Monday, 9 June 2014

Headlines - 06/08/2014

The slow process of turning the US into a low-wage McJobs nation: US breaks even with jobs lost since 2007, those not in the labor force jumps nearly 13 million, and 1 out of 4 is working for $10 an hour or less.
The US is slowly becoming a McJob nation. While the press jumps up and down that the US is now finally at a breakeven point from the jobs lost since the recession started in 2007, they fail to mention that those not in the labor force are up by nearly 13 million.
Selling Your European Stocks Before Everyone Sees This Chart?
Flogging savers until morale improves, that’s how ECB President Mario Draghi is going to fire up the economy in his bailiwick. Among other things, he announced that the ECB would lower key interest rates from nearly nothing to next to nothing and impose negative deposit rates on the reserves that banks stash at the ECB.
About Those Forecasts of Eternally Rising Corporate Profits...
If Bill Gates took every dollar of his net worth... he could afford to buy every home in Boston — and still be worth more than a billion dollars.

Qantas to clip wings of 223 pilots
Qantas has informed its Boeing 767 and 747 pilots that 223 of them will be surplus to requirements by the end of June as part of its 5000-person, company-wide staff-cutting exercise.

## Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums ##
Otherwise, the veteran scholar told an Israeli audience at the annual Herzliya Conference here, “We’ll have to ask you, ‘What part of the word NO do you not understand.”

## Energy/resources ##
World Needs Record Saudi Oil Supply as OPEC Convenes
OPEC ministers say they will almost certainly leave their oil-production ceiling unchanged when the group meets this week. What really matters for global markets is whether Saudi Arabia will respond to global supply shortfalls by pumping a record amount of crude.
Here Are The World’s Five Most Important Oil Fields
Europe Faces Green Power Curbs After Fivefold Expansion: Energy
Europe’s drive toward a power system based on renewable energy has gone so far that output will probably need to be cut within months because of oversupply.
This has the same fatal flaw as waste-to-energy power plants: It feeds off the detritus of fossil fuel-powered industrial society. Take away fossil fuels, and food production collapses. "Food scraps" will disappear. -- RF
North faces heat as power generation trips (India)Soaring temperatures and a shortage of coal have led to a severe electricity crisis in the northern states, threatening industries, particularly micro and small units
No power to malls after 10 pm as Delhi sweats it out
Snapping power supply to shopping malls after 10 pm and switching off street lights during peak hours were some of the urgent measures ordered today by the Delhi government as the city continued to suffer long outages with the mercury crossing the 45 degrees Celsius mark.
Exhaustion of cheap mineral resources is terraforming Earth – scientific report
Soaring costs of resource extraction require transition to post-industrial 'circular economy' to avoid collapse
Statoil 'signals deeper cost cuts'
Statoil is reported to be preparing to make further swingeing cuts in capital investment, operating expenses and manpower to generate an additional $5 billion in annual cash flow to 2020.
Let's see how well it goes. -- RF
Talkin' trash: Are we literally throwing away energy?
Well, yes. Considering how much fossil-fuel energy is used to generate municipal solid waste in the first place, it makes sense to recover as much as possible. But at the same time, the waste stream exists precisely because we had cheap, plentiful oil for so many decades, which should lead us to question the wisdom of counting on waste-to-energy plants to power out future. -- RF

## Got food? ##
Kraft raises coffee prices by 10% as bean cost soars
Operated by Tokyo-based agricultural startup Mirai Co., the facility has a total floor space of 1,300 square meters. It uses fluorescent lighting and an automated system that controls air conditioning.
As forests are cleared and species vanish, there's one other loss: a world of languages
A new report shows a direct link between disappearing habitats and the loss of languages. One in four of the world's 7,000 spoken tongues is now at risk of falling silent for ever as the threat to cultural biodiversity grows
In Norfolk, evidence of climate change is in the streets at high tide
At high tide on the small inlet next to Norfolk’s most prestigious art museum, the water lapped at the very top of the concrete sea wall that has held it back for 100 years. It seeped up through storm drains, puddled on the promenade and spread, half a foot deep, across the street, where a sign read, “Road Closed.”
Growing Ebola Outbreak Threatens to Overwhelm Volunteers

## Intelligence/propaganda/security/internet/cyberwar ##
Vodafone reveals existence of secret wires that allow state surveillance
Wires allow agencies to listen to or record live conversations, in what privacy campaigners are calling a 'nightmare scenario'

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##
The Death And Decay Of Detroit, As Seen From The Streets (gallery)
Population decline is not a "problem," but a welcome change in preparation for a world with more expensive food and energy. It's unfortunate for us that world leaders can't see this. -- RF
‘Bad inflation’ shadows Japan
Two months after Japan’s first consumption tax hike in 17 years, some data indicate the economy is stalling as prices climb and a weaker yen makes imports more expensive.

## China ##

## UK ##War on the poor: 
'Homeless spikes' installed outside London flats
Metal spikes have been installed outside a block of luxury flats in London to deter homeless people from sleeping there.
Villa firm collapse leaves thousands in lurch
Travel company goes bust owing holidaymakers more than £3m in biggest collapse since 2008
The solar industry is already reeling from major changes to the generous subsidy system due to start next April. The industry currently receives about £600 million a year in consumer subsidies added to household electricity bills.

Cops In Texas Seize Millions By 'Policing for Profit'
Texas law enforcement are continuing to enrich themselves using a little-known legal doctrine known as civil forfeiture.
About that jobs recovery... -- RF
Outsourcing the War On Whistleblowers
The federal government is not alone in waging a war on whistleblowers. In recent months, we learned that two of the government’s largest vendors make employees sign away their rights to report fraud, waste, and abuse on federal contracts and grants.

And finally...
Aussie store manager assaulted with sex toys in brazen stickup
A shop manager was pelted with sex toys by an intruder wearing a wig and crotchless pants in an Australian erotica store stickup, local police reported Sunday.


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