War, Politics, and Life by Bruce Maulden
Buried beneath continuous news awash with death, destruction, and The Donald, events in the oil industry are low-key, but financially catastrophic on many levels. Good nutshell-analysis at OilPrice.com: This downward spiral will lead to further credit downgrades and bankruptcies within the oil patch. All the while, access to credit is shrinking across all sectors due to…
Deceptive skies this early Friday on California’s north coast as we encounter a gentle respite in these ‘conveyor-style’ rain storms the last month or so — especially the last batch carrying a shitload of moisture. And supposedly, we’re just hours away from another drenching with forecasts calling for possible 3-to-5-inches of rain for the area…
Intense sunshine this afternoon and a pleasant, comfortable wind — gorgeous! One more for the Left Coast: California is the first to ban plastic bags at the state level. Gov. Moonbeam Brown signed the law today — Lost Coast Outpost has the local angle. And the major ingredient of those bags is oil — reportedly…
Quiet and still this wee-early Tuesday morning on California’s northern coast, creating a false sense of all is well with the world. When it ain’t. Of course, the entire world is overwhelmed by the curious Mars landing — $2.6 billion worth of excitement, while down here on planet ground-level, the costs of everything seems to…
Yesterday I felt the first personal shock at the fuel pump when I put another $20 worth of gas in my Jeep Comanche — the gauge screaming now at $4.49 a gallon for regular. Whoa! This is 50 cents more than the last time. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), I don’t drive much as the Jeep…
Once again, another $20 worth of gas in my Jeep yesterday, the pump price now at $4.09 a gallon for regular, down a whole dime since the last visit 10 days ago. Gas prices are dropping, which in the short run for consumers is great news, but the look of the whole oil process makes one…
Dude, lose the car. From USATodayTravel: University of Iowa sophomore Jimmy Novak didn’t let $3.50-a-gallon gasoline prices keep him from making a spring break pilgrimage to Daytona Beach, Fla., with his fraternity brothers last weekend. But the prospect of $50 fill-ups did alter his behavior: “We’re squeezing five people in a car to save money…
We all remember what’s-his ass, Tony Hayward, whining last spring about this inconvenient oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: “The first thing to say is I’m sorry,†he told reporters, when asked what he would like to tell locals whose livelihoods have been affected. “We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused their lives.…