Friday

2013: The Year The Economy Turned Positive

Back on December 9, 2013, I started tracking incredibly positive economic data points. It's very possible, four years from now, folks will look back on 2013 as the year the US (and global?) economy finally turned. Don sent another link this morning with another interesting data point: Ford Motor Company has its best sales year since 2006.

The Wall Street Journal

The lead story. I cannot make this stuff up. Wal-Mart recalls donkey meat in China. Why. DNA testing showed it contained fox meat. Now, how did that happen?

Medicaid expansion drives up visits to ER

Fast (85 mph) toll road in Texas struggles to pick up drivers.

A Texas toll road that garnered widespread attention when it opened in 2012 with an 85-mile-an-hour speed limit—the nation's highest—has run into financial trouble after failing to attract as many drivers as anticipated.

The 41-mile stretch of State Highway 130 has been billed by its private operator as an escape hatch from the often congested freeway that connects the state capital (Austin) with San Antonio to the south. But SH 130 Concession Co., the company that built and runs this portion of the 91-mile state highway, recently hired restructuring lawyers, according to people familiar with the matter, who noted that a bankruptcy filing isn't imminent.

Companies often restructure debt without filing for bankruptcy protection by negotiating with creditors, a process that can take weeks or months. SH 130 Concession, whose only business is operating the roll road, is working on refinancing about $1.1 billion in debt amid lower-than-expected cash flow, due to weaker-than-forecast traffic, according to the people familiar with the matter.

California stretched by worsening drought. 

Will they or won't they? The Boeing union in Washington votes today.

"Cost row" may halt Panama Canal expansion.

The Spanish-led consortium expanding the Panama Canal said Thursday it has warned Panamanian authorities that work will be halted unless Panama's government pays an extra $1.6 billion for cost overruns in the massive project.

Panama's president, Ricardo Martinelli, quickly rejected the apparent ultimatum. On his official Twitter account, the president said Thursday he will travel to Spain "to defend Panama's interests in the expansion of the canal" by demanding the Spanish company and other firms involved in the project honor conditions already agreed to in signed contracts.

Inside the greatest play of all. This is really a "fun" article to read -- the "punt" return to end the game, win the game for Auburn over Alabama a couple of weeks ago.

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J Paul Getty

The other day I posted a vignette from J Paul Getty's autobiography, As I See It. A very good, a very easy read. Highly recommend.

But to put the autobiography in context, one should read pages 439 to 449 of Daniel Yergin's The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you might have read here. 

I am absolutely convinced that some North Dakotans, taking in millions of dollars in royalties could emulate guys like J Paul Getty. There are some very small publicly traded operators, and that's exactly what J Paul Getty targeted when he started out.

In the better Bakken, folks who "have one well" will eventually have 14 wells or more. That's not trivial.