Pretty Cool - Saudi Strategy Working -- Getting Americans Hooked On Oil Again With Low Oil Prices -- Hoo-ah! -- September 23, 2015

Gasoline increase by state.

US gasoline sales, year-on-year percentage increase.

Reuters notes the increased gasoline demand:

Gasoline sales are rising at the fastest year-over-year rates for more than 14 years as demand surges.

Continued economic expansion, rising employment and cheaper fuel are putting a record volume of traffic on U.S. roads as well as encouraging motorists to upgrade to larger and more fuel hungry vehicles.

Motorists are also opting for larger vehicles. Car sales fell almost 3 percent in the first eight months of 2015 but sales of light trucks, which include sport utility vehicles.

Light trucks typically use nearly 40 percent more fuel for the same journey, according to U.S. government statistics, so the changed sales mix is boosting consumption.

Fuel sales in California, where gasoline prices have jumped sharply as a result of refinery problems, have lagged the rest of the nation. 

Gasoline sales in California for the first seven months rose by 4 percent, compared with a nationwide average of 4.4 percent. 

In North Dakota and Oklahoma, where state economies have been hit by the downturn in oil and gas drilling, fuel sales have actually fallen compared with 2014.

Say what you want: everything points to cheaper gasoline for the increased demand. Thank you Saudi.

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

People Buying Luxury Cars Don't Care About Price Of Gasoline

Seeking Alpha contributor expects "huge miss" by Tesla when results reported on/about October 2:

Almost all indications show weak Model S demand trends, with July-August being extremely weak in Tesla’s two biggest countries.

• demand for the beautiful Model X SUV is very strong, but production will be slow until at least December.
• as a result, I predict a huge miss in the second half of this year, with 43,000 cars in total delivered for the year, a staggering shortfall.
• Tesla could deflect some of the shortfall by showing and starting to take deposits for the Model 3 early, as in a month from now.
• the only thing that could upset that plan, would be GM doing the same with the Chevy Bolt even earlier - in the next 30 days. 

I'm not even convinced Tesla will report on/about October 2 as scheduled.

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

My Feathers Not Ruffled

With atmospheric CO2 back below the critical threshold of 400 ppm (when the world comes to an end), this was bound to happen:

The Associated Press, which sets editorial guidelines followed by media outlets around the world, ruffled a few feathers on Tuesday when it announced it would no longer call those who reject climate change "deniers" or "skeptics."

 New guidance in its official AP Stylebook is to use "climate change doubters" or "those who reject mainstream climate science." The wire service explained on its blog that the change was made to appease both those who question climate change's existence and scientists who identify themselves as skeptical of actual unsupported scientific claims.

Didn't ruffle my feathers.  

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

Papal-Critical

The Washington Post is reporting:

In his visit to the United States beginning Tuesday, Pope Francis will meet not just President Obama and Congress but also those marginalized by our society: homeless people, immigrants, refugees and even the inmates of a jail. He’s expected to raise topics that many Americans will find challenging, such as his harsh critique of capitalism. His supporters say it’s all part of the role the pope has embraced as an advocate for the powerless, one that has earned him admiration from both Catholics and some outside the church.

How, then, to explain Pope Francis’s behavior in Cuba? The pope is spending four days in a country whose Communist dictatorship has remained unrelenting in its repression of free speech, political dissent and other human rights despite a warming of relations with the Vatican and the United States. Yet by the end of his third day, the pope had said or done absolutely nothing that might discomfit his official hosts.

Pope Francis met with 89-year-old Fidel Castro, who holds no office in Cuba, but not with any members of the dissident community — in or outside of prison. According to the Web site 14ymedio.com, two opposition activists were invited to greet the pope at Havana’s cathedral Sunday but were arrested on the way. Dozens of other dissidents were detained when they attempted to attend an open air Mass. They needn’t have bothered: The pope said nothing in his homily about their cause, or even political freedom more generally. Those hunting for a message had to settle for a cryptic declaration that “service is never ideological.”

One can only assume the Pope was not aware of any political prisoners in Cuba. Another blind spot. Or just papal-critical.

But people like his smile.