Energy Industry Layoffs and Strikes (Lawn: cheap house, vs, childcare)

[kaartman]

I cannot wait for all work visa/out sourcing bashers to get really successful and setup engineering firms.
Surely they will hire Americans only and there will be no out sourcing

[Ghost Town]

After enjoying a stellar run-up, crude futures are headed south again, hovering at three-months lows. However, the fundamentals of supply and demand may not be the key reason behind the recent bout of weakness in crude futures.

U.S. benchmark oil, West Texas Intermediate trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange , has lost nearly 15% of its value so far in July, as of Thursday.

Back on June 8, WTI had nearly doubled its value closing at a 2016 high of $51.03 a barrel after reaching a low of $26.21 on Feb. 11.

The change in direction has industry specialists like those at Morgan Stanley pointing to “worrisome trends” and forecasting crude prices to resume a fresh decline—possibly to as low as $35 a barrel for the second half of 2016.




http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/marke...lju?li=BBnbfcN

[swopoe]

Originally Posted by Sugarlandbubba

My wife is an immigrant and I will give some observations.

There are "new immigrants" (work visa,green card then became US citizen in the last 10 years) who think they are "old immigrants" (30 years or more). Similar to the "old money" families vs. "new money" families at country clubs, "old immigrants" think they are better than the "new immigrants". They got the American Dream but want to shut the door to people from other countries from obtaining their American dream.

Ethanw is a new immigrant but he truly believes he is better than the people here on work visas. He probably came here on a work visa himself. Then got his green card and US citizenship. He will probably bring more of his relatives next. But it's ok because he believes his relatives are better than the people at the "curry" building.

The current trend in O&G companies is to repatriate the expats back to the US and ship the foreign workers back to the home country. May be his employer will ship him back to France. Just kidding.

Personally, I am glad he got his American Dream but I wish he let other immigrants reach their American Dream.

Ethanw already posted that he is planning to buy another house in Riverstone for family that he is bringing over. Correct??

[ethanw]

House is already built and they are my retired parents. What's wrong with taking care of your parents? They will pay taxes and I am covering their medical which is crazy expensive. They plan to stay here during the hard European winters as their age is no longer suitable for cold. I see no wrong in that.

Originally Posted by swopoe

Ethanw already posted that he is planning to buy another house in Riverstone for family that he is bringing over. Correct??

[TexasTony]

Originally Posted by Sugarlandbubba

There are "new immigrants" (work visa,green card then became US citizen in the last 10 years) who think they are "old immigrants" (30 years or more). Similar to the "old money" families vs. "new money" families at country clubs, "old immigrants" think they are better than the "new immigrants". They got the American Dream but want to shut the door to people from other countries from obtaining their American dream.

The current trend in O&G companies is to repatriate the expats back to the US and ship the foreign workers back to the home country. May be his employer will ship him back to France. Just kidding.

Personally, I am glad he got his American Dream but I wish he let other immigrants reach their American Dream.

Interesting observation but I personally think that unless one came in Mayflower, they are all categorized as "new immigrants".

[ethanw]

Wrong, there is no such a thing old vs new. There one thing only and that's the legal path to green card and citizenship.I have no beef with others reaching their American dream as long is on the legal path. I encourage them to do so. I don't support illegal immigrants and and I don't support H1B by taking away jobs from hard working Americans. H1B is also not the path to green card or citizenship.

I came here as an expat from France and the company sponsored all my stuff. Initially the only reason I got my US papers was to switch to US patrol and go back to France as an expat which I did for many years. But then I realized that being an US expat all over the world is financially very very lucrative. Is all about money at the end of the day. Bah ouais, m'elfin! so you now know how I got here.

Originally Posted by Sugarlandbubba

My wife is an immigrant and I will give some observations.

There are "new immigrants" (work visa,green card then became US citizen in the last 10 years) who think they are "old immigrants" (30 years or more). Similar to the "old money" families vs. "new money" families at country clubs, "old immigrants" think they are better than the "new immigrants". They got the American Dream but want to shut the door to people from other countries from obtaining their American dream.

Ethanw is a new immigrant but he truly believes he is better than the people here on work visas. He probably came here on a work visa himself. Then got his green card and US citizenship. He will probably bring more of his relatives next. But it's ok because he believes his relatives are better than the people at the "curry" building.

The current trend in O&G companies is to repatriate the expats back to the US and ship the foreign workers back to the home country. May be his employer will ship him back to France. Just kidding.

Personally, I am glad he got his American Dream but I wish he let other immigrants reach their American Dream.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by Ghost Town

After enjoying a stellar run-up, crude futures are headed south again, hovering at three-months lows. However, the fundamentals of supply and demand may not be the key reason behind the recent bout of weakness in crude futures.

U.S. benchmark oil, West Texas Intermediate trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange , has lost nearly 15% of its value so far in July, as of Thursday.

Back on June 8, WTI had nearly doubled its value closing at a 2016 high of $51.03 a barrel after reaching a low of $26.21 on Feb. 11.

The change in direction has industry specialists like those at Morgan Stanley pointing to “worrisome trends” and forecasting crude prices to resume a fresh decline—possibly to as low as $35 a barrel for the second half of 2016.




Here's the key factor pushing oil prices to $35 a barrel

This graph is misleading to those who are not familiar with the oil business. Those who have been in it long enough know what I am speaking of...

Despite all the various currencies, the US Dollar is still the standard when it comes to buying and trading Oil. When the Dollar gets week, the price of oil goes up because it costs more Dollars to buy a barrel of oil. Likewise, when the Dollar gets strong, not so many Dollars are needed to buy the same barrel of oil. Other factors influence the value of the Dollar, and whatever those factors are, if it weakens the dollar, the price of oil will go up. It is not always a supply and demand for the swings in the cost of oil. It is such a bellwether for me when it comes to investing, it is like a barometer.

[bazookabang]

Originally Posted by ethanw

Wrong, there is no such a thing old vs new. There one thing only and that's the legal path to green card and citizenship.I have no beef with others reaching their American dream as long is on the legal path. I encourage them to do so. I don't support illegal immigrants and and I don't support H1B by taking away jobs from hard working Americans. H1B is also not the path to green card or citizenship.

I came here as an expat from France and the company sponsored all my stuff. Initially the only reason I got my US papers was to switch to US patrol and go back to France as an expat which I did for many years. But then I realized that being an US expat all over the world is financially very very lucrative. Is all about money at the end of the day. Bah ouais, m'elfin! so you now know how I got here.

Ha! Must admit you are funny even if you try to come across as serious. You are incoherent, full of s**t, and contradict yourself all the time. Let's see:

Originally Posted by ethanw

Wrong, there is no such a thing old vs new. There one thing only and that's the legal path to green card and citizenship.I have no beef with others reaching their American dream as long is on the legal path. I encourage them to do so. I don't support illegal immigrants and and I don't support H1B by taking away jobs from hard working Americans. H1B is also not the path to green card or citizenship.

a) You still haven't answered me on how sending jobs to SLB employees in South America is any different than H1Bs taking jobs away from Americans? At the end of the day, a role/job is moving from USA to somewhere else to non-Americans

Originally Posted by ethanw

Wrong, there is no such a thing old vs new. There one thing only and that's the legal path to green card and citizenship.I have no beef with others reaching their American dream as long is on the legal path. I encourage them to do so. I don't support illegal immigrants and and I don't support H1B by taking away jobs from hard working Americans. H1B is also not the path to green card or citizenship.

b) WRONG! H1B is a "dual-intent" visa meaning at the time of giving out H1B visa, USCIS recognizes that the person can very well immigrate to USA down the line. If it wasn't meant as a path to green card, USCIS would not recognize it as dual-intent and treat it as other visa types: B1/B2 visas etc

Originally Posted by ethanw

I came here as an expat from France and the company sponsored all my stuff. Initially the only reason I got my US papers was to switch to US patrol and go back to France as an expat which I did for many years. But then I realized that being an US expat all over the world is financially very very lucrative. Is all about money at the end of the day. Bah ouais, m'elfin! so you now know how I got here.

c) So, one can say that you took a job that an american SME could do. You can argue that it was critical role with specialized skills, but I'm pretty sure there is no shortage of smart, hard-working americans as you very rightly said. So, you are hating on people who are doing exactly what you did years ago? Oh my!! Hypocricy to the max level here?

Originally Posted by ethanw

Is all about money at the end of the day. Bah ouais, m'elfin! so you now know how I got here.

d) If it's all about money, how come you complain against the corporations who think in exactly the same way? It's all about their profit margins, and if sending that job to cheaper workers in India saves them money, you should be happy as you finally have someone who shares the same principals as you!

[Dopo]

Fush the specialists,
Tell me one of them that predicted the drop in oil price before 2015?

[lipbalm]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Fush the specialists,
Tell me one of them that predicted the drop in oil price before 2015?

This. Nobody knows.