Wednesday Links

Japan grounds Boeing's new airplane. No links; the story is everywhere.

A staggering one out of three residents in Illinois live in poverty or near the poverty level. This is not an op-ed. This is from the US Census Bureau.

"Illinois' 33%: Report on Illinois Poverty," is based on 2011 U.S. Census Bureau data. It declares a crisis sparing no community in Illinois, and only worsening under budget cuts to government programs and policies that alleviate poverty.

The flu epidemic: maybe we are starting to see a peak; maybe the curve is starting to flatten.

Another minority leaves the president's cabinet, a Latino. His cabinet becomes even less diverse. Link to Yahoo news. 

The resignation of Salazar, who is Latino, comes as the White House faces criticism for President Barack Obama's four consecutive appointments of white men to top posts: John Kerry for secretary of state, Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense, John Brennan for CIA director and Jack Lew for treasury secretary. Those picks, combined with a recent New York Times story highlighting the president's "all-male" inner circle and other reports suggesting a lack of diversity, have driven criticism, which the White House has flatly rejected.

WSJ Links

Many of the links will require a paid subscription to WSJ, but googling can generally find the article somwhere, though it may take some work. 

Section D (Personal Journal):
Mossberg has his weekly column; this time on a quick way to send photos, files, and money -- using the iPhone. This incredible new app is available only on the iPhone. Xsync app. Link is to a non-WSJ site.

Section C ( Money & Investing):
Great drought map of the US as it affects the wheat market; North Dakota pretty much spared.

Malls are dead.

M & A activity in the oil patch in 2013.  

As it is, it looks cheaper to buy barrels on the stock market via deals than drill for them right now. Sanford C. Bernstein says the Western oil majors, including the likes of Exxon and Chevron, now trade at an average enterprise value of less than $15 a barrel of oil equivalent of proved reserves. This metric is shorthand for the value investors place on reserves, enabling comparisons between companies and with the costs of finding and developing reserves via drilling. Right now, those finding-and-development costs are $18.

North America is likely to remain the hottest area for deals this year—and that is where price weakness could actually help. While high energy prices engender exuberance, low prices can bring even reluctant sellers to the table. After all, the megamergers of the late 1990s creating the likes of Exxon Mobil were in part a reaction to oil prices crashing to under $10 a barrel.

Section B (Marketplace):

US wind industry's roar might diminish in 2013. 

How Dell went from PC king to buyout fodder.

Shell CEO scripts a leading role for gas. 

Nissan races to catch up in hybrids; after its all-electric Leaf missed sales targets, car maker tries to find answer to Toyota Prius. Two words: death spiral.

Section A:
Can't wait to see how lawmakers react to the president's proposal on guns, ammunition.

Page 3: Mars rover ready to dig in; delays in Medicaid pay vex hospitals.

Op-ed: green energy's baptists and bootleggers, Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

Op-ed:  The wages of unemployment: labor-force participation has declined since 2000, and among the reasons are soaring government benefits. Soaring.

Op-ed:California could be the next shale boom state.