One New Permit And That's About It; Three More DUCs -- July 28, 2016

Active rigs:

	7/28/2016	07/28/2015	07/28/2014	07/28/2012	07/28/2011
Active Rigs	35	73	193	207	181

Wells coming off confidential list Friday morning:

• 29858, drl, Newfield, Jorgenson Federal 148-96-10-15-2H, Lost Bridge, no production data,
• 32014, TASC, MRO, Jackie USA 34-34TFH, Reunion Bay, no production data,
• 32283, SI/NC, XTO, FBIR Blackmedicine 24X-21E, Heart Butte, no production data,
• 32302, SI/NC, XTO, FBIR Blackmedicine 24X-21AXD, Siverston, no production data

One new permit:

• Operator: Liberty Resources
• Field: McGregor (Williams)
• Comments:

Two producing wells completed:

• 31930, 630, Hess, HA-Grimestad-152-95-3031H-4, Hawkeye, 50 stages, 3.5 million lbs, t7/16; cum --
• 31932, 1,233, Hess, HA-Grimestad-152-95-3031H-6, Hawkeye, Three Forks, 36 stages, 2.5 million lbs, t7/16; cum 5K after 2 days; 

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New-Well Oil Production Per Rig

For the Bakken, Eagle Ford, and the Permian. Nice graphic.

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Surprise, Surprise. Tesla Needs More Money - Barron's

Link here.

MuskMelon as much as admitted that a "modest" capital raise will be necessary. On news, shares were initially up, but today down.  Will the "modest" capital raise be announced before/after August 3 2016?

I-98: An Update -- July 28, 2016

I-98: An Update

Some folks (not many, but some) have been asking whatever happened to the television series, I-98? 

Unfortunately the series only ran for one season and only eight episodes. Due to low ratings, the series was canceled. The series was just beginning to build its audience and many think killing the series at this time was premature.

However, there is talk of at least one spin-off. It is possible the roles of Thelma and Louise will be brought back in a 30-minute sitcom: "Stripper Wells."

Stripper Wells is the story of a young woman from south Minneapolis who heads west to the Bakken when she hears that women can become quite wealthy working, not as waitresses in cheesecake restaurants, but as dancers in upscale gentleman's clubs. Mary Bernitsky Westly takes the stage name of "Stripper Wells." To save money she shares a room with "Shelley Shaker" at the far end of town in El Ranchero, a modern 32-story glass skyscraper, which has become the place to be if in the oil and gas industry. The skyscraper replaced the 32 man-camps that were strewn about McKenzie and Williams counties. The Trump helicopter landing pad will be highlighted in the sitcom's opening credits. Mary and Shelley will be the two lead characters in an ensemble of four regular characters, with weekly cameos by the seventeen original 2016 GOP presidential candidates.

As for the two main characters, Sam will become a spokesperson for BOG, formerly known as Bakken Oil & Gas; and, Liam will return to Rugby where he hopes to become a community organizer with a focus on getting the marker for the geographical center of North America in exactly the right spot.

BOG, often derisively referred to as "bogged down," has recently expanded into wind and solar, and will be renamed WASBOG (wind and solar, Bakken oil and gas). 

Off The Net For Awhile -- July 28, 2016

I guess we can add this to the Obama legacy: home ownership at 51-year low. Let's see -- 2016 - 51 = 1965. That was a great year for music. Can't say the same for the top hits of 2016. The Beatles had two songs on the top 100 song-list for 1965, and didn't score higher than 31st. That tells you exactly how good the music was in 1965. President Obama, according to available data, turned four years old in 1965.

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A Nice Write-Up Of The Montessori Method

Yesterday was the last day for one of Sophia's "tutors" at TutorTime. Ms Almas had been accepted for a position at a local Montessori school. Sophia wrote a short congratulatory note with a small monetary gift and proudly handed it to Ms Almas as her going-away present and thank you.

Today, of all things, while continuing to read Kate Clifford Larson's Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter, I came across several pages of a nice discussion regarding the Montessori method and the eponymous school. 

Data points which are easily available at wiki, I assume, but more rewarding to read in a biography:

• Maria Montessori, born in 1870
• medical degree in 1896, one of Italy's first female doctors
• she saw first-hand the ravaging effects of poverty and the lack of education on the city's most vulnerable
• became particularly interested in those with intellectual disabilities and emotional problems
• opened her first day care in the slums: Casa dei Bambini
• in the right environment, older children readily worked with younger children
• advocated practical skills like cooking, carpentry, and domestic arts along with classical education in literature, science, and math
• to her surprise, teenagers seemed to benefit most
• the Montessori method arrived in the US in 1915
• it would be years before it was accepted in the US
• very closely allied with Catholic teachings, especially on good and evil

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DNA: Wilkens, A Physicist

From Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Gene: An Intimate History

Ernest Rutherford, to Cambridge, on a scholarship in 1895:

• a New Zealander
• a blaze of unrivaled experimental frenzy 
• deduced the properties of radioactivity
• built a convincing conceptual model of the atom
• shredded the atom into its constituent subatomic pieces
• launched the new frontier of subatomic physics
• 1919: the first scientist to achieve the medieval fantasy of transmutation: by bombarding nitrogen with radioactivity, he converted it to oxygen
• discovered that atoms were made up of even more fundamental units of matter

Wilkens followed in Rutherford's wake. BUT Wilkens had read read Schrodinger's What Is Life? and became instantly enthralled.

• he reasoned that the gene must also be made up of subunits
• he felt that the structure of DNA would illuminate these subunits
• 1946: Wilkins appointed assistant director of the new Biophysics Unit at King's College, London

From The Los Angeles TImes: Trump 47.4% Vs Hillary 40.1% -- Too Close To Call

Screen shot taken on July 28, 2016. The poll is taken daily. This is the first time I've seen it as a banner at the top of the on-line "edition" of The Los Angeles Times.

Best surf rock ever? Too close to call:

Misirlou, Dick Dale and the Del-Tones

WTI: Down To Around $41 -- July 28, 2016; Another Million Insured May Lose Their ObamaCare Coverage -- Anthem

Will we see $39 oil next week?

Previous poll: did operators "jump the gun" on adding rigs in the Bakken, 2H16?

• Yes: 56%
• No: 44%

Market down in early morning trading. Investors are concerned about something:

• jobs report?
• oil dropping to $41 and trending down?
• earnings?
• Fed hinting at rate increase in September?

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Validating Earlier Reports That Southwest Airlines Tried To Save Money Over The Years By Not Investing In Software Scheduling Upgrades

Will Heads Roll?

From The Chicago Business Journal:

Southwest Airline's massive technology outage that caused a near collapse of the carrier's operations nationwide last week continues to reverberate throughout the low-fare airline, and is likely to do so for many days and weeks to come.

An internal memo to Southwest Airlines employees from Craig Drew, senior vice president of air operations, only underscores the magnitude of the meltdown and the damage control with employees that top management is now engaged in as many workers have been outraged by the company's handling of the mess.

Drew began his memo by noting "the last week has been a trial by fire for us at Southwest Airlines, especially for those of you who were on the front line." Drew went on to praise employees for their efforts, noting "I am extremely grateful for everything you did to preserve the relationships with our customers, answering impossible questions and demonstrating the special nature of our people."

Drew tried in his memo to tamp down concerns among many employees that appropriate steps won't be taken to address the meltdown. He wrote, "our technology issue is on the minds of many of you, and I can tell you that the company is swiftly and aggressively investigating the cause so we can mitigate a future breakdown like the one experienced last week."

Sources told me Southwest's board of directors have requested an internal investigation. It remains to be seen how exhaustive the investigation will be and whether it will name names if certain of Southwest's management team fell short in executing their responsibilities.

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Anthem Voicing Concerns On ObamaCare

From the front page of the print edition of The Wall Street Journal, no longer available on-line at WSJ?:

Anthem Inc. said it is now projecting losses on its Affordable Care Act plans this year, a turnaround for a major insurer that had maintained a relatively optimistic tone about that business.

Anthem said it now believed it would see a "mid-single-digit" operating margin loss on its ACA plans in 2016, due to higher-than-expected medical costs. It expects better results next year, because it is seeking substantial premium increases.

Anthem Chief Executive Joseph R. Swedish said that the insurer will re-examine its full-on commitment to selling plans on the health law's exchanges. Anthem will take a "prudent" approach to its future offerings, he said. Anthem has been a major player in the ACA marketplaces, with 923,000 exchange enrollees, and it offers the plans throughout the 14 states where it is a Blue Cross Blue Shield insurer.

The GOP needs to run, not walk, away from ObamaCare. 

The Number Of New Panamax Ships In Range Of The Panama Canal Has Surged -- July 28, 2016

First, some definitions:

Panamax are the mid-sized cargo ships that are capable of passing through the lock chambers of the Panama Canal which are 1,050 ft (320.04 m) in length, 110 ft (33.53 m) in width, and 41.2 ft (12.56 m) in depth. These limits have influenced the ship building companies to build Panamax vessels strictly in accordance with the dimensions (width, length and depth) of the lock chambers and the height of the Bridge of the Americas. A Panamax shouldn’t exceed the dimensional limit of 294,13 m (965 ft) in length, 32,31 m (106 ft) in width and 12,04 m (39.5 ft) draught wise in order to easily and safely fit to the lock chambers and the height of the Bridge of Americas at Balboa. Panamax ships are in operation since the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.

In 2009, the Panama Canal Authority published the dimensions for New Panamax. The authority has initiated the construction of the third lane of locks having bigger dimension of 427 m (1400 ft) in length, 55m (180 ft) in width and 18.3 m (60 ft) in depth, in order to accommodate larger ships called New Panamax. The new locks are expected to be operational from 2014. With this the Panama Canal will be equipped to handle large-sized New Panamax vessels with a cargo capacity of up to 13,000 TEU.

Currently, Panamax vessels have a cargo capacity of up to 5,000 TEU only. The new bigger locks will also help in reducing the locking time and thus significantly reducing the traffic congestion and the travelling time for ships crossing the Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean and vice versa. The completion of new locks in 2014 is expected to double the tonnage capacity of the Panama Canal.

Using filters one can see the large number of "new Panamax" tankers now in range of the Panama Canal. It appears there is currently one "new Panamax oil tanker" in the Canal.

Job Watch -- July 28, 2016; First Time Unemployment Claims Up 14,000 Over Previous Week

Job watch, before the numbers are released:

The Labor Department will release its weekly data on initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET. 

Economists forecast that first-time claims for unemployment insurance increased last week to 262,000 from 253,000, according to Bloomberg. 

There are seasonal adjustment issues that could make the claims numbers more volatile around this time of year. But overall, the data send a fairly consistent and upbeat message; weekly claims have not risen above 300,000 for the last 72 weeks — the longest streak in 43 years. 

The number: 266,000.

US Initial Jobless Claims is at a current level of 266,000, an increase of 14,000 or 5.56% from last week. This is an increase of 3000 or 1.14% from last year and is lower than the long term average of 359145.4.

The huge surge and the huge miss explain why one can't find this story anywhere -- yet. (8:43 a.m. Eastern Time -- numbers released almost 15 minutes ago -- boiler plate story should be released b now.)

Finally, 8:54 a.m. Eastern Time, we have the report from Bloomberg: the spin continues. The report is not good but Bloomberg reminds us that we were at a "three-month low" last week. LOL.

The number of Americans who filed for unemployment benefits last week rose from a three-month low, consistent with the Federal Reserve’s view of a stronger job market.

Jobless claims increased by 14,000 to 266,000 in the week ended July 23. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for 262,000 applications. The less-volatile four-week average dropped to remain at the second-lowest level since 1973.

Hiring managers are reluctant to pare staff as the labor market tightens and demand continues to expand in the face of subdued global growth prospects. Fed policy makers on Wednesday acknowledged a rebound in June employment and took a step toward raising interest rates before year-end.

“Claims at this point are telling you that you’re really near full employment,” said Brett Ryan, an economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York. “There’s no evidence that layoffs are picking up. The labor market’s chugging along.”

Whatever.

Job watch: Fiat Chrysler to end auto production in the US.

The company may be called Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, but by early next year, it won't be making automobiles in the U.S.

Instead, Fiat Chrysler's U.S. plants will be focusing entirely on pickups and SUVs for the Ram and Jeep brands.

Fiat Chrysler is winding down production of the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart and will primarily produce Jeep SUVs and Ram pickups in the U.S. The company's remaining car models will be made in Mexico or Canada.

Ending passenger car production in the U.S. is part of CEO Sergio Marchionne's multibillion-dollar plan to increase profit margins to match competitors. It's a bet that recognizes the growing popularity of SUVs in America, low gas prices and lower cost of producing vehicles  in Mexico.

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The Almost Perfect Late Afternoon Snack 

All It Needed To Make It Perfect: Lefse 

US Shale Gas Shaking Up Global Markets As LNG Trading Surges -- July 28, 2016

From Bloomberg/Rigzone: US shale gas shaking up global market as LNG trading surges. The headline is great. Awesome. Tectonic changes. The Big Stories. My first post with this story as one of the "big stories" was posted on October 4, 2015. This really is a huge story. A lot of Americans are not paying attention but this is just the beginning of the 21st century as the century of American energy.

Shale drillers from Pennsylvania to Texas flooded the U.S. with so much natural gas over the past decade that prices slid to a 17-year low. Now they’re going global, with the potential to upset markets from London to Tokyo.

The U.S. began shale gas exports by sea this year and is projected by the International Energy Agency to become the world’s third-largest liquefied natural gas supplier in five years.

Gas will challenge coal at European power plants and become affordable in emerging markets.

LNG became the world’s second most traded commodity after oil last year and demand will keep growing. U.S. gas is adding to the global glut triggered by new Australian supply and weakening Asian consumption. Shale is having an outsized impact on how LNG is sold, prompting spot trading in lieu of long-term contracts.

"The U.S. clearly changed the picture," Costanza Jacazio, a senior gas analyst with the Paris-based IEA, said in a phone interview. "The US is going basically from zero to the third-largest LNG capacity holder in the space of five years and it brings a new flexible dimension to the LNG market."

With supplies growing, some Asian nations like Japan are contracted to buy more than they can consume, leaving surpluses to be sold. That’s lured major traders into the LNG market in recent years, including Vitol Group, Trafigura Group, Koch Industries Inc., Gunvor Group Ltd. and Noble Group.

The annual capacity of liquefaction plants, where gas is chilled and compressed for shipping, grew to 415 billion cubic meters in 2015 and will expand to 595 billion by 2021.

Cheniere Energy Inc. has sent 19 tankers of the liquefied gas abroad from its Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana. By 2020, five terminals will be operating on the U.S. Gulf Coast and in Maryland. Global export capacity will surge 45 percent and the U.S.’s share will jump to 14 percent from nothing, according to Energy Aspects Ltd.

While U.S. supply is still relatively small, it’s having an impact because the American contracts are flexible. Australian and other foreign processors conclude long-term agreements to send gas to specific countries such as Japan and China. Asian buyers have contracted for more than half of the U.S. supply, but they have the freedom to ship the fuel to anywhere in the world, encouraging spot trading.

And then this, again, about one of my favorite stories:

The widening of the Panama Canal is going to have an impact as well. It’s now able to handle most of the world’s LNG tankers and will reduce time and costs for U.S. cargoes to destinations such as Chile and Japan.

This week, Maran Gas Apollonia became the first LNG tanker to pass through the newly enlarged Panama Canal after picking up a cargo at Cheniere’s terminal in Louisiana. It’s carrying the shale gas to the Far East, according to an official at Maran Gas Maritime Inc. By 2021, the U.S. may dispatch as many as 550 tankers a year through the waterway, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts.

Talk about perfect timing, and completely unplanned: the US shale revolution and the widening of the Panama Canal. 

Are there any Newpanamax ships "at" the Panama Canal today? You can track them here. You can easily scroll down the data base and see if any ships are 300 x 48. 

At this link, scroll down to see the "original post" and The New York Times concern about whether the Panama Canal will work as advertised.

Earnings Alert: COP Misses by 18 Cents; Share Down Almost 3% In Pre-Market Trading -- July 28, 2016

Press release here. Two data points from the release:

• a second-quarter 2016 net loss of $1.1 billion, or ($0.86) per share, compared with a second-quarter 2015 net loss of $179 million, or ($0.15) per share. Excluding special items, second-quarter 2016 adjusted earnings were a net loss of $985 million, or ($0.79) per share, compared with second-quarter 2015 adjusted earnings of $81 million, or $0.07 per share
• exceeded second-quarter guidance with production of 1,546 MBOED; increasing full-year guidance

From a SeekingAlpha contributor before earnings were released:

While the outlook remains bleak for ConocoPhillips (for the entire industry I might add), Thursday will be a big day.

Investors could salvage some of their losses if ConocoPhillips beat earnings.

But on a fundamental level, I don't think that earnings matter too much in that much of ConocoPhillips' value is derived from the value of its reserves and the value of future production, which means that future oil prices matter a lot more than what happened from April to June. However, there are a couple of things that could significantly alter investors' existing view of the company, for better or for worse.

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Whiting

Whiting reported yesterday (previously reported).

From a contributor over at SeekingAlpha: some big changes over at Whiting. Summary:

• shares of Whiting fell in after-hours trading after the company reported financial results for the quarter
• however, data was actually quite positive in my opinion, as can be seen by looking at its cost structure and its debt reduction plan in action
• add to this strong free cash flow and a little better hedging and it's clear management has a clear mindset about how it's approaching the downturn

Although not quite as meaningful as the other issues discussed above, I estimated that Whiting's cash flow (I was referring to free cash flow) would come in between $75 million and $80 million for the quarter. Operating cash flow for the quarter was a hefty $161 million, a meaningful drop from the prior year's first quarter, when the business's cash flow totaled $326 million. However, after you subtract capital expenditures, free cash flow for the second quarter came out to $81.6 million, slightly above my expectations.

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Baker Huges -- Oh, Oh

Bigger losses than expected.  90 cents vs 60 cents. Wow. Compare to a loss of 14 cents same quarter last year.

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Enterprise Products -- Oh, Oh

Misses. Net income 27 cents vs 31 cents forecast.

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Ford

WSJ: Ford's profit fall 9% on lower China sales.

The Dearborn, Mich., auto maker reported a profit of $2 billion in the just-ended quarter, compared with $2.2 billion in the same year-ago period. The company said operating profit equaled 52 cents per share, 8 cents lower than analyst expectations of 60 cents a share.

Revenue rose 6% to $39.5 billion versus $37.3 billion a year ago.

Great Update On Sarnia, Ontario, Canada's Oil And Petrochemical Complex -- July 28, 2016

Active rigs:

	7/28/2016	07/28/2015	07/28/2014	07/28/2012	07/28/2011
Active Rigs	35	73	193	207	181

RBN Energy: interesting look at Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, and the oil / petrochemical complex there; its history and update. This is really a great example of what makes the internet so great.

Sarnia, ON is one of Canada’s leading refinery and petrochemical centers, and for good reason. From the start –– 158 years ago, with what Canadians claim to be the world’s first oil well in the Western Hemisphere –– the Sarnia area has had geology and geography on its side, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s within 500 miles of more than half the people in North America. But the interconnecting infrastructure that drives Sarnia’s Chemical Valley isn’t nearly as well known or understood as the pipelines, railroads, storage and refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Also, it should be noted, Sarnia has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of Marcellus/Utica production of ethane and other natural gas liquids, the mother’s milk of the petchem sector. That alone makes it worth discussing. Today, we begin a series on a lynchpin of Canada’s hydrocarbon production and processing sector.

If Canadians are to be believed –– aren’t they too nice not to be? –– the first commercial oil well was dug (not drilled) by James Miller Williams at what came to be known as Oil Springs, ON (just south of Sarnia, in southwestern Ontario) in the summer of 1858. That was a full year before Edwin Drake drilled his first well at Titusville, PA.  Decades and even centuries before Williams dug that initial 50-foot well (some say he was drilling for water –– not oil –– and got lucky, Jed Clampett-style), the Oil Springs area had been known for its sticky, crude oil-based “gum beds,” small parts of which were excavated and refined into asphalt, paints and resins by native people and noted by early French explorers. After he struck oil, Williams, went right to work, building a simple refinery nearby and establishing Canada’s first oil company (J.M. Williams Co., which was soon renamed the Canadian Oil Co. to reflect his ambitions). Within a few years, more than 100 oil wells had been drilled in the Sarnia/Oil Springs/Petrolia area by wildcatters, and the region’s oil business was off to a rousing start –– until it wasn’t. The boom led to a bust (too much oil production flooded the market and prices collapsed –– sound familiar?), but a rebound followed, and by 1900 not only had Imperial Oil been formed (it had refineries in Petrolia and in nearby London, ON), it had been gobbled up by John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. (Exxon Mobil still owns nearly 70% of Imperial.) Oil production in Ontario fizzled out decades ago, but by World War II Sarnia had cemented its place as one of eastern Canada’s refining and petrochemical hubs, criss-crossed by railroads and pipelines, and chock full of skilled refinery and petchem workers.

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Natural Resources Defense Council: Group Nominee For The 2016 Geico Rock Award

This story necessitates a new category for the 2016 Geico Rock Award: a "group award."

From Bloomberg:

"The big green groups that got invested in biofuels are tacitly realizing the blunder," said John DeCicco, a research professor at the University of Michigan Energy Institute who previously focused on automotive strategies at the Environmental Defense Fund.

"It’s really hard for the people who really -- shall we say -- hate oil viscerally, to think that this alternative that we’ve been promoting is today worse than oil."

The green backlash could give a boost to long-stalled congressional efforts to overhaul the Renewable Fuel Standard, including proposals to limit the amount of traditional, corn-based ethanol that counts toward the mandate, as environmentalists side with anti-hunger groups and even the oil industry in calling for change. The RFS forces refiners to blend steadily escalating amounts of biofuel into the gas supply. Most of the mandate is currently fulfilled by corn-based ethanol, which makes up nearly 10 percent of U.S. gasoline and provides oxygen that helps the fuel burn cleaner. [Insert RINS here for browser searching.]

The Natural Resources Defense Council used a 96-page report in 2004 to proclaim boundless biofuel benefits: slashed global warming emissions, improved air quality and more wildlife habitat.

Instead, farmers plowed millions of acres of prairie grasses to grow corn for making ethanol, with fertilizer runoff contributing to a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists warned that carbon dioxide emissions associated with corn-based ethanol were higher than expected. And alternatives using switchgrass, algae and other non-edible plant materials have been slow to penetrate the market.

A reader reminds me that the Natural Resources Defense Council was the primer mover behind efforts to stop/delay the Bakken, CBR. Their efforts resulted in two million acres of conservation land being converted to corn crops, driving out pheasants and migratory ducks. The NRDC realizes they screwed up, according to the reader. The sad news: unlikely to get this conservation land back to original status. 

This is exactly what happens when "we" take a page from the Soviet Union playbook in which central planning from Washington, DC, is felt to be "better" than free market capitalism with minimal government interference.

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The Political Page

A reader -- who seems much more insightful than I on all issues I raise -- wrote me late last night (or early this morning) with comments about Michael Bloomberg's partiality in this election and how it will affect all reporting. My reply, which is not ready for prime time (which means it has been minimally edited and could be deleted later):

Along that same line, the fact that the NYT and the LA Times "took seriously" Trump's hyperbole and joke about Russia and Clinton's 30,000 lost e-mails suggests something else is afoot.

I thought of that after you sent me your note, and then it was confirmed when I see the Wall Street Journal is reporting the Trump story the same way. I thought the WSJ was better than this. [From their editorial pages, one can see that the WSJ is not particularly happy with Trump.]

I think this is the story: this has gotten personal. Well, duh. Of course, it has, but I mean that it's become a "personal" battle between two New Yorkers, and between two New York groups.

I think most Americans think this is a "national" election. I don't think New Yorkers see this as a "national" election at all. This is local. This is personal. The New Yorker magazine has become so blatantly biased it should be renamed The Hillary Magazine. Remember the New Yorker magazine cover some years ago -- a map of the US that essentially showed the US was made up only of that part of the US east of the Hudson River.

This is almost like the huge fight among the Greek gods on Olympus prior to and during the Trojan War. In fact, the analogy -- male vs female -- Zeus vs Hera -- is almost too good to pass up. [And why I decided to post this note.]

It seems Bloomberg is truly conflicted. He can't decide if he's a Democrat, Independent, or a Republican. I forget that he actually ran as a Republican when he ran for governor of New York. Despite his wealth and prestige, he almost seems to be a pathetic figure. If folks remember the Iliad, they may seen Bloomberg as the "early" sulking Achilles. Bloomberg, it seems, has not moved on.