Of ATMs, Mousetraps and Watches

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Steve Maley

“If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.” Judging from his comments regarding ATMs and unemployment, President Obama blames the better mousetrap for 400,000 out-of-work cats. Cats who are starving for the lack of mice.

Creative destruction is a necessary and vital feature of a healthy and free capitalist economy. Business people intuitively know and embrace it (or at least they should). Smart workers anticipate it.

Creative destruction is the mechanism by which labor and capital are redeployed to more efficient uses. It’s how a healthy capitalist economy reinvents itself, rewarding the flexible and efficient while penalizing those who say “But this is how it’s always been done”.

My Dad was a worker who experienced three separate cycles of innovation and creative destruction in his career of almost 40 years. His story is below the fold. Continue reading →

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Dispatches from the Gulf … of Mexico

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Steve Maley

ExxonMobil hits large Keathley Canyon discovery (Oil and Gas Journal, June 8, 2011). XOM announces the discovery of 700 million barrels equivalent (BOE) of oil and gas in 7,000 feet of water, 250 miles offshore Louisiana.

Shell’s Cardamom to come online (Offshore247.com, June 9, 2011). Shell will bring on 50,000 barrels equivalent per day from its 140 million BOE discovery in 2,700 feet of water offshore Louisiana.

A Gulf Drilling Revival (Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2011; link may require subscription, which can be avoided if you search for article text on Google.)

The great energy irony of recent years is that governments have thrown hundreds of billions of dollars at wind, solar, ethanol and other alternative fuels, yet the major breakthroughs have taken place in the traditional oil and natural gas business. Hydraulic fracturing in shale, horizontal drilling and new seismic techniques are only the best known examples.

NRDC et al challenge Shell’s deepwater permit (Times-Picayune, June 9, 2011). Yes, this is the same Natural Resources Defense Council that was founded by John Bryson, President Obama’s nominee to be the next Secretary of Commerce.

Continue reading →

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What’s Your Political IQ? Results and Discussion

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Steve Maley

Yes, it was an easy quiz. Elementary, even.

Yes, several of the questions are hardly “political”. They had to include certain questions (“Mark Zuckerberg”?) so that certain segments of the population would register with a pulse.

But the results of our self-selected, non-scientific and adulterated test of the RedState community, is in: of over 1,400 participants, half scored a perfect 11/11 on the quiz. That’s in the upper 2% of Pew’s random sample of adults. Another 38% scored 10/11, so 88% of the RedState community is in the top 10% of the population in terms of “Political IQ” (if you accept Pew’s definition).

Hooray.

But what do the results mean, and what can we learn from them? Continue reading →

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What’s Your Political IQ?

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Steve Maley

There’s an online quiz at the Pew Research Center’s website: 11 questions to rate your political IQ. The quiz should take just a few minutes to complete.

You can take the poll here: http://pewresearch.org/politicalquiz/

Record your score below. You’re welcome to comment, but please do not discuss specific questions so as not to skew the results.

It will be interesting to see how the average RedState reader (or @VladimirRS follower) scores in comparison with the general population.

Cross-posted at RedState.com.

Posted in Politics | Tagged , | 63 Comments

Lee Fang: Math is Hard

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Steve Maley

Lee Fang’s job title at the Center for American Progress is “Researcher”. Heh.

Honestly, I’d never heard of this guy until about a month ago, when he made the mistake of thinking he knew something about oil trading, accusing the Koch Brothers of rigging the markets for easy gains. His evidence was, you know, contango. Koch Brothers.

Today Fang attacked the freshman Republican from Arizona’s First Congressional District, Paul Gosar. Gosar was at a town hall in his district, discussing, among other things, the Democratic proposal to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans. Gosar said this:

In the last election I was labeled a millionaire. Seriously. I ain’t wealthy. I built my own house, I wouldn’t do it again. I own my building, I have a dental practice. I live just like the rest of you folks. It’s all on paper, it’s not in cash.

[Emphasis is Fang’s, at ThinkProgress.org. Google it. – Ed.]

Upon which Mr. Fang opines:

Reliable wealth data is unavailable for Arizona’s first congressional district, the vast, largely rural area represented by Gosar. However, the median income is about $32,900 — a far cry below Gosar’s approximate $174,000 a year gig as a member of Congress. As Gosar mentions, he also owns substantial real estate, including a building worth up to $1 million, a dental practice worth up to $500,000, an antique store worth up to $500,000, and other assets.

Researcher Fang drew on three resources to come to these conclusions. The first link is for Wikipedia’s entry on AZ-1. It links to demographic data at census.gov. The second link is candidate Gosar’s page at OpenSecrets.org.

Some research. Some analysis. Continue reading →

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Oil Company Profits Are the Solution, Not the Problem

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Steve Maley

Left to its own devices, the oil industry is its own worst enemy. Relatively low barriers to entry have made the industry freely competitive. The reward goes to the quickest and the most efficient companies; just like in a Gold Rush, we remember the big winners and quickly forget the also-rans. Since the days of Colonel Drake, Patillo Higgins and Dad Joiner, twas ever thus.

The consumer ultimately benefits from a profitable and efficient energy business in the form of affordable and abundant energy supplies. This is because energy is essentially a “grow or die” business. An oil company that does not efficiently replace its production with new reserves is essentially holding a “going out of business sale” with every barrel of oil it produces.

The effort to replace reserves is funded out of profits. Continue reading →

Posted in Energy | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

History of US Army CoE management of the Lower Mississippi River

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Steve Maley

http://bit.ly/klJMP1

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New Endangered Species: Energy State Dems

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Steve Maley

Democratic politicians once ruled the energy-producing states, but they are becoming quite a rare breed. Republicans scored strong electoral gains in the Congressional elections of 2010, particularly in Texas. Here in Louisiana, both houses of the state legislature have swung red, by a combination of election and defection; it’s no secret who owns the moratorium and a host of other energy-hostile policy initiatives. Sen. Mary Landrieu remains the sole remaining Democrat in a statewide elective office in the Pelican State.

Mary and the other energy state Dems know upon which side their bread is buttered. Democrats in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana have a long history of working cooperatively with the oil and gas industry as a engine of jobs and economic growth in each of their respective states.

But now, an openly hostile regime in Washington puts a strain on those historic ties. And back home, the energy state Dems must distance themselves as far as they can manage from Obama, Reid, and the national party leadership.

But even if the energy states were to become solid red, we’re talking TX, LA, OK, AK, WY & ND (and to a lesser degree KS, MS and blue WV). That’s not a lot of representation in Congress, and not a lot of electoral votes. We need to get Republicans and independents in the energy consuming states to wake up to the realization that they, too have a dog in this fight. We must defeat the Democratic energy agenda, which is a prescription for higher energy prices and a lower standard of living for us all. Continue reading →

Posted in Energy | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Cute baby. Thanks for naming him after me.

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Steve Maley

OKC Zoo’s baby elephant ventures outside, to get name today


UPDATE: According to NewsOK, the baby elephant born last month at the Oklahoma City Zoo has been named Malee. Zoo officials announced the name at a ceremony Wednesday in the zoo’s new elephant habitat. Malee (pronounced MAY-lee) was chosen in an online vote. Malee, which is Thai for flower or jasmine, garnered more than 70 percent of the 14,000 votes cast (including mine). Zoo officials billed Malee as the zookeepers’ preference out of the three names offered. Other options were Annika and Hanako.

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Co. Clare, Ireland, October 2010.

Posted on May 11, 2011 by Steve Maley | Leave a comment