A play in three acts:
Trump tries to prop up the oil/energy sector:
The big Oil Deal with OPEC Plus is done. This will save hundreds of thousands of energy jobs in the United States. I would like to thank and congratulate President Putin of Russia and King Salman of Saudi Arabia. I just spoke to them from the Oval Office. Great deal for all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2020
Retweets flattering article on his efforts!
“The Art of an Oil Deal” https://t.co/UyH5pYTmYw
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2020
And then…splat!
BREAKING: May contract for WTI crude oil breaks below $1 per barrel, down almost 95% https://t.co/HlsH3slbGO pic.twitter.com/yJDqBq5JY1
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) April 20, 2020
This seems unsustainable and yet…sustainable!
But seriously, folks — this worldwide public health emergency / economic catastrophe seems like a really good time to rethink, well, everything. Just here in America, this dreadful situation has laid bare damn near every pathology that afflicts our body politic — from racism to climate change to gun nuttery to wealth inequality to healthcare to Republican corruption to media malpractice to the fact that the president and upwards of a third of our fellow citizens are fucking nuts.
A sane country might take this opportunity to reassess and move forward in a better direction. I am sure we’ll squander the chance at reset this pause provides since we’re a nation stupid enough to elect a drooling idiot like Trump in the first place. But damn!
Open thread.
James E Powell
So, what you’re sayin’ is that we’re doomed.
Adam L Silverman
What this means is that all the major US producers will default and be taken over by the banks and hedge funds that hold their debt obligations. The very stable jenius has just negotiated the debt based takeover of the American petroleum industry with MBS and Putin.
Raoul
I’m thinking maybe Gates and Buffet could just buy all the oil right now, and lock it up.
(Yeah, I know that’s not how futures work, but there is an opportunity for creative intervention, but it would have to move fast and take risks. I’m thinking along the lines of the people who buy up stale medical debt for pennies on the dollar and forgive it, to thwart shitlord bill collectors).
MisterForkbeard
From reading this, I’d assumed it was Mistermix’s post. Betty doesn’t usually do exasperated anger. :)
But more seriously, having Trump at the helm is just terrible in every way possible. Dude has no plans, no ability, and no credibility. He fails at literally everything and then demands that you thank him for the privilege of watching him fuck up your life.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Just turned on MSNBC and they’re covering the protests in Harrisburg PA– I came in late but no mention of actual numbers.
Now to Phoenix, and Vaughn Hillyard pointing out that at most 200 people out of a metro population of about 5 million– good for him
ETA: organizer of PHX rally wants an investigation into Birx and Fauci. Katie Tur: well, that is just plain dumb
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Everything. Dump. Touches. Dies.
Marvin
OK! A good deal for Putin and Saudi Arabia. Is this a good deal for me? I drive a car and pay for fuel. I pay taxes used to provide military support in the Middle East, and more importantly the children of my friends and neighbors have shed blood in the Middle East wars. Is this a good deal for us?
hueyplong
This isn’t going to make me watch Fox, but it will make me read jackal posts about what Fox says today/tonight.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Amazon surprised me today by having the book coming out in June (The Wysman) for preorder, though only the paperback. They even discounted it to $12.99 instead of $14.99. I assume the ebook will be along eventually though probably not until close to the June 27 release date.
It feels anticlimactic in light of the lunatic times around us.
Betty Cracker
@James E Powell: Long term, probably. This level of incompetence and ruin demands a stunning rebuke at the ballot box that sends the party that wrought it into the howling wilderness for a generation. I don’t think we’ll get that.
I’m optimistic Trump will lose to Biden and the Dems might retake the Senate narrowly enough to put Joe Manchin at the outer limit of what’s possible legislatively. Better than what we have by a country mile and well worth fighting for, but not enough to stave off doom in a long-term sense, no.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
MSNBC pointing out “pro-life” kooks calling for re-opening of Pennsylvania will lead to…. [checks notes] …lives being lost.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@Adam L Silverman: The Invisible Hand just killed fracking.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: perhaps as they planned?
CarolDuhart2
A good place to put this:
https://www.gofundme.com/manage/barbara039s-emergency-fund/update/all
(The original request was in a thread long ago)
Thank you for all of your support so far. My sister will be off of the road for a while, and hopefully will figure out how to post a thank you message. But she appreciates it anyway.
I think the old oil economy is going to sink under the waters like those petri dish cruise ships. Nobody is going to be doing much driving until the vaccine, and when it does open up a lot of people will be surprised to find out they will be permanently working from home as their old offices are foreclosed under them, and their org/companies permanently downsize their office hubs. So a lot less gas being consumed overall. And that’s just driving for work. Anyone guess when people will feel safe flying for vacations? Driving is one thing, flying in a can for 4/5 hours another. And if you appreciate cleaner air, maybe it really is going to be time for that discounted Tesla.
Jeffro
Don’t want to “go back to normal” if “normal” got us here.
Would love to see Dems find a way to counter-protest the ‘LAND FREE’ crowd in some creative, safe way…
Betty Cracker
@MisterForkbeard:
This will be news to my husband! :)
MattF
$1/barrel is… a low price. Good to see Trump on the job, destroying the international oil market.
Amir Khalid
I was astounded to read that the price of oil had fallen below US$0. I hadn’t even known that was possible. And now I’m worried for Malaysia, which is also dependent on oil income.
Jeffro
@CarolDuhart2: hmm…I wonder if some enterprising developer is already looking at renovating office buildings into affordable apartments on a large scale.
No one will miss the cruise ships, and flying less is a good thing on many fronts. I bet a whole lot of airport renovations/expansions across the country just hit the brakes hard.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jeffro: these images should be the end of these “protests”, but I figure it’s 50/50 that the woman screaming at the guy in scrubs (the internet says he’s a nurse) is being prepped by Hannity’s staff for an interview where Hannity tells her how she’s suffered while she tearfully nods and says “that’s right, Sean, I’m just worried about my little family keeping our house”
Gin & Tonic
@Raoul: Four words: Nelson and Lamar Hunt.
Baud
At that piece, I might have to pick up a couple of barrels of oil for Christmas gifts.
CarolDuhart2
And by the way, what about those cruise ships? And I’ve noticed, along with everybody else that the leaders of the “open it up” crowd are the most frothy and non-essential businesses ever. The Ohio one is a motor racing track owner, and another is a wedding dress shop. Sorry that you can’t face reality in that your business just isn’t needed now. Do something else or just hunker down until its over if you can. People aren’t going to “shop until they drop” for your convenience./
hueyplong
Thinking about those 2016 voters who wanted “to shake things up.”
Benw
Trump is a buffoon who has been played like a fool yet again
MattF
@Amir Khalid: Amazin’. News says the current price is negative $6.72.
mrmoshpotato
Oh, youse funny. :)
waspuppet
Just a reminder that “prop up the oil market” ultimately means “raise gas prices,” which is a little funny given that Trump’s big excuse a couple weeks ago was “gas prices are so low it’s like a tax cut.”
Kelly
We may have taken “Anybody can grow up to be President” a bit too far.
Hoodie
I’m afraid there’s not much chance we will make the best of this moment. We have the inverse of original sin — a large number of our citizens (both consumers and purveyors) have sampled the forbidden fruit of ignorance and can’t seem to live without it. Well, at least until a large enough number of them (and us) are actually dead. Maybe.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@waspuppet: I wonder how he’s being dosed– by himself or by Ivanka or Hope or whoever knows what he takes– for today’s follies
mrmoshpotato
@MisterForkbeard:
It seems like……and bear with me……tens of millions telling Hillary to get fucked was a bad idea!
Just spitballin’ here.
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Maybe if she sold her $50,000 truck she could keep her little house.
Amir Khalid
@waspuppet:
Keeping his story straight has never been part of Trump’s skill set.
CarolDuhart2
@Jeffro: Wouldn’t be surprised at that. A lot of malls and office parks are in good, accessible locations. Plus, the housing real estate market looks a lot more stable now. People tend to reside in them for years instead of the boom and bust nature of a lot of commercial.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if eventually the mini-office market takes off a bit. A lot of people working from home might want to rent a slightly larger space to work away from the kids for 8 hours a day that’s only a short hop from home.
A Ghost to Most
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Three (3) people turned up in Annapolis to protest.
mrmoshpotato
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Fuck Rick Wilson and his years-worth of building the Rethuglican monster factory.
“Oh shit! It finally made a monster! How the fuck did that happen?”
Adam L Silverman
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
The entire industry is going to get a good dose of vulture capitalism as a distressed asset.
Jay
The Danes have decided that Corporations who:
– paid dividends,
– did stock buybacks,
– or tax shelter offshore, don’t get bail out/ financial assistance from The State.
Brachiator
We don’t have a sane country. In fact, we have some nutjobs eager to resume the old insanity. In addition to Trump’s raging incompetence, you have conservative pundits unwilling to admit that government can actually work and help people, and now desperate to undermine efforts to effectively deal with the pandemic.
It is quite frightening to see the degree to which some people cannot let go of old politics and grudges.
ETA. I really have to commend governors Cuomo and Newsom, and local Los Angeles county officials for staying focused and providing effective leadership.
Gravenstone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
You could probably sell that land yacht you’re in and cover a few month’s payment for the mortgage. Or sell the house and move into the land yacht. Your choice, loser.
Jeffro
@mrmoshpotato: I think it was Stuart Stevens who recently penned a complete mea culpa like that (a sincere one)…hang on…
Oh yeah, it’s his new book (must have seen an op-ed/excerpt):
It Was All a Lie
Thanks Stuart!
Jeffro
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jay:
Whoa. Go, Denmark.
Gravenstone
@MattF: Not sure we can effectively put oil back into the ground. Although I guess we could modify fracking tech to get a start on the project.
CarolDuhart2
@Adam L Silverman: I wonder what the scoffers about renewable energy think now. Electricity isn’t going away, and one could see demand increasing as more people work from home. And it can be locally owned, a step away from the vulture capitalists hovering over oil.
Now they say it’s because of the end of a contract, but I doubt that at the end of other contracts oil ever went this low-even for the minute. And the May contract being at $22 a barrel isn’t much better. Demand isn’t going up that much more than it is now.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@mrmoshpotato:
Is it creepy that I want people taking pictures of the license plates on the protesters?
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker:
You don’t want these fuckers destroying the wilderness for a generation.
Bottom of the Pacific for them.
“Don’t get happy.” as Bob Cesca says.
CarolDuhart2
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Some probably are in the hope that in a few weeks or so they can make an offer on them.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
upon further review: oil isn’t too bad
The June contract price is currently $21.49. The spot market is about the same price. Though at that price, fracking is dead. Price has to be a lot higher to make fracking a profitable venture.
cain
@Betty Cracker:
The GOP will gaslight everything and blame the Dems for everything that Trump did and so will the right wing noise machine. There will be entire protests against Joe for what Trump did.
If we want to get ahead of this, they can no longer afford to not do investigations after the fact – if you count on “let the country unite and heal, and let bygones by bygones” they will likely lose their own constituents – since again this would be pandering to white supremacists.
Jeffro
@Jay: ?? Corporations are supposed to pay dividends.
The other two categories, though…those folks should indeed pound sand.
coredump
The WTI future contract for May 2020 expires today 04/20. That is the reason for this dramatic change in it’s price today. The contract price for June 2020 is better indicator of oil prices levels in the short term.
We are definitely seeing headwinds on oil prices on all future contracts but the May contract price especially today is not a good indicator of the trend for oil prices.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
while I realize these people are dumber than your average dining room table, I wish the reporters would ask these people who “just want to get back to work” what their jobs are. What do they do that they wouldn’t be affected by the vast majority of people staying the fuck home
ETA: also, which geniuses thought that massive horn-honking would persuade the 70% of people who think they’re stupid to come over to their side?
cain
@Benw:
What happened to the GOP??? You would think that they would be jumping up to protect their oil baron friends.. this makes no sense. It’s like there is no check on Trump at all by the GOP even when it hurts every interest they are interested in. They dont’ give a shit about our allies and I remember it was all about the allies back during the GW Bush days.
Matt McIrvin
@CarolDuhart2: “Oil is so cheap that alternative energy can’t possibly compete! It’s 1971 again. Everyone start building oil-fired power plants immediately!”
Jeffery
What borders on stupidity?
Mexico and Canada.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@cain:
Surely crashing oil prices weren’t what Putin had in mind when he helped get Trump elected.
Frankensteinbeck
Every time Trump says he’s negotiated a deal, it turns out to be a lie. I don’t know what’s going on, but we’re going to find out soon that either Trump had no hand in it, it was monumentally stupid and everyone got burned, or both. I do not see oil prices plunging as good for Putin, whose national economy and personal wealth depend on oil. Get ready for another Infrastructure Week, everyone.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: A lot of fracking now is done exclusively for natural gas, there’s pretty good demand for that for bridge electricity generation.
MagdaInBlack
@Gin & Tonic:
Thank you. Was thinking the same .
cain
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Lie with fire ants, wake up in pain.
bemused
@Jeffro:
It took him decades to own up?
mrmoshpotato
@Jeffro: Yes. I was looking at its release date yesterday – August 4th.
Welp, all of our libraries are closed anyway…
Eric U.
the negative oil futures makes me wonder if the national oil reserves are at capacity. Trump probably leased them out
CaseyL
@Brachiator: I know Cuomo has done some shitty stuff, and has rightly been strafed for it, but watching his daily pressers I have to say I’m falling in love with him. Not only for the substantive correctness of what he’s been doing, but for the detailed explanation of the data.
Mind you, I too have an excellent governor, Jay Inslee, whom I’m also in love with. But Jay’s pressers are more about policy, what’s being rolled out and how it will work. He doesn’t do Pandemic 101 explanation of how infection rates work, how hospitalization rates work, how coordination is key, and the editorializing that Cuomo does so effectively.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think their job is protesting for right-wing causes.
mrmoshpotato
@Gravenstone:
Just fucking dump it in the oceans!
Oh wait…
PenAndKey
@Jeffro: A company paying out dividends is handing profits over to the owners. That’s all well and good under normal conditions and a major reason why people invest in the first place long-term, but such companies don’t then get to turn around and beg for cash to stay afloat. Let the dividend-earning owners pay that tab. They don’t get to privatize the profits and socialize the risks.
Kent
So how does this even work?
I buy a million barrels of oil which you give me for free, and then you throw in a million dollars on top of the deal just to get me to take it off your hands?
I don’t understand “new math”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: You know who’s b-day is August 4th?
bemused
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I know I’d ask those people what their jobs are. It’s the first question in my mind watching reporters talking to these lunatics.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: Yeah, BP tried that.
mrmoshpotato
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Nope. It’s public information if it’s visible in public. Now searching the DMV databases by license plate would be a different story, but crowdsourcing can help with that.
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yours?
PenAndKey
@bemused: “What would you say you do here?”
@mrmoshpotato: If you can get images of the cars and the drivers you can crowdsource their identification without needing to do a DMV search. I can’t imagine it would take long, because if there’s one thing the internet masses are good for it’s righteous social scolding. Good luck to anyone trying to do so though, since they’ll start screaming “harassment!” the second their name gets flagged by someone.
James E Powell
@PenAndKey:
No? That seems harsh given all the jobs they provide simply because they love of God and America. Taking over their losses is the least Americans can do.
mrmoshpotato
@PenAndKey:
:)
Autoreply – “Don’t be a Trump trash bitchwaffle then!”
mrmoshpotato
Duplicate
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: Mine was in January, it’s Obama’s.
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Ah yes!
Subsole
@Gravenstone: If there’s a Republican at the FDA, I would expect asphalt and roofing tar to find their way into the food pyramid right soon…
Adam L Silverman
@CarolDuhart2: MBS decided about a month or so ago to drive prices down to break Putin’s market and put him in his place, as well as make US shale oil production unprofitable. The President decided he could fix this by negotiating between MBS and Putin. That agreement, whatever it was that was actually agreed to, combined with a drop in demand because of less driving from stay at home orders and MBS opening the spigots, produced this report.
J R in WV
Off Topic, but important… copied from the Rofer morning thread, “Criteria for loosening Restrictions”
Chrome browser users, Google has announced a newly discovered vulnerability in Chrome Versions earlier than the newest release, which is Version 81.0.4044.113.
This vulnerability allows hostile hackers to run code on your device, and is the most serious type of code vulnerability.
Folks should check their current install of Chrome to be sure they are protected.
Subsole
@Dorothy A. Winsor: More than a little, if only due to where it could lead.
Then again when there is no justice before the law or the temple, people will eventually manufacture their own. Sousveillance-based vigilantism doesn’t exist without a vacuum, y’know?
mrmoshpotato
@Subsole: Mmmmm plate of asphalt washed down with roofing tar.
What’s for dessert?
Mallard Filmore
@Gin & Tonic:
Is the truck new? Likely bought on credit, the loan goes underwater as soon as the truck leaves the sales lot.
Subsole
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that big, leaky pipeline they plowed through America’s breadbasket fed mostly by shale fracking???
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
ETTD
Subsole
@mrmoshpotato: Plastic!
Jeffro
@PenAndKey: Thanks – I should have been more clear (or asked a question or two). I took Denmark’s stance to be if the companies had ever paid a dividend then they can’t get funds, which seemed odd.
So hey, next time I’ll ask a question or two. =)
mrmoshpotato
@Subsole: Mmmmmmmm (rubs belly)
J R in WV
@Gravenstone:
Actually, that is where the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is stored, in empty underground oil fields that have been pumped dry.
Same for pump storage natural gas, they pump it into the ground all summer, into gas formations emptied years ago, and then suck it out all winter to amplify available amounts in New England during the heating season.
Immanentize
My very slim understanding of the oil situation is that
1). It is easier to start a pump or Derrick than it is to shut it down. This is for normal extraction (not fracking which is a specific process not a continuous flow or pumping)
2). Right now in many countries, particularly Russia and Saudi Arabia and probably some other Petro states (Mexico? Venezuela?) the virus shut downs have really reduced demand. Seriously. Both in transportation (cars, ships, planes although trucks keep on truckin) but also all the industrial uses.
3). There is such a glut right now that every place where oil can be stored is pretty much full. I am not sure if our strategic reserves are topped off, but they sure as hell ought to be at the current prices.
4). Because you can’t stop pumping and the normal storage capacity is full, countries must now pay to store oil — either 3rd party storage or build new storage capability now! Both expensive so oil now costs money to pump and store.
5). Or they could just dump it. Like the military does.
Yutsano
@Adam L Silverman: How did MBS expect that to play out exactly? The Saudi budget is also reliant on the price of oil. There was already massive controversy over SA finally getting an income tax. Does he expect his family to expect less of their monthly stipends? And how does he square this with his modernisation project?
Immanentize
@Yutsano: MBS just wanted to pants Russia. He did not see the international crisis for what it would be. Considering the Covid problems in Iran, I am certain S.A. is wading in dead people — mostly foreign workers — right now. Which is also gonna mess with their oil industry.
And we were just the other day discussing Lawrence of Arabia!
Kent
Most investors don’t actually give a shit if a company ever pays dividends. They are just looking for equity accumulation. Some of the highest flying stocks like Amazon never pay dividends. Apple used to not either until they had so much cash they didn’t even know what to do with it all
BTW, stock buybacks and dividends are essentially the same thing. Just two different mechanisms to push cash back to the shareholders.
Another Scott
@CarolDuhart2: Bad linky.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/barbara039s-emergency-fund
is the one you meant to post.
Best of luck!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Yutsano
@Immanentize: There’s a big outbreak in Mecca. I forget where I saw that reported, but that would be a HUGE blow to the house of Al-Saud if they can’t protect the Two Mosques. I’m sure the oil battle blowing up in his face is one thing, but losing the original family bargain that established his kingdom will sting worse.
Adam L Silverman
@Yutsano: My understanding is he had enough financial reserve to weather breaking Putin and damaging the shale oil producers so that he could maximize his profits on the back end.
I’m not saying it was a good plan…
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman: plan meets the world of now.
Immanentize
@Yutsano: Time to kidnap his relatives again, I guess.
cain
@Yutsano:
I expect an assassination attempt coming soon. If he fucks up protecting Mecca that is going to be bad. I’m not saying that it is exactly possible to stop the spread – but I don’t think it will matter even if he’s not exactly culpable. This virus is going to break regimes everywhere.
rikyrah
is the reason why the price of oil is so low is because nobody is using it?
I don’t drive much under the best of circumstances.
I hadn’t driven since the last week of March. Last time I filled up the car, gas was $2.35/2.40.
I looked up yesterday, and it was $1.80.
cain
@rikyrah:
I bought gas about a month ago, and I still only at half full.
Immanentize
@rikyrah: look at what I wrote at 94 for a metal take on gas and oil prices.
RobertB
@Kent: https://twitter.com/RogerDiwan/status/1252324705291374592?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
tl;dr People who are holding that futures contract can’t get anyone to buy it, and don’t know how to, or can’t, arrange for storing the actual oil they committed to buy.
Another Scott
@rikyrah:
Mostly, yes.
Demand started falling, and the OPEC+ countries couldn’t agree on cutting production. Then Prince Bonesaw decided to try to teach Putin a lesson by ramping up production while prices and demand were falling. Then demand fell off a cliff, storage tankers and other places to put it filled up, and here we are.
Oil is one of those important products that has a weird price elasticity of demand. If you have to have it to run your factory, then you will pay any price to get it (in the short term). But if there’s even a little bit more on the market than people need, then the price can fall like a rock as producers bid against each other to get rid of it.
With any luck, Prince Bonesaw and Putin will both be thrown out of power before this is over.
Cheers,
Scott.
Xenos
@PenAndKey: I work as a director for a number of investment companies and funds. If I pay a dividend and leave a company insolvent then I become personally liable for the debts of the company or fund. Of course, this is NOT in the U.S.
Now the anti-asset stripping rules from the OECD are going to kick in.
Really, America, you don’t have to live like this.
Another Scott
@RobertB: What’s that old aphorism about trading commodities?
Q – “How do you make a small fortune in commodities trading?”
A – “First, start with a large fortune…”
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@Immanentize: He did that again about three weeks ago. He’s multitasking.
Yutsano
@Immanentize: @cain: There is a certain King Abdullah II of Jordan who is just SALIVATING right now. One of the claims of the Hashemite kingdom is direct descent from Muhammad. As such, they have laid claim to protection of Mecca before. I’m not saying Jordan is about to triple in size and become an oil power overnight, but there are definitely parties in the Middle East who would be just fine if Prince Bonesaw lost his legitimacy here.
Subsole
@Another Scott:
On that cheerful note, I have been wondering who steps in after Putin or MBS. Do we know who their successors are? Putin seems the kind to want no successor, whether through an abundance of caution or arrogance.
Heck, who steps in after McConnell, while we’re at it? I am perhaps foolishly holding out hope we will take the senate this year. If McConnell gets trounced, who steps in? Cornyn?
Xenos
@Yutsano: Hashemites do not have great record at surviving as petrostate potentates.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
nope.
not creepy to find out about people who don’t give two shyts about how they are endangering other people’s lives.
Another Scott
@Subsole: I have no special insights on the next players. My guess would be:
One constant in politics is change. These guys aren’t going to be around forever…
Cheers,
Scott.
taumaturgo
@Betty Cracker: I wish you are right but I’m asking, where is Biden? The clock is counting down to November and all we hear and see is Donald taking every day on TV what the Democrats translate as nonsense but some independents and MAGA types interpret as the word of the all-wise. At this stage of the race recent polling is showing Biden as trailing Hillary at the same point in time in 2016. Biden is seriously lagging with the 45 and under voters. While Biden was promising to veto M4A, Donald proposed to cover all Convid19 health-related expenses, outflanking Biden from the left. With the worst performance during ever for a President under a crisis, the battleground states are up for grabs. Biden needs to go big and bold fast, today, otherwise, the worst unspoken but latent fears of the Biden candidacy could come true. I hope I’m wrong.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
thanks:)
Omnes Omnibus
@Subsole: If McConnell loses, the odds are it is part of a Dem wave. The question is how big the wave will be. It is unlikely that McConnell holds his seat and the GOP holds the Senate.
RobertB
@Another Scott: I remember listening to some coworkers a while back, right before the 2001 tech stock crash, where the coworkers were talking about how they found out about commodities options and how easy it was to get rich in the commodities markets. I just smiled and nodded my head, thinking, “Wow, this sounds like an excellent way to lose a lot of money in a hurry.”
Uncle Cosmo
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Better question for you both – you know whose birthday is today?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
BernieCare has as much chance of getting to any president’s desk as I have of winning the PowerBall, and I don’t buy tickets
Now shut the fuck up, Donnie
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Similar, my March and April fills (one each) showed a $0.75/gallon drop, and that’s in costy California.
It’s so very weird having a Republican president extolling higher prices. Infrastructure Week gets better and better.
Related, Caltrans has moved most of their nighttime construction projects to daytime because of the light traffic. They get finished faster and cheaper.
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Heh. Only missing “You’re out of your element.” and a helping of delicious pie. :-)
glory b
@James E Powell: I wanted to say “Speak for yourselves, white people,” but we all might have no choice but to try along with you or we’ll all go down with the ship (of state).
Omnes Omnibus
@taumaturgo: C’mon, you know where Biden is. He is meeting with Wall Street bankers and the Bilderbergers in Bohemian Grove to work out a neoliberal plan to fuck you over.
Richard Guhl
To think that Trump, who manages to combine the worst traits of Andrew Johnson and Herbert Hoover, and a virus, which is the biological equivalent to a printer running amok, are laying waste to our world. But then, I repeat myself.
Subsole
@taumaturgo:
First, he isn’t convincing anyone who ain’t convinced. It’s the same trap Sanders fell in. Ruling with 30% only works until the other 70% gets tired of your shit and starts putting the boots to your danglies.
Second, and tied up in the first, if your enemy is making a mistake, let him.
Third, if people seriously think the Republicans are going to outflank us to the left, they…well, let’s be nice and say they have NOT been paying attention. I mean, what’s the argument here? Like, ok. Trump said he’s gonna do M4A, just like Bernie! But even more bettererest!
Sure.
Yeah.
Trump.
The paragon of followthrough whose given word is solid enough to carve in fire on Mt. Sinai said he’s gonna do it so we all better take it seriously.
Sorry bro, but if you are actually buying that, I legit do not know how to help you.
Butter Emails
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m assuming that the fracking heavy companies are screwed, but some of the majors like XOM probably have enough cash on hand to make their next few debt payments.
I’m really curious what this means for country’s who have budgets largely dependent on crude sales. Putin was good when the price of oil dropped below the point where it was profitable for fracking companies. He’s not good when it’s dropped to a point where production is no longer profitable for Russian companies.
mrmoshpotato
@Uncle Cosmo: Harold Fuckin’ Lloyd’s! Happy 127th, you hilarious man!
Another Scott
@rikyrah: Liz Dye at Wonkette said it better (from 7 days ago):
I can see it happening exactly like that, can’t you?
Cheers,
Scott.
Victor Matheson
@Subsole: The pipeline you are talking about was designed to carry mainly Canadian Tar Sands oil not North Dakota fracking oil.
Neither of these sources is profitable at $22/barrel. And there not a single source in the world that is profitable at -$36/barrel, which was the May futures price when I just checked a second ago.
mrmoshpotato
@Another Scott: FSM bless Wonkette with its noodley appendages.
Subsole
@Victor Matheson:
Thanks for the clarification. Also, holy crap. -36$? Is that another economic record Trump has broken?
Subsole
@Another Scott:
It’s…it’s like I’m there.
Someday, there will be movies about this age that make The Death of Stalin look like sober documentary.
Betty Cracker
@taumaturgo: Biden didn’t “promise” to veto M4A — he gave a bog-standard typical BS political response to a hypothetical, deviating not a jot from his campaign talking points. If M4A passed a Democratic House and Senate, I’m confident Biden would sign it because its passage would herald a massive shift in the current consensus among Congressional Democrats.
Van Buren
@Jay: Well, anybody could have predicted that Socialism would lead to insanity like this.
Ruckus
@Gin & Tonic:
Around where I live there are a lot of $50,000 pick ups with $10-20 grand of aftermarket suspension and massive wheels/tires. Mostly driven by guys under 30-35 yrs old. They are impracticable on or off road. I call them dick extenders.
Bex
@mrmoshpotato: Anthrax and tire rims.
Subsole
@mrmoshpotato:
I love that site.
Even if they don’t allow comments.
Subsole
@Ruckus:
I think for that money I’d just go with the dumbbell and the belt…
Won’t extend anything, and just about as painful. A LOT cheaper.
Ruckus
@Subsole:
Actually we all broke it.
All the people not driving 10-40K/year.
Or flying 20-100k/year.
Or taking a cruse ship that uses several thousand gallons a day.
And in many/most parts of the world.
Look how many cities around the globe now have blue sky, that usually never do. That’s from not burning that oil. Imagine not having that all the time.
Ruckus
@Subsole:
It’s even easier to accept who and what you are.
An example, a long time buddy, gone now for over 4 yrs, was built like a porn star. His ex wife was quoted as saying “Owning a race car is a waste if you don’t know how to drive.”
Another Scott
@Subsole: Wonkette allows comments (via Disqus). Are you thinking of some other site?
Cheers,
Scott.
Subsole
@Another Scott:
Nah, it was a running joke there that the site admins were horrible authoritarians who do not allow comments.
Subsole
@Ruckus:
Truth.
I was thinking of that the other day, looking at photos of NYC and LA in the 70s/80s.
I think my generation really doesn’t realize just how much changed, and how quickly. I mean, that smog looked like it would turn your lungs white.
Brachiator
@J R in WV:
Thanks for the tip about Chrome.
sdhays
@taumaturgo: Other’s have addressed other parts of your concerns already, but the other thing that I think is important to remember in general is “Dump outflanking Biden from the left” isn’t a thing anymore. There’s a cost for always lying: people don’t really believe anything that Donny Dump says anymore. The polls on Dump’s trustworthiness show this.
No one is going to support Dump because they think he’s going to be more generous on…anything. We know him. He won’t let us forget who he is for a moment. Talking about “outflanking” is falling into the trap of thinking that he’s a normal politician and this is a normal election.
J R in WV
@Brachiator:
You are all welcome!
Chrome sometimes updates automatically, other times not -typical MS behavior… I wound up with two copies, somehow, and one updated itself, the other did not. I had a hell of a time, had to delete both copies, install a clean up-to-date copy. Was not trivial !!
But wife’s laptop only had one, it was already updated when I looked. New Tablet just needed a couple of clicks to update itself.
J R in WV
@sdhays:
You all are forgetting rule 42 – don’t feed the trolls. They won’t forgive you for correcting them, either. That may not be the right rule number, but close…
The Pale Scot
@Kent:
De Jure yes, De Facto no. Because executive staff bonuses are tied to stock price. Reducing the amount of stock available, especially revealing that a purchase is planned before execution gooses the price much more effectively, since dividend payouts are forecast a month before the quarter
That’s why the 1934 Security Act put tight restrictions on it, defining it as stock market manipulation. Until the faux cowboy presidential re-enactor made the head of EF Hutton the SEC chairperson in 1982
The Pale Scot
@Yutsano:
From roughly 9 A.D. to 1916 IIRC. Always saw the Sauds as quite sleazy cutting a deal with Wahhab and moving in on the Mecca satrap. A century hasn’t improved the opinion