9-22-08 by dugan Why is Exxon’s stock down 16% since the beginning of this year? Because it’s sitting on a cash hoard of $39 billion, spending more on buying back its own stock than producing…
Blog Post
Archive | Tag: cash register politics
Blog Post
Why General Motors fails
9-21-08 by dugan Coming out of the funk of a truly rotten cold, I sat upright when I saw quotes from the appearance by GM vice chairman Bob Lutz on the Colbert Report. If the…
Blog Post
Energy bill? What energy bill?
9-17-08 by dugan The 290-page energy bill that the House passed last night would be important if it had a chance of becoming law. It doesn’t. Too bad, because aside from a halfhearted acquiescence to…
Blog Post
Sex, drugs and oil, part 2
9-15-08 An inspector general’s report about years of hard partying, drug use and lavish gifts at the Denver office of federal oil regulators fingered the involvement of Chevron, Shell and a smaller company. The report…
Blog Post
$5 gas and “drill now”
9-14-08 by dugan If Americans really want more $5 gasoline after the next hurricane, and more power for the oil lobby in Washington, the "drill now" campaign is the perfect vehicle. That connection hit me…
Blog Post
Why oil’s down, gas is up
9-11-08 by dugan When a government thinks "regulation" is a dirty word, here’s what happens: The price of crude oil fell today to about $100 a barrel ($2.38 a gallon), yet gasoline spiked to a…
Blog Post
My take on T. Boone’s Prop 10
by dugan 9-10-08 I was asked to share my analysis of T. Boone Pickens’ Prop 10 on the November California ballot with the California Legislature today. The legislature’s own analysis of Prop 10 was skeptical…
Blog Post
Oil manipulation? We’re shocked.
9-04-08 by dugan For the last two years, the White House and its Commodity Futures Trading Commission have patted us all on the head and said "it’s only supply and demand" while the price of…
Blog Post
Palin’s big fat oil tax
9-4-08 by dugan In her first speech Wednesday as a VP candidate, Sarah Palin got whooping cheers for her accomplishments as governor of Alaska, including a big state budget surplus. But Palin didn’t mention how…
Blog Post
Gustav and gas prices
By dugan 8-30-08 The first concern as Hurricane Gustav sweeps across Cuba and toward the Gulf Coast is life and limb. Afterward, though, already painful gasoline prices could hit $5.00 a gallon quickly. Unlike the…
Blog Post
Cap and trade, explained
8-27-08 by dugan There’s no question that tough, enforceable reductions of carbon emissions are the only way to reduce the threat of global warming. Or that the world is heading into a market-based "cap and…
Blog Post
Talk is OK, action is way better
8-27-08 by dugan It’s interesting that Andrew Cuomo, one of the few political rock stars, is all but sitting out the Democratic Convention. Instead, he’s productively suing the pants off of government and energy companies…
Blog Post
The Bakken! Invest now!
8-27-08 by dugan A friend asked me today about all the investment hype and other excitement surrounding the so-called Bakken Formation oil reserves. Here’s the gist of what I told him, which might make him…