US Energy Independence - A Red Herring -- CNBC Talking Head; Unexpectedly -- There's That Word Again -- June 2, 2015

Energy independence. This is so cool; just the other day I commented that all that talk about US energy independence is a distraction, not even worth talking about. Today CNBC talking head says the same thing:

Despite all the stunning technological achievements we have seen from Texas to Dakota -- first making shale viable and then responding this year to Saudi's challenge by aggressively lowering the price per barrel - West Texas Intermediate is still closely aligned to global benchmarks such as Brent and will be closely correlated for the foreseeable future.

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Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach losing out to Houston and East Coast -- Los Angeles Times. 

The ports handled 39% of U.S. container imports in 2002; that fell to 32% by 2013, according to U.S. census data. They have lost business to competitors at a time when, overall, global trade is booming and imports are rising at all ports, including L.A. and Long Beach.

The sudden growth of ship size has ports across the world scrambling to update infrastructure. Many are moving faster than L.A. and Long Beach, which are in the throes of multibillion-dollar expansions.

Ports along the East Coast and in Houston have invested billions of dollars to deepen harbors, expand terminals and upgrade rail systems that connect to lucrative markets in the Midwest. The port of Savannah, Ga., has more than doubled the volume of imported container goods over the last decade, while the Canadian government and railways expanded British Columbia's Port of Prince Rupert to become a direct competitor to U.S. ports farther south.

The bit of extra time getting from Asia to the East Coast (vs San Pedro) are inconsequential for two reasons: a) ships have been slowing down to cut emissions and conserve fuel; b) work stoppages at San Pedro are much worse than any increase in transit time to Houston or Charleston.

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Unexpectedly  -- There's That Word Again

It was tweeted earlier; now the story over from Reuters:

New orders for U.S. factory goods unexpectedly fell in April as demand for transportation equipment and a range of other goods weakened, suggesting that manufacturing remained constrained by a strong dollar and spending cuts in the energy sector.

New orders for manufactured goods slipped 0.4 percent after a slightly upwardly revised 2.2 percent increase in March, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. March's orders were previously reported to have increased 2.1 percent.

Factory orders have declined in eight of the last nine months. 

Have you ever noticed that whenever there is "bad" economic news, the president's mouth piece (Reuters and Bloomberg) refer to the news as unexpected. LOL. Anyone that's been paying attention would not be surprised.

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The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Written / Published Late 1880's / 1890

Edgar Allan Poe: 1809 - 1849 (40 years); his tales published in the early 1840's
Oscar Wilde: 1854 - 1900  (46 years)

There is nothing in The Picture of Dorian Gray to connect it directly to Edgar Allan Poe. But after reading it -- or actually while reading it -- specifically beginning in chapters 12 and 13 -- immediately, how can one not think of the Edgar Allan Poe tales, especially The Tell-Tale Heart.

So, let's do a big of googling nexus: "tell-tale heart" Oscar Wilde. And there it is, the "tenth hit" on the first page. 

Never in a million years did I think I would ever read The Picture of Dorian Gray. It is so unexpected. One gets the feeling that one is reading great literature in the first few chapters but then by the end of the book it seems to have turned to 1890's "pulp fiction."

I loved it. I will re-read it, or at least re-read some chapters, some passages. It would be great to read the "original" before Oscar Wilde had to "censor" his own writing.

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What's In A Name?

Some personalities we know by one name: Cher, Madonna, Letterman.

Some personalities go either way: Elvis or Elvis Presley; Willie or Willie Nelson; Oprah or Oprah Winfrey; are good examples.

Some personalities, it seems require both names (or all three): Oscar  Wilde, Richard Nixon, Edgar Allan Poe, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Conway Twitty, Hunter S. Thompson, Virginia Woolf, Martin Luther King.

Some, only their initials sound "right": JFK, FDR, LBJ.

Some seem hardly able to stand alone: byronshelleykeats.