February Freeze To Last Sixteen Months -- May 27, 2021

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Things Have Changed

I don't know if folks are paying attention, but things have changed, things are starting to "break" right for Saudi Arabia:

• IEA says all "new" exploration needs to cease immediately;
• Saudi would be exempt; the country doesn't do "new" exploration;
  
• XOM shareholders vote for two "activist" directors;
• Shell ordered to cut emissions by state court;
• Chevron shareholders vote in favor of cutting emissions including from the fuels they produce;
• more and more evidence that without (more) US offshore exploration and production, supply won't meet demand; and Biden not likely to push for more US offshore exploration (LOL)
  

Yes, things have changed. Bob Dylan turned 80 years old earlier this week, Monday, May 24, 2021.

Devil's advocate:

I don't recall the specifics (and it may be apocryphal) but it seems I recall Ronald Reagan saying the US could outspend Russia when taunting the latter during "Star Wars." 

One now wonders, with Biden's proposed $6 trillion budget, if the US economy could literally dwarf/drown the EU? My hunch: European leaders are watching "this stuff" closely.

• someone reported if it's passed, Biden's $6 trillion budget would be the largest annual budget since WWII; does that mean in today's dollars, the US budget during WWII was bigger? See this link.
  
• Ford wants to be the #1 battery manufacturer in the US; the company's stock is surging;
• is any manufacturer outside the US building EV trucks?  
• the US is going to need a lot of energy to support everything proposed in a $6 trillion budget;
  
• US could have the world's largest solar / wind energy industry before it's all over;
• the US is likely to become the world's largest source of semiconductors within the next couple of years -- if we aren't already?
• pundits seemed worried about Biden's spending; the market seems fine with it;
• Biden wants to retroactively raise the capital gains tax from ~28% to ~43% for those with annual incomes greater than $1 million;
• it's retroactive, but just barely if I understand it correctly -- would go back to the beginning of this year (2021); plenty of time yet this year for rich folks to sort this out;

It would be nice to see a breakdown of the $6 trillion and compare it to the current budget.  

Let's just all stick together. This could be a transformational decade. It certainly doesn't have the feel of the lost decade under George Bush II or the lost decade under Barack Obama.