As I left Silicon Valley for several weeks and the holidays in Los Angeles, I could not help but notice one of the local trees reaching the sky with its branches spread wide while boasting a range of reds and yellows.

While oil companies fund any effort that sabotages a shift to clean technology, many oil companies benefit from government largess. US producer subsidies reached US$52 billion, Canada cuts checks that total $US2 billion to oil companies, and even the European Union subsidizes oil production at the cost of US$8 billion.

Prop 26 is another big oil backed initiative. Prop 26 would make it more difficult for state and local government to impose mitigation fees on business activities that cause harm to the environment or public health and safety. For example, fees imposed on tobacco companies to fund health-related programs, on industries for toxic waste cleanup and on alcohol retailers for law enforcement.

Could oil rigs rise behind this distillery of single malt scotch? Anyone who believed that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill would force countries to take a second look at deepwater oil drilling of their coasts are mistaken. The United Kingdom’s government just gave Chevron the green light to start a divisive deepwater oil exploration project in the North Sea, near the Shetland Islands.

It is not easy being Arnold Schwarzenegger these days. His term is winding down without any mercy. The annual state budget, as usual, has not been resolved. His approval ratings are in the teens—at 16% in one poll. His party despises him. The opposing party barely tolerates him. But he sure is leaving office with a big No on 23 bang!

Currently California’s electorate is evenly split between passing and turning down the “California Jobs Initiative,” largely funded by out-of-state interests that have no interest in investing in California. Triple Pundit and I say no, and are looking for guest posters to articulate their point of view.

A German military think tank has drafted a report that discusses the impact that peak oil could have on the world’s economy. The Bundeswehr refuses to comment publicly, but the fact that “peak oil” is actually expressed in the document is sobering news.

Ecuador has told the world to put a price on oil that will never hit the market. Yesterday the small South American nation signed a deal with the United Nations Development Program that leaves a huge amount of oil reserves untouched in exchange for the approximate sum of US$3.5 billion.