Shakedown

After the President of the United States muscled BP for $20 billion – with no legal grounds whatsoever – we can be certain that the independent third party he assigns to disperse these funds will know precisely who should get them. Representative Joe L. Barton of Texas accused Mr. Obama of an unconstitutional “shakedown” of…

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Visitors From Illinois

Wind Farms in Indiana won’t offset lost oil production from the Gulf. We had dinner last week with visitors from Illinois. Very nice people. And like many residents from that area, they enthused that there’s a huge “wind farm” being built in northern Indiana. Isn’t that great? Personally, I think the American public is mislead…

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AAR Points Me To Jobs Potential In Metals

Rail freight figures struggle forward.  Jobs alert: Metallic ores triple.  Metals are up.  (And, by the way,will Congress drive rail freight rates higher?) Time to check the rail reports: AAR Weekly Rail Traffic Report AAR continues to report mushy progress as rail freight struggles to recover.  Each category was up 4% – 5%, year over…

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Everything’s Higher With China

China moved our markets last week, with bigger effects on the way. Chinese wages are moving significantly higher. Americans will see higher costs and, perhaps, more employment opportunities. Our markets ran up three per cent in a single day on Thursday, June 10. Strong news from China sent hedge funds scrambling, as the Chinese Communists…

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