Links:

Tom Friedman trots out the fuel tax. If it were only that easy … Sunday NY Times

Roger Lowenstein looks back @ the Good Oil Days of 2008. Mr. Bernanke, meet the upper bound! NY Times Sunday Magazine

Roger Posen suggests current strategies to cope with current accounts are misdirected. Call it, “Revenge of the Savings Glut II’ or something equally snappy … Eurointelligence

Pimco suggests that Ireland and ‘others’ are likely to abandon the euro, “within five years”.  Question: what will happen next week?  Irish Times 

Kurt Cobb explains how to work with the media when discussing Peak Oil. Hint, don’t scream  too loudly!
Resource Insights

Jonah Goldberg gives insight into gluttony by hammering Obama’s so- called ‘energy policy’: Houston Chronicle 

Mexican president Felipe Calderon lectures US Republicans on looking toward future generations, of course Mexico won’t make any cuts in carbon emissions: CNBC

 Interesting discussion @ The Oil Drum about backwardation and consequences including whacky conspiracy theories!

This is a DAILY December, 2011 NYMEX crude chart from TFC Chartzzz …

The increase in open interest suggests that more bulls are piling onto the market.

Price tracking above moving average is bullish.

Inability to move past late November highs suggests a pullback which would confirm the short- term head and shoulders pattern.

EDIT: Christina Romer on ‘growth, growth and more growth’ (NY Times,):

The American people are wise enough to understand that wishing won’t make the problem go away. The only way to resolve this fundamental uncertainty is to enact a credible long-run deficit reduction plan that shows what spending will be cut and what taxes will be raised, once the economy returns to full employment.

The release of the report of the president’s bipartisan deficit commission on Wednesday was an important step, but it is unclear whether the administration and Congress will embrace the recommendations.

Wall Street analysts often cite possible government regulations on the environment as another source of damaging uncertainty. But as with the deficit, inaction could be far more damaging than action. Climate change and dependence on foreign oil are problems that won’t go away on their own. Tabling plans to deal with them doesn’t make it easier for companies to plan and invest; it makes it harder.

Until businesses and communities know the costs and incentives for developing renewable energy, nuclear power and natural gas — and whether we will address climate change through prices or direct regulation — it will be very hard to invest in new power sources and related industrial technologies.

The deepest and most destructive uncertainty we face centers on the overall health of the economy and its prospects for growth. Unlike other postwar recessions that were caused by tight monetary policy and high interest rates, the recent downturn resulted from the bursting of a housing bubble and a financial crisis.

Aggressive action to restore growth and face up to our long-run challenges is the only true and lasting solution.

What Christina Romer along with the rest of the economic elite don’t recognize is the current economic malaise is not  caused by the bursting of the housing bubble or tight money or high interest rates. Rather, the malaise is the natural outcome of sixty- plus years of uninterrupted economic growth along with ‘efficiency’ improvements.

We are more efficient than ever @ removing valuable capital inputs and transforming them into waste ‘products’. More growth, more waste. Our economic model is set on ‘self destruct’. Pushing on all the buttons on the growth machine simply makes our economy self- destruct that much faster.

Christina’s desire for growth parallels her undoubted desire to become a child again. Don’t we all, but wishing won’t make it so! Growth as an economic strategy or outcome is kaput. What is required now is a new economic model that reflects reality and stops pimping for that which cannot happen.

EDIT: This is from the ‘Life Imitates Art’ (thanx Oscar) department or ‘Naked Boy Holds Off Hungry Tiger With Naught But A Banana’:

Assange threatens flood of secrets

WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has circulated an encrypted “poison pill” cache of documents to be released if his activities are curtailed.

One of the files identified this weekend by The (London) Sunday Times – called the “insurance” file – has been downloaded from the WikiLeaks website by tens of thousands of supporters, from America to Australia.

Mr Assange warns that any government that tries to curtail his activities risks triggering a new deluge of state and commercial secrets, suspected to include files on BP and Guantanamo Bay.

The military papers on Guantanamo Bay, yet to be published, believed to have been supplied by Bradley Manning, who was arrested in May.

Other documents that Mr Assange is confirmed to possess include an aerial video of a US airstrike in Afghanistan that killed civilians, BP files and Bank of America documents.

Good grief! Why would the establishment ever put itself into a position where it can be held hostage by a young boy with a banana?

The best response would have been for the Bosses to thank Assange then ignore him. Maybe they could give him an award or something. A sense of humor is required.

The powers that be are so eager to arrest this dude for something – anything – they are wetting their pants! What a waste of taxpayer money.

Of course the so- called ‘leadership’ is absent … surprised?