Jul 292019
 
 July 29, 2019  Posted by at 8:41 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,


Odilon Redon Fallen angel 1872

 

A New US Oil Production Peak Looks Imminent (Robert Rapier)
China’s Wobbly Giants (Fortune)
Business Lobby Group CBI Says UK, EU Not Ready For No-Deal Brexit (BBC)
Johnson Told No-Deal Brexit Will Crush Domestic Policy Plans (G.)
More Than 4 Million In UK Are Trapped In Deep Poverty (G.)
Ratcliffe Tapped To Replace Coats As US Spy Chief (R.)
Work On Production Line Of Boeing 737 MAX ‘Not Adequately Funded’ (BBC)
Insulin Is Our Oxygen: Bernie Sanders Rides Another Campaign Bus To Canada (G.)
Papadopoulos To Head To Greece To Retrieve $10,000 Payment (Fox)
US Wants To ‘Make An Example’ Of Assange In Jail, UN Expert Claims (SMH)

 

 

Cheap money blows bubbles, but…

A New US Oil Production Peak Looks Imminent (Robert Rapier)

The resurgence of U.S. oil production over the past decade diminished OPEC’s control of the global oil markets. In less than eight years, U.S. oil production climbed from under 6 million barrels per day (BPD) to more than 12 million BPD. This surge is arguably the only reason oil prices today aren’t above $100/barrel (bbl). OPEC’s current strategy seems to be to wait for U.S. production to begin declining so they can begin to regain control of the oil markets. They may not have to wait all that long.

In last week’s article, I covered the slowdown in oil production growth in the Permian Basin. This is the most important oil-producing region in the U.S., but of course it isn’t the only one. And while most of the coverage of the resurgence of U.S. oil production has been primarily focused on shale oil and tight oil, U.S. offshore oil production has also made a big jump. Over the past decade, Gulf Coast oil production in the U.S. rose from about 1.2 million BPD to about 2.0 million BPD.


Thus, I thought today it might be instructive to look at the trends in total U.S. oil production. Note that in the previous graphic, it looks like production may be starting to turn down right at the end of the time frame. In fact, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has reported a slight downward trend in U.S. oil production since May. The key question is whether this is an anomaly, or the beginning of a sustained trend. Applying the same analysis that I did last week to Permian Basin production – which looked at year-over-year production changes – it becomes clear that overall U.S. production growth is declining even faster than Permian Basin production growth.

Read more …

“.. state-owned enterprises account for 80% of the revenue generated by Chinese companies..”

China’s Wobbly Giants (Fortune)

In China, publication of the Fortune Global 500 has become a major media event. Companies advancing even a place or two rush out press releases. Those making the list for first time bask in the achievement; this year’s most notable Chinese debutant, smartphone maker Xiaomi, celebrated by doling out $24 million in stock to its 20,000 employees. The 2019 list gives Chinese firms something special to crow about: the number of Chinese firms rose to a record 129, including 10 from Taiwan, overtaking the 121 firms from the United States.

[..] the most striking characteristic of China’s presence on the Global 500 remains the overwhelming—and growing—dominance of state-owned firms. A calculation by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post found that, if firms from Hong Kong and Taiwan are excluded, state-owned enterprises account for 80% of the revenue generated by Chinese companies on the 2019 list, up from 76% last year. Derek Scissors, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, argues the prevalence of state-owned behemoths among Chinese firms “reveals more weakness than strength.”

He questions whether firms like Ping An Insurance Group (No. 29) and Huawei Technologies (No. 61) are truly private; doubts the veracity of financial results reported by China’s state-owned firms; and notes that Chinese SOEs are mostly sleepy monopolies. The vast revenue of state-owned Chinese companies on the Fortune 500, he concludes, “primarily represents waste.” Former Financial Times China correspondent Richard McGregor offers a more nuanced explanation for the ascendance of China’s state-owned giants in his new book Xi Jinping: The Backlash. For China watchers, the entire book is a must-read, but this excerpt published recently in The Guardian, summarizes Richard’s account of how and why Xi sought to bolster state-owned enterprises at the expense of private enterprise.

Read more …

What is it, 100 days until Halloween?!

Business Lobby Group CBI Says UK, EU Not Ready For No-Deal Brexit (BBC)

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned the government that neither the UK nor the EU is ready for a no-deal Brexit on 31 October. “While the UK’s preparations to date are welcome, the unprecedented nature of Brexit means some aspects cannot be mitigated,” said the CBI. It has published practical steps it says the UK, EU and firms can take. A government spokesman said the UK has increased the pace of planning for no-deal. The CBI had previously said leaving the EU with a deal was essential to protect the economy and jobs. New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made Michael Gove responsible for planning a no-deal Brexit. Mr Gove has said the UK government is currently “working on the assumption” of a no-deal Brexit.


He said his team still aimed to come to an agreement with Brussels but, writing in the Sunday Times, he added: “No deal is now a very real prospect.” The CBI’s report What Comes Next? The Business Analysis Of No Deal Preparations advises what measures businesses can take to reduce the worst effects. The advice is based on a study of existing plans laid out by the UK government, European Commission, member states and firms. “And although businesses have already spent billions on contingency planning for no deal, they remain hampered by unclear advice, timelines, cost and complexity,” the CBI says. “Larger companies, particularly those in regulated areas such as financial services, have well-thought-through contingency plans in place, though smaller firms are less well prepared.”

Read more …

They’re stuck on the backstop: “Johnson may well find that having left one political union, he spends an increasing proportion of his time trying to keep another together..”

Johnson Told No-Deal Brexit Will Crush Domestic Policy Plans (G.)

Boris Johnson’s ambitious domestic agenda would be crushed by the pressing needs of the emergency that would follow a no-deal Brexit, a new report by a Whitehall thinktank has concluded. The Institute for Government (IfG) warned there is “no such thing as a managed no deal” and the hard Brexiters predictions of a “clean break” from the EU will not materialise. Johnson will begin his first full week in Downing Street by ramping up planning for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit on 31 October, with more than £1bn to be announced within days for preparations by Sajid Javid, the chancellor. He sent out a raft of cabinet ministers over the weekend to talk about “turbo-charging” preparations as part of a publicity blitz, making clear that the UK will be heading for no deal unless EU leaders agree to replace the Irish backstop.

The new prime minister is also heading to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the coming days to promise to “strengthen the union”, but he faces a difficult meeting with Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, on Monday as she warned over the weekend that she cannot sign up to his no-deal Brexit strategy. In its report on no deal, the IfG predicted that the union of the United Kingdom would come under “unprecedented pressure” in the event of a no-deal Brexit, with Northern Ireland “most acutely affected”. It said that legislation to introduce direct rule in Northern Ireland with immediate effect would be needed to get through a no-deal Brexit if the devolved government is not restored by the end of October. “Johnson may well find that having left one political union, he spends an increasing proportion of his time trying to keep another together,” it said.

[..] In another sign of the uncertainty Johnson faces, the owner of Vauxhall warned on Sunday that it will close its Ellesmere Port plant with the loss of 1,000 jobs if Brexit renders it unprofitable. “No deal is a step into the unknown: the prime minister’s second 100 days will be even more unpredictable than his first,” the report says, adding that the EU is unlikely to agree to negotiate any “side deals” to soften the impact. “Rather than ‘turbo-charging’ the economy, as Johnson has suggested, the government is more likely to be occupied with providing money and support to businesses and industries that have not prepared or are worst affected by a no-deal Brexit – as well as dealing with UK citizens in the EU, and EU citizens here, who have been similarly caught out,” it says.

[..] Dominic Cummings, the mastermind behind Vote Leave, who has been hired as Johnson’s special adviser, has been tasked with delivering Brexit “by any means necessary”. In a meeting with fellow special advisers, he made it clear that he believes No 10 can outmanoeuvre parliamentary critics of no deal and force Brexit to happen by 31 October. However, leading former cabinet ministers – Philip Hammond, David Gauke and Rory Stewart – are all preparing to join the cross-party battle to make sure parliament has a say on the form of the UK’s departure. One source close to the group said Cummings’s confidence of being able to proceed with a no deal if necessary was “misplaced”, while another former cabinet minister described the senior No 10 adviser as a “master of disinformation and spin”.

Read more …

While all attention and funding goes towards Brexit…

More Than 4 Million In UK Are Trapped In Deep Poverty (G.)

More than 4 million people in the UK are trapped in deep poverty, meaning their income is at least 50% below the official breadline, locking them into a weekly struggle to afford the most basic living essentials, an independent study has shown. The Social Metrics Commission also said 7 million people, including 2.3 million children, were affected by what it termed persistent poverty, meaning that they were not only in poverty but had been for at least two of the previous three years. Highlighting evidence of rising levels of hardship in recent years among children, larger families, lone parent households and pensioners, the commission urged the new prime minister, Boris Johnson, to take urgent action to tackle growing poverty.


The commission’s chair, Philippa Stroud, a Conservative peer, said there was a pressing need for a concerted approach to the problem. “It is time to look again at our approach to children, and to invest in our children as the future of our nation,” she said. Campaigners said the commission showed austerity had undermined two decades of anti-poverty policy. “By cutting £40bn a year from our work and pensions budget through cuts and freezes to tax credits and benefits, the government has put progress into reverse,” said Alison Garnham, the chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group.

Read more …

He was strong in the Mueller hearing.

Ratcliffe Tapped To Replace Coats As US Spy Chief (R.)

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would nominate Representative John Ratcliffe, a Texas Republican who strongly defended him at a recent congressional hearing, to replace Dan Coats as the U.S. spy chief. Coats, the current U.S. director of national intelligence who has clashed with Trump over assessments involving Russia, Iran and North Korea, will step down on Aug. 15, the president said as he announced his decision on Twitter. “John will lead and inspire greatness for the Country he loves,” Trump said, thanking Coats “for his great service to our Country” and saying an acting director will be named shortly. The post of director of national intelligence, created after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, oversees the 17 U.S. civilian and military intelligence agencies, including the CIA.


Ratcliffe, a member of the House of Representatives intelligence and judiciary committees, defended Trump during former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony on Wednesday about his two-year investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible obstruction of justice. Ratcliffe also accused Mueller of exceeding his authority in the report’s extensive discussion of potential obstruction of justice by Trump after the special counsel decided not to draw a conclusion on whether Trump committed a crime. The congressman agreed that Trump was not above the law, but said the president should not be “below the law” either.

Read more …

“My family won’t fly on a 737 Max.”

Work On Production Line Of Boeing 737 MAX ‘Not Adequately Funded’ (BBC)

A former Boeing engineer has told the BBC’s Panorama programme that work on the production line of the 737 Max plane was not adequately funded. The aircraft is currently grounded after two crashes which killed 346 people. The 737 Max is the company’s fastest selling plane and has earned the company billions of dollars in sales. Boeing denies the claims and says it’s committed to making the 737 Max one of the safest aircraft ever to fly. Adam Dickson worked at Boeing for 30 years and led a team of engineers who worked on the 737 Max. He said they were under constant pressure to keep costs down. “Certainly what I saw was a lack of sufficient resources to do the job in its entirety,” he says. “The culture was very cost centred, incredibly pressurised. Engineers were given targets to get certain amount of cost out of the aeroplane.”


Mr Dickson said engineers were under pressure to downplay new features on the 737 Max. He said by classifying them as minor rather than major changes, Boeing would face less scrutiny from the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration. “The goal was to show that those differences were so similar to the previous design that it would not require a major design classification in the certification process. There was a lot of interest and pressure on the certification and analysis engineers in particular, to look at any changes to the Max as minor changes.” He said that downplaying the changes reduced scrutiny in a way that could impact safety. Now even his own family have fears about the plane’s safety. “My family won’t fly on a 737 Max. It’s frightening to see such a major incident because of a system that didn’t function properly or accurately.”

Read more …

“How does it happen 10 minutes away from the American border in Michigan, people here are paying one-10th of the price for the vitally important drug they need to stay alive?”

Insulin Is Our Oxygen: Bernie Sanders Rides Another Campaign Bus To Canada (G.)

When Hunter Sego realized the insulin he needed to manage his Type 1 diabetes cost more than $1,400, he called his mother in a panic. His family had insurance. He did not believe it was possible a one-month supply of “life saving” medication could cost so much. The price tag was correct. Then a student and football player at DePauw University, he began to ration his insulin, using a quarter of what had been prescribed. He lost weight. His grades dropped. He struggled on the field. Fortunately, his mother found out and stopped him from rationing his insulin – a practice that is increasingly common and potentially deadly.

On Sunday, Sego and his mother, Kathy, drove seven hours from Indiana to join a caravan of roughly a dozen patients with Type 1 diabetes on a bus to Canada with Vermont senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. The Americans – wearing glucose monitors on their arms and shirts that said “diabetic” – set out to buy insulin for a fraction of its cost at home. Sanders’ northern sojourn, a trip his campaign sponsored, was designed to highlight the rising cost of prescription drugs in the US, which the senator said was the result of “incredible corruption and greed” on the part of the US pharmaceutical industry.

“How does it happen 10 minutes away from the American border in Michigan, people here are paying one-10th of the price for the vitally important drug they need to stay alive?” Sanders asked, calling the disparity a “national embarrassment”. In his remarks outside of the Olde Walkerville Pharmacy in Windsor, Sanders vowed that as president he would appoint an attorney general to investigate the pharmaceutical industry for what he described as “collusion” between the major drug companies. “Prices go up and up and up at the same level for the same companies,” he said. “So what you do is you throw these people in jail if they engage in price-fixing.”

Read more …

How many agents are going to be on his tail?

Papadopoulos To Head To Greece To Retrieve $10,000 Payment (Fox)

Former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo in an exclusive interview that he is heading back to Greece to retrieve $10,000 that he suspects was dropped in his lap as part of an entrapment scheme by the CIA or FBI — and federal investigators want to see the marked bills, which he said are now stored in a safe. Papadopoulos said on “Sunday Morning Futures” he was “very happy” to see Devin Nunes, R-Calif., grill former Special Counsel Robert Mueller about the summer 2017 payment during last week’s hearings — even though Mueller maintained, without explanation, that the matter was outside the scope of his investigation.

“I was very happy to see that Devin Nunes brought that up,” Papadopoulos said. “A man named Charles Tawil gave me this money [in Israel] under very suspicious circumstances. A simple Google search about this individual will reveal he was a CIA or State Department asset in South Africa during the ’90s and 2000s. I think around the time when Bob Mueller was the director of the FBI. “So, I have my theory of what that was all about,” Papadopoulos added. “The money, I gave it to my attorney in Greece because I felt it was given to me under very suspicious circumstances. And upon coming back to the United States I had about seven or eight FBI agents rummaging through my luggage looking for money.”

According to Papadopoulos, “the whole setup” by the “FBI likely, or even the special counsel’s office,” was intended to “bring a FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act] violation against me.” The FARA statute played a key role in the prosecutions of former Trump aides, including Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort. Papadopoulos previously told Bartiromo in May that he wanted authorities to take a look at the money trail. “I actually want Congress, [Bill] Barr, [DOJ Inspector General Michael] Horowitz, and [U.S. Attorney John] Huber to review the bills because I still have the bills and I think they are marked,” Papadopoulos said. “These bills that are still in Athens right now must be examined by the investigators because I think they are marked and they’re going to go all the way back to DOJ, under the previous FBI under [James] Comey, and even the Mueller team.”

Read more …

But the torture just continues…

US Wants To ‘Make An Example’ Of Assange In Jail, UN Expert Claims (SMH)

The United States government has promised that Julian Assange will get a fair trial on espionage charges, rejecting the accusation of a United Nations expert that the administration “intends to make an example of him” with excessive charges and jail time. It has challenged the assessment of the expert, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer, that Assange would “be exposed to a real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” if he ended up in a US jail. But Melzer has warned that extradition to the US would severely and dangerously worsen Assange’s already fragile psychological state.

The WikiLeaks founder is in a London jail awaiting a legal fight against extradition to the US, where he has been charged with conspiracy to receive and disclose top secret documents allegedly obtained from army whistleblower Chelsea Manning in 2010. Assange’s team are expected to argue he will not receive a fair trial if the extradition takes place, and that extradition would be dangerous to his health – arguments bolstered by the damning independent report from Melzer. In May, after visiting Assange in Belmarsh Prison for an interview and psychological examination, Melzer concluded that the US, Britain, Sweden and Ecuador shared responsibility for the “psychological torture” of Assange.

On Sunday new details emerged of Melzer’s conclusions, after the publication of letters that Melzer sent to the respective governments of those countries. The UN Human Rights Commissioner also published two responses received from the US and Sweden which strongly rejected Melzer’s claims and arguments. In his letters, Melzer gave new details of Assange’s prison regimen. At the time of his visit Assange was shut in his cell for about 20 hours a day, eating all his meals in the 2 metre by 3 metre space with “a bed, a cupboard, a note-board, basic sanitary installations, a plastic chair and a medium sized window”. Melzer called for Assange to be given access to the prison library and gym, and expressed concern that his situation “severely hampers his ability to adequately prepare” for his legal fight.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle July 29 2019

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  • #48847

    Odilon Redon Fallen angel 1872   • A New US Oil Production Peak Looks Imminent (Robert Rapier) • China’s Wobbly Giants (Fortune) • Business Lobby
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle July 29 2019]

    #48848
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Odilon Redon Fallen angel 1872
    There is something raw about that painting; the real thing captured in the moment…
    I like it; very much…

    #48849

    If someone can do that with charcoal…

    #48850
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Wim

    #48851
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “This surge is arguably the only reason oil prices today aren’t above $100/barrel”
    “U.S. offshore oil production has also made a big jump. Over the past decade, Gulf Coast oil production in the U.S. rose from about 1.2 million BPD to about 2.0 million BPD.”

    While point taken, the U.S. is not drilling either the East or the West coast, and we know the West coast is so covered in oil it bubbles up out of the sand. They are not going to do this until the rest of the world’s oil is gone (Saudi Arabia) or locked in and unobtainable (Libya, Iraq, Syria) to insure prices stay high. That brings the W. argument that it would have been cheaper to buy every barrel of oil from Saddam rather than invade. True. However, the point was not to sell the oil, the point was to DENY the oil to our enemies, just as we are trying now with Iran (and Russia). So keep in mind, the U.S. HAS oil. A LOT of it. We haven’t even tried. And shale oil tells you what we can do if we try. But were we to pump it, prices would crash, so we need to ruin everybody else oil (life) first.

    “the most striking characteristic of China’s presence on the Global 500 remains the overwhelming—and growing—dominance of state-owned firms”

    Wow, just like us. Must be where they learned it from. Google, Facebook: created/funded by DARPA. Amazon: funded by the CIA and protected from most U.S. laws, like sales tax collection. Sachs, Morgan: given incremental monopoly and completely protected from all legal and financial fallout. GM, United Health: same. GE, Lockheed: trillion in guaranteed no-bid war profits. Exxon: need I say more? Hey kids! What do we call a system where the government pays, protects, directs, and controls the corporations in a merger of corporation and state interests? And once they align and join together, are the people A) the friend and beneficiary of this merger or B) the chattel and tax donkey of this oligopoly tag team of extractive power and profit?

    “When Hunter Sego realized the insulin he needed to manage his Type 1 diabetes cost more than $1,400, he called his mother in a panic…. “How does it happen 10 minutes away from the American border in Michigan, people here are paying one-10th of the price for the vitally important drug they need to stay alive?” Sanders asked, calling the disparity a “national embarrassment”.

    Nope, that’s Socialism, Bernie, just like the Soviets with no shoes while party members shop in Zurich. Hey, what happens when government creates and protects billionaire monopoly insiders instead of competition and bankruptcy again?

    “The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned the government that neither the UK nor the EU is ready for a no-deal Brexit on 31 October.”

    Wow, whose fault is that? The EU for refusing to negotiate? Or Britain for not attempting to negotiate and sabotaging their own democracy and people in a fit of infantile pique? Reality happens while you’re making other plans. England has gotten through far FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR worse, and will get through this too, just like BoJo says. “Life is hard, but it’s harder if you’re stupid,” and these guys are making it as hard as possible using that method.

    “Johnson Told No-Deal Brexit Will Crush Domestic Policy Plans (G.)”

    That’s because the other parties have already promised to stonewall everything and keep any legislative help at all from reaching the people. Just like here. France is a little different, because they’re not even making an attempt that COULD be stonewalled. But blame Johnson for what you’re doing. That’s politics.

    “More Than 4 Million In UK Are Trapped In Deep Poverty (G.)”

    Getting out of the EU will liberate money, time, and policy, to care about such things again. Certainly being the EU is no help. Even the poor in Britain are nowhere near the levels of poverty, extraction, and destruction of Greece, which is nowhere near the EU’s Eastern Europe. When you realized you’ve joined the 4th Reich, the German conquest of Europe that intends to exterminate all resisters, the only moral thing you can do is leave.

    “Ratcliffe Tapped to Replace Coats as US Spy Chief (R.)”

    One by one, he exterminates the moles…

    “Papadopoulos to Head to Greece to Retrieve $10,000 Payment (Fox)”

    The marked bills are on record at the FBI. So who took them out of the office to entrap Big Papa? But this is on the heels of Papadopoulos saying “it was so obvious they were recording and entrapping me that Downer was holding his phone upright and pointing it at me while recording.” Yet when his lawyer asked for that (exculpatory) evidence, they said they didn’t have any. …Except that these recordings were the same evidence they used to convict him. So they don’t have the evidence they have. Gotcha.

    Oh wait: just like Butina yesterday, where Byrne immediately reported it all to the FBI (and CFR) and they didn’t warn anyone she talked to, hoping to get the NRA and every GOP candidate in compromising positions. Then when it comes out, the FBI somehow lost all Byrne’s testimony and records that would help her case. Land of the Free, amirite? Mueller/Comey Boy Scouts.

    “The WikiLeaks founder is in a London jail awaiting a legal fight against extradition giving testimony in the DNC server/Seth Rich case which will end RussiaRussiaRussia and exonerate Trump and crush the Deep State setup.” /opinion

    “There are always risks in challenging excessive police power, but the risks of not challenging it are more dangerous, even fatal.” ― Hunter S. Thompson, Kingdom of Fear

    #48852
    zerosum
    Participant

    • More Than 4 Million In UK Are Trapped In Deep Poverty (G.)

    The elites are probably saying that they didn’t create the problems for the poor and cannot solve it.
    Those poor people must solve their own problems and stop begging for help from the rich and powerful.
    The rich and powerful have got bigger problems.

    • Johnson Told No-Deal Brexit Will Crush Domestic Policy Plans (G.)

    ” …. the government is more likely to be occupied with providing money and support to businesses and industries that have not prepared or are worst affected by a no-deal Brexit
    …. “By cutting £40bn a year from our work and pensions budget through cuts and freezes to tax credits and benefits, the government has put progress into reverse,” said Alison Garnham, the chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group.”

    • Insulin Is Our Oxygen: Bernie Sanders Rides Another Campaign Bus To Canada (G.)

    Don’t believe everything that you see on TV
    DRUG ARE ALSO OVER PRICED IN CANADA

    I hope Bernie can get the price of drugs reduced FOR AMERICANS.

    ( A win-win solution for the drug companies. That’s how you’re suppose to think as a rich elite capitalist)
    I think that the price of drugs will be made equal to the price of drugs in Canada because the drug companies will INCREASE the price of drugs in Canada.

    #48853
    zerosum
    Participant

    • Work On Production Line Of Boeing 737 MAX ‘Not Adequately Funded’ (BBC)

    If the 737 MAX are converted to drones, the losers will be the banks who have been financing the airline industries.

    Opps!
    I forgot, the govs. are going to save the banks and make the working man pay for saving the rich bankers again.

    Is that called capitalism or socialism?

    #48854
    zerosum
    Participant

    How does a rich powerful capitalist think?

    Example:

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-29/trump-slams-fed-king-elijah-conman-al-sharpton-furious-twitter-rant

    Print more free money for me.

    #48855
    seychelles
    Participant

    “Certainly what I saw was a lack of sufficient resources to do the job in its entirety,” he says. “The culture was very cost centred, incredibly pressurised.”

    Maximizing profits is the ultimate objective of the Zioneocon playbook. Normal people are not corporations and get bored with chasing dollars when they have a modest cushion for basic needs. Changing the name to 737-8200 or something else is very cost-effective but will only result in killing more innocent people on the Mammonist altar.

    #48856
    lasttwo
    Participant

    I know I am not even close to being the sharpest tool in the shed. But a couple of thoughts anyway

    Do you think the barrel of oil today is more or less valuable then the a barrel of oil when the world is almost out.? The last country with oil wins???

    Do you think a healthcare system that has doctors and support staff cost more or less than a healthcare system that has insurance companies, administrators, billing and collection departments, lobbyist, attorneys and other parasitic waste in the system?

    #48865

    lasttwo,

    q1: yes, the last country with oil wins. there is no resource that can compete with oil . but there will never be such a country, the endgame will involve wasting giant amounts of oil to fight over the last bit of oil and then no-one wins.

    q2: our societies rely on waste. try to make them efficient and they collapse. re: Dave Graeber and his Bullshit Jobs.

    #48870
    democritus
    Participant

    How can we distinguish between project fear and objective predictions about the future? We don’t see probabilities on anything. We often see the word ‘could’ followed by apolcolyptic predictions. We cannot trust the Independent or the Guardian, they are pro-remain. The Independent is the worse though. We cannot trust the CBI I think. Corporate interests are not the interests of EU citizens, bankers interests are not the interests of EU citizens. The ultimate utopia for corporations would be one world government with no democracy.

    #48871

    And, as I’m looking at it again, Redon’s Fallen Angel grips me even more. paper and charcoal, and that’s all, and that’s what he makes of it.

    #48872
    democritus
    Participant

    Trapped in proverty? Poverty is government policy at the moment. It always is when the tories are in. They like poverty, for other people. “If it isn’t hurting [them] it isn’t working [for us]” Margaret Thatcher. [Brackets mine].

    #48882
    lasttwo
    Participant

    I agree Raul the last drop of oil will be wasted trying to kill someone over the last drop of oil.

    Waste is part of the system but it seems to be most of the system now.

    On another website there was an argument that we would never reduce the amount to fossil fuel and would have to build 3 billion electric cars.

    We should not build 3 billion electric cars. We should change the way we think about moving people and things.  We do not need to ship a container of beans to china so they can put it in a can and ship it back. everyone does not need to drive a SUV.  I certainly don’t know but maybe we can use technology  to a point where travel is a pod that links to other pods forms a train so the power used is a magnitude less. 
    There is greedy vested interest in keeping the oil flowing. I realize without oil the world population would likely be 1/2 of what is or less. frankly we could use 1/2 the oil we are using and be just as happy it would just be different.  
    I cant speak to the green new deal  I have not read it. but there should be a plan and people thinking outside the status quo to find solutions. There should be incentives to adopt a cleaner more renewable lifestyle.  
    Just like the system of railroads, highways, the space program, the public library system. and heath care in most developed  countries.  The solutions are too big for private companies to deliver and still make a profit.
    It is undeniable that the environment is suffering in big and profound ways because of the way we choose to live. the factory farms, the never ending wars that make a few rich and the rest of us poor or dead, the oil lobby and lobbyist in general that will eventually destroy democracy. The overwhelming waste in the system.  I am quite sure if there are future generations they will think us quite a selfish generation. 

    solar panels are a better investment than 30 yr bonds. -safer too.

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