potential for global catastrophe
> and the beginning of another dark age.
> There are no credit default swaps to hedge global warming--no-bail
> outs possible. If it happens, we are stuck with the carnage.
> So, do you feel lucky?
> OR are you just planning on dieing before any of the real downside
> risk shows up?

Are We Headed for a Green World or Business-as-Usual?

Clean and Green are only feel-good, advertising words. "Alternative" energy projects need to stand on their own merit without hype.

Prospects for Electric Cars

"Why drill, when there is oil (and natural gas) filling every available storage facility on the planet, with wells being shut down (and refineries soon to follow) in order to keep retail prices high."

David. Actually, retail prices are extremely low. If it weren't for taxes....
This glut is just a temporary thing. Just wait, people love to waste money on their vehicles. It is an extension of their "wannabe" psyche. Electric cars are not intimidating and will be a hard sell to the vast majority. I hope electric cars do become economically feasible. I plan on my next vehicle to be electric.

Global Warming: Investment Implications

Maybe the acidification of the oceans is because there is over a hundred undersea active volcanos that weren't around fifty years ago. Maybe they're heating up the water.


On Aug 20 11:46 AM redavenger wrote:

> How do you reject the fact of ocean acidification (de-alkalinization)
> due to C02 absorption? Or do you also cavalierly dismiss this dire
> threat to the world ecosystem? Or are you even aware of it in your
> smug complacency?

The Middle Ground with Global Warming

I always get a lot of "negative comment"s when I suggest conservation. It saves the consumer money, but then no one can make money off of the consumer with their product that will save the Earth (and line their pockets).

The Middle Ground with Global Warming

If global warming was a real threat wouldn't we:
Immediately stop all races and tractor pulls etc
Slow down and quit tailgating (average person wastes $1k/year)
Carpool (I saved a minimum $75K over 28 year).
Use only local trucks (railroad 3X more efficient)
Quit building our homes at sea level. (Up 1000% over last 10 yrs)

Raising gasoline taxes would also help Healthcare "crisis" Last year $4/gal gasoline saved 1700 lives and billions in hospital/ rehabiltation/doctor/auto repair/road repair costs.

Good article.

Global Warming: Investment Implications

CO2 absorbs heat when released from a pressurized tank.
CO2 absorbs heat when it sublimates (dry ice to gaseous CO2).
Water absorbs heat when it evaporates (when you sweat or in evaporative coolers).
The CO2 that I exhale doesn't absorb heat (unless it's over 100 degrees out).

Cap-and-Trade: The Only Alternative to EPA's Power Grab?

It's too late to get into the cap and trade money making scheme.
What's the next scheme?
This article does explain how the rest of the planets are going through global warming without our help.
Carbon capture has been going on for 30-40 years. You pump CO2 into a carbonate formation. The CO2 reacts with the carbonates to make bicarbonates. You pump down more CO2, the bicarbonates precipitate out to a solid.