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

1. I was surprised that the NY Times did not ignore President Obama's comment that the "private sector is fine." This was my comment yesterday when I heard the president say that:

The president: the private sector is doing fine. Oh, really? I can't make this stuff up. Update, about three hours later: the economy is bad, according to the president, but the fault lies with Republicans, who, although they supported the Keystone, are said to lack ideas according to the President. I can't make this stuff up.

Update, June 12, 2012: Private jobs down 4.6 million from January, 2008; government jobs up 11.4%. Yup, the private sector is doing just fine.  

2.  Some might wonder if the president saw the report that 22,0000 folks in Montgomery, AL, applied for 877 jobs at the expanding Hyundai plant there.  Maybe the economy isn't doing so fine after all. By the way, to the best of my knowledge, Hyundai is not making EVs or hybrids at this plant.

3. If there's a run on banks in Argentina, one can only imagine what is going on in Europe. Wiki: bank runs and the Great Depression. This is way beyond my "pay grade," but it certainly seems that increasing the taxes on the wealthy later this year -- the "fiscal cliff" everyone is talking about -- will be but a speed bump compared to what's going on in the banking sector in the rest of the world.

4. There is absolutely no socially redeeming value to linking this story but the quotes are so good, I don't want to pass them up. Lauryn Hill needs to run for US Congress. She must have really excelled in choir in high school.

5. Another one bites the dust: North Las Vegas.  First time to make the list -- and it appears to be debuting at #1 in terms of how soon it could declare insolvency. Again, the unions.

6. Wow, this is incredible. The USS Iowa will make its final home in San Pedro Harbor. My wife has a summer home in San Pedro, California. 

7. The verdict is in (again): it makes little sense to buy a hybrid based on an LA Times analysis. They are less fun to drive; significantly slower; less storage space. Counter-intuitive: the hybrid Prius is noisier than its all-gasoline counterpart, the Camry. At $4.00/gallon it takes about five years to start realizing savings. If you bother to read the article, note one glaring omission: if batteries wear out, and if so, when they need to be replaced and at what cost? As far as I know, all batteries eventually need to be replaced.

8. How times have changed. The cover of the Rolling Stone: Charlie Sheen. Thumbing through it quickly, it appeared there were two long articles: one on Charlie Sheen, and the other on ... I forget. I remember the good ol' days when Hunter S Thompson was the editor at Rolling Stone's International Desk, sending in dispatches from Vietnam. With all that is going on in the world, Rolling Stone is focused on Charlie. Smart. And his ever-present cigarette(s). Nice. I wouldn't have bothered posting this note except for fact I just picked up a free copy of The Improper Bostonian. This is a bi-weekly glossy, about the very same size as the Rolling Stone. It's all about food and the entertainment scene in Boston. Except for the two long articles that the Rolling Stone had (one on Charlie Sheen, and the other on ... I forget), they could be interchangeable, except for the music reviews in the Rolling Stone. Like my "Notes for the Granddaughters," I doubt few people read those music review any more.

This issue's cover story in The Improper Bostonian: "Big Fish: The City's Top Seafood Dishes." And instead of a cover photo of cigarette-smoking Charlie, we have a smoking-hot photo of barracuda nigiri.

Some samples from the table of contents: shining Chardonnays; Japanese grilled meats restaurant; a review of Jack Kerouac's first novel, The Sea is My Brother; a review of Nicolas Cage; a music review of Alejandro Escovedo; and so much more. It's incredible and a delight to page through.

9. How coincidental! The most recent issue of The Improper Bostonian has a one-page "celebrity" interview with CNBC' Fox Business News talking head, Melissa Frances. She interviews quite well; she is a Harvard University graduate. (See first comment noting my mistake.)

10. The Spanish bailout started out at 40, then Drudge headlined 50, and now it's a cool 100 125 billion euros. Too big to fail, they're saying.