Red-Hot Resources

"Luck is not chance, it’s toil; fortune’s expensive smile is earned.”

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Is Gold Ready for Blast-Off, and Other News

Oil price shock means China is at risk of blowing up

The manufacturing revolution of China and her satellites has been built on cheap transport over the past decade. At a stroke, the trade model looks obsolete.

The Next President’s First Task

Today, we don’t need to abolish carbon as an energy source in order to see its inefficiencies starkly, or to understand that this addiction is the principal drag on American capitalism. The evidence is before our eyes. The practice of borrowing a billion dollars each day to buy foreign oil has caused the American dollar to implode. More than a trillion dollars in annual subsidies to coal and oil producers have beggared a nation that four decades ago owned half the globe’s wealth. Carbon dependence has eroded our economic power, destroyed our moral authority, diminished our international influence and prestige, endangered our national security, and damaged our health and landscapes. It is subverting everything we value.

Higher gas prices? Florida company bets on it

The company, MyGallons, charges members an annual fee of $29.95 or $39.95. Members buy gasoline gallons via a web site (www.mygallons.com) at a predetermined average price for the area where they live. The gallons are loaded onto a debit card that the company says is accepted at more than 95 percent of the nation's fueling stations.

Gas Stations Hit Skids

Far from profiting from climbing gasoline prices, station operators are finding that their costs are jumping even as gasoline sales are sagging. And so gas stations are being shuttered at an accelerating clip, their numbers dropping by almost 3,000 over the past 12 months.

My latest interview on HoweStreet.com. As usual, Phil and I have a great time talking about this and that.

Uranium Advances for a Second Week as Demand Doubles

Uranium gained for a second week as demand doubled, outpacing supply for the first time this year, Denver-based pricing service TradeTech LLC said. Uranium-oxide concentrate for immediate delivery climbed to $60 a pound, $2 more than a week before, TradeTech said in a July 4 report. Two sales of about 225,000 pounds took place last week, it said. Demand doubled to more than 3 million pounds of uranium oxide from a week before and supply held at 2.4 million.

TIPS Flunk Inflation Test as Fuel, Food Overtake CPI

Treasury Inflation Protected Securities aren't living up to their name for bond investors who say they can't trust the way the U.S. government calculates the rising cost of consumer goods.

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