Tony K's Blog

First a disclaimer. I work for Chevron. Nothing I say here has been endorsed by Chevron, it is simply my opinion. I believe that Proposition 87 on the California Ballot in November 2006 is overall a bad idea. Most oil production in the United States and the world carries a "royalty." That is not unusual. California was one of the few exceptions. However, California has some of the stiffest taxation in the nation, which I suspect more than makes up for it. So this is, in essence, California enacting a new "windfall profits" tax. Is this good or bad then? Well the structure of the tax is such that the highest payments happen when prices are high. That kind of graduation is good. there is also a limit on the total amount that will be brought in, so the tax goes away at some point. That's fine in theory. Once a tax is in place, it often gets extended or rates changed. The royalty might result in fewer barrels reduced ultimately. It depends on prices and timing. Ther...

First off, if you drive a car that gets less than 20 MPG, you have no cause to protest high prices. You are the problem. The current high prices at the gas pumps are driven by factors that work all the way back to really basic supply and demand issues. People often say that oil is a finite, non-renewable resource. I'll buy the non-renewable part, but not the finite part. OK, oil is technically not infinite, but practically speaking we will never run out of oil. The issue is how fast can it be produced? Today the world is producing about 85MM barrels per day. By all accounts that is with all production going full out. Here's what will happen. When demand for oil and the world's ability to supply it are out of balacne, prices go up because demand is pushing the limits of supply capacity. Two things will happen in response. Consumers will make choices that will curtail their usage of enrgy--short and longer term structural changes; producers will ramp up efforts to deliver mor...

I have played a lot of paddle and racquet sports in my life. I was a passable racquetball player and a horrible tennis player. I could always get a really good workout playing racquetball, but could never keep the ball alive long enough in tennis. Then you end up chasing the ball or having to go get it in the street. I did not have the patience for the learning curve. Just fuhgeddaboudit. But tennis is nice, because it is outside. In 1990 I moved to Argentina with my job. The country was in the grips of a craze for a sport called paddle (pronounced like pah del). I fell in love with the game. It is a lot like tennis, scoring is the same, court kind of looks the same. It is normally played outside. The big difference is the walls. The court is surrounded by walls and fences--the walls are the boundary lines and they are live. Passing shots aren't--you get a second chance. You don't have to chase those passed balls. If the ball hits off the end of your racquet it doesn't end ...

So here's the deal. What makes America great is that we have a diversity of views and, more importantly, that people are FREE to express those views. The principles upon which our nation are founded recognize that govenment does not GRANT freedom, it can only take it away. I hate that people want to burn the flag and that they believe that is the best way to express their views. But at the same time, I believe that is their right, unless they are breaking local fire safety ordinances, endangering others, or impinging on others' rights. A flag burning amendment is simply the wrong approach to this issue. Like the gay marriage amendment, this is a bill that was pushed through congress in a transparent attempt at election year labeling. You will begin to hear it soon, "Not only is my opponent pro-gay, he is also for flag burning." In any case, the whole point of this country is that you CAN burn the flag. Removing that right diminishes us.

This is an incredible chart showing George Bush's amazing slide since his 90% approval rating following 9/11. You can argue that there was nowhere to go but down and that is true. Now there is nowhere to go but up. His administration has been based on trying to get a series of short term feel good wins, while they ignored the principles that made America great. This is a Marathon not a sprint. I believe that history will not be kind.

Imagine the Republic of Kazbekluchistan. They have moved towards a representative democracy, but of course they need to establish a democratic tradition. They have observers for their national elections because there is great concern that the currently elected president will use his powers and influence to manipulate the elections. Going into the elections a number of irregularities are observed: the government changed rules to prevent people from receiving their absentee ballots, People were illegally removed from voter rolls, last minute changes prevented people from voting at all. On election day, areas that were favorable to the contender had severe shortages of voting machines, some areas, known to be favorable to the current president had unrealistically high turnouts, while other areas had unrealistically low turnouts. Some areas even blocked out the official observers citing security emergencies. The people running the elections were closely affiliated with the current presiden...

Continual loss is a fact of life. That sounds really harsh, but it's true. From the day you are born, you begin to leave innocence and youth behind. When we are young, the loss has some very powerful compensations. Wisdom replaces innocence, strength and ability replace youth. At some point, growth in wisdom tapers off, but it does grow until, perhaps, dementia sets in. Strength begins to decline shortly after you get it unless you work hard to maintain it, in which case you lose time. But those are the gradual losses. We see them coming and they are inevitable. We accept them. Sudden wrenching loss is inevitable for most of us too. The parent or spouse who dies in an accident or from a heart attack. The swindler who cons us out of our life savings (think Enron). These wrenching losses change us--even when they happen to someone else. When we hear of a child who is kidnapped while walking to school, we start driving the kids everyday. We lose time, the kids lose exercise and indepe...