LABOR DAY

S&P's price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) is back to 15, based on '11 earnings estimates. It hit ~7 in '80 and peaked at ~28 in '00. 15 is an old standard for fair price.

QE3 coming Sept 21: Roubini.

US govt social benefits now exceed personal income/social insurance taxes. The line crossed over in '09. Gap now ~$100B/y.

Deutsche Bank: dramatic oil production declines in 2Q11 @ 20 major oil companies were "startling", even accounting for Libya's 1.3M bls/day. Do you think the oil companies could be colluding to keep prices high and higher? Or is it the truth that we are running out of cheap oil and oil itself? 15 of top 20 showed 11-26% decline in 2Q production. CEO of Total (Europe's 3rd largest energy comp): "the world will never be able to produce more than 89mb/d... partly from political restrictions in Iraq and Iran". (Iran now in control of Iraq, by the way - that's democracy biting us in the arse). IEA agrees and predicts global demand to hit 92mb/d by end of '12. So how will that work?

DHL opened distribution center for Chinese solar panels in Netherlands.

40% of Europeans suffer mental illness. I wonder how many Americans do these days. At least the Europeans are admitting it. Maybe they're aging too.

China offered Kadaffy weapons in last few months. What the hell is that about China?! Is it true?!

Pike Research forecasts 7.7M EV charging stations globally in next 5 years or so. CCGI, ECTY among charger makers. Q2 ECTY installed 1,892 chargers and still fulfilling it's 11k charger order from DOE. ABB has a stake in them. A stock to keep an eye on.

Catch this. "Providing clean/renewable energy to the 1.4B people on Earth without electricity is the #1 priority of the UN:" SecGen of UN. Really?! Ending war on Earth is not still the first priority of the UN?! My guess is even the SecGen of the UN panders. He was visiting NREL at the time. Maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he meant #1 energy priority of UN.

And, finally, pards, the ozone rule that Obama axed could have cost biz - utilities and other companies operating boilers and such - $90B. Well, yea, but most of that would have gone to other businesses - pollution equipment makers and others - and the inherent jobs, I have to presume.

Well, happy laboring.