Wednesday Links, Part III; Mostly WSJ; Including Huge Story on the Bakken

How big is the Paula-Petraeus story? Well, let's say that you often don't see a CIA-SEX-SCANDAL as a big story on the sports page of the WSJ (yes, the WSJ does have a sports page, one that I actually read). So, here it is, the sports angle to the Paula-Petraeus story: Paula Broadwell is faster than you. In more ways than you might think. In this case it has to do with rumors that most of her interviews with the general were during "grueling fast-faced runs." Go to the link: see the incredible speeds these two could run. One excerpt: "Petraeus, who is 60, ran a 2006 five-mile race at a blistering 6:46 pace and a 2002 10-mile run at a pace of 6:22." Paula, age 40, ran a half-marathon (13.1 miles) at a pace of 7:21 minutes per mile.

By the way, at the top of the fold on WJS sports page: sleeping your way to the top. I did not read that article after seeing the sub-headline.

Wow, wow, wow -- I didn't think there would be anything about the Bakken in today's WSJ. Boy, was I wrong. Front page, huge story, section C: a boomtown is born in North Dakota: Williston, North Dakota. With photos. Huge story. Enjoy.

North Dakota, an epicenter of the nation's oil rush, is grappling with a scramble reminiscent of the most-heated periods of the housing boom.

Now, private-equity firm KKR & Co. is trying to capitalize by making a multimillion-dollar bet on a housing project in a town at the heart of it all.

KKR is expected to announce Wednesday that it will develop a sprawling master-planned community that could become a modern-day Levittown on the North Dakota plains. The project in Williston is expected to serve some of the thousands of workers pouring into the region who are searching for jobs but facing inadequate housing.

And then this: Chesapeake Energy says oil prospects dim in Ohio. Wow. Huge day for links, news.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s prospects of coaxing crude oil from Ohio's rust belt have dimmed, the company's chief executive said Tuesday, though he maintained the region remains key to the natural-gas giant's future.

In Ohio, Chesapeake executives had expressed optimism about producing oil from the Utica Shale, a deeply buried layer of petroleum-rich rock. Chesapeake owns drilling rights to 1.2 million acres in the Utica, and roughly a third of them lie in a zone it has described as rich in oil, though the company has focused its drilling in an area known to yield wet natural gases, like ethane and propane.

Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake's co-founder and CEO, said in May he was confident the company would report good results from oil production.

But on Tuesday, he said the Utica was unlikely to drive a major increase in its oil production. It is not a place "where we are going to probably see a huge amount of oil production growth," Mr. McClendon said at an investor conference. "And to the extent the oil works, it will be with some other companies."

But he is still very, very upbeat about the Utica, calling it "one of Chesapeake's foundational plays for decades to come."

I'm not even sure I want to start to read section A of the WSJ; already too many stories that I have yet to really read. Oh, well, to press on.

Front page with "Obama sets steep tax target." "Scandal entangles a second general." Google if you want to read the stories.

Page A6: huge story on cutbacks in hiring due to fiscal cliff. We are heading to a most severe recession in 2013. This is not rocket science.  CEOs aren't going to cozy up to higher corporate taxes, especially when they can get better outcomes overseas. Apple paid 1.9% in taxes last year with money routed through Ireland, Netherlands, or something to that effect. Great political theater.

Stories in Greece only get worse. Again, huge articles, page A12 and A13. Greece running out of cash while EU dithers. And due to Greece's failing safety net in the public health arena, malaria, once eradicated in Greece, has now returned. Malaria was "mostly" eradicated in Greece back in 1974.

So, enough of this. Back to the Bakken. But I post all of this to put what is going on in the Bakken in perspective. Twenty years from now when we read about the Bakken, it needs to be put into perspective. Five years ago North Dakota accounted for one (1) percent of US oil production; today, North Dakota accounts for twelve (12) percent of US oil production despite infrastructure and manpower obstacles.