1. Chart of the Day I (above). Remember back in January of 2010 during President Obama’s State of the Union speech when he pledged to double US exports within five years? Well, that was a completely unrealistic goal – total US exports have increased less than 12% between January 2010 and June 2015, based on data released today by the BEA. Although it probably wasn’t what Obama had in mind when he set his goal, he would be able to brag about one rather remarkable US export success story — the phenomenal increase in American-made petroleum products. Thanks to America’s shale revolution that dramatically boosted domestic oil output starting in about 2007, US exports of refined petroleum products like gasoline, diesel, jet fuels, and heating oil have doubled since Obama’s 2010 State of the Union speech, from an average of about $4 billion per month during 2009 to $8 billion per month this year, and that’s after adjusting for inflation – the nominal increase in petroleum exports is even higher at 122.5%.
2. Chart of the Day II (above) is in response to a comment on CD that I should be placed in the middle of a Venn diagram if I don’t post about the stall and decline in US oil production after many previous posts about the increase in US oil output. Actually, US oil production really hasn’t fallen much, and is going “shockingly well, considering that the price of oil has fallen in half over the last year,” as another CD regular commented. The chart above shows weekly oil production through the last week of July, based on EIA data released this morning. For the week ending July 31, daily US oil production was 9.465 million barrels, which was an increase from the previous week, but slightly below the production during the previous 9 weeks. On a monthly basis, July oil production averaged 9.52 million barrels per day, which except for June was the highest US monthly output since the early 1970s. So let’s hold off on the Venn diagram for now.
3. Venn Diagram of the Day (above). For now, let’s put the “diversity worshipers” in the middle of the Venn diagram above, inspired by Walter E. Williams’s column today titled “Legal and Academic Equality Nonsense,” here’s a slice:
If one were to list the world’s top 30 violinists of the 20th century, at least 25 of them would be of Jewish ancestry. Another disparity is that despite the fact that Jews are less than 3% of the U.S. population and a mere 0.2% of the world’s population, during the 20th century, Jews were 35% of American and 22 of the world’s Nobel Prize winners. Are Jews taking violin excellence and Nobel Prizes that belong to other ethnicities? If America’s diversity worshipers see under representation as probative of racial discrimination, what do they propose be done about over representation?
4. Markets in Everything: New Japanese luxury bus seats only 10 passengers for tours from Tokyo to all over Japan.
5. Punctuality. From Forbes contributor Brent Beshore’s excellent article “5 Minutes Early Is On Time; On Time Is Late; Late Is Unacceptable“:
I have a magic pill to sell you. It will help you make more money, be happier, look thinner, and have better relationships. It’s a revolutionary new pharmaceutical product called Late-No-More. Just one dose every day will allow you to show up on time, greatly enhancing your life and the lives of those around you.
All joking aside, being late is unacceptable. While that sounds harsh, it’s the truth and something that should be said more often. I don’t care if you’re attending a dinner party, a conference call, or a coffee meeting – your punctuality says a lot about you.
A timely article following an experience I had on Monday night. I made plans to meet a friend for dinner – I suggested 7 p.m., he strongly preferred 6 p.m. So I showed up on time at 6 p.m. — he called at 6:45 to say he was late and on the way, with a very nonchalant attitude about being 45 minutes late and not calling or texting earlier! He obviously needs a prescription for “Late-No-More.”
6. More on the Insourcing/Reshoring Trend from: a) the Washington Post, “Why it’s now cheaper to produce some goods in the South than in China,” and the New York Times, “Chinese Textile Mills Are Now Hiring in Places Where Cotton Was King.”
As I reported on CD back in 2011, Boston Consulting Group was predicting then that “Sometime around 2015, manufacturers will be indifferent between locating in America or China for production for consumption in America.” That now seems like a pretty accurate prediction.
7. Map of the Day (above). Liquid natural gas (LNG) prices around the world in June, showing that the US has the lowest LNG prices in the world, by far, at less than $2 per million BTUs compared to the rest of the world where prices are 3-4 times more expensive. That’s one reason for the insourcing/reshoring of manufacturing back to the US discussed in the item above.
8. Chart of the Day III (above). The chart above shows electricity costs (cents per kilowatt-hour) as a function of per capita installed renewable capacity (wind and solar only, excludes hydropower) in 20 countries, via the Watts Up With That? blog (guest post by Willis Eschenbach). Here’s more:
Per capita renewable capacity explains 84% of the variation in electricity costs. Not a big surprise given the crazy-high costs of renewables, but it is very useful for another calculation. President Obama said that he wanted 28% of America’s electricity to come from renewable energy by 2030. Currently, we get about 4% of our electricity from wind and solar. He wants to jack it to 28%, meaning we need seven times the installed capacity.
Currently we have about 231 kW/capita of installed wind and solar. So Obama’s plan will require that we have a little less than seven times that, 1,537 kW/capita. Assuming that we can extend the relationship in the chart above, this means that the average price of electricity in the US will go up to 43 cents per kilowatt-hour. Since the current average US price of electricity is about 12 cents per kilowatt-hour…that means the true price of electricity is likely to almost quadruple in the next 15 years.
9. Incentives Matter. Just like in American, there are many people in Iran who are on a kidney waiting list. But unlike America, they aren’t waiting to receive a kidney, they’re waiting to DONATE a kidney. Because unlike America where we ban compensation, kidney donors in Iran are paid $5,000. Source: New York Times article “Need a Kidney? Not Iranian? You’ll Wait.”
10. The Federal Reserve Joins the War on Drugs, according to George Selgin:
The Fed’s involvement in drug prohibition became official last month, when the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City informed Denver’s Fourth Corner Credit Union — a non-profit cooperative formed by Colorado’s state-licensed cannabis manufacturers — of its decision to deny its application for a master account.
from AEI » Latest Content http://ift.tt/1Dv5o59
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