August 4, 2015 -- End Of Day, Non-Bakken Notes

The good ol' days:

• aluminum siding salesmen
• door-to-door magazine subscription salesmen
• used car salesmen
• snake oil salesmen
• carburetor additives to increase gas mileage

The WSJ is reporting: solar fight hits home in Arizona. New rules will required solar companies to tell potential customers how much systems will cost over the lifetime of their contracts. SolarCity (Elon Musk) does not want potential customers to know the full cost if they adopt rooftop systems, or at least that's what the article suggests:

Claims about consumer protection are camouflage for opposition to solar power among utilities and some government officials, said Lyndon Rive, chief executive of SolarCity Corp. , which has sued the state and a Phoenix-area utility over measures the company says are meant to deter customers from adopting rooftop systems.

The new rules, which go into effect Jan. 1, require solar companies to tell potential customers how much their systems will cost over the lifetime of their contracts, many of which are as long as 20 years. The companies must also guarantee that the panels will perform as promised. Consumers will have at least three days to cancel a contract after signing it.

And then this, surprise, surprise:

Paul Braverman, 79, of Litchfield Park, Ariz., near Phoenix, said that when he signed a 20-year solar lease in 2013 he believed he would cut his overall utility payments. Instead, a year after the panels were installed, he said that he was paying roughly $800 a year more for electricity. His solar company, Sungevity, first said he had been using much more power than in the past.

Data that Arizona Public Service supplied at The Wall Street Journal’s request showed that wasn’t the case. Sungevity said it made a mistake and has refunded him $1,600.

Wow.

That part about "must perform as advertised" has to have solar energy companies concerned. That's in the eye of the beholder and open to lawyerly interpretation. 

The good ol' days:

• aluminum siding salesmen
• door-to-door magazine subscription salesmen
• used car salesmen
• snake oil salesmen
• carburetor additives to increase gas mileage

***************************************

 The Debate

Fox News announces those who will debate Thursday:

• real estate magnate Donald Trump; 
• former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; 
• Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; 
• former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; 
• retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson; 
• Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; 
• Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; 
• Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul; 
• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; and, 
• Ohio Gov. John Kasich

I am thrilled the list did not include a former governor from Texas, but I won't name names. Of the list above, I would have eliminated three, and had only 7 on the stage. An even number is "bad luck" in Japan; seven, an odd number, is a "lucky number" almost everywhere.

Fox News will have blow-out numbers. Hopefully, Donald Trump "fires" two or three of the wannabes, starting with ....

***************************

Baltimore Calls In The Feds For Help

The Wall Street Journal is reporting:

Ten federal law-enforcement agents are being assigned to the Baltimore Police Department’s homicide unit for 60 days to help solve murders amid the city’s worst surge of violence in decades.

For 60 days. That's just enough time to put together two or three PowerPoint presentations, have a few 3-martini lunches, and head home. Are they serious? My hunch is that Baltimore couldn't come up with the cash necessary to pay for more Feds for more days. Doesn't the Bakken have about ten full-time FBI agents? Just asking. I don't know. And it's rhetorical. Please don't tell me.

Baltimore has had 192 homicides so far this year, a 57% jump from this time last year, police say. Nonfatal shootings are up more than 80%, records show.

The city had 42 homicides in May—a one-month total that hadn’t been seen since 1990. July was even bloodier, with 45 homicides—which tied the city’s highest monthly tally set in August 1972, according to news reports.

Just give the murderers a big more space.