Monday Morning Ramblings -- For the Bakken, Skip and Scroll

Updates

June 21, 2012: Yes, I would say the Saudis overshot, misjudged. Oil down to $80 (WTI), may go below $80.

Original Post

Daily ramblings are updated throughout the day.

1. It looks like OPEC overshot the mark when it announced that it would increase production some months ago.

Abdul Kareem Luaibi, who also serves as oil minister of Iraq, said maintaining the price at $100-$120 a barrel was "reasonable and acceptable", ...
Supply from OPEC is running nearly 2 million barrels per day (bpd) above a self-imposed production ceiling of 30 million barrels per day set ... in December.

"It's very clear there is a tremendous surplus that has led to this severe decline in prices in a very short time span," Luaibi told reporters. "This will not serve anyone."

Oil is now trading at about $100 a barrel after falling back from a four-year high of $128 in March.

Saudis like $100 oil. Iraq likes $120 oil. 

2. "Fast and Furious" e-mails did not refer to "Fast and Furious," -- Attny General. Will House hold Holder in contempt?

3. Carpe Diem has been carping on this for as long as I can remember. Finally others are saying the same thing. High college costs can be blamed on ... to Bush? The link takes you to the WSJ.

4. This may be the most interesting note of the day:

Long-term unemployed is a crisis or an emergency according to the New York Times. The story at the link describes a national tragedy. Ideology has resulted in worse recession recovery in history. The president is either beholden to a) socialist beliefs; b) beholden to those around him and has no beliefs of his own; c) truly thinks renewable energy will produce more jobs than the oil and gas industry; and/or d) is in over his head. The article at the link is very, very telling: it's a fairly long article and almost everyone and every government agency is mentioned except two: president, and Obama.

Yes, do a word search at the article at the link. First, "president," and then, "Obama." Neither word/name was in the article when I viewed it, but it could be updated as folks point that out. Let's see if "Republicans" is in the story....word search...word search...yup, "Republicans" near the bottom. But "Democrats" is mentioned even later. In print publishing, if the story is too long to fit the column, editors cut paragraphs starting at the bottom.

I find it strange that the President was not given more credit for all he has done to stem the tide of long-termed unemployed, nor given credit to bringing unemployment down to 8.2%. My hunch is that he was given credit, but it was at the end of the story and got cut because the story was too long.

5. In the news today it was said about US Secretary of Commerce:

As secretary, Bryson has played a role as a member of the president's economic team and has worked to promote job creation. He has also advised on energy issues, particularly in the clean energy sector.

Bryson is the former head of Edison International, the holding company that owns Southern California Edison. 

He helped oversee Edison's transformation into a leading wind and solar company and launched a plan to turn 65 million square feet of unused commercial rooftops into solar power stations with enough electricity for more than 160,000 homes.

The LA Times provided an update on how committed SCE has been to the renewable energy arena. 

Thank goodness for the Al Gore's internet.

6. Wow, shares in coal companies are plunging again today, per CNBC at 4:05 p.m.. The president has accomplished one of his goals, to kill the US coal industry.