From Zero
Hedge:
Just when one thinks American crony
capitalism couldn't hit new lows, here
comes Warren Buffett and his personal
puppet, the president, proving everyone
wrong once more.
Because if one thinks there is no
(s)quid pro quo for all that "sage"
advice that Buffett has been giving to
Obama on extracting as much wealth as
possible from future wealthy Americans
(before they decide they have had enough
with this crony shit and leave the country
for good), one would be fatally
wrong.
As it turns out, it is not just natural
resources and aquifer purity that Obama had
in mind when sealing the fate of the
Keystone XL pipeline.
No... it appears there were far more
relevant numerical metrics that
determined Obama's decisions.
Such as the bottom line number of
Buffett's Burlington Northern, which,
according to Bloomberg, is...
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From Marin Katusa, Chief Energy
Investment Strategist, Casey
Research:
The official line from the United States
and the European Union is that Tehran must
be punished for continuing its efforts to
develop a nuclear weapon.
The punishment: sanctions on Iran's
oil exports, which are meant to isolate
Iran and depress the value of its
currency to such a point that the country
crumbles.
But that line doesn't make sense, and the
sanctions will not achieve their
goals.
Iran is far from isolated, and its
friends – like India – will stand by the
oil-producing nation until the U.S.
either backs down or acknowledges the
real matter at hand.
That matter is the American dollar
and its role as the global reserve
currency.
The short version of the story is that a
1970s deal cemented the U.S. dollar as
the only currency to buy and sell crude
oil...
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From
Bloomberg:
"I'd love to make this product in
America. But I'm afraid I won't be able
to."
My host, a NASA engineer turned Silicon
Valley entrepreneur, has just conducted a
fascinating tour of his new clean-energy
bench-scale test facility. It's one of
the Valley's hottest clean-technology
startups. And he's already thinking of
going abroad.
"Wages?" I ask.
His dark eyebrows arch as if I were
clueless, then he explains the reality of
running a fab -- an electronics
fabrication factory. "Wages have nothing
to do with it. The total wage burden in a
fab is 10 percent. When I move a fab to
Asia, I might lose 10 percent of my
product just in theft."
I'm startled. "So what is
it?"
"Everything else. Taxes,
infrastructure, workforce training,
permits, health care. The last company
that proposed a fab on Long Island went
to Taiwan...
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