Do Taxes Make a Difference in Behavior? You Betcha -- Unprecedented Flow of Supertankers to South Korea

Link here. As I note below, this is a footnote in today's news, but I think it's a huge, huge story, and explains a lot.

A total of 18 supertankers have shipped North Sea crude to South Korea since December, according to vessel reports and ship-tracking data from IHS Inc. (IHS) The unprecedented export flow is taking place after South Korea and the European Union signed a free-trade agreement in July 2011. The accord exempted the nation’s refineries from a 3 percent tax on imports from the EU. More than half of the North Sea oil shipped to South Korea is Forties blend, a grade used to set Dated Brent, the benchmark for more than half of the world’s crude, according to the table of ships chartered.

These are huge stories, and yet in the day-to-day news, they seem to be less than a footnote. I don't watch CNBC any more (maybe more on that later), so I don't know if this supertanker story has been discussed on CNBC; I would be interested in feedback.

There are several story lines here. The one that caught my eye, of course, was what happens when taxes/tariffs are eliminated.

I find it interesting that the EU, with all its problems, and the high cost of gasoline in their own countries (no doubt, mostly due to taxes on gasoline at the pump) would be willing to enter into a free-trade agreement with South Korea. Very, very interesting.

This also affects companies like Nordic American Tankers.

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With regard to television: I  have been on the road since early August (and at home in San Antonio I don't have television at all) and haven't seen much television. My wife doesn't have cable at her parents' home in Los Angeles.

I am finally back in Belmont (Boston) with my granddaughters where they do have cable's "116 channels and nothing on" television.

I watch NASCAR and the golf tournaments, and some football, but that's it.

This a.m. was typical - or was it yesterday? I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and turned on channel 46, CNBC, preset from the night before. As soon as CNBC came on, there was Howard Dean. I immediately turned CNBC off. Folks complain about this site (the MillionDollarWay blog) because of the off-topic postings, but when I turn to CNBC I find it's just as bad, if not worse. CNBC is a "professional" medium, my blog is a blog.

This is what I remember from CNBC when I used to watch it:

• the 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. show was the only one worth watching
• the 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. show had a male talking head who, I think, does not own a car
• Green Mountain Coffee is the most-followed company on CNBC, followed by ????
• the biggest stock to come along, AAPL, is hardly covered at all
• very little on energy, but lots on ????
• too much fluff and too many commercials for a bit of information -- information that is/was better presented in WSJ and on the internet, anyway
• Kudlow was a one-pony anchor when it came to energy: drill, baby, drill; even I got bored with that

The loss of Erin Burnett was a deal breaker.