Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Saudi Arabia

Recently I cited Mexico's declining Oil exports into the U.S. Bad stuff, but small potatoes compared to Saudi Arabia.

Here is the history of Saudi Oil exports into the U.S. since 1973. Please scroll to the bottom. Notice 2009 Saudi exports to the U.S.? Down BIG.

Why?

I have no idea, but it certainly is statistically significant (IMHO).

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India buys half of the IMF's Gold. I need to put my head around that for a day or two.

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Warren Buffet buys Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad... Now why would he want to do that? Buffet buying a business that will certainly survive, and thrive, in an Oil starved America (coal moves by rail)? Who'd a thunk it.

Its good to be the King.

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If you think the US$ is at risk, we've got NOTHING on Japan. Japan's national debt makes ours look puny, they have no natural resources or farm land to speak of, and a birth dearth that will leave the island uninhabited some time in the next century (only a slight exaggeration), with only senior citizens to work the factories later in this century.

Yet look what happened to the Yen when that carry trade came to an end. I think the US$ will see the same event play out - but bigger

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I hate to point out to the Obamaphiles... but your guy has been in office for nearly 1/4 of his term. Did he accomplish 1/4 of his promises? How about 1/8? Maybe a steenth (before decimalization, that was Wall Street lingo for a 1/16th, sometimes called a "teenie")? Ah, but we know the truth, don't we? He has not delivered on 1/32 of his promises, nor 1/64, 1/128, or 1/256. Your side, your guys, are somewhat more FOS than your opponents... you were so... sanctimonious.

"Kuum By Ya, My Lord..." Meets the MTVization of American politics.

Whatever.

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Hopefully, when I get done with this post I will turn on the T.V. to hear Jon Corzine's concession speech. Not that his oppenent does it for me, but the world needs another Goldman alumni in a leadership position like it needs a hole in its head.


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greg, That is BIG! I was just at the EIA link. Trying to see a conection with the 2008 oil spike. It seems average compared to 2009.

Add in Mexico and that is HUGE for us. Data changing again?

Thanks for the update!!

Lenny said...

G:

Things are getting interestinger and interestinger.

The race from Fiat is on. Buffett buys rail. India frontruns China. But remember, Uncle Sam wins a last man standing contest. So you may see USD strengthen against other toilet paper and continue its death march against "stuff".

Best.

LD

Jacob Gittes said...

Greg,
Interesting and concerning data.

Is it necessary to make so much fun of the "other" side? Isn't the polarization of our polity into two "teams" part of the problem?

People who think cannot seriously support either part, because it is not possible for two parties to incorporate a majority of a thinking person's political philosophy.

For example, I am what you might deride as a "kum-ba-ya" libertarian/communitarian. Seems like a contradiction, but only if you really believe that every issue is either/or, black and white, and simple. Let me explain by trying to explain my politics as they are today.

I think that government should be done on the most local level possible. I like the old anti-Federalists who argued against our current Constitution, because they saw, rightly, how it would be used to consolidate power and destroy the political power of the people of the states.

I think that free enterprise is great, but what we have now is far from that. It's all propaganda. The rules and regulations favor the big corporations and crush we little guys. I think that a free and prosperous nation needs to be a nation of small business owners, small tradesmen, small merchants, and small farmers. This may seem puerile and nostalgic, but I just don't think freedom can reign when most people are employed by big corporations, because effective freedom, if not formal, is lost. One loses the way of thinking of a free man when one is under a boss's thumb. This isn't such a problem if your boss is a small business owner who must compete for your labor.

What else? Kum-ba-ya stuff. I am anti-war. I believe that almost every war we've been in post-WWII has been an unnecessary war. This is more than just a waste of American lives. These wars have been massive war crimes... carpet bombing Cambodia, a non-combatant? Come on! Where are the war crimes trials of Kissinger and his stooges?

I have a good friend who is from a nation we've bombed numerous times. He has American shrapnel in his leg. He's one of the most optimistic, gifted entrepreneurs I know. But sometimes he just says he doesn't know how he goes on, because of the suffering and death he's seen. But he's from an oil-rich nation, and oil trumps human blood.
Let me tell you a little story: after the first gulf war, this friend was a boy of about 14. He was in an area that was being bombed by the dictator of his nation, because Bush Sr. reneged on his promise to help those rebelling against the dictator's rule. My friend was with a group of refugees... he found an abandoned, beautiful baby girl of about 2 years of age. He grabbed her and carried her for miles. He then found an old-woman trying to get onto a truck of refugees fleeing the bombs. He set the child down to help the old woman up. A bomb hit near them. He turned to pick up the child again, and the child's head was gone, blown away by the bomb.
He has nightmares and thoughts about this often.
Libertarians and the kum-ba-ya crowd (I mean the anti-war left types) and the anti-state-power people of all stripes need to unite to oppose the agenda of the elites, who, it is damn well proven, thrive on war and conflict. The little people of the world just want to live in peace, and trade with each other, and enjoy life with their families and friends. But the little people are just too tempting as playthings for politicians. This is a critique of the left and the right. It is a critique of power. It is a critique of the modern and perverse notion that humanity is something to be improved, by force and policy if necessary. Edmund Burke has too few disciples these days. America has no true conservatives, nor true liberals. Liberals, based on the word "liberal" and history, should believe in freedom. Conservatives should believe in preserving those aspects of community, tradition, and institutions that are critical for human thriving: e.g., small merchants, small towns, community, church, morality. What a joke the modern American "conservative" is.
Well, that's all for now.

bureaucrat said...

Perhaps the Saudis are shipping us less oil because Canada is sending us 2 million barrels per day, and has been for several years. We are a mature economy that's not growing much (we're full of people no longer working, just like Japan and a good chunk of Europe), and even with Venezuela and Nigeria having their issues, they still send us oil (as does Mexico, just not quite as much.) All three of them are about 90% dependent on the reliable U.S. dollar payments for their oil, so they can easily replace the Saudis, whose oil is needed more in China and Japan than here. There's no news here.

Anonymous said...

Publius,

Awesome post! I couldn't agree more. I can't tell the difference between the Dems and the Reps anymore. Both are under the thumb of GE and GS et al. Democracy is lost when a vote either way achieves the same result. I've been going back and forth with Bur a few posts back about the Dems and the New American Fascism. Bur still thinks the Dems are on the side of the little guy. Neither the Dems nor the Rep are.

Things wouldn't be much different if McCain were elected. We might not get single payer health care rammed down our throats, and the war in Afghanistan might be prosecuted better (s#!t or get off the pot!). But all else would be indistinguishable.

It is interesting to me that the way far left and the way far right are almost indistinguishable. It seems like the libertarians that arrive from the left are pretty similar to the libertarians that come from the right. Greg is right, there is a second axis between Libertarianism and Fascism.

Regards,

Coal Guy

Jacob Gittes said...

Coal guy: thanks.
I think we ought to all read or re-read Tocqueville on this crazy country.
The greatest seeming freedom goes along with the greatest conformity. Americans censor themselves and constrict their own choices, so we don't need censors and state-controlled media (yet).

Christopher Lasch is also worth reading.
Libertarianism is best used as a spiritual exercise, I think, that can then guy political action. I think that Libertarianism with a STRONG commitment to charity and community would actually work, if most business, trades and agriculture were on a small, local scale.
Best outcome: dwindling oil supplies will disable the empires, and resurrect the local. Supreme Being willing!

A Quaker in a Strange Land said...

Publius:

You are right. I stand corrected.

A Quaker in a Strange Land said...

Coal Guy:

I hope I am right about Libertarianism winning the day more than I can possibly express.

And while I see the same two headed/one party you guys see, I am FAR more concerned with the Left than the Right. The Right might be a little bit mean/tough love... but the Left is f*&%ing dangerous. In order to accomplish their agenda they are willing to team up with the devil himself, and will only be too happy to cut their coalition member's throats later.

Unrepentantcowboy said...

Wow. Saudi imports are half what they were last year in the most recent month reported.

Anonymous said...

Greg,

I couldn't agree more! I'm right with you on that one! By far far left and right, I was comparing more Stalin to Hitler, than Mitt Romney to Al Gore. The Left is VERY DANGEROUS, and becoming more arrogant all the time. My personal take is that they want to dismantle the US from the inside. They ultimately want a single socialist world government and see a strong United States as an impediment to that goal. I didn't get this impression reading right wing crap, I got it from the dsausa.org website. It is very enlightening.

Regards,

Coal Guy

A Quaker in a Strange Land said...

Coal Guy:

"My personal take is that they want to dismantle the US from the inside. They ultimately want a single socialist world government and see a strong United States as an impediment to that goal."

That is pretty much how I see the Leftist elite.

I don't fear the "Right" in that regard whatsoever. The Leftist elites have an agenda - and it ain't women's right to abortion or gay marriage - the Left will dispatch those groups IMMEDIATELY upon seizing power.

(As a matter of fact, the Libertarians are missing an opportunity to bring Gays under the tent. We don't need the Federal Government telling states what they can and cannot do in this issue...)

The "Right"? What is it that they really want? An end to abortion and an end to property seizures - Every thing else is just NOISE. Me, I am not afraid of that agenda while I am fearful of the Left's agenda.

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