SAR #10125

Droit de Seigneur is alive and well on Wall Street.

Domino?  Without admitting any wrongdoing, much less actual guilt, Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay the SEC $450,000 to settle a naked-short selling penalties claim.  Take a number...

Who, Me?  BP says it is not their problem, they had nothing to do with it, but out of the goodness of their heart they'll pay for the cleanup.  Small print will follow.

Spots/Stripes:  Those right-leaning government-hating politicians in the Gulf states are on the phone to Washington non-stop these days, turning down offers of assistance.

Ridiculous Headline #47 & 48:  Here Is The Homegrown "Revolution" That Could Save Us From An Oil Crisis and Four Billion Barrels Of Recoverable Oil Discovered In The New 'Walmart' Of Oil Shale, which celebrate the Bakkan and Three Forks shale formations under MT & ND that over the next 40 years may produce as much a 4 billion barrels of petroleum.  That's equivalent to 100 days of US demand - 2 1/2 days a year for 40 years.  I'm excited.

Runs Rough:  April US new car/truck sales were up 20% y/y but down 4.6% from March's discount/rebate-fueled levels.

Worst Case?  BP told a congressional committee that the worst-case scenario for the Deepwater Horizon leak is 60,000 barrels a day but that a more likely figure would be only 40,000 barrels a day.  Only.

All Due Respect:  With as much respect for the US Senate as it could scrape together, JP Morgan Chase released a report suggesting that the Senate stand aside and let “grownups” formulate financial regulations.

Not If, When: The DH/BP oil spill will eventually get caught up in the Loop Current and be carried around the Florida Keys and up Florida's east coast, washing ashore on rich people's playgrounds and prompting extensive Federal rescue efforts.  'Eventually' is some time in the next week or two.

If the Shoe Fits:  If When its enablers get tired of supporting the US and force the Greek solution on the US budget, it will mean cutting our deficit by $953 billion a year.  That would wipe out all “discretionary” spending except for defense and then slash Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid by half.  No wonder the Greeks are a tad upset.

Unintended Consequences? Roundup has worked so well that it has become the single largest threat to agriculture ever seen – because nothing kills the mutant weeds that manage to develop a resistance to it.

Just Wow!  The relief well being drilled in 5,000 feet of water is planned to intercept the existing well around 13,000 feet below the seabed and permanently seal it.  I'm astounded they can even try to do such a thing & wish them well.

Quoted:  “We run the risk, by laying out the pros and cons of a particular argument, of inducing people to join in on the debate, and in this regard it is possible to lose control of a process that only we fully understand.”  Alan Greenspan, on transparency.  Or not.  Felix Salmon claims. “This was a meta-discussion about how much to discuss discussions.”  I think this is my stop.

Daily Petard:  “We’re very important but the public doesn’t see that,” Lloyd Blankfein , Goldman Sachs.

Independent:  The UK Ministry of Defence is investigating its complicity in the use of (illegal?) chemical weapons during the 2004 massacre of civilians in Faluja that has lead to a significant increase in the number of children there born with deformities.  The US has ruled that the weapons used were humane and legal and will conduct an investigation later.