Tuesday, January 06, 2026

Are We Distracted From Epstein Yet?

No, he can’t do shit. And I’m not competent enough to calculate the profit on 500,000 bbl of Venezuela oil, after all the production and refining costs. But I do know it ain’t what Trump imagines. Nor do I know how the U.S. government lays claim to the proceeds of a natural resource of a sovereign nation. Pretty sure that money goes to the companies extracting it, refining it, and exporting it. If they don’t get it, why are they doing it? Even Bezos, Musk, and Apple haven’t made deals like that with Trump.

I imagine taking Greenland from Denmark would be easier. Certainly just as legal.

The analysis is right. We’ve got to stop treating Trump as rational and his pronouncements as having the force of law. The Republicans have flushed their oath of office down the crapper with their spines. May they carry that shame through eternity.
Machado told Trump what he wants to hear. What’s Trump going to do, audit the books? The man thinks there’s a “tariff shelf” somewhere, with $600 billion sitting on it. He thinks he won Minnesota 3 times. And he thinks he’s going to bring oil prices down with Venezuelan oil (why would oil companies want to invest in the country if they’re going to drive down their ROI?):
Some fears of a disruption to global energy production that helped drive oil prices up on Monday are occurring amid a bearish period for oil prices. In addition to the first several months of the year typically being a strong supply and low demand period, more US shale source development and increasing efficiencies procuring those resources have helped put a ceiling on oil prices in recent years. That led to oil trading near multiyear lows before Monday.

What’s next for oil prices? Kristen Dougherty, portfolio manager at Fidelity, thinks it may take some time for any changes in Venezuela oil production to have a notable impact.

“Given the abruptness of the political transition in Venezuela, and the country’s long history of underinvestment in its energy infrastructure, I expect any material changes in Venezuela’s oil exports will take an extended amount of time before they can affect global oil supply, and thus affect oil prices,” Dougherty notes. “And I still think oil prices are likely to remain range-bound in 2026, as phased output increases from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Companies (OPEC) are gradually absorbed by steady global demand.”
The oil market is international, and complicated. Trump doesn’t do “complicated.” (I’m not sure he can spell the word.) He's gonna believe anything Machado tells him . Especially if it’s what he wants to hear. The man is easier to play than a kazoo. And the music played on him is even less appealing.
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