Thursday Morning Links, News And Views

Active rigs: 186 (steady, no change)

Wells coming off confidential list have been posted; scroll down.

RBN Energy: first in a 3-part series -- the depressing price of NGLs

First time jobless claims: groundhog day, more of the same; spin continues

WSJ Links

Nothing in the Personal Journal but the first story in Money & Investing to catch my eye: oil at a 15-month high.

The jump in prices was sparked by data showing a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude-oil supplies last week, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

Several recently opened pipelines and rail routes are helping oil companies tap into the huge pool of supplies that were previously trapped in the middle of the country.

The declines in stockpiles and surging price of U.S. crude are changing the outlook for commodity investors.

And "everybody" thought it was due to demonstrations in Egypt. Another huge OPEC producer. Not.

The graph at the link is striking.

Wow. In the Marketplace, Chinese computer maker Lenovo turned out to be more nimble than H-P:
A shift in consumer tastes to tablets continues to take its toll on the PC industry, with China's Lenovo emerging as sales leader in a shrinking market. Blame Apple.

The figures are the latest evidence of structural changes in the market, as more people turn to touch-based tablets and smartphones rather than PCs to tap into the Internet and carry out other computing tasks.

PC makers have tried to respond in a variety of ways, including laptop computers equipped with touchscreens and devices that switch from clamshell mode to tablet-style operation. Microsoft Corp. has tried to help with touch-based Windows 8 operating system, which was released last fall.

But the software—now being modified in response to user complaints—failed to spur much demand and may have added to consumer confusion. "Essentially, Windows 8 did not help, and some would argue that it hurt," said Jay Chou, an IDC analyst.

A spokesman for Microsoft didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But Tami Reller, chief financial officer for Microsoft's Windows division, in May disputed the notion that users were turned off by basic elements of the new operating system. She acknowledged, however, that Microsoft and its partners wished they had done more to encourage PC sales last fall and earlier this year. 

We talked about this yesterday (?): Wal-Mart scrapped its DC plans. 

Wal-Mart said it was scrapping plans to build three stores in Washington, D.C., after the city's council passed a bill late Wednesday that would require big retailers to pay starting wages that are 50% higher than the city's minimum wage.

The retailer also said it would review its legal and financial options on the only other stores it has in the district, three that are still under construction. Wal-Mart had warned in an op-ed article in the Washington Post on Tuesday that it would pull out of the city if the District of Columbia's council passed the bill, called the Large Retailer Accountability Act of 2013.

"This was a difficult decision for us—and unfortunate news for most D.C. residents—but the Council has forced our hand," Wal-Mart spokesman Steven Restivo in a statement released after the 8-to-5 vote.

The bill requires retailers with corporate sales of $1 billion or more and with stores of at least 75,000 square feet to pay workers starting salaries of no less than $12.50 an hour. The city's minimum wage is $8.25.

The Front Section near the top: e-book ruling puts a "crimp" on Apple. I think everyone lost on this one. I'm trying to figure out who was upset with higher prices for e-books. Oh, that's right: consumers. It could get worse for Apple. Next the music.

Let's see if this works: the Illinois governor will withhold pay for legislators until they "solve" state's pension program.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn cut off pay to lawmakers Wednesday, saying he will withhold their checks until they address the worst pension crisis among U.S. states.

The suspension of pay is the most dramatic move by Mr. Quinn to prod legislators to confront a shortfall in the pension system for government employees that is approaching $100 billion. The Democratic governor has been at odds with the House and Senate, which both have large Democratic majorities, as lawmakers ignore repeated deadlines he has set.

They only make $70,000/year. Most of them are not in the legislature for the salary. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I wonder if the courts will allow this to stand. Probably not. 

There were several stories in the past 24 hours suggesting the GOP is starting to flex its muscle(s). Right, wrong, or indifferent: the immigration bill is back in the news.

House Republicans coalesced Wednesday around a piecemeal approach to overhauling immigration laws, bucking pressure from the Senate and the White House to move quickly—and leaving unsolved the fate of millions of illegal immigrants currently in the U.S.

Emerging from a closed-door meeting, GOP lawmakers were united on one front. Few had any appetite to take up a sweeping immigration bill that passed the Senate with bipartisan support. That sets the House up to rewrite immigration laws bit by bit.

And then this: division in Senate hampers Democrats' agenda.  Yes, one-third are up for re-election. It's easy to support President O'Bama when not up for re-election, or if one is from San Francisco.

Update on the SFO plane crash. This is most alarming:

Ms. Hersman also said that after the crash, the pilots waited about 90 seconds before ordering any of the jet's doors opened or evacuation slides deployed. Given the extent of damage to the plane and severe injuries to some passengers—and the subsequent fire—that decision is likely to be examined.  

When your airplane is about to blow up, 90 seconds is a life-time -- literally. It sounds like these pilots were really, really, slow to react at every level.

Oh, this is nice. The Japanese nuclear reactor water contamination is spreading -- into the ocean. Meanwhile activist environmentalists will continue to hammer the fracking industry.

Criminal probe underway in that runaway train. And death toll rises in that little Quebec town. 

Op-Ed: Henninger headline -- big government implodes. No, the headline is wrong. O'Bama has imploded.  As was noted from Day 1, or almost Day 1, Mr O'Bama was in over his head.

Mark July 3, 2013, as the day Big Government finally imploded.

July 3 was the quiet afternoon that a deputy assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy announced in a blog post that the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate would be delayed one year. Something about the "complexity of the requirements." The Fourth's fireworks couldn't hold a candle to the sound of the U.S. government finally hitting the wall.

Since at least 1789, America's conservatives and liberals have argued about the proper role of government. Home library shelves across the land splinter and creak beneath the weight of books arguing the case for individual liberty or for government-led social justice. World Wrestling smackdowns are nothing compared with Hayek vs. Rawls.

Maybe we have been listening to the wrong experts. Philosophers and pundits aren't going to tell us anything new about government. The one-year rollover of ObamaCare because of its "complexity" suggests it's time to call in the physicists, the people who study black holes and death stars. That's what the federal government looks like after expanding ever outward for the past 224 years. 

Oh, by the way, that immigration bill? One can assume that if passed in its current form, President O'Bama would "temporarily delay" that part about border security. Precedents have been set.

This is better than the line-item veto. Just let the bill pass, then let the president pick and choose what part of the law he/she wants to enforce. And Congress seems happy to let that go.