The U.S. has tumbled further down a global ranking of the world's most competitive economies, landing at fifth place because of its huge deficits and declining public faith in government, a global economic group said Wednesday.Something tells me this won't be discussed on "Hardball" (MSNBC) tonight.
The announcement by the World Economic Forum was the latest bad news for the Obama administration, which has been struggling to boost the sinking U.S. economy and lower an unemployment rate of more than 9 percent.
But amid all of these is a multibillion-dollar disaster it seems no one's talking about — a massive flood engorging the Missouri River Valley that began in June, stretched through more than a half-dozen states and may last until October.
Hundreds of thousands of acres have been flooded or damaged, including some of the nation’s best farmland along the river’s floodplains in northwestern Missouri, which were expected to yield gorgeous crops of corn and soy before the waters came. Iowa faces tens of millions of dollars to repair I-29, one of the state’s main arteries for interstate traffic. Damage to levees and dams could reach $1 billion.A couple of comments:
The President will roll out a jobs package on Thursday that strives to lift the ailing economy through roughly $300 billion worth of tax credits, school renovation projects, job training for the unemployed, and a program to prevent layoffs of school teachers, according to a person familiar with the administration’s plans.This school year has already started; this will do nothing for the economy for the next nine months, but if passed, the program will kick in next summer during the height of the campaign. I assume a lot of new schools and school additions will be named and renamed.
Williams announced today it plans to increase the annual dividend on its common stock by 25 percent, to $1.00 per share. The company also outlined a new dividend policy that supports continued 10 to 15 percent annual dividend growth.
The dividend increase announced today is effective with Williams' quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share to be paid in December 2011. The new, $0.25 quarterly dividend is double what the company paid in December 2010. Most recently, the company had paid a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share.
Williams' new dividend policy supports continued high payouts. The company plans to pay out substantially all of the distributions it receives from Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE:WPZ - News). Longer term, the company expects its Midstream Canada & Olefins segment to contribute significantly to dividend growth. In the near term, Williams plans to reinvest Midstream Canada & Olefins cash flows in attractive growth projects.
Williams also is providing 2011-13 segment profit and capital expenditure guidance that reflects the separation of the company's exploration and production business. See the full chart below.
"The significant dividend increase and our new dividend policy underscore our active transformation of Williams into a high-dividend, high-growth energy infrastructure company," said Alan Armstrong, president and chief executive officer.
Near the muddy banks of Hay Creek, a popular trout stream, are significant bluffs covered with a hardwood forest of oak, bass wood and black cherry trees.The picture is at the link.
Underneath the forested land is an increasingly valuable resource called “frac” sand, highly sought after for its size and strength. With perfectly round grains that look like brown sugar crystals, the sand is ideal for the oil and natural gas industry, which uses it to extract fuel from underground rock in a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Those who follow my articles would know I like EOG Resources as a large cap investment. There are plenty of reasons to be bullish on this company, but most importantly it established positions in the best U.S. unconventional plays early and cheap. EOG has a large number of drilling rigs to work these plays, and it is moving these rigs to liquids acreage from lower margin gas. The last reason to like EOG has to do with working interest. When companies like Chesapeake (CHK) are selling non-operated portions of its leaseholds, EOG is maintaining full interest. It is planning to do this while maintaining less than 30% debt to cap ratio.Mr Filloon never disappoints; another nice article for investors in the Bakken.