Monday, 8 September 2014

Headlines - 09/07/2014

## Global Ponzi meltdown/House of Cards ##

## Airline Death Spiral ##
Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto unveiled this week details for a new Mexico City airport that will quadruple existing capacity and potentially become Latin America’s biggest transit hub. But a group of farmers living near the planned site is fiercely opposed to the project – and they have already taken down one airport project before. 

## Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums ##
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed Sunday to strengthen cooperation on maritime security at a time when China is expanding its influence in the Indian Ocean country.

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

## Energy/resources ##
The bizarre prospect of Britain being bailed out by 'diesel generation parks' is now a reality as an energy supply shortfall nears crisis point
Yesterday’s court decision that BP acted with gross negligence in the Gulf of Mexico disaster may hamstring the company financially as the industry’s search for resources becomes more expensive and dangerous. Companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are also facing increasing pressure to show investors they can still grow as production declines.
This article can be a real eye-opener for people who don't realize how expensive the production of resources can be. And this goes for all non-renewable natural resources, not just gold. Similarly, we've seen a number of articles lately on the skyrocketing costs of producing crude oil. -- RF
There is an acute shortage of professionals with all of the required technical skills
Much writers ink has been spilled on the severity of the skills shortage facing an otherwise resurgent global oil and gas sector. The figures are stark, and speak for themselves. The average age of oil and gas workers – at 56 – is astonishingly high relative to almost all other industries on the planet. Nearly half the industry workforce is now over 45. And the shortage is most severe where the industry can least afford it to be – highly skilled, technical roles out in the field, crucial to any project.
The prospect of up to $18 billion in new fines for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill could pressure BP to sell assets from the Americas to Asia and Russia, where its interests risk being dragged into a political standoff between Moscow and the West.
Is that anything like "freedom fries"? But let's look at this seriously. Crop residue is not "waste," but valuable organic nutrients that should be returned to the soil. And the crop is grown and fertilized with machines and fertilizers powered and made with fossil fuels. Additionally, there is the fuel used to gather the crop residue and transport it to ethanol plants. This idea is about as sustainable as waste-to-energy power plants, where the waste stream is dependent on a wasteful lifestyle sustained by fossil fuels. Both schemes will be completely wiped out by a sufficient jump in oil prices. -- RF
This was a reason previously given to justify military involvement in Afghanistan, but fuggedaboudit. The security, infrastructure, and water problems might be solvable if oil were $10/bbl, but not at current prices. Little of Afghanistan's mineral wealth will ever be exploited. -- RF
In the face of stubbornly low coal prices and a global supply glut, struggling North American coal producers are grappling with stalled demand growth, increasingly strict environmental regulations, while simultaneously navigating congested export corridors to critical markets across the Pacific.

## Got food? ##
Tell me about it. -- RF

## Environment/health ##
Water rationed in 19 cities in southeast and central regions after usually abundant supplies run dry

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

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##
Detroit is so broke that firefighters get emergency alerts through pop cans, coins, door hinges, pipes and doorbells. And they make these gizmos themselves — one involving a pop can that gets tipped over by an incoming fax. The clink of the can means there’s an emergency. Then there’s the chain-reaction gadget: a fax hits a door hinge, which then tugs on a wire, which then sets off a doorbell.

## Japan ##
Even reactors that are scrapped will be costly burdens for generations. The need to manage decommissioned reactors and spent fuel will far outlast the lifetime of industrial society. You can easily imagine the catastrophic consequences awaiting us in the future. -- RF
Some 2 trillion becquerels of strontium-90 and cesium-137 may have flowed into the bay of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant during the 10 months to May this year, it was learned Sunday.
The population of Japanese people engaged in marine fisheries dropped to a record low 181,253, which was an 18% decrease from five years ago, according to the Statistics of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries report by the farm ministry released last week.
A "hydrogen energy-oriented society" ain't gonna happen. Furthermore, this article — like many others — commits the cardinal sin of calling hydrogen an "energy source," thereby giving people false hopes and covering up the true extent of industrial civilization's crisis. -- RF

## China ##
Managers must accept limits on expenses related to cars, training, business trips, communications and receptions, while spending company money on sports, physical therapy, club memberships and golf will also be banned, according to a government statement. The cuts will apply to companies that report directly to the central government.

## UK ##
Factories and supermarkets across the UK are bidding to put 1970s style power rationing in place this winter to ensure the lights stay on.
London property company is charging £255 a week for 'studio apartments' as small as three metres by three metres

## US ##
Say hello to the next financial crisis, brought to you courtesy of the dumbest new bill of the week: H.R. 5148: Access to Affordable Mortgages Act.
“Now it’s a ghost town.”

And finally...

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