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Monday, 6 October 2014

Headlines

## Global Ponzi meltdown/House of Cards ##
South Korea’s household debt has more than doubled over the last decade to almost $1 trillion. The debt-to-disposable-income ratio in South Korea of over 160% is much higher than that of the U.S., Germany, France and the U.K.
More than 2 million people, or 13 per cent of the estimated 16 million Australians using credit, are at risk of credit default.
Mario Draghi, the ECB’s president, seemed unable to secure backing for his €1 trillion stimulus plan from Germany

## Airline Death Spiral ##
A sudden failure of all electronic systems at the international terminal of the Chennai airport, paralysed operations  during peak hour. According to well-placed sources, Customs and Immigration departments were the worst hit by the failure, as individual airlines managed to get their back-up servers online and continued functioning.
As one British airport faces imminent closure, and another is set to lose all scheduled flights this month, a senior aviation figure has said departure tax should be applied only at London airports.
Losing altitude
Only three out of 15 global airline stock listings since the start of 2010 are trading above their offer price as of October 3... Returns in the industry worldwide remain 2.2 per cent below the cost of capital, the International Air Transport Association reported in June.

## Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums ##
Self-guided unmanned patrol boats that can leave warships they're protecting and swarm and attack potential threats on the water could join the Navy's fleet within a year.
A recent spate of dangerous midair encounters between American military aircraft and Chinese and Russian planes in the Pacific is the result of increasingly assertive strategies by both U.S. adversaries to project power far beyond their borders, according to the top U.S. Air Force commander in the region.

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

## Energy/resources ##
Norway’s state oil company Statoil, faced with falling oil prices and rising costs, reportedly plans to cut another 500 jobs on its offshore platforms. More land-based employees may lose their jobs as well, as the country’s oil and offshore industry stops gushing.

## Infrastructure scavenging ##

## Got food? ##

## Lifestyle Solutions ##
We've put all our hopes, dreams and chips on Plan A, as if security flows from institutional promises rather than from being adaptable, resilient and able to create value in a variety of circumstances.

## Environment/health ##
The projected sea-level rise of the next quarter-century or so because of climate change will occur, albeit briefly, in Miami next Thursday. On that day, the alignment of the sun, earth and moon will produce a King Tide — the highest high tide of the year, a full foot above normal, or about half the sea level rise Miami is expected to experience by 2060.

## Intelligence/propaganda/security/internet/cyberwar ##
The NSA and Me (James Bamford)
Since the Contra-cocaine scandal surfaced in 1985, major U.S. news outlets have disparaged it, most notably when the big newspapers destroyed Gary Webb for reviving it in 1996. But a New York Times review of a movie on Webb finally admits the reality.

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##
Americans lack confidence in the government's ability to protect their personal safety and economic security, a sign that their widespread unease about the state of the nation extends far beyond politics, according to the latest Associated Press-GfK poll.
Sand is becoming so scarce that stealing it has become an attractive business model. With residential towers rising ever higher and development continuing apace in Asia and Africa, demand for the finite resource is insatiable.

## Japan ##
Sorry, I can't agree with the IMF, whose officials should live here and watch what's left of the countryside retreat under the relentless onslaught of totally needless construction projects. -- RF
Japan's government says it will help smaller businesses struggling with higher costs for fuel and other imported materials amid the yen's depreciation.

## China ##
On Thursday, the Chinese central government announced on its website that the State Council, with the approval of the National People’s Congress, will establish quotas for borrowings by local governments. Moreover, Beijing said it was banning fund raisings through special purpose vehicles and other “corporate channels”  and announced it will not fund bail outs.

## UK ##

## US ##
Were it not for people dropping out of the labor force over the past several years, the unemployment rate would be well over 9%.
That’s right, the labor force grew by only 7% of the gain in adult population. That explains, of course, why the labor force participation rate of 66.0% back at the time of the crisis has plunged to a 36-year low of 62.7% in September. Or to put it another way, the employment-to-population ratio of 59.0% last month compared to just under 62% six years ago and 64.2% in the year 2000.
Sears Holdings Corp.'s deepening financial troubles have forced insurers and banks to raise the cost of guaranteeing payment to vendors, rattling the retailer's supply chain as the company heads into the key holiday season.
Chicago’s unfunded pension obligations have ballooned to $37.3 billion — a more than three-fold increase since 2003 — because of inadequate employer contributions, declining investment income and a shrinking base of active employees, a taxpayers’ watchdog group has concluded.
It is hard to feel the tornado of price erosion when you are standing in the eye of the financial storm.
The ongoing U.S. energy boom may be driving gasoline prices lower, but homeowners who heat with natural gas may be in for another winter of sticker shock.

And finally...

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