Archive for October, 2008:
My shoes look great! Theo did a great job on them. And then he said I could decide the price. Just 10 minutes before I had heard him quote another customer 18 dollars. I gave him everything I had in my wallet, (which was more than enough). What do you charge your customers? Google tells me that sometimes he doesn’t charge at all. Of course people still pay.
I received an email today with a tag at the end advising me to consider the environmental effects before printing.
”Please consider the impact on the environment before printing this email or its attachments”.
This is being done in places of business which run through paper without thought at all. Is printing email a real problem? Is it pervasive? If you find yourself printing your emails at all there is a larger problem.Leave your self-promoting two cents off your signature line.
Saudi Arabia has begun trials against Islamic militants from Al-Qaeda. The kingdom has been the target of attacks in the past as the ruling family is not necessarily very popular amongst extremists. Most of those on trial are Saudi citizens who have been extradited from countries like Iraq. This is important not only in setting a precedent in Arabia and Persia, but also because of the potential blow back from the Saudi population. Only a short time ago the Saudi Government felt it was necessary to up the number of military guards which protect critical oil infrastructure. The man power was increased by a factor of six, bringing the total number of guards to around six thousand. There is almost no doubt that extremist Wahibi’s and Al-Qaeda alike will not stand for a trial or the sentences imposed. We may look for an internal crises resulting from such prosecutions. International oil trade could be significantly crippled if internal factions begin attacking the Saudi Government in earnest.
The writing was on the wall a few days ago when I did the calculation on Aubrey McClendon’s losses in his own Chesapeake Energy stock. After closing at a record low on Friday, it became public that McClendon was forced to sell “substantially all” of his stock in order to meet margin calls. Word on the street is that Anthony Petrello, President and COO of Nabors Industries (NBR), is in a similar boat. Seems margin calls are really biting the big boys, but its not just the men behind the companies who are hurting; it may be the companies themselves. The finance world seems to be buzzing about Chesapeake Energy’s corporate notes being called. Apparently they have been approached about paying down debt before insolvency becomes a reality. This isn’t even to mention that CHK may have some exposure to failed banking institutions.
Ever lost over $20 million dollars per month? Chesapeake Energy’s CEO Aubrey McClendon has; for four months in a row. Apparently he kept buying further in as the stock continued a decline. In whole McClendon spent over $150 million purchasing a little over 3 million shares starting in the middle of July. Since July 15th the stock has had about a 65% slump. Needless to say that McClendon gambled away about $90 million dollars in the process. Their debt load is now about twice their market cap, and the interesting thing is that the message boards are starting to use words like “Buyout Candidate”.