Whoa … kind of shocking when I walked into our local grocery store to pick up a few items for the kitchen — the coolers and freezers were all bare! I suppose I should have given it a bit more thought since much of the area is still without power. Schools in my area have been closed and thankfully just our cable (including Internet) has been out. I did spend another evening cutting up trees and cleaning up a bit. A friend who borrowed our generator finally was able to get power on Tuesday night, while my brother north of Dayton is still without power or water (well pump requires electricity). BUT … things are improving and by Wednesday we should have a patched roof.
The news for long term investors, home owner equity and equity oriented retirement plans is pretty ugly. Monday’s drop of 504 points of the Dow as continued news that financial companies in the U.S. are in serious trouble triggered by Lehman Brothers facing bankruptcy. Another company, AIG fell 49% on Tuesday morning and has brought the markets down again … the worst daily point plunge in the U.S. stock market since the first day of trading after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In addition to AIG’s woes, the financial markets were rattled by the rushed sale Sunday of Merrill Lynch & Co. to Bank of America Corporation. Both presidential candidates are rushing to address this crisis, as answers and leadership will no doubt be the hinge-pin to victory in Novemeber.
Hurricane Ike didn’t just come ashore and disappear after the Texas and Louisiana landfall, but continued to leave damage in its path. On Sunday here in Ohio, the strong winds arrived and were gusting over 70 mph between 2 and 6 PM. Here in the Cincinnati area, power outages were widespread — 650,000 in the Cincinnati area, 80,000 in Dayton and 90,000 in northern Kentucky.
In anticipation of moderate winds, I put most of our cushions and lightweight items away, but didn’t expect that the wind would be strong enough to take down trees, tear off shingles on our house and blow the gazebo off its pilings in our community lake. Here are a few photos (click photo for larger versions):
There is a lot of discussion on TV about the possibility of a significant rise in fuel prices in the wake of Hurricane Ike hammering Texas and Louisiana. As I post this message on Saturday morning just a few hours after Ike came ashore, the conclusion is that the shipping channel in Houston is ok, only two oil platforms have been set adrift and don’t pose any current danger. The Colonial Pipeline is shutdown (supplies the northeastern part of the U.S. with oil) and there has yet been a report on damage to the refineries. We do know that nearly 25% of all our refined fuel comes from this area, so any significant damage will affect the price of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. So far in my area of Ohio there hasn’t been any “gouging” as is being reported in some states, but its still early …
Reports are that fuel prices could rise one or more dollars over the next couple day and weeks, let’s hope not.
Here are a few national number from Thursday and Friday from “GasBuddy.com.”
As I head to bed on Friday night, I watched Hurricane Ike come ashore as a very wide storm pushing a surge of up to 20+ feet into some areas of the Texas coast. Although my thoughts and prayers are with those who are affected directly, the rest of the U.S. will likely feel Ike’s impact through gasoline prices and some significant rain though the nation’s breadbasket. On Friday, the markets saw wholesale gasoline jump higher as crude oil actually continued to trade lower, sinking below the $100/barrel mark. (April 2, 2008 was the last time it was at that level)
As December 7, 1941 was for the Greatest Generation, the September 11, 2001 attack on our nation will live “in infamy” for generation remembering 9/11. Today as our country reflects on those tragic events, and the loss of so many of our citizens in New York City, the Pentagon and in Shanksville Pennsylvania, I recall where I was and what I was doing. (Sen. John McCain above speaks on 9/11/2008 in Shanksville Pennsylvania)
My wife had already left for work, my daughter was in school and I was getting my son ready to catch the bus for elementary school. The television was tuned to CNBC to get the morning business news and I glanced over when a “small plane” look to have hit a building in New York City. I called Taylor over and we watched the first few moment unfold thinking it must have been a traffic plane or someone in trouble. He headed off to school with those images in mind and asked the teacher if they could turn on the television. (they didn’t tune in) I continued to watch in shock as the second plane hit the towers and announcers began to speculate that this was a deliberate act and could be terrorism. I was on the phone to my wife a few moments later and she tuned in at work. By the time the third plane hit the Pentagon, I started to grow concern for the safety of my own family wondering where the attacks would stop.
The music video “WTC – 9/11” was created and produced by Alex Johnson to commemorate the 5th Anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City on 9/11/01. It is dedicated to the memories of those who were killed in the attacks, their families, and to the thousands more who were injured.
Hurricane Ike is growing stronger as it heads across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday after killing at least 80 people in the Caribbean and toppling aging building in Havana Cuba. Forecasters said the Category 1 storm could grow into a major Category 3 or 4 before targeting somewhere along the Texas coastline or northern Mexico on Saturday. Texas put 7,500 National Guard members on standby and urged coastal residents to stock up on supplies and at least one coastal community has issued mandatory evacuations. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management agency still was uncertain about the timing of evacuations along the coast.
Ike’s possible threat to Gulf oil installations didn’t keep crude oil prices from dipping to US$102.40 a barrel in Wednesday morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. I took a look at the oil platform map of the Gulf of Mexico and it shows just how precarious U.S. Oil industry interests are with a hurricane bearing down on the area. Most experts agree that the current track puts the strongest winds south, but even the smallest wobble could move Ike north and into the heart of the Texas and Louisiana platforms. As I post this, Ike is moving northwest at 8 mph and is 220 miles west-southwest of Key West Florida; sustained winds near the ‘well formed’ eye are at 90 mph or a Category 1 storm.
On Tuesday both campaigns, Obama and McCain made swings through Ohio — we must be an important state?
😉 (photo above and video below from Cincinnati.com)
Nevertheless the McCain/Palin campaign were in the town next door and they were greeted by much larger groups than McCain alone. There is certainly something that attracts people to this new woman VP candidate? She does seem to bring a unique twist to politics and is certainly the wildcard as we roll into November.
During the TDIFest OH8, I put my daughter to work logging in names and tabulating times during the “timed drive” Road Rally. A fellow planner and friend gave her a new ‘red’ badge for her TDI which she installed this past week. She sent me a photo and I thought it looks pretty nice.
The news for long term investors, home owner equity and equity oriented retirement plans is pretty ugly. Monday’s drop of 504 points of the Dow as continued news that financial companies in the U.S. are in serious trouble triggered by Lehman Brothers facing bankruptcy. Another company, AIG fell 49% on Tuesday morning and has brought the markets down again … the worst daily point plunge in the U.S. stock market since the first day of trading after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In addition to AIG’s woes, the financial markets were rattled by the rushed sale Sunday of Merrill Lynch & Co. to Bank of America Corporation. Both presidential candidates are rushing to address this crisis, as answers and leadership will no doubt be the hinge-pin to victory in Novemeber.
There is a lot of discussion on TV about the possibility of a significant rise in fuel prices in the wake of Hurricane Ike hammering Texas and Louisiana. As I post this message on Saturday morning just a few hours after Ike came ashore, the conclusion is that the shipping channel in Houston is ok, only two oil platforms have been set adrift and don’t pose any current danger. The Colonial Pipeline is shutdown (supplies the northeastern part of the U.S. with oil) and there has yet been a report on damage to the refineries. We do know that nearly 25% of all our refined fuel comes from this area, so any significant damage will affect the price of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. So far in my area of Ohio there hasn’t been any “gouging” as is being reported in some states, but its still early …
As I head to bed on Friday night, I watched Hurricane Ike come ashore as a very wide storm pushing a surge of up to 20+ feet into some areas of the Texas coast. Although my thoughts and prayers are with those who are affected directly, the rest of the U.S. will likely feel Ike’s impact through gasoline prices and some significant rain though the nation’s breadbasket. On Friday, the markets saw wholesale gasoline jump higher as crude oil actually continued to trade lower, sinking below the $100/barrel mark. (April 2, 2008 was the last time it was at that level)
As December 7, 1941 was for the 
During the