bindlepete

Are Coal Stocks Heating Up?

Lot of coal for export piling up in Baltimore when I drove through today. More than I have ever seen before all north of the tunnel. I wonder who is buying? How much in Newport News or Southern Virginian seaports.

Public Passion Drives Pay Czar to Arbitrarily Slash 175 Top Salaries

The bigger scam ?

Lets look for low interest loans in lieu of pay and bonuses which will be forgiven when the heat is off. This defers taxes on the cash until tghe loans are forgiven down the track.

As I REMEMBER GS GAVE THESE LOANS ABOUT A YEAR BACK TO CARRY OVER THEIR BONUS FREE EXECUTIVES. I WONDER IF THEY HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN?

How Paulson Gave Goldman the Lehman Heads-Up

You can be sure the NSA has a copy of this phone conversation if they have not destroyed it. Echelon would have picked it up. With all of the crooks that were in the game I suspect they did and likely both Lehman and GS had or have one also.

No one learned the lesson from Bankers Trust.

2009: A Chinese Energy Acquisition Odyssey

I wish I could trust Chinese accounting. Then I can't trust ours either.

California: Leveraged to Gasoline Prices and Nearing the Breaking Point

Time to plan for and Exodus --- but to where? Back to Oklahoma?
Not likely. To the North West I fear.

Toward an Economic Model for Gas-to-Liquid Fuels?

This is a pretty big distortion in that Methane (Ch4) is very easy to turn to a liquid as Methanol (Ch3Oh) by simply partial oxidation with air. Now this is not what jet engine manufacturers prefer but it works well with 15% gasoline in spark ignited engines as M-85.

The gasoline component provides cold starting and lubricity for the injectors.

The Indianapolis cars have been running on methanol since the late 30's as it has a natural octane of about 110 and because of the low flame temperature does not push out NOX's

When Morgan Stanley Almost Died

I can not agree that "these crises come out of nowhere".

They are and were well heralded by phony valuations and over extension of leverage. The deaf and blind should not dance on Rail Road tracks.

However, if they choose to feed the vultures they should do it with their own money or do due dilligence on their counter parties.

Was there any sense of fiduciary responsibility? I would say no.

Gold's Shifting Role as an Investment

Real Gold or Foreign Miners? That is the question.

Either is better than cash --- I think.

Why Exxon Should Significantly Increase its Dividend

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?

When Will Deflation Turn Into Inflation? (And How Quickly?)

Any one who thinks that Foreign Central Banks will buy our Treasuries without a guarantee of repurchase from the Fed or loans that are less than the Treasuries are paying ( could be a discount) are in error.

Our International treasury market is not there in any real sense. No sentient human being wants this paper at these rates.

The market is a fiction we have lost our credit. The paper promise is a bad deal. Bush and the boys destroyed it.

Analyzing Larry Summers

This is post facto fancy dancing to justify a host of major self serving decisions. Greenspan and Clinton started the mess and all to promote their own personal agendas. Rubin and Summers piled in and though their system of market discipline would balance it all out.

But no one was watching the store so Moody's and S&P went along for the buck, the risk of Investment Bankers was transferred to the guaranteed banks derrivatives cma into big time play for other peoples money and personal rewards the BLS took a dive and continued to pervert the statistics. Home mortgages and ownership became a right and then on=ce trouble was snesed forts with LTCM's bail out for fun and friends the blood was in the water and the real sharks came to feed.

HP and his home base GS smelled the blood and bought the oversight gang with threats of catastrophy and threw Basel II out the window and stuck old Aunt Mini with the Bill.

Talk about a "Death Panel" the Rebublicans invented it as they condemned her to a life time of Wal Mart Greeting. with theft and the perversion of the CPI.

Hey there is no end of villians but one honest man left standing- regretably outside the door- Paul Volker.

Is Exxon Betting on $100 Oil?

With the target 7% inflation on the schedule to reduce the help pay off all of our debts $100/ bbl seems like a fair price when this oil begins to flow in 3-4 years.

It surely would not surprise me to see the Chinese use the deflating dollars that they hold to buy in early.

You think Bernanke will even try to reign in the inflation/degradation of the dollar -even if he could. Got a bridge I would like to selll you.

Commodity Trading: Trench Warefare Between Inflationists and Deflationists

Short term defaltion and then after more than compensating inflation.

Now what are the dimensions of short and long term? Up to 2 years and a year or less of rebalancing and away it goes off the charts. IMHO and it is humble.

TARP Sold to Americans Under False Pretenses

Too big to fail? There are some dinosaurs that are too big to live even if proped up.

Is There Really a Global 'Cabal' Aiming to Dump the Dollar?

Believe it China is dumping the US dollar and has been doing so for well over a year. Their mechanism is to sign LT contracts fror raw materials with foreign states such as Russia Brazil Venezuela Nigeria Sudan and so on for materials or assets to be delivered over time but paid for in a fixed US dollar amount.

Thus, they have transferred the risk of inflation to their suppliers who want the money to go to Disneyland or Los Vegas- I guess.
They are not dummies and do not want to reveal the terms of these contracts for fear of destroying the dollar before they shed as many as they can.