Disregard This Post -- Nothing About The Bakken -- MDW-Unplugged -- August 15, 2019

Wow, I'm in a great mood.

So much going on, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm caught up. Time to do some reading. Maybe some proofreading of the blog. But first, one last check, the Drudge Report and Fox News.

It's "me-time" right now. If you came here for the Bakken, scroll down or check out the sidebar at the right.

Oh, by the way, before I get started, I really do appreciate the comments sent to me last evening by "Tom." He was willing to go farther/further out on the proverbial limb explaining current economic/financial events. I find the whole "recession" talk interesting: the Fed; the Treasuries; etc. Wow, I'm glad I don't watch CNBC any more. I assume Liesman, I forget his first name ... Steve? ... is having a field day explaining everything that's going on. I do miss Kudlow. Talk about cognitive dissonance.

Highlight of the past week: getting a better understanding of the geography, especially the waterways in and around NYC, from Long Island, east to Philadelphia west, and then north to Albany and south New Jersey, Trenton, or thereabouts. Two books:

• The Battle For New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution, Barnet Schecter, c. 2002
• Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution, Nathaniel Philbrick, c. 2016

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

20,000 Households To See $23/Year In Tax Revenue With New Turbines 

Wind power: Warren Buffett riding this scam. PacifiCorp replacing "old" wind turbines with "new" turbines. Did anyone do the math on this one:

Portland, Oregon-based PacifiCorp plans to replace 68 wind turbines at the Foote Creek I wind farm with 13 turbines. The wind farm atop the barren and blustery ridge called Foote Creek Rim west of Cheyenne will continue to generate about 41 megawatts, or enough electricity to power nearly 20,000 homes.

Not mentioned in the story:

• age of "old" turbines (but hints at 20-years old)
• actual amount of electricity provided vs nameplate capacity
• tax breaks for Berkshire Hathaway, et al
• amount of CO2 produced (FWIW) in construction and installation of these massive turbines
• whether any CO2 savings will actually be realized
• whether any CO2 savings were realized from the "old" turbines 

A bit more information  here:

• first commissioned in 1999
• $14 million in tax revenue for local counties
• wow, sounds like a lot
• but that's over 30 years
• $14 million / 30 years = $500,000 / year
• 20,000 households: $500,000 / 20,000 households = $23 / year = one cup of Starbucks coffee each month ... each month

Wow, talk about slow. The EIA posted "gasoline demand" yesterday as they do every day but they did not post the updated  "gasoline demand" graph until today. One would think they could post both the data and the graph at the same time. Does the graph below suggest a "recession right around the corner"? The global economy is made up of 1,576,234,353 data points. These data points / pixels make up one large economic mosaic.  One of those data points is "gasoline demand."  Some data points are dark black, some are dark red. The data points, the pixels, the pieces that make up the mosaic change daily. Depending on the color and location of these pixels, the mosaic predicts the future. The really, really cool thing is that the mosaic flashes different things to different folks depending on their world view. The mosaic I see is really, really bullish. I'm with Tom. US Treasuries: flight to safety. Over-subscribed? Rates go down. Pretty simple. Not rocket science. How low do 10-year and 30-year rates go before folks stopping buying them? In Europe, their equivalent rate of return is negative. A past Fed chairman says US Treasuries could go negative. US utility equities, anyone?

Maybe I should post my disclaimer here.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, career, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

48 Crash, Suzi Quatro

Gasoline demand. I almost forgot. Link here.

It looks like it is a time for a stand-alone post.