End-Of-Day Market, Comments, Observations -- June 3, 2014

CLR closed the day up 1% and trading near its 52-week high. Folks who understand the financial picture better are aware that CLR redeemed some high-yielding bonds today. I assume they "swapped" the high-yielding bonds for some lower-yielding bonds. But, I don't follow the financial picture very closely.

Ya gotta love that mainstream media. We've gone more than 3,000 days without a major hurricane and this hurricane season is also predicted to be relatively calm. That doesn't fit the global warming climate change extreme weather picture that "Cosmos," Algore, Reuters, and President Obama are trying to feed us. What is one to do? Not a problem. Fortunately "we" have a term for these severe weather storms: derechos or  "land hurricanes." This will confuse my granddaughters. LOL. CBS Chicago's Megan Glaros tweeted:

"It's called a 'land hurricane,' and one could develop tonight across the Plains."

Just in time. Fortunately the EPA is on top of this with their new rules in the war on coal: 30-30.

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Speaking of the "30-30" rule and the war-on-coal, y'all have to look at the map on page A4 of today's WSJ. It's a hoot. The WSJ graphically depicts how much each state will have to cut back on emissions. Relative to everyone else, North Dakota is getting by pretty cheaply. Apparently, all that flared natural gas and all that cattle-emitted methane isn't quite as bad as all the UPS trucks in Chicago. LOL. Look at the map. I normally wouldn't do this but there is a risk this graph will be lost to the archives, so I will include a screen shot:

Washington State, home of some of the lowest electricity rates in the country because of all their hydroelectric power, is screwed. Washington State must cut emissions by a whopping 72%. Quickest way to do that: send Boeing and Microsoft packing. Send Microsoft to Fargo, ND, and Boeing to Alabama, both "white" states. ["White" means "clean" according to the EPA.]

[If Mount St Helens erupts again spewing all that CO2 between now and 2030, Washington State will have to cut its manmade emissions by 453% -- not sure about that, still working on the calculations.]

Seriously, as soon as I saw that headline (about Washington State having to cut emissions by 72%) I knew the proposed rules were DOA. I assumed they were in need of ICU resuscitation when Steven sent me the bad news with regard to Illinois. That state will say sayonara to its nukes. Illinois "only" has to cut 33% but it will mean the final nails in the coffin for their nuclear reactors.

North Dakota: all those flaring Bakken wells; all those flatulent cows; all those leaking wells -- that state only has to cut a "measly" 11 percent. Easy. Shut down Fargo one Saturday each month. Or shut down the Bakken for one full month during spring road restrictions.

And how's this for poetic justice: four of leading coal producers in this country (Wyoming, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Kentucky) are all "white" states. Montana and Utah are almost "white."

Minnesota? Screwed. And that state has tried so hard.