Notes From All Over -- The Early Morning Edition — Two’s Day -- 2-22-22

Oil, 4:00 a.m. CT, note WTI-Brent spread:

• WTI: $95.61; up 5%; up $4.54 overnight;
• Brent:$98.88; up 3.66% up $3.49 overnight; was flirting with $100 earlier; has dropped back a bit;

Paul Farmer: this one is personal

• public-health pioneer dies of cardiac event at age 62;
• a pioneer in global health, March 5, 2021;

Luxurious garage conversion: this one is personal

• link here;
• Sophia and I did this with our garage, but more "bat cave" than luxurious

Global events:

• with regard to inflation, cost of diesel in California, and Ukraine, Biden is a disaster; and it's only going to get worse
• Biden metrics need to be updated; Ukraine was not on my 2022 bingo card;
  
• Putin, Trudeau? History will sort these two out.
• a little bit of history puts this in perspective; 
• UN Security Council on Ukraine crisis will be chaired by Russia, which currently hold the presidency of the Council;
  
• Olympics: NBC draws lowest Olymic ratings ever; dropped 42% from 2018.

Oil:

• Finally: after ten months, workers ratify Exxon refinery offer; it will take the average blue collar worker three years to recover from this craziness; someone couldn't do the math;
• Are US shale firms spending enough? Link to Irina Slav.
• Nigeria: no need for extra OPEC+ supplies;
• Chart of the day: December 22 call options -- $100, $110, $125, and $150;
• California diesel: $5.00 / gallon; this will get truckers' attention;
• US oil imports from Russian reached record high under Biden's administration;

Fair share:

• 62% of Americans pay no federal income taxes; 

Logistics:

• US import surge is skipping the train; moving to trucks;

Investing:

• Warren Buffett's annual letter will be released this Saturday;

Burning ship, luxury EVs:

• Fire remains out of control; EV batteries; VW lost $155 million;
• Porsche, Bentley, and VWs

Global warming:

• I'm not sure all his "facts" are factual, but in general, he is correct; link here;