Friday -- April 24, 2015

Something new in South Dakota -- it caught me by surprise: 80 mph speed limit on I-90 west of Rapid City, past Sturgis. It certainly surprised me.

I stopped at Sturgis for coffee; someone left a Rapid City Journal on the table. The headline story: "I-90 Speed Limit Here Could Fall To 75 MPH." This is the back story:
"The move to lower the limit comes less than a month after the state Legislature enacted an 80-mph limit on South Dakota's two interstates. The effort was led by Rep. Grian Gosch of Rapid City, who quietly inserted the 80-mph limit into a road funding bill essentially without public or expert input."

Rep Gosch's next job: working for Hillary's foundation.

The computer says it's 10:37 here and they are still serving breakfast at McDonald's so maybe it's 9:37 local time (Mountain). We'll see. I'll be here for about 30 minutes and then head north through Newell, where my paternal grandparents homesteaded.

Then on to North Dakota.

Gasoline about $2.39 / gallon, although I forgot to look at the last stop. In some places in Nebraska it was as low as $2.19.

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EIA "Energy Cookie"

The "cookie' today:

“The top 100 oil fields in the United States accounted for 20.6 billion barrels of crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves, or 56% of the U.S. total in 2013. The top 100 natural gas fields accounted for 239.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas proved reserves, 68% of the U.S. total. Proved reserves are defined as estimated quantities of oil and natural gas that analysis of geologic and engineering data demonstrates with reasonable certainty are recoverable under existing economic and operating conditions. --- EIA

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Economy

Bloomberg Business is reporting: Capital goods unexpectedly fall for 7th consecutive month.

Business investment is slowing and U.S. machinery makers are suffering the brunt of the damage from slumping energy exploration, a stronger dollar and tepid overseas markets. Bookings for non-military capital goods excluding aircraft, a proxy for future corporate spending on new equipment, unexpectedly dropped 0.5 percent in March, a seventh consecutive decline.

Producers of machinery, including oil-drilling equipment and turbines, saw a 1.5 percent slump in demand.

Why is this a surprise? The US oil and gas industry is in collapse and the US president is the most anti-growth, anti-business president in modern history. 

The good news: fast food workers will see a huge increase in their pay.

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Market

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

Amazon shares are soaring, up 15%, up $60. Hits new high.

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Gasoline Demand

Week ending April 17, 2015, a dynamic link. 

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A Quick Note To The Granddaughters

Lots of moving parts.

Preparing to move from apartment to house at end of month.

Daughter and older granddaughter on way to Austin, Texas, to showcase school project that took first place in Texas, and now moves to Iowa for national competition.

Olivia's "recreational" (non-professional) soccer team traveled halfway to Abilene, it seemed, yesterday when they drove to west Ft Worth. They won 3 - 1. Our middle granddaughter, age 8, scored two goals.