Princeton, NJ- based NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) has publicly acknowledged its estimated $11.3 billion takeover bid for Calpine Corp. (CPN) - a wholesale provider of electricity emerging from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Spring sunshine may have arrived but the mood is still winter. The Anglo-Saxon consumer is at a low point. In the US consumer confidence is at a 26-year low says Morgan Stanley’s David Darst. And in the UK it hit an all time low point in April says the Nationwide building society.

One of the largest problems for farmers is getting sufficient supply of water to their fields. The other problem — which Kevin Kerr, editor of Resource Trader Alert, recently wrote about — is the cost of fuel.

Every American who lived through the 1970s remembers that energy price controls lead to inefficient use patterns and large losses to industry. Unfortunately, the Chinese have not learned this American lesson despite large amounts of industrial espionnage within the U.S. over the past 20 years or so.