From MarketWatch.…

Crude-oil futures climbed to unprecedented levels Thursday, as weakness in the U.S. dollar, influenced by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to stand pat on interest rates, sent prices to a peak above $140 a barrel.

I don’t think that raising rates are going to cure all the economic problems we face. I don’t think there is a quick cure for all the economic problems we face. But when you depend on the rest of the world for financing, I really think that ignoring the value of your currency is a big mistake.

Sadly, I score about 80% on the faint-of-heart quiz.
The last job I had was basically self-managed and I didn’t start to relax in that one until they brought on someone who functioned as my manager (even though he technically wasn’t). My manager in my new job is based several states away. He’s done a good Click Here to continue reading.

From Farm Show….

“I have to grow 500 acres of 100 bu. per acre milo to net enough money to buy all the fuel I need for my farm. But it takes only 100 acres of sunflowers to grow all the fuel I need for my farm – about 11,000 gal. of oil.

“I paid a total of $6,000 for the press and engine. It doesn’t take many gallons of fuel to pay that back.”

According to McAmoil, growing your own biodiesel fuel is far more practical than using cooking or vegetable oil. “There isn’t enough restaurant oil within a 100-mile radius of my farm to operate my diesel-powered equipment for even two days. A lot of farmers in the High Plains are starting to buy presses so they can grow their own fuel. One farmer is looking at buying several presses so he can operate five different irrigation engines, using 50,000 to 60,000 gal. of biodiesel fuel per year. He’ll hire someone to operate them full-time all year long.

This almost sounds to good to be true. But it is common knowledge that you can run a diesel engine off of vegetable oil. So why not off of oil that you press at your farm?

If you read the full article, you will see that the guy adds some gasoline to the mixture so it is not 100% homegrown. Still, this could be the wave of the future.

Admittedly, it is still turning food into fuel, but it does so in a manner that is a lot more practical then ethanols. For one thing there is no fermenting. The oil is being pressed out of the crops and being used in the tractors will only a little gasoline being added. Moreover, the left over mash is being feed to cattle.

Most importantly, this process is not being driven by government mandates. The guy did a straight up cost comparison between how much acreage he would have to plant to pay for diesel fuel and much acreage he would have to plant to grow his own fuel. The amount he would have to plant to grow his own fuel was less the amount of acreage he would have to plant to buy it.

From an AP story about gas station owners who are refusing to accept credit cards (h/t Crunchy Con)….

His complaints target the so-called interchange fee — a percentage of the sale price paid to credit card companies on every transaction. The percentage is fixed — usually at just under 2 percent — but the dollar amount of the fee rises with the price of the goods or services.

As gas tops $4 a gallon, that pushes fees toward 10 cents a gallon. Now stations, which typically mark up gasoline by 11 to 12 cents a gallon, are seeing profits shrink or even reverse.

I don’t understand why credit card companies charge a percentage of all sales instead of a flat fee. Does it really cost them more money to process a transaction for $4 then $100?

There are real benefits to both the gas station owners and the customers to be able to pay at the pump. When you pay at the pump the gas station has less labor costs because you never have to deal with a live person. Furthermore, they don’t have to face the risk that you will drive off with out paying for your gas. For customer the benefits are even more numerous.

So I think gas stations should band to together and mandate the use of their own card instead of refusing to accept them all together. The bigger convenience store chains already have their own card so it should not be too hard for them to tell the credit card companies to shove it.