Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Peak Oil Makes Mainstream Debut
Wall St. Journal Acknowledges Peak Oil Without Quite Admitting It
Govt Plans to Divert Oil Into Reserve
U.S. Secretly Aids Pakistan in Guarding Nuclear Weapons
OPEC Blunder Reveals Saudi-Iran Rift
Saudi Minister Warns of Dollar Collapse
We Don't Want Your Dollars
Gulf States Set to Depeg Their Currencies
The Krongard Brothers' Latest Caper
Liberty Dollar Office Raided
Mistakenly Disclosed Affidavit Outlines Case Against Liberty Dollar
China's Spying Called Threat by U.S. Panel
"...inadvertently outsourcing the manufacturing of key weapons and military equipment??"

22 comments:

Rice Farmer said...

Japanese subprime losses -- September mid-term financial reports here indicate that at the end of the financial year (March 31, 2008) major Japanese banks will have taken a combined subprime hit of 280 billion yen, report the media, though I suspect it is actually worse. If the losses of securities companies, insurance companies, and other institutional investors are added, the combined (publicly acknowledged) loss will be 500 billion yen. Knock off a couple of zeros to get approximate US$ amounts.

The link for "Why Central Banking is Conducted in Secret" leads to a different article.

Devlin Buckley said...

Climate models show no Arctic summer ice by 2015

Food Pantries Struggling With Shortages

D! said...

The raids are just utterly disgusting. Maybe the feds should seize all of the assets of Wall Street traders in currency markets. This is truly outrageous. Or, maybe they should seize all of Cheney's assets, since it has been repeatedly shown that his (publicly known) investments depend on the weakening of the dollar.

LONG LIVE THE PARTY!
F*cking Scum.

I am sick to my stomach.

Rice Farmer said...

The morning news had a feature story on how Japan's skiing industry is hit by expensive oil. Since the act of skiing itself uses only gravity as an energy source, it seems energy-efficient, but in fact the industry is a big energy consumer. Snow plowing, transportation for skiers, skis and ski products and equipment, heating for ski lodges and other facilities, and what have you consume a lot of oil. Interviews with ski slope operators revealed that they are already reeling from high fuel costs.

Rice Farmer said...

Britain to build world's biggest biomass plant
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJI6ZFmnObqP7XwXGnWZNDwU73qQ

Why don't more people see a problem with this? As mentioned, transporting the wood chips from other countries will eat up a lot of fuel. Also, as chemical fertilizers become more expensive, wood chips will be highly sought as inputs for composting. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the biofuel industry will be competing with food growers for organic inputs. The food or fuel debate is going get a lot more strident.

johnny said...

I wonder when peak oil will be mentioned on Prime Time television.

Maybe around 2012.

Rice Farmer said...

Airline fuel surcharges -- All Nippon Airways (ANA) has announced that it will freeze the fuel surcharge on international routes at its current level because the management is worried that continuing to raise it will destroy demand. Meanwhile, Japan's flagship carrier Japan Airlines (JAL) is still struggling to regain profitability and has already petitioned the government to allow it to raise the surcharge again. But the freeze by ANA will put enormous pressure on JAL to follow suit. JAL is in some deep doo-doo no matter what it decides to do.

Anonymous said...

wow so much is happening so fast... I'm wondering when we will see a "terrorist attack" on American soil again. I've heard news rumors of attacks on malls today but... we hear that ever year. The pit bull is getting backed into the corner though... and I have no doubt it will retaliate... and soon.

D! said...

Are Disney Dollars next? Let's hope so!

Anonymous said...

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/11/23/intv.tasered.speeder.speaks.cnn

More police abuse of power. I like the comment at 4:48 about 3 people who have died from being tased last week! How many people are tased in the U.S. each day to have 3 die?

gaelicgirl said...

johnny.....well, here I have to admit that I watch "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" quite regularly (mainstream, but PBS style)--it's the only TV news program I watch. And last night, I actually heard the words "Peak Oil" uttered on the show for the very first time! They came in the context of a discussion of the "local food movement", and as always 'balancing' the discussion by including a local foods advocate with a food industry advocate. The local foods advocate actually mentioned Peak Oil bu name with reference to the need for more local food production. Perhaps an even bigger surprise, however, is that the food industray advocate stated that ethanol was a terrible mistake, and that all the land currently used by ethanol producers should be given to small farmers to grow more local food!!

johnny said...

gaelicgirl,

I guess I was referring to ABC, NBC or CBS in regards to them mentioning "Peak Oil".

"The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS has a different dynamic. A different demographic from the average "Joe and Josette American".

OPEC, corporate and foreign price gauging seems to be the average answer most people give in regards to higher gasoline.

When I mention to them if they have heard of "Peak Oil" they say no.

BUT in regards to PBS

On "Ask This Old House", I have seen, as of the last two weeks, the "Plumber Guy" talking about the books he's reading which are - The Party's Over and several other Peak Oil books.

He also mentions that America consumes a large portion of "energy" in the world.

BUT, he never mentions the word "Peak Oil".

So, I guess until the US National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPDG) records are made public perhaps around 2012:), we may never hear the words "Peak Oil" in mainstream media just hints and variations of.

P.S. Hollywood has eluded to "Peak Oil" in the movie "Syriana". Matt Damons character tells his Arab Prince friend "that everybody knows we're running out" or something like that. But I don't think Average America has connected anything or even attempted to bother.

P.P.S. By mainstream media NOT mentioning "Peak Oil" solidifies in me that "Peak Oil" is real, but again, until Average America sees NEPDG's records the truth will never be revealed until the end of their game.

Rice Farmer said...

Gaelic Girl -- I'm surprised and delighted to hear that. Even industry advocates are starting to wake up to the fact that ethanol is a scam. And speaking of food, the price of soybeans is skyrocketing.

KimB said...

Incredible news, any comments would be interesting. Banks unable to foreclose on home owners because they don't hold the physical deeds:-

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7413

Rice Farmer said...

Speaking of ethanol...

Ethanol proves to be the big letdown of 2007
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7549709

Biofuel operations are dependent on fossil fuels. No fossil fuel inputs, no biofuels. So as fossil fuels become more expensive, biofuels likewise get more expensive. It's like a dog trying to catch its own tail.

But that's not all. As I observed in a previous post, organic inputs will come at an increasing premium because food-growers will want them for composting.

Biofuels are fated to be local and small-scale. People will make small amounts of ethanol or biodiesel for their own needs. The days of the biofuel "industry" are numbered.

Rice Farmer said...

China's overheated economy has created fuel shortages, but the authorities can't raise prices too much. It's a deadly situation that the people over at The Daily Reckoning think may precipitate a meltdown.

http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/china-in-freefall/2007/11/26/

Anonymous said...

http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/23/magazines/fortune/barr_recession.fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes

Economic woes in the main stream

Anonymous said...

http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/27/real_estate/mayors_fight_foreclosure/index.htm?postversion=2007112705

Foreclosures: Mayors see major hit to economy.

Rice Farmer said...

At the top of this page is a post in which I quoted a financial page article about Japanese subprime losses amounting to 280 billion yen. Today's paper has an article presenting a new assessment with the figure 626 billion. The figure has ballooned that much in just a matter of days. The meltdown continues...

gaelicgirl said...

China running out of gas?

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22832180-25837,00.html

gaelicgirl said...

And this article on growing doubts about ethanol on the front page of the Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119621238761706021.html?mod=hps_us_pageone

ES355GIBSON said...

Where is Mike R when you need him to post?

I would love to here his comments on this.

Crossing the Rubicon -the best book I have read in 20 years and I have read over 2,000 books at least.