The International Herald Tribune has an article featuring a new product in development that would allow any citizen to make their own ethanol at home.  I don't know about all of you, but I call that a "still".  Quick, someone call Uncle Jesse!

[Read the rest of this article...]

Just so Ed Hale doesn't think I pick on him alone, my target this week is Wachovia Corp.  It seems that Wachovia just can't seem to avoid controversy and law-breaking. 

[Read the rest of this article...]

Microphone and camera whore Sen. Charles Schumer, the senior senator for the very unfortunate state of New York (and the only senior politician in that state who hasn't been embroiled in a sex scandal recently), is truly a pedantic ass clown.

From his office on March 7, 2008:  "The bottom line is that this administration is the owner of the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover."

Facts are funny things.  here is a quick comparison chart that I found over on National Review Online:

See the problem there?  Unemployment is actually one of the great indicators of economic performance, because it represents tangible impacts to the economy at all levels.  And, according to the FACTS, 1996 was a worse year economically than 2008 (so far).

Oh, and before people start screaming about the housing crisis, please keep this in mind:

• There are 36 million Americans who have had a mortgage and paid it off.
• There are 46 million Americans with mortgages currently being paid ON TIME.
• There are but a mere 900,000 mortgages currently in default.

So where is the panic?  That is a 1% rate of default across all Americans who have had a mortgage or do have a mortgage.  The panic is that politicians like Senator Schumer not only allowed, but encouraged banks and Wall Street to work together to create investment arbitrage vehicles to make sub-prime loans possible.  Smaller banks would never have offered loans to people on the completely assinine terms and under those completely assinine conditions like "no doc" and 100% financing, if they could not upsell those loans to companies like Bear Stearns.

But they could and they did.

Maybe Senator Schumer should check with junior intern researcher before engaging mouth. This isn't the worse economy since Herbert Hoover.  But if his gal pal Hillary or "Mr. Hope" Obama get elected, it may very well be.

[Read the rest of this article...]

We have big news here at the Gunpowder Chronicle.  Next Thursday, April 17, 2008, I begin a new job.  I have been offered and have accepted at position at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in the Department of Pychiatry.  I will be working as a web developer for KidNet, an online product produced as part of the Children's Outcomes Management Center.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Does anybody know what happened to the Royal Farms that was planned for the corner of Pemberton Drive and Parsons Road in Salisbury?  For the longest time there was a "coming soon" sign.  Now there is nothing.  Did Royal Farms fall victim to Mayor Tilghman's assinine and retarded approach to small business development in Salisbury?

Or did they decide that competing with the 7-11 and GordyMart up the street wasn't worth the trouble?

[Read the rest of this article...]

Well, at least when it comes to nuclear power.  France generates 80% of their electricity through nuclear power.  We generate less than 20%.  Yet, we have the most nuclearized Navy in the world. The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), the latest Nimitz-class Supercarrier to join the fleet, boasts 2 Westinghouse nuclear reactors.  That is the same number currently in service at Calvert Cliffs.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Is the US Senate smarter than a 5th grader?

The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008 will cost each American household over $1,500 per year and add fifty-three cents to the cost of a gallon of gasoline, according to a recently released analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency.

So answer me this:  If the US Congress thinks that a stupid $600 rebate will keep us out of a recession, then what will $1,500 per year per household in new costs do?

Is the US Senate smarter than a 5th grader? 

I don't think so.

[Read the rest of this article...]

I am not a chemist, nor a chemical engineer.  I did okay, but not great, in high school chemistry-- despite the best efforts of Mr. Fred Dinges to help me do better.

But, I do know this:  Diesel Fuel is really nothing more than Number 2 Heating Oil, with some additive to handle cold weather better and to distinguish it from Number 2 Heating Oil (for tax purposes, of course!).  And both of these fuels are not nearly as well refined as standard gasoline (either Regular, Mid-Grade, or Premium).

So why is it that the wholesale price for Diesel or Number 2 is SOOO much higher than regular gasoline?  The cost of off road diesel (used for farm equipment, mainly) was recently quote at $3.46/gallon for a 500 gallon purchase AND based on a 10 year record with the local fuel company.  Note:  off-road diesel has no taxes included.

If you have a good answer for this, please write to me at blog@gunpowderchronicle.com and give me the details.  I will respect any and all requests for anonymity.

[Read the rest of this article...]

America is in the midst of the greatest monetary and liquidity crisis since the end of World War II, if not the Depression.  Note that I did not say we are in a recession, or a depression. Recessions and Depressions related directly to economic output.  Our current crisis deals with economic input.  And these are, to quote Thomas Paine, the "times that try mens' souls."

Unfortunately, this crisis is all our own doing.  And our current approach of "creating" liquidity -- in essence, printing cash to inject into the market -- may very well be our own undoing.  Because it is not a free market economy when a nanny-state government is there to cover your six.

[Read the rest of this article...]

George W. Bush, Hank Paulsen, and Ben Bernanke -- along with, well, the entire US Congress -- are starring in a new reality TV show.  I'll call it "That 70s Show".  Despite a strong record of tax cuts during his Presidency, George W. Bush has done his damndest to thrust American back thirty years into stagflation, driven by high inflation, dramatic overspending, horrific energy policies, and eventually... very high interest rates.

One is forced to wonder when W will appear before the American public sporting a sweater, sitting in front of a fire, and talking about mayonaise.. oh wait, I mean malaise.

[Read the rest of this article...]