Happy July 4th, 2014

Not sure what I will post today. I suppose the big story not being reported is this: the Middle East is apparently going on "war footing." I assume that's the English (American) idiom. I say that because there are reports that Israel has announced it will help Jordan protect its borders. Strange bedfellows. All I know is that it took a lot less than this to start WWI. A single assassination was the tipping point then.

So, we'll see.

I think I will just meander along on this post over the day.

4:14 p.m. CDT. Expanding on the above, I see InvestorVillage has noted the same thing and adds this: now, Kuwait is burning, and adds,

....we suspect this 'spring' is far from over.
Things do not look good...

Almost a haiku, I suppose... I might work on that later.

4:59 p.m. CDT. GulfNews is reporting:

Kuwait’s parliament on Thursday passed a record $82.6 billion budget for 2014/2015 fiscal year, projecting a $11.2 billion shortfall on the basis of a conservative oil price.

Something tells me Kuwait will sort this out -- they have a pretty good track record:

The OPEC member has projected a deficit in each of the past 14 fiscal years but ended each year in the black, accumulating more than $300 billion in budget surpluses.

Oil income in 2014/2015 is projected at 18.8 billion dinars, or 94 per cent of total revenue.

Oil revenues were calculated on the basis of a price of $75 a barrel, up $5 from the past year, and a daily output of 2.7 million barrels.

Like the previous 14 fiscal years, oil revenues are expected to be much higher than the estimates because the actual price is above $100 a barrel and Kuwait’s daily crude production is running at around 3.0 million barrels.

A big "thank you" to Don for sending me this story and others throughout the day. The Saudis have a new expense: the 30,000 troops that have been sent to the Iraqi/Syrian/ISIS border.