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.
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