Dow Slips on Oil, Fact and Fiction
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Vol. 3, No. 345
Econ 101: US stocks took a slide yesterday greased by the falling price of oil. The Dow Jones dropped 268 points as oil headed toward $60 a barrel, the lowest in five years. US oil production, among other factors, is driving down the price of a barrel.
While lower oil prices makes for cheaper gasoline and frees money to be spent in other places, investors are worried that oil companies will not be raking in the easy money. Good news is frequently bad news on Wall Street. But the falling price of gas is like a huge cash injection into the economy.The market is back up nearly 200 points this morning.
Nation: The City of Detroit emerged from bankruptcy protection yesterday, leaving its politicians with the daunting task of fixing that gap-toothed and broken city. They need new water, bus, and financial systems. Thousands of residential lots of have been cleared of abandoned homes and gone to grass. The city of 70,000 has half the population it once had. Mayor Mike Duggan said, “It’s all going to be a challenge.”
>Joining the gang, the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco have sued the Uber ride service, accusing the company of failing to properly screen drivers and charging phony add-on fees. Uber drivers register online and can misrepresent who they are. They are not required to be fingerprinted like taxi drivers. An Uber driver with a criminal history of reckless driving killed a six-year-old girl in San Francisco last year.
Gun Country: Pew Research reports that for the first time in 20 years the majority of Americans say gun rights are more important than gun control. The Pew survey says 52 percent of Americans side with gun rights over the 46 percent who favor gun control.
Pineapple Express: A powerful storm swept through northern California yesterday with high winds and heavy rains on its way up the coast to the Pacific Northwest. Winds blew at up to 100 miles per hour. The National Weather Service reports that 4.6 inches of rain fell on the frequently flooded town of Guerneville on the Russian River.
That’s Entertainment: The chief of the Sony Corporation ordered the head of his movie division to edit the movie “The Interview” after complaints about its contents from the North Korean government. It’s a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as two journalists recruited by the CIA assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Sony Pictures chief Amy Pascal then ordered the removal of a scene in which Kim’s head explodes. In leaked Emails Seth Rogen pushes back saying he could reduce the burn marks on Kim’s face and cut the flaming hair by half, but “The head explosion can’t be more obscured than it is because we honestly feel that if it’s any more obscured, you won’t be able to tell it’s exploding and the joke won’t work.”
Sony pictures has since been the target of damaging computer hacking suspected to have been engineered by North Korea.
Whale Ho!: Just within sight of New York City, humpback whales are making a comeback in the waters a few miles from John F. Kennedy Airport. At least 106 of the whales have been seen this year compared to only five sightings in 2011. Scientists are not sure what’s happening, but cleaner water may have increased the food supply for whales.
The Old World: Monaco’s Princess Charlene, 36, and Husband Prince Albert, 56, are the parents of newborn twins, Gabriella and Jacques. Gabriella arrived first, but Jacques is next in line for the monarchy after his father.
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