It's A Shoot-Out -- January 2, 2015

Bloomberg is reporting:

Oil dropped to the lowest since May 2009 amid growing supply from Russia and Iraq and signs of manufacturing weakness in Europe and China.

Futures headed for a sixth weekly loss in New York and London. Oil output in Russia and Iraq surged to the highest level in decades in December, according to data from both countries' governments. Euro-area factory output expanded less than initially estimated in December. A manufacturing gauge in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, fell to the weakest level in 18 months, government data showed yesterday.

Prices slumped 46 percent in New York in 2014, the steepest drop in six years and second-worst since trading began in 1983, as U.S. producers and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ceded no ground in their battle for market share.

OPEC pumped above its quota for a seventh month in December even as U.S. output expanded to the highest in more than three decades.

"The Chinese and European PMI figures signal weaker demand, while there's ever-increasing supply. Nobody is cutting back on output and now the Russians are posting post-Soviet production highs."

Yup, it's a shoot-out. 

Just to re-cap:

• OPEC pumped above its quota for a seventh month in December
• Russia is producing at post-Soviet production highs
• US producers expanded output to the highest level in more than three decades

Two cartels:

• OPEC opening the spigots
• the US embargoes own oil exports

Yup, it's a shoot-out.

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A Shoot-Out The Average Small Business Owner Lost

I wrote about this from the very beginning. US News is reporting just how expensive this "affordable" care is. It the link is broken; don't worry; I've written about numerous times on the blog. Basically, one is paying for catastrophic health care insurance for a very, very high premium (providing subsidies for others). Interestingly, but even those receiving subsidies need to meet the deductibles first; health care insurance companies will do very, very, very, well. (I assume they wrote the law.)

Diclaimer: this is not an investment site. This is all about the political side of ObamaCare, not investment opportunities. Do not make any investment, financial, or relationship decisions based on what you read at this blog.