A Day In The Life Of A Falling BRIC

 

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  • #19607

    NPC Communist Party Young Communist League, Washington, DC 1925 It’s not that long ago, in 2001, that Jim O’Neill, then still with Goldman Sachs, coin
    [See the full post at: A Day In The Life Of A Falling BRIC]

    #19610
    Dr. Diablo
    Participant

    It seems to me that the corruption on Brazil is very much par for the course worldwide. In Britain, France, U.S., and not to leave out Russia, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Africa, and probably upper Greenland if there are any companies there. We had open vote-rigging in Scotland. Open $5B bribes and influence in Ukraine. Open 100,000+ robosignings (aka, felony perjury and fraud) in the U.S. to say nothing of Sachs CEO Paulson kill and eat Bear and Lehman, then force taxpayers to foot AIG, destroying the entire world financial system just to keep his ex-company afloat. Openly. Petrobras is small beer.

    My point? So…if this is worldwide, every day, how is it that Brazil, and Dilma/Petrobras, have suddenly become so gosh-darn unlucky all of a sudden? All these frauds were de rigeur for DECADES. Suddenly now Brazil finds itself shocked–shocked!–to find gambling going on in the casino. Or might it be that, unlike equally-corrupt but well-owned Lula, Dilma and Petrobras are trying to hop over the fence of U.S. hegemony? At the same time that equal surprising ill-luck seems to be hitting Russia, Venezuela, or even France when they moo and bray some minor independence?

    One more question: Petrobas was worth $310B and lost $270B = $40B. What do you think an entire oil company offhand might be worth? You know: pipelines, ships, refineries, reserves, staff, buildings, agreements? I’m guessing even in this environment something more than, say Pinterest is worth. Apple is now worth more than the whole of Russia. Russia is rated junk with high assets and low debt, while the U.S. and co are rated AAA with low assets and debts higher than Greece. So…maybe in a world where 110% of debt is monetized, LIBOR, metals, aluminum, housing, stocks, are openly rigged with no charges, maybe Russia’s Ruble trouble and Petrobras’s stock price might have something more to do with HFT algos backed by total legal immunity and unlimited free money?

    I mean, if I can cause enough bad luck, I can buy up a company worth $400B for $40B right? And do it by borrowing the money from my pals at 0% interest. In that environment it would be pretty hard to lose. And pretty hard to believe anything we see is for real.

    #19611
    Ken Barrows
    Participant

    Petrobras will be an example showing that producing oil for a marginal cost greater than marginal revenue is not a sound, long-term plan.

    #19614
    Professorlocknload
    Participant

    “Since her narrow re-election win in October, Rousseff has made a dramatic U-turn in economic policy to regain the trust of investors worried with the financial health of an economy that until recently was one of the world’s most dynamic.”

    Was it dynamic, or a debt based illusion?

    #19616
    Professorlocknload
    Participant

    Yup, Doc,

    Absolute power do tend to corrupt absolutely, do it not?

    #19617
    jal
    Participant

    @ dr diablo
    ill-luck!!!!!
    I am shocked !!!!
    What is the difference between the definition of “corruption” as you travel from country to country around the world.
    Does the “winner” define the meaning of “corruption”?

    #19619
    rapier
    Participant

    The Petrobas Libra field was always an absurd proposition. That’s the field 150 miles offshore that lit the imaginations of the usual suspects. It lies 6000 feet below sea level. I never really looked into how they proposed to drill at such depths because I had always thought it was almost impossible technically and surely financially. I remember something about all sorts of underwater vehicles and robots which was essentially science fiction. I know enough about remote control of anything to know that the slightest little glitch can cost much time and huge amounts of money. Given enough time and money almost anything is possible but a lot of time and stupendous amounts of money didn’t really seem to be the thing Petrobas was going to have.

    #19620

    I heard the term “BRIC” long before 2001. Late 80’s I believe.

    #19622
    TonyPrep
    Participant

    Didn’t BRIC become BRICS, with the addition of South Africa? How is that country doing?

    With Brazil, it is also suffering its worst drought in 80 years, I believe.

    #19628
    Dr. Diablo
    Participant

    Oh yes, that Petrobras field was always fantasy–at least for the decades it would take to invent the technology to go out 150 miles and drill down 2-5 miles. Worse than the gas fracking land bubble–at least onshore gas is plausible, if you squint and don’t look too hard.

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