Friday 19 December 2014

Headlines - 12/19.2014

## Global Ponzi meltdown/House of Cards ##

## Airline Death Spiral ##
Spending 56 minutes behind the controls at 30,000 feet is the equivalent of 20 minutes on a sunbed, the University of California has found

## Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums ##
The Assad regime sustained a major setback in northern Syria this week with the loss of two major military bases, and the big winner in the battle was al Qaida's Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, which led the assault and captured what’s thought to be an enormous arsenal.
There's no do-gooding going on here. The US has finally admitted that the economic blockade, assassination attempts, and whatnot lasting five decades have been unsuccessful is effecting a change in government and bringing Cuba into the US orbit. It's just a new tack. And if Cuba can be made into a US vassal state, it would presumably be another blow to Russia. -- RF
This sounds strangely complacent coming from a country whose own economy has already begun to collapse. -- RF
Under the concept of the "Maritime Silk Road," the PLA Navy is ready to project its power into the Indian Ocean through the establishment of naval base in Sri Lanka, David Brewster, a researcher from the Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne wrote in his recent article for the Tokyo-based Diplomat.

## Global unrest/mob rule/angry people/torches and pitchforks ##

## Energy/resources ##
The EPA has long promoted cellulosic ethanol as the future of biofuels, but technical challenges have kept production far below targets. A recent rule change allows RNG, renewable natural gas, to qualify as cellulosic biofuel even though RNG is not cellulosic, but this helps the EPA to appear to be meeting their goals.
Bond investors, already stung by the biggest losses from U.S. energy company debt in six years, are facing more pain as the plunge in oil leads analysts to predict defaults may more than double.
The impact of falling prices has been working its way into the services companies’ financial results since the summer, just as it has through the offshore drillers that have seen their share prices fall by 50% to 70%. The oil patch is a tough place to make a living these days, and most observers believe it is going to get tougher.
Canadian oil producers deepened 2015 spending cuts on Wednesday, as Husky Energy , MEG Energy and Penn West Petroleum joined those hacking back capital budgets in response to tumbling crude prices.
In a stunning analysis this week, Goldman Sachs found almost $1 trillion in investments in future oil projects at risk. They looked at 400 of the world’s largest new oil and gas fields -- excluding U.S. shale -- and found projects representing $930 billion of future investment that are no longer profitable with Brent crude at $70. In the U.S., the shale-oil party isn’t over yet, but zombies are beginning to crash it.
Large U.S. onshore drilling firms that operate new, faster rigs are best placed to weather the looming downturn brought by slumping crude prices and could gain market share from smaller drillers with considerable debt and outdated equipment. Drillers are trimming rental rates for rigs and idling older machines as their clients, oil producers, slash 2015 spending.
South Africa is very likely to have electricity shortages for the next three to five years and possibly longer for big projects. The costs are enormous: in money, direct economic growth and perceptions too. Technology innovations will also be affected.
A shortage of diesel around New York Harbor and speculation that colder weather will boost heating oil demand has driven the premium for spot deliveries of the fuel to the highest level since March.
Nearly 6 per cent of dwellings in Auckland never use heating, according to a new survey by Statistics New Zealand.
Consumers in New England got a shock in their utility bills this month. A 40% increase over the previous month. National Grid , the largest utility in Massachusetts, decided that electricity prices for this winter would rise to 24¢/kWh, a record high.
Sweden's government has decided to almost double a fee nuclear power plant operators pay to the nuclear waste fund, in order to help it cover the rising costs of decommissioning, the environment ministry said on Thursday.
Some 20 power units across Ukraine have been idled due to a lack of coal and the latest data shows coal reserves at plants have fallen by another four percent, state-run energy firm Ukrenergo said on Wednesday.

## Got food? ##

## Environment/health ##
Marine Le Pen's National Front has launched the "New Ecology" movement. The French nationalist party's take on environmental activism will include opposing international climate negotiations and promoting nuclear energy.

## Intelligence/propaganda/security/internet/cyberwar ##

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##
Will we ever tire of navigating the multiple layers of intermediaries between the customer and the provider, while corporate profits soar to unprecedented heights?
On the layers parasitic intermediaries, recall this item from November 7. -- RF

## Japan ##
A good read. -- RF
Two days after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe secured a pledge from Japan Inc. to do their best to boost wages to revive the world’s third-biggest economy, data showed companies hoarding record amounts of cash.
Japan's trade ministry said on Thursday it plans to change a feed-in-tariff scheme by making it possible for utilities to limit renewable power output more flexibly while trying to lower guaranteed payments to providers of such power.
Many of these paper assets could become worthless at the drop of a hat. -- RF
Waste of money. -- RF
Waste of money. -- RF
An increasing number of students are struggling to pay education loans and more than 6,000 lawsuits were filed over the fallout in the 2013 academic year alone.
The government says reactor decommissioning costs ought to be passed on to all customers even after the electricity market is opened to newcomers in 2016.
Note the article on Sweden above in the energy section. Nuclear plant operators and governments are beginning to see that decommissioning will cost far more than they thought. But no matter how much money they set aside, there will never be enough. Watch for unmitigated disaster as the world's nuclear power system falls apart. -- RF
Ain't gonna happen. -- RF

## China ##
China is aiming to purge most foreign technology from banks, the military, state-owned enterprises and key government agencies by 2020, stepping up efforts to shift to Chinese suppliers, according to people familiar with the effort.

## UK ##

## US ##
U.S. electricity costs are poised to reach the highest level since 1999 because railroads are too clogged to deliver enough coal to power plants.

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