TransCanada will NOT confiscate US land, and has ZERO ability to implement eminent domain. The localities/States that work together to implement the utility of the pipeline do have the power of eminent domain, and can use it to clear the way for the pipeline (a utility). And that does not leave TransCanada off the hook for any environmental damage from the pipeline. Ask any pipeline owner about eminent domain and their legal obligations to maintaining the pipeline and the land it uses.

Wrong, wrong and once again: wrong. You can't adjust for inflation based on the mainstream definition of inflation, which is completely off the rocker. Real inflation is a number of times higher than the numbers that are being propagandised for the popular consumption. Quite the opposite, if you want to understand inflation, look at the prices of oil.

As to supply and demand, the world is producing much more oil and gas today than it produced previously and even with growth of demand, the supply is still able to cover the demand. What the supply cannot do is fight inflation.

Cost of oil has nothing to do with Keystone pipeline and such, it is directly related to the value (lack of value) of the dollar.

But you can still thank your federal government with the Federal reserve for that. Just like you can thank them for the prices of food going up (and of-course all other prices, including the stock and bond and housing markets' prices, which is their intention in the first place)

Don't you worry about increasing prices, your government, the Federal reserve, main stream 'economists' and all the media is telling you that you don't have inflation... all that while the Fed is printing money like crazy, you know it as QE, but that's just an euphemism for inflation.

All of the recent articles that are coming out are trying to justify prices going up with 'bad weather', 'disease' even 'cartels'.

The reality is of-course that the only real reason your prices are going up is because the value of your money is being destroyed and you are being fed propaganda that it is exactly what you need: more inflation.

The ONLY people that would NOT buy something today if they knew that tomorrow the item they are after would fall in price are INVESTORS, who will not buy an asset if they expect the price of an asset to drop.

Normal consumers buy things today because they need them today, they even pay a PREMIUM for these things (since they are buying so much on credit, so the cost of credit should be also counted towards the cost of the items they buy).

The standard arguments for inflation are all nonsense, government propaganda. They are brainwashing all of you, every day, every minute of every day, and so many people end up arguing for this government propaganda, that you can be certain about one thing: people are stupid and advertising works very well.

As to beef and milk prices, again, that's inflation. But ALSO you can blame other government created problems, such as this nonsense that started a couple of decades ago, where large factory beef and milk producers (factory farmers) lobbied the federal government to impose these new taxes on small ranches, that used State lands to allow their livestock to graze there. That is by the way, what you are observing in Nevada. When the feds come to a State land with land taxes, taxes on the land that they are not actually involved with, taxing lands where they are not building any infrastructure, then you know that there are special interests in play.

How many small ranches were shut down because they couldn't afford the millions of dollars that they would have to pay for letting their cows graze on those lands (that nobody else uses for any purpose)? This is lobbying by the factory farms, the type that holds cows in enclosed cages, where the cows never see any grazing lands at all.

Anyway, enjoy your inflation, enjoy your lobbying, all of it is just a reflection of one singular problem: the federal government usurping unauthorised powers to destroy your individual rights. But at least learn what exactly is happening around you.

Before "clarifying" something, make sure you understand it. "Shorting" is not a financial instrument. It simply means selling shares that you do not own. A financial instrument is something one can trade.

Options are a financial instrument because once you buy the right to buy or sell a share at a specific price (i.e an option) you can trade that right depending on how the share price fluctuates.

I'm not sure which operation is more "dangerous" (short selling a stock or buying put options). Options provide a bigger leverage but have no value past the strike time; the loss is however limited to whatever premium was paid to buy the option is one chooses not to exercise it. The risk in short selling is that you may end up having to buy the stock at a price that is much higher than you anticipated, so the worst case scenario is that you may have to keep that stock for a long time hoping that the price will go up again, or sell at a loss. In either case you need to have a good bankroll because most trading companies will require additional funds (or credit) to secure the position when the price of the underlying asset fluctuates wildly in a direction that does not favor you (otherwise they will liquidate).

Example: Hyatt Regency walkway collapse

The contractor made changes to save money. Only in this case they got the PE to sign off on their changes without evaluating them.

I bet the same question was asked by buggy whip makers back in the day (and the same solutions were proposed by them as are getting +5Insightful in this story).

...we're seeing that, when push comes to shove and certain people are in charge, the "promise" of the United States doesn't mean squat.

Nukes in the hand are worth an infinite number of promises and strongly-worded letters...

Where did this "floating barge" thing come from? They're landing it on the water right now so that it doesn't cause property damage if it fucks up. When they feel confident that it can stay under control and on target, they'll have touch down on land. A floating barge is a hell of a lot more difficult than dry land, with no advantages.

The aluminum-era Powerbooks/MacBook Pros were awful for that. I had three of them, 1 PPC and 2 Intel. The DVD drive would become misaligned with the slot and you had to take it apart to get the disc to eject. Also, the latch to keep it closed wouldn't work, and the skin oils from my palms would etch pits in the top of it. The "unibody" case design was a major and overdue fix for all those problems. The only thing I miss is a matte screen option.

I regularly use one with a keypad and digital timer, so no knobs to wear out, but still a genuine Amana RadarRange. Got it for $25 at Goodwill back in 2000 or so.

What about people from the future time-traveling to give us exciting new patent-free technology? Is that more likely than aliens landing on Earth and handing over the keys to their spacecraft?

If it was possible to bet on THAT I would be interested. Who cares about drones.

You should post a screencast of you typing your comment in WordPerfect, with a small Rhodes electric piano music playing in the background. This would be a big hit with people who miss the series "Doogie Howser, MD".

You can short the loser side and get an immensely bigger payout if you are right. Options are pennies on the dollar compared to a bet or actual shares.

And in any event, unless you buy in at the IPO, you don't "help" a company or technology by buying their stock since the said stock is owned by some other dude and the sale does not bring a single more dollar to the company; if anything there is administrative overhead for them. The only marginal impact you may have is that by buying or selling you have a tiny influence over the stock price, which may please or displease other shareholders, who can reward or punish executives accordingly.

Well, yea, except for losing a few letters...

(V G E R)