...North Dakota

Are you looking for a job? Well pack up and move to North Dakota! It is the state way up North, close to Canada, the state that no one lives in, no one has cared about since the movie "Fargo" and the floods, but has a surplus of jobs. In May non farm payroll employment was up 4.3% from the year before, and the unassuming state sported a gaudy 3.2% unemployment rate. In several counties, the rate is below one percent. The state jobs office has 15,205 listings, up 64% from May 2010. North Dakota, which is one of the smallest states by population (about 670,000) and one of the largest geographically, has .7 unemployed persons for every job opening. In the U.S., the labor force participation rate is an anemic 64.2%. In North Dakota, it stands at 74%. Oil is a major part of this increase of money int he state. Last year they produced 113 million barrels of American oil, yay! President of the North Dakota Petroleum Council said, "On any given Monday, we've got 1,700 job openings directly related to the oil industry." If that is not a job you would want think about McDonalds. There an entry level job pays $12.50 to $15.00 an hour. Even low-skilled jobs can command high wages: $1,500 per week for cooks or $1,000 per week for housekeepers. Could North Dakota be the new Texas? Possibly. I cannot imagine a lot of people rushing to move there, it is a dull place, but you cannot beat jobs with great pay, even if you are used to the city life. I am giving North Dakota a Digit Up for rising up in this horrible economic time. They are doing things with oil that many other states could, but they refuse to because they are afraid of the possible toxic side effects. Do you know what is worse than possibly getting toxic waste in your water? Not having any water at all because you are homeless and jobless and your kids are crying and asking you to fix it but you cannot fix it because you are just as lost as they are. Shame on you states...shame on you. Ha!

...Presidnet Barack Obama

Today is was reported that The International Energy Agency announced it would release 60 million barrels of oil into the global market. Of the 60 million barrels 30 million will come from the U.S. If our Strategic Petroleum Reserve is full, which I doubt it is, it can hold a reported maximum of 727 million barrels. This is a joint effort between the oil producing nations to further drive down oil prices and somewhat make up for Libya's oil shortage which has taken place since the "disturbance" began. They will be releasing 2 million barrels a day over the next 30 days and some expect gas prices to fall in about a month and prices for Brent crude could go down by $10 to $12 a barrel. Though gas is 91 cents higher now than it was a year ago, oil has been slowly falling for the last 6 weeks, though with Summer in full swing it usually goes up. The 2 million a day is going to be ore than the 1.25 million a day Libya produces, but many questions are being raised about this. A few weeks ago the President said this about releasing oil, "I won't make any news on that today. I will say that my general view is that the SPR is to be used where you don't have just short-term fluctuations in the market, but a significant disruption event. Libya has taken 1.25 m barrels per day off the market. We're examining broadly what that means in terms of the oil market." It seems as if the administration knows that dealing with Libya is not going to be a simple thing. Well if that is the case, why did you start something with them in the 1st place? Also can we say politics? The economy is horrible, and no matter how you try to sugarcoat it or play with words, it is horrible. By releasing oil the President believes this will slightly help the economy? Wrong. This is a desperation attempt in my eyes. Just the night before the President announced an initial draw down of 10,000 troops in two phases, with 5,000 troops coming home this summer and 5,000 more by the end of the year. An additional 20,000-plus are to follow by September 2012. That is very close to November, re-election time... If you cannot get the economy back in track and lower the unemployment rate, why not lead with the fact that you brought back troops...yay? This is politics as usual, the thing Obama claimed he was against, obviously he is just as much apart of it as any other politician, which I already knew. I am giving President Obama 2 Digits Down for 2 days of less than stellar news.

...Gas

Gas is expected to drop by 50 cents this Summer, so says the experts. I do not know what they are basing this on, but I like it. I do not love it though. I have not known gas to down in the Summer time. If there were ever a chance of gas reaching $5 a gallon this Summer would be the time to do it. Oil did fall over $12 Thursday and Friday. I m not sure what it will do Monday though. If another Middle Eastern country decides to have an uprising or if China or India demands more oil and the dollar gets weaker, though it did get a tad stronger Friday, then we can see gas prices go up. A year ago gas was under $3, now we are okay with that. In America many are driving less so of course our demand is down, though it is only temporary. I still do not understand why we are not drilling on our own land and waters, that would help us a lot! Anyway I am pleased to know that gas could be 50 cents lowers, maybe more, but most likely less. I am giving this news a Digit Up.

...Hydraulic Fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly knwon as fracking, seems to be making a lot of headlines lately. I know that there are a lot of people against it because of the unsightly drills and toweres and the possiblity of tainted drinking water and unkown health risk. I do understand those fears and I understand why many people protest against the process, but I am all for it. It makes soem land owners instant millionaires and creats a few joibs as well. More importantly it would help the U.S. economy. We as a country are on the edge and we are basiccally going over. We know we are going to go over, we are just trying to do whatever it takes to prolong it. If we are able to drill within our own country we take some of the power away form the other oil producing countries inthe Middle East. This saves us a lot of stress and increase the value of our ever weakening dollar. Poeple may not want to give up their land to do this, but if they wanted to to government could buy your land form you at market price and sell it to thse gas and oil companies for whatever they want and it would be legal, eminent domain says so. So you can bite the bullet and see it as helping your country or you can fight it and lose big time. I am not happy that we have come to this, but it is what it is. I am giving Hydaulic fracturing a Digit Up.

...Bio Fuel Systems (BFS)

If you know me then you know what I hate to buy most of all, gas. I watch the NYSE daily to see what the price of crude oil is. Lately it has been rising almost daily and it seems like $4 a gallon gas is on the way. While America swears it is trying to get off the stuff, they have shown no true effort to date. I do not count $40,000+ electric cars as an effort by the way. Thank God for Spain and France and the people at Bio Fuel Systems (BFS). They have possibly found a way to break away from the need for expensive Middle Eastern oil. They have created a bio-oil produced with algae mixed with carbon dioxide from a factory, it is virtually like the oil we use today. The microalgae reproduces at high speed in the tubes by photosynthesis and from the CO2 released from the cement factory. Every day some of this highly concentrated liquid is extracted and filtered to produce a biomass that is turned into bio-oil. The other great advantage of the system is that it is a depollutant it absorbs the C02 which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Founder and chairman of BFS, French engineer Bernard Stroiazzo-Mougin calls it "ecological oil". He also said they need about 5-10 years before industrial production can begin, which is not so bad. It sometimes takes that long before we see valuable oil come from those controversial offshore rigs. He also added, "In a unit that covers 50 square kilometres, which is not something enormous, in barren regions of southern Spain, we could produce about 1.25 million barrels per day." That is roughly how much oil comes from Iraq each day. The company is private and is looking to negotiate with many countries to set up plants in their country. Of course late as always to the party Exxon wants to invest $600 million in algae research. Whatever... I am glad to see this. I cannot wait until this stuff goes global and it becomes the main source of oil. I just may be able to own a HUGE SUV, Hummer H1 anyone? I am giving Bio Fuel Systems (BFS) 2 Digits Up for possibly saving me money and future generations a lot more.

...Oil

Well gas prices jumped 10 cents and oil is up about $10+. The turmoil in the Middle East is about to affect us. Libya has light sweet crude oil and for some reason American refineries like it a lot. While Libya only has 3% of the world's oil supply, oil prices have skyrocketed in just 2 days! If the trend continues oil prices should hit $100 a barrel today and if that holds then gas will be about $3.50 a gallon in 2 weeks. This is not what we need in America at all. Home prices are falling, labor talks and financial talks are falling. I see a double dip recession coming later this year and it may be worse than the 1st time because now we have oil producing countries caught up in their own drama. The thing is, we have to take it. We do not want to drill in America and electric and hybrid cars do not fulfill the needs of a lot of families at this moment in time. A grim darkness lies ahead of us. Take heed and prepare now. Save your extra dollars and learn how to budget and cut back on things. It may not be fun, be neither is panhandling. All of this because of OIL! Digit Down.

...Gas Prices

I remember when I got my 1st car and I was exited. I drove to school everyday about 12 miles one way. Then for no reason at all gas prices just shot up! I though t$2.50 was a lot back in 2006, now I would kill for that price again. In this post $2 a gallon gas world, the new "norm", we are yet again looking at surging oil prices! What was a mere $50 barrel of oil this Summer is fast approaching $100 a barrel, closing at $91.38 a barrel to end the year. I heard if we continue on our path, by we I mean the world, we would have $5 a gallon gas by Labor Day 2012, but now I am hearing that gas could reach $4 a gallon by this Summer in many states. This is crazy! I am already pissed and it has not even happened yet! It is not so much America causing this problem, can we say Asia? China alone bought more cars than us this year, I am sure GM is happy about that, but not the consumers of oil, even if they do not know it yet. I will be pissed for them. India is starting to consume more oil as well, and our dollar is not what it used to be... So many factors go into this. Gas prices are already around $3.09 a gallon, a dollar more would add an extra $750 a year to your gas bill, but that is based on a person driving 12,000 miles per year. It is time that we all complain and get this problem solved. Forget about 2010, forget about the spill in the gulf coast, stuff happens. Must we remember about the $147 a barrel oil in 2008 that drove us crazy? Can you imagine $200+ for that same barrel? I am giving this news 2 Digits Down.