Opinion

Napoleon Bonaparte, the emperor of France and military expert who conquered much of Europe, once made the following observation: “There lies a sleeping giant. Let him sleep!  For when he wakes, he will shake the world.” Napoleon was talking about China, and his observation was amazingly accurate.  Even more remarkable is that it was made more than two centuries ago.

April 20, 2020, will live in infamy for oil traders.  At the start of trading that day, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), one of the main global oil benchmarks, opened at $17.85/barrel, an exceptionally low price.  Then the bottom fell out of the market.  For the first time ever, the price of oil dropped into negative numbers and by the end of the day, WTI was a negative $37.63/barrel.  This means sellers had to pay buyers a hefty fee to take their oil. 

The moment we’ve all been waiting for has arrived: The virus is finally over.  Now we can go outside without a mask and schmooze with friends without worrying about contracting a terrible illness.  What a relief! But can we really declare victory?  To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the virus may be greatly exaggerated. 

Auto analysts and other industry observers keep a very close watch on developments at Tesla. No surprise there, as the company is the leading manufacturer of electric vehicles, makes high quality and innovative products, and its sales are growing rapidly around the world.  But even they were taken aback by an announcement the company made on June 1.

Everyone hopes the terrible drought in the West will end very soon, but weather forecasters don’t hold out much hope for this.  In fact, they say conditions are getting worse.  The entire area west of the Mississippi is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought, and the western-most states in particular are being hit hard.  What makes this even more worrisome is that the hottest part of the summer has just begun. 

If you’ve already been there, done that, and want to go somewhere different for a change, there’s good news for you. Some high-tech companies are readying an exciting new venture and when it becomes available, possibly as soon as next year, it will launch a whole new industry, create lots of excitement, and generate big profits for many people.