Friday, December 19, 2008

Global warming scam continues to crumble

Political leaders from across the globe have sold their souls to the climate change hysteria scene, but more and more scientists are coming back to the hard facts. We will look back in 20 years and laugh hysterically at the idea that man was changing weather and putting the Earth in peril with CO2.

Even CNN is jumping off this sinking ship:

Dr. Jay Lehr, an expert on environmental policy, told “Lou Dobbs Tonight” viewers you can detect subtle patterns over recorded history, but that dates back to the 13th Century.

“If we go back really, in recorded human history, in the 13th Century, we were probably 7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than we are now and it was a very prosperous time for mankind,” Lehr said. “If go back to the Revolutionary War 300 years ago, it was very, very cold. We’ve been warming out of that cold spell from the Revolutionary War period and now we’re back into a cooling cycle.”

Lehr suggested the earth is presently entering a cooling cycle – a result of nature, not man.

“The last 10 years have been quite cool,” Lehr continued. “And right now, I think we’re going into cooling rather than warming and that should be a much greater concern for humankind. But, all we can do is adapt. It is the sun that does it, not man.”





Wednesday, December 10, 2008

pump prices vs. crude prices


During the run-up and subsequent fall of crude oil and gasoline prices, I heard Bill O'Reilly repeatedly demonize the evil oil companies and the "speculators", whoever they are. O'Reilly talked of the quick escalation of pump prices from oil futures, and that the prices wouldn't fall when crude prices dropped.

I am eagerly awaiting the correction from O'Reilly, now that his conspiracy and price gouging theories have been completely debunked. The facts are, that as oil prices continued to escalate, gasoline prices in the U.S. rose at a much LESSER rate. You can actually see on the graph a period where crude prices rose at a much greater rate than fuel prices. Market pressures kept pump prices down. As crude prices began to fall, the pump prices stayed flat at first, then plummeted. I listened in dismay one night, when O'Reilly had Neil Cavuto as a guest on his show, to explain this. Just as Cavuto began to inject some common sense and basic market knowledge into the O'Reilly Factor's position on this issue, Bill predictably filibustered him and went to commercial.

So here we are today, with crude prices at a 4-year low, and pump prices are right where they were the last time crude oil was below $50/barrel. The market works.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Bailouts

Call it what you like, even the "loan" being pondered for the "Big 3" U.S. Auto companies is just a bailout.

Here's what keeps bothering me about the bailouts of the banks, auto makers, and anyone else: The worse you perform, the more egregious your failings, the greater your payoff from the government. Take a look at the auto industry. The proposals on the table today have Chrysler and GM getting much more money than Ford. Why? Because Ford hasn't screwed things up as badly as the other two. Isn't Ford the better investment? I understand why GM needs to survive, but please.....

The banks are no different. The big bailout payouts are going to the most screwed up banks, while Wells Fargo, who performed well through all the chaos, gets nothing? I think I'd rather give the money (or maybe just the market share) to banks like Wells Fargo, who are less likely to need more bailout dollars again later.

Just remember, government taking away the chance for ultimate failure, also means they take away the chance for ultimate success. This applies to individuals as well as businesses.