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By Andy
Carpenter
Pity the
lemon.
Because of
its gloriously sour taste, it is the source of a famous cliché.
You know,
“when life hands you lemons…”
But, that
cliché doesn’t go far enough, because there are actually three reactions
to “when life hands you lemons.”
Of course,
one is, “make lemonade.”
Another is,
“give thanks, because lemons are cheery to look at, the zest really adds
zip to recipes and they taste great.” That reaction, by the way, is the
one my wife Lynn holds.
The third
reaction to “when life hands you lemons,” is the one to which I most often
subscribe. It is, “Okay, eat the damn lemons so you won’t get scurvy.”
With that I
mind, I’ll eschew the normal single-idea flow this week, and instead empty
a portion of my notebook with some quick hitters. It’s a trick I learned
years ago as a columnist on a daily newspaper.
It’s one to
use only when you’re too busy or too lazy to connect the dots from a
single thesis to a logical conclusion. And, I assure you lazy I haven’t
been this week.
You see, I
have been going flat out during the past few days. First, by getting a
killer new trade out to my Asia Business & Investing
subscribers. Ooooh it’s a sweetie.
Besides
that, I’ve been totally obsessed with figuring out the new blog program
here on the IDE website. I conquered it last night.
To tell the
truth, I’ve been avoiding it. Not because I don’t enjoy blogging, but
because, frankly, I don’t like the blog software.
But, my
masters love blogs, so I’ve found a way to avoid scurvy.
That means,
those of you who have been needling me about abandoning blog Verge Asia
can get back to needling me about the blog’s posts.
There are
some big changes, though.
This
program doesn’t allow for a links list. So, no more direct access to great
blogs and sites such as those from Michael Masterson, Charlie Byrne, Paul
Reed Smith, Jason Ricci and Mesa Boogie.
The upside
is, now you’ll have direct access to the Murderers Row of investment minds
– blogs by Lynn Carpenter (who now blogs every day), Andrew Gordon, Rick
Pendergraft, Charles Delvalle and Rusty McDougal.
This
program also currently lacks a comment feature. So to comment on a blog
post you’ll have to go to the bottom of the page and hit the “contact us”
button. Functional, yes, but an email is not as much fun for you as
calling me an idiot in a manner that the whole world can see… and, agree
or disagree with.
You can
access the new Verge Asia blog by going to the Investor’s Daily Edge
homepage then by scrolling down to the page’s bottom where you’ll find the
IDE blog role.
Now, let’s
access my global notebook.
Axis of Exports
You’ve got
to hand it to the plodders – the leave-no-stone-unturned crowd.
While cable
television’s fake news outlets breezily titillate and tease with faux news
and innuendo, The Associated Press continues to do what it does
best… plod along in the effort to accomplish incontrovertible, fact-based
journalism.
You know, the kind of journalism that leaves politicians red faced and
their partisan followers wishing for a more totalitarian government.
Thanks to the AP, we know now just how global the world market has gone.
Using the tools of democracy – the First Amendment, Freedom of Information
Statutes, and high-paid lawyers to fight the government’s high-paid
lawyers who want to deny the AP its constitutional rights – the AP has
uncovered a startling fact.
In a story it just published, the AP found that:
“U.S. exports to Iran grew more than tenfold during President Bush's
years in office even as he accused it of nuclear ambitions and sponsoring
terrorists.”
You’ll
remember that President Bush labeled Iraq, North Korea and Iran the Axis
of Evil.
But, under
the current administration, the AP found that the US sold Iran more than a
half-billion dollars in goods.
Top US
exports to Iran over Bush's years in office include cigarettes, $158
million; corn, $68 million; chemical wood pulp, soda or sulphate, $64
million; soybeans, $43 million; medical equipment, $27 million; vitamins,
$18 million; bull semen, $12.6 million; and vegetable seeds, $12 million,
according to the AP's analysis.
“Also
getting Bush administration approval for export to Iran were at least
$101,000 worth of bras; $175,000 in sculptures; nearly $96,000 worth of
cosmetics; $8,900 in perfume; $30,000 in musical instruments and parts;
$21,000 in golf carts and/or snowmobiles; $4,000 worth of movie film; and
$3,300 in fur clothing.”
What’s
interesting about the exports is that last year the US Securities and
Exchange Commission published a list of companies that do business in Iran
or four other countries the State Department considers state sponsors of
terrorism.
The SEC
withdrew the list after business groups complained that such a list could
inappropriately label corporations as supporters of terrorism.
Guess those
who oppose the military action in Iraq should have formed a corporation,
huh?
In the end,
the AP found a host of global household names doing business in Iran. They
include PepsiCo, Tyson Foods, Canon, BP, Exxon Mobil, GE Healthcare, Wells
Fargo financial services, Visa, MasterCard and Cadbury Schweppes.
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Axis of Exports II
After
sailing from the US West Coast, the American-flagged M/V Baltimore arrived
in Nampo, the main western port of North Korea, near its capital,
Pyongyang, on June 29.
The next
morning it unloaded half of its cargo of 37,000 tons of US-grown wheat.
The ship will unload the other half at North Korean ports in Hungnam and
Chongjin.
The
shipment is the first installment of 500,000 tons in promised US aid.
The US aid
arrived just days after North Korea delivered a long-delayed nuclear
declaration. In exchange, Washington said it would lift many economic
sanctions and remove the country from a US State Department list of state
sponsors of terrorism.
Axis of Exports III
The head of
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries warned Thursday that oil
prices would see an "unlimited" increase in the case of a military
conflict involving Iran.
Abdalla
Salem El-Badri, OPEC’s secretary general, said a huge spike would happen
because the group's members would be unable to make up the
lost production.
"We really
cannot replace Iran's production - it's not feasible to replace it," he
said.
Iran is the
second-largest producing country in OPEC, after Saudi Arabia. It produces
about four million barrels of oil a day out of the daily worldwide
production of close to 87 million barrels.
The country
has been locked in a lengthy dispute with Western nations over its
nuclear ambitions.
As if the
oil market needed another excuse, in recent weeks the price of oil has
moved higher on speculation that Israel could be preparing to mount an
attack on the country's nuclear facilities.
The latest
oil spike began in late May after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met
in Washington with President Bush and begged Bush to attack Iran.
Olmert
needs a war to get domestic focus off the fact that he’s being
investigated by police for having allegedly accepted hundreds of thousands
of dollars in bribes and laundered money from a wealthy American
businessman.
It’s
alleged that he took the bribes while he was Jerusalem’s mayor and while
he was Israel’s minister of industry.
According
to a late-May poll conducted for the daily Ha'aretz newspaper,
fully 70% of Israelis say they do not believe that Olmert is telling the
truth concerning the bribe allegations.
So, what
Salem El-Badri is doing is just part of OPEC’s public relations effort to
counter Olmert’s public relations campaign of saber rattling.
To
paraphrase the song War…
War, huh,
good God y’all, what is it good for… keeping Olmert’s corrupt ass in
office… say it again!
Hey, it’s
the weekend.
Let’s save
this war and oil stuff for the workweek.
It’s time
to get the soap and the wax out… spiff up the car… pat it gently and
promise that someday you’ll be able to afford to do things together again.
Me, I am
going shopping for a Mini Copper.
I am 6’3”
and weight in at about 277. Still there’s no way a salesperson is going to
tell me I’m too big for a Mini.
I’ll get
in, then wrench my back getting out… writhe in pain on the floor… beg for
the paramedics… and settle for a free car.
Now, that’s
making lemonade!
Have a
great weekend.
Andy
P.S. To let me know what you thought of today's article, send an e-mail
to:
feedback@investorsdailyedge.com.
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