SAR #8179

Our society runs on cheap oil,
and the days of cheap oil are over.
James Kunstler.

Bully: Libya says theirs is bigger than Uncle Sam's, and if the US insists on seizing assets in connection with a few acts of terrorism, it will reduce its oil production. Libya has Africa's largest oil reserves. Get used to this sort of blackmail brinkmanship; the US holds the losing hand.

Just Asking: What's the breakup value of General Motors? At $11 a share, how much would it take to find out? Less than $6.7 billion. Pocket change.

Daytime Soaps: Goldman Sachs has been busy chumming the water investment banks like Citigroup swim in; they say sell the stock short before the losses get worse. Ditto for GM. They're right. Late, but right. Meanwhile, Wachovia downgraded Goldman Sachs, but hired them to help find a new CEO and to give advice on Wachovia's loans.

Record Run: Guns, Rapists, Exxon, Electing Bush... My, it has certainly been a long time since the Supreme Court got one right.

Timing is Everything: Wisconsin, Washington, and California have filed against Countrywide, citing predatory lending practices. Why now? Because it keeps Bank of America from hiding Countrywide behind a separate limited corporation far away from BoA's checkbook.

So They Say: Deutsche Bank opines that the global economy will collapse when crude oil reaches $200 a barrel. (Cue the theme from Rocky.)

Borrowing from Peter to Pay Paul Dividends: General Motors Corp., the world's largest maker of unsold cars, may seek to borrow as much as $8 billion as GM is paying shareholders a dividend rate of 7.3% or so. Borrowing money at 10%+ and paying dividends of 7.3% is simply fiscal incompetence. Citigroup does the same thing, and so do many other financial institutions.

Boilerplate: (Deputy) (Assistant) Secretary __________ of the __________ Department/Agency in Washington, resigned after the Bush White House denied censoring reports on ____________ .

Threat or Promise? OPEC's President predicts oil prices will surpass $150 a barrel this summer, perhaps $170. And reaching ever further into the wallets of the world.

Porn O'Graph: Oil Exports Declined.