Category Archives: Commodities

BP and Executive Arrogance

The geyser of oil and less than cheery news on the Gulf oil spill continues unabated. The news updates of the day include: Reports from a Congressional briefing that suggest, as many have speculated, that the mud was removed despite heavy gas output, a warning sign, with BP admitting its workers may have made a […]

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In Case You Managed to Miss It, It’s Ugly Out There

Oh, if you don’t love the smell of naplam in the morning, you will not be happy with the market actions. Per my delayed Bloomberg, Euro flirting with recent lows, at 1.2281. Gold off at $1187 an ounce. (which fits if you believe in deflation, even though gold does well in deflation, the inflationistas may […]

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Lookin’ Ugly at the Deepwater Horizon Live Cam?

This is just a snippet (and this message is per the request of Lambert Strether, who has a post of his own up and trying to get further information from other Deepwater Horizon live cam bloggers or watchers): Major changes happening at BP Disaster site: http://monkeyfister.blogspot.com/2010/05… There have been several major eruptions of the seabed […]

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Why is the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill an Information Dead Zone?

It isn’t hard to see that the lack of decent information about how serious the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is is almost certainly due to obfuscation on the part of BP. The puzzling part is how BP can fantasize that it ultimately gains from this conduct, and why the Obama Administration tolerates it. The frustration […]

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Even Fewer Deepwater Horizon Inspections Than MMS Claimed Earlier

Ooh, this gets uglier and uglier the harder one looks at this. From the Associated Press via ABC (hat tip reader Glenn Stehle): The federal agency responsible for ensuring that an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was operating safely before it exploded last month fell well short of its own policy that inspections […]

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What is the Proper Libertarian Response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill?

Many of my investor buddies e-mail each other frequently during the day (yes, e-mail, not IM or tweet) and I am on the periphery of some of their discussions. One of them took note of the fact that the libertarians in this crowd had gone silent on the question of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, […]

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Guest Post: Discussion of Congressional Hearings on Deepwater Horizon

By Glenn Stehle, an engineer who began working in the oil industry in 1974. After a two-year stint with Cities Service Oil Company, he worked for two years for Henry Engineering, a petroleum engineering consulting firm. Upon leaving Henry Engineering he worked as an independent engineering consultant in all facets of the oil and gas […]

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Guest Post: Eyewitness Reports Suggest BP Cut Safety Corners on Deepwater Horizon

By Glenn Stehle, an engineer who began working in the oil industry in 1974. After a two-year stint with Cities Service Oil Company, he worked for two years for Henry Engineering, a petroleum engineering consulting firm. Upon leaving Henry Engineering he worked as an independent engineering consultant in all facets of the oil and gas […]

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BP Exec on Containment Dome: “It Has Failed”

So far, just a headline at the Wall Street Journal: “BP Suffers Setback in Installing Containment Dome” and merely a “Breaking News” listing. From its e-mail alert: Hydrate build-up stalled placement of the containment dome over gushing oil. The BP executive of the dome said, “I would say it has failed.” Scanning other news services; […]

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Guest Post: Wall Street’s Revenge on Hollywood

By Gonzalo Lira, a novelist and filmmaker (and economist) currently living in Chile Traditionally, the way that the Wall Street-Hollywood relationship works is, Wall Street arrives in Hollywood with much pomp and circumstance, carrying boatloads of cash to invest in movies. Hollywood—delighted with this new money—steers Wall Street towards some “premiere” and “prestige” projects. Wall […]

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Parenteau: The Hyperinflation Hyperventalists

By Rob Parenteau, CFA, sole proprietor of MacroStrategy Edge, editor of The Richebacher Letter, and a research associate of The Levy Economics Institute who writes at New Deal 2.0 After a slugfest on fiscal deficits, I find that the question of hyperinflation now demands an answer. And here it is: fiscal deficit spending may be […]

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Das: “Trading Places”

By Satyajit Das, a risk consultant and author of Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives False Economy: A Surprising Economic History of the World by Alan Beattie Misadventures of the Most Favoured Nations: Clashing Egos, Inflated Ambitions, and the Great Shambles of the World Trade System by Paul […]

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Quelle Surprise! Proposed Restrictions on Proprietary Trading are a Joke

True to form, the White House set forth a sketchy program to limit the proprietary trading activities of banks, and it is a vote for the status quo which is being tarted up as something else. I’m amazed that someone of Volcker’s stature is allowing himself to serve as the branding for ideas that are […]

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