The Road To Minnesota -- June 17, 2016

Beautiful, beautiful day in north Texas --- but wow, it's hot. I rode my bike up to Starbucks for the first time in about a week -- I suppose it was about 8:30 a.m. when I left the apartment, and it felt like 105 degrees under a hot, somewhat humid, incredibly bright sun. But I see now that it was only 82 degrees, but will get to 97 degrees later this afternoon. I don't know what the high was yesterday, but it was similar I suppose. I took a longer bike ride yesterday, a long circuit around Grapevine with short segments in Colleyville and Southlake: 22.6 miles in the mid-afternoon. I don't think I will do that again, today, but I will be on the bike all day "running" errands.
So, what is being reported over at Google Finance and Yahoo!Finance? Some headlines:

• Rhode Island lost 3,900 jobs over the past two months (1,900 in April; 2,000 more in May) -- a clear signal -- their words, not mine -- that the economy is slowing; 
• housing starts little changed as US construction plateaus; I guess contractors can't find enough skilled workers
• US housing starts fell 0.3% in May
• the next BMW 3 series will be built in Mexico; currently built in Germany and South Africa, the South Africa plant will close and that production will move to Mexico; the Trump Wall will have an express lane to bring BMW's to Americans
• Lumber Liquidators surges after government ends the formaldehyde probe in the company's flooring without issuing a recall; LumLiq is fortunate it did not have "oil" any where in its name
• top story over at Yahoo!Finance has to do with Smith & Wesson; not surprising; SWHC is up 7.4% on a day when the market starts in negative territory
• Beijing bans iPhone 6 in the city; says it's too similar to Chinese phone; Cook must be going nuts
• both XOM and BHP Billiton are considering leaving Australia; dispose of a number of depleting oil and natural gas fields

So, pretty quiet.

I think one of the more interesting stories yesterday was the one Don sent me. I filed it under "no good deed goes unpunished." From my vantage point, Xcel  has gone above and beyond in its efforts to meet Minnesota's ill-thought-out renewable energy mandates. It's expensive. Two to four times more expensive than coal or natural gas. So, Xcel asks for a 9.8% rate increase.

Over three years.

That's about 3%/year. Sure, it's more than inflation forecast and GDP growth forecast, but considering the expense of wind and solar, it seems to make sense. About 10% over three years. Very manageable.

But Minnesota PUC said, "no, go back to the cubicles and come back with a 'better' number."

So, there you have it. Xcel goes above and beyond in efforts to bring mandated expensive wind and solar energy to Minnesotans and the PUC says a 9.8% rate increase over three years is excessive.

Meanwhile, ObamaCare health care premiums are expected to increase 25 - 50%.

Over one year.

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

OK, Over to Twitter

Yesterday there was a story -- I'm not going to bother looking for the link -- that (at least some) green energy advocates are looking to nuclear energy as an alternative to natural gas and oil. They've got their work cut out for them. I think this graph as been around for awhile, but it popped up on Twitter again today:

Obviously, no one seriously thinks there will be any significant nuclear power added to the American grid in any reasonable period of time. Has anyone ever seen a flatter line than the "nuclear" line above? But the fact that this has been raised suggests the following comments:

• these same green energy advocates sit at the table when Hillary presides; those in pre-school now might want to start thinking about a career in nuclear energy (see photo below, "Table Talk")
• the fact that some green energy advocates are EVEN thinking about nuclear energy tells me that they see the writing on the wall with regard to wind and solar (take a look at recent op-ed in The Huffington Post about the dirty little secrets of wind energy -- posted a few days ago)
• in the big scheme of things, this has nothing to do with reality; these green energy advocates are looking for a new funding stream as funding for wind/solar starts to dry up
• regardless of what happens, it isn't going to happen for a long time

 Table Talk

************************************ 

Quick Look At Price Of Oil Over The Years

One last Twitter graph and then we'll close out this post:

There's a very obvious takeaway in that graph.

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

How Times Have Changed

It doesn't seem all that long ago when President Obama called ISIS a "JV" team (and he didn't mean a "joint venture" but that wouldn't have been all that wrong either).

Yesterday, according to USA Today:

President Obama said Monday he and military leaders had not discussed sending additional troops to Iraq to fight the Islamic State. There are about 3,500 troops in Iraq.

"This will not be quick — this is a long-term campaign," Obama said at the Pentagon after meeting top military brass in the wake of setbacks that have prompted critics to call for a more robust U.S. response against the Islamic State.

"This will not be quick -- this is a long-term campaign. I'll hand it off to Hillary."