Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Headlines



## Global Ponzi meltdown/House of Cards ##
According to the Bank for International Settlements, the total notional value of derivatives contracts around the world has ballooned to an astounding 710 trillion dollars ($710,000,000,000,000).  Other estimates put the grand total well over a quadrillion dollars.
Asset markets around the world continue to be supported by record-low interest rates in most of the world's big economies.
What happens when there's a power outage? -- RF

## Airline Death Spiral ##
The company, Germany's No.2 airline after Lufthansa, earlier this month said it was looking at all options, including its business model, as it prepares to launch a fundamental restructuring aimed at restoring the loss-making airline to profitability.

## Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums ##

## Global unrest/mob rule/angry people/torches and pitchforks ##
Police clashed with protesters who burned bins and vehicles in Barcelona on Monday as anger boiled over at the eviction of activists from a well-known squat.

## Energy/resources ##
The U.S. shale patch is facing a shakeout as drillers struggle to keep pace with the relentless spending needed to get oil and gas out of the ground. Shale debt has almost doubled over the last four years while revenue has gained just 5.6 percent, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of 61 shale drillers. A dozen of those wildcatters are spending at least 10 percent of their sales on interest compared with Exxon Mobil Corp.’s 0.1 percent.
Increased spending by major oil and gas companies has failed to boost production, according to a recent analyst report.
Despite increased spending, oil majors are seeing flat or declining production as they struggle to replace reserves, according to a recent analyst report.
Russia and Ukraine are headed toward another showdown, this time over Kiev’s unpaid gas bills, in a dispute that could disrupt natural gas deliveries to Europe.
Yemen has imported about 60,000 tons of diesel as the country has been facing an acute fuel shortage for more than a month, Premier Mohammed Basindwa said.
As the world’s second-largest consumer of oil, China in the past decade has relied heavily on the Middle East to secure the resources required to fuel its ascendancy to become an economic superpower. In doing so, it overtook the U.S. as principal investor in the Middle East and played a pivotal role in transforming the region by lifting its economic and living standards.

## Infrastructure scavenging ##
Dark overpasses and unlit exits are becoming common discoveries for road crews in Kentucky, and the frequency of those crimes is increasing.

## Got food? ##
A STEEP rise in the cost of electricity outlined in the recent Western Australian State Budget will increase the pressure on WA's embattled dairy industry according to producers.
Here's an idea that is obviously not going to get very far. -- RF

## Lifestyle Solutions ##

## Environment/health ##

## Intelligence/propaganda/security/internet/cyberwar ##
Matt DeHart, a former U.S. soldier seeking asylum in Canada, claims he’s wanted for working with Anonymous. The U.S. says he may be a spy — and more
Scahill: 'Eagerly awaiting the indictment of the White House official who outed the CIA Station Chief'
Worried about security in a world where everything is connected? You should be.
"It's a whole lot of stuff that is not very important to know," said Michael Exner, a satellite engineer who has been independently researching the calculations. "There are probably two or three pages of important stuff, the rest is just noise. It doesn't add any value to our understanding." He and others said the needed assumptions, algorithms and metadata to validate the investigators' conclusion were not there.

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##
The power shortage in Mindanao has caused billions of pesos in losses to the Gross Regional Domestic Product of the island in the last 74 days.
Israel Electric Corporation threatening to cut power twice a day to different parts of the West Bank, over $458 million debt.

## Japan ##
It would be expensive energy, and expensive energy is what the world doesn't need. -- RF

## China ##

## UK ##

## US ##
People only need so much banality. -- RF

And finally...

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