Month: November 2018

First Time Home Buyers Info

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , ,

By Julia Schulte – Re-Blogged From 5280 Lend

Help for the Denver First-Time Home Buyer

[Though the author is based in Denver, the information is very elevant wherever you are located. -Bob]

If you are a first-time home buyer, you are no doubt experiencing a lot of doubt and stress about the process. Purchasing a home is a big financial commitment, and, most likely, the biggest you’ve ever faced. There’s a lot of information out there, and you want to make sure you get the best available deals and rates. What’s a good way to make sure you do that? Enlist a reliable and experienced resource. 5280lend will be your “Tour Guide!”

Continue reading →

The State of Shale Gas and Oil in the U.S.A. Today

usissuescom Energy Policy, Foreign Policy , , , , ,

By Andy May – Re-Blogged From WUWT

A few news items from The Shale Gas News, by Bill desRosiers of Cabot Oil & Gas. The main paragraphs below are adapted from desRosiers, but I’ve added some detail. Things are looking very good for the U.S. oil, gas and coal industries.

Mexico Backs Trump’s Plan to Overhaul Asylum Rules

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , , ,

By Thomson Reuters – Re-Blogged From Newsmax

Mexico’s incoming government has agreed to back the Trump administration’s plan to change U.S. border policy by requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims move through U.S. courts, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Citing Mexican officials and senior members of president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s transition team, the newspaper said the agreement would break with long-standing asylum rules and mount a new obstacle to Central American migrants attempting to reach the United States and escape poverty and violence.

Continue reading →

Michigan College is “Arming” Students Against Mass Shooters…With Hockey Pucks

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , , ,

By Mac Slavo – Re-Blogged From Freedom Outpost

Would-be mass shooters beware: Faculty and students at Oakland University in Michigan are going to be ready to fight back, should you target their school.

University police are reportedly training faculty at the college to fight gunmen in their classrooms with an unlikely weapon: hockey pucks.

Who came up with this idea?

Continue reading →

Venezuelan Crisis Bringing Back Major Diseases Thought Long Gone

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , , , ,

By Kathy Burke – Re-Blogged From Newsmax

Contagion from Venezuela’s economic meltdown is literally spreading to neighboring nations — in the form of potentially deadly diseases among millions of refugees, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Medical officials in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela told the news outlet the collapse of Venezuela’s health system has turned the country into an incubator for malaria, yellow fever, diphtheria, dengue and tuberculosis, as well as the virus that causes AIDS.

Continue reading →

Existing Home Sales Post Biggest Decline In 4 Years

usissuescom GDP & Employment , , , , ,

By Michael Snyder – Re-Blogged From Freedom Outpost

Things just continue to get even worse for the U.S. housing industry.  New homes sales have been absolutely plummeting, homebuilder stocks have lost over a third of their value, and existing home sales just posted their biggest decline since 2014.  For years, we had been witnessing a real estate boom in the United States, but now that has officially ended.  It is starting to feel like 2008 all over again, and many of those that work in the industry are really starting to freak out.  The Federal Reserve has been aggressively raising interest rates, and it is having the exact same effect on the housing industry that it did just before the last recession.

Continue reading →

Frightful Cost of Virginia Offshore Wind

usissuescom Energy Policy , , , , , ,

By Steve Goreham -Re-Blogged From WUWT

On November 6, Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) regulatory agency approved a project to construct wind turbines near Virginia Beach. The plan calls for construction of turbines 27 miles off the coast, to begin operation by the end of 2020. Virginia electricity rate-payers will pay the exorbitant costs of this project.

Continue reading →

Climate CATCH-22 in Poland

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Energy Policy, Regulation , , , , , , , ,

By Michael Kile – Re-Blogged From WUWT

clip_image002Another year, another conference. After a quarter of a century of trying to find a way to justify the greatest wealth transfer in human history, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) still wants to impose a “climate reparations” regime on the world as part of its sustainability ideology; despite increasing skepticism from researchers outside the UN echo chamber about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest alarmist report and related claims.

So there you have it. An implausible conjecture backed by false evidence and repeated incessantly has become politically correct ‘knowledge,’ and is used to promote the overturn of industrial civilization. (Professor R Lindzen, Annual GWPF Lecture, London, October 8, 2018)

Continue reading →

Silver Miners’ Q3’18 Fundamentals

usissuescom Stocks & Commodities , , , , , ,

By Adam Hamilton – Re-Blogged From Silver Phoenix

The major silver miners’ stocks have been largely abandoned this year, spiraling to brutal multi-year lows. Such miserable technicals have exacerbated the extreme bearishness plaguing this tiny contrarian sector. While profitable silver mining is challenging at today’s exceedingly-low silver prices, these miners are chugging along. Their recently-reported Q3’18 results show their earnings are ready to soar as silver recovers.

Continue reading →

Why Interest Rates Are Rising Long-Term

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , , , , , ,

By Alasdair Macleod – Re-Blogged From GoldMoney

There are growing expectations that the current cycle of rising interest rates will result in a deflationary recession. While a credit crisis is increasingly likely to evolve in the coming months, it is a highly inflationary situation. A combination of higher interest rates and catastrophic falls in the purchasing power of fiat currencies will continue to plague welfare-driven states in the wake of a credit crunch. The standard post-crisis solution of monetary and fiscal reflation will not be available. This article examines the ultimate consequences of the West’s abandonment of sound money, free markets and wealth creation in favour of increasing state intervention and wealth destruction.

Continue reading →

The Case for Sustainable Meat

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism , , , , , ,

By Keir Watson – Re-Blogged From WUWT

User Mohib Ebrahim notes that this article is an outstanding and thorough article that soundly and roundly dismantles the standard change-farming-to-save-the-planet alarmism, such as that cited in our recent post, here:

I. Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Meat, we are told, is bad for the planet. It causes global warming, destroys forests, diverts substantial proportions of the world’s grain for feed, all to produce meat which only wealthy Westerners can afford. The iniquity of the situation led George Monbiot to declare in 2002 that “Veganism is the only ethical response to what is arguably the world’s most urgent social justice issue.” Monbiot later recanted but, since then, we are told with increasing regularity that to save the planet we must radically reduce our consumption of meat. In the face of what seems to be universal agreement on the sins of meat eating, is there really a green argument for meat? I think there is, and I think we should be talking about it. Not only is the public discourse heavily one-sided, but the anti-meat message risks destroying the very environment is claims to be protecting.

stijn-te-strake-316914-unsplash

Continue reading →

Corporate Share Buybacks Looking Dumber By The Day

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , ,

By John Rubino – Re-Blogged From Dollar Colllpse

A recent MarketWatch article notes that:

GE was one of Wall Street’s major share buyback operators between 2015 and 2017; it repurchased $40 billion of shares at prices between $20 and $32. The share price is now $8.60, so the company has liquidated between $23 billion and $29 billion of its shareholders’ money on this utterly futile activity alone. Since the highest net income recorded by the company during those years was $8.8 billion in 2016, with 2015 and 2017 recording a loss, it has managed to lose more on its share repurchases during those three years than it made in operations, by a substantial margin.

Continue reading →

System to Rid Space Station of Astronaut Exhalations Inspires Earth-Based CO2 Removal

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , , , ,

By CTM – Re-Blogged From WUWT

From people who get grants, but may be thermodynamically challenged.~ctm

November 13, 2018 by Anthony King, From Horizon Magazine

systemtorids

The International Space Station air filter which expels CO2 has inspired scientists to try to create an Earth-based version. Credit: NASA/Mark Garcia

Continue reading →

US Forces Drive Migrants from Border into Mexican Camps

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , , ,

Re-Blogged From Liberty Headlnes

‘Mexico should move the flag waving migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries…’

US Forces Drive Migrants from Border into Mexican Camps

AFP / GUILLERMO ARIAS
US border forces drove the migrants back with tear gas

Tijuana (Mexico) (AFP) Central American migrants who traveled to far northern Mexico hoping to seek asylum in the United States returned disheartened to a nearby camp Monday after US border police drove them off with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Continue reading →

Robots in the Workplace

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , , , ,

By Morgan Franklin – Re-Blogged From RS Components

The future role of robots in everyday life is a hot topic, particularly when it comes to the workplace. As more and more industries welcome automation, it’s no surprise that workers are concerned, but just how worried are they? Take a look at the infographic below to see who is most concerned [in the UK -Bob] when it comes to robots taking their job.

Did We Just Witness The Bottom In The Gold Market?

usissuescom Stocks & Commodities , , , , , ,
By Plunger (aka Burt Coons) – Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

Mr. Market the Great Deceiver

Markets are deceptive…but we all know that.  Beyond deceptive, markets are actually down right diabolical.  Mr. Market operates through his two most trustworthy lieutenants Mr. Bull and Mr. Bear.  He has tasked Mr. Bull to climb and reach the top of the mountain using investors buying power to fuel the rise.  But he has also instructed Mr. Bull to not allow those same investors to complete the journey themselves, he wants to reach the top without them.  It’s a hard job to pull off and Mr Bull needs to use every trick in the book to throw off these investors after they use their money to power the trend upward.  It’s a process that takes time and Mr. Bull’s prime tools are greed and fear in the minds of investors.

Continue reading →

80 Percent of Venezuelans Short of Food

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , , ,

By Ben Kew – Re-Blogged From Breitbart

Around 80 percent of Venezuelans are now short of food, according to the new data compiled by NGO Human Rights Watch on Tuesday.

Following a trip to the Venezuelan border with Brazil by a team of health experts from John Hopkins University, researchers found that malnutrition continues to rise aggressively, with 80 percent of households unable to access enough food and rates of malnutrition among five years now over the World Health Organization’s crisis limit. In 2017, the average person lost around 11 kilos (24 pounds). In 2016, that number was 19 pounds; it is expected to have risen in 2018.

Continue reading →

Unthinkable!

usissuescom Monetary Policy , , , , ,

By Gary Christenson,- Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle 

Sometimes we must consider the unthinkable.

Official US national debt is $21.6 trillion. Unfunded liabilities are five to ten times higher. Global debt is about $250 trillion. US national debt has doubled every eight to nine years for decades.

  1. National debt in 2018 – $21.6 trillion
  2. National debt in 2026? – $40+ trillion
  3. National debt in 2040? – $100+ trillion
  4. How much will prices rise when the dollar is devalued by an additional $80 trillion in new US government debt plus more private debt?
  5. What interest rate will be needed to sell that debt? 5%, 10%, 15% or higher?
  6. Annual interest payments on current debt run about $500 billion. Both rates and debt are rising. One $ trillion per year in interest payments is coming soon. Six percent interest on $40 trillion requires $2.4 trillion per year, a large smoking hole in the federal budget!
  7. The government can never pay the debt with dollars of current value. Soon the interest will be difficult to pay.

Continue reading →

The Cost Of Government Debt Is Immediate

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , , , ,

By Steve Saville – Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

Most warnings about large increases in government indebtedness revolve around future repayment obligations. For example, there is the concern that greatly increasing the government debt in the present will necessitate much higher taxes in the future. For another example, there is the concern that if the debt load is cumbersome at a time of very low interest rates, then as interest rates rise the interest expense will come to dominate the budget and lead to an upward debt spiral as more money is borrowed to pay the interest on earlier debt. Although these concerns are valid they miss two critical points, including the main problem with government borrowing.

Continue reading →

More Than 10K Migrants Join New Caravan Headed to US Border

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , , , ,

By Kaylee McGhee – Re-Blogged From Liberty Headlines

‘Thousands of people who are most likely not eligible for asylum’…

The caravan of migrants traveling from Central America to the U.S. border has more than doubled in size, according to senior administration officials.

There are now as many as 10,000 migrants hoping to enter the country.

Migrant Caravan Heading to U.S. Grows to More Than 7,000

IMAGE: YouTube

Continue reading →

Pancreatic Cancer Risk Soars With Obesity

usissuescom Discussion Categories , ,

By Health Day – Re-Blogged From Newsmax

Obesity in the teen years may increase the risk of developing deadly pancreatic cancer in adulthood, researchers report.

The odds for this rare cancer can quadruple due to obesity, the Israeli research team found. Moreover, the risk rises as weight increases, even affecting men in the high normal weight range.

“It’s been known for some time that obesity can increase an individual’s risk of developing pancreatic cancer, and [this is] an important new finding suggesting that obesity and overweight in adolescence can also impact risk,” said Allison Rosenzweig, a senior manager at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Continue reading →

Oil, Copper And Lumber Are All Telling Us The Next Economic Downturn Is Here

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Stocks & Commodities , , , , , ,

By Michael Snyder – Re-Blogged From Freedom Outpost

Oil, copper and lumber are all telling us the exact same thing, and it isn’t good news for the global economy.  When economic activity is booming, demand for commodities such as oil, copper and lumber goes up and that generally causes prices to rise.  But when economic activity is slowing down, demand for such commodities falls and that generally causes prices to decline.  In recent weeks, we have witnessed a decline in commodity prices unlike anything that we have witnessed in years, and many are concerned that this is a very clear indication that hard times are ahead for the global economy.

Let’s talk about oil first.  The price of oil peaked in early October, but since that time it has fallen more than 25 percent, and the IEA is warning of “relatively weak” demand out of Asia and Europe…

The International Energy Agency said on Wednesday that while US demand for oil has been “very robust,” demand in Europe and developed Asian countries “continues to be relatively weak.” The IEA also warned of a “slowdown” in demand in developing nations such as India, Brazil and Argentina caused by high oil prices, weak currencies and deteriorating economic activity.

“The outlook for the global economy has deteriorated,” the IEA wrote.

Continue reading →

Fight Against Malaria Has Reached a Standstill

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , , , , , ,
By Donald G. McNeil Jr. – Re-Blogged From The Boston Globe

Progress against malaria has stalled, and the disease remains a significant threat to billions of people despite the expensive, decadeslong efforts to contain it, the World Health Organization reported Monday.

According to the WHO’s latest annual assessment, there were an estimated 220 million cases of malaria last year, and about 435,000 deaths from the disease. Of the dead, 262,000 were children under age 5.

Continue reading →

The Real Story of Thanksgiving

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , , ,

By The Common Constitutionalist – Re-Blogged From iPatriot

Every year around this time, most schoolchildren hear the same ol’ Thanksgiving story in their classrooms across the nation. That so-called official story is a heartwarming tale of how the Pilgrims and Native Americans shared a bountiful feast together. But it does not tell the full truth about what really happened on the Plymouth Plantation.

We’re told that the Pilgrims struggled for their survival when they landed in present-day Massachusetts in the 1620’s. Half of the Pilgrims starved to death or went back to England during the first year alone because of harsh winter weather and their lack of proper farming skills. Their chronic food shortages were ultimately resolved when the Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn the following spring and together they celebrated their blessings with a huge feast.

Continue reading →

Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #336

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Energy Policy, Regulation , , , , , , , , ,

Brought to You by www.SEPP.org, The Science and Environmental Policy Project

By Ken Haapala, President

Quote of the Week“If you thought that science was certain – well, that is just an error on your part.” ― Richard P. Feynman

Number of the Week: $51.5 Billion in subsidies over 10 years.

Correcting Errors: Making errors in works that have been published is always embarrassing. One of the purposes of peer review is to find possible errors and correct them before publication. Unfortunately, in climate science peer review has become political review – if the findings do not suit the reviewer’s political views, the work is rejected – the lack of space is a common excuse.

Continue reading →

Metric System Overhaul Will Dethrone the One, True Kilogram

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , , ,

By Adrian Cho  – Re-Blogged From WUWT

General science interest story.  Likely to generate puns.  I will keep mine to myself.~ctm

Like an aging monarch, Le Grand K is about to bow to modernity. For 130 years, this gleaming cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy has served as the world’s standard for mass. Kept in a bell jar and locked away at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in Sèvres, France, the weight has been taken out every 40 years or so to calibrate similar weights around the world. Now, in a revolution far less bloody than the one that cost King Louis XVI his head, it will cede its throne as the one, true kilogram.

By Adrian ChoNov. 6, 2018 , 4:05 PM The atoms in a sphere of silicon-28 were counted to fix the Avogadro constant and redefine the mole. A copy of Le Grand K, the kilogram standard, can be seen in the sphere’s reflection. PTB

Continue reading →

Revolt Over High Fuel Prices Threatens to Paralyse France

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism , , , , ,
By Lara Marlowe – Re-Blogged From Irish Times

In just a few weeks, the yellow hi-vis vest has become such a potent political symbol that one risks being mistaken for a supporter of the rebellious gilets jaunes when cycling in Paris.

The gilets jaunes are a grass-roots revolt against high fuel prices, and they threaten to paralyse France on Saturday [Nov 17th -Bob]].

Rise of the ‘gilets jaunes’ coincides with Macron’s record low 26% approval rating

Anti-riot policemen evacuate gilets jaunes protesters during a protest against the raising of fuel and oil prices. Photograph: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

Anti-riot policemen evacuate gilets jaunes protesters during a protest against the raising of fuel and oil prices. Photograph: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

The Picasso Problem

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Statistics , , , , , ,

By Willis Eschenbach [See update at end.] – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Let me start explaining the link from Picasso to climate science by looking at what Dr. Nir Shaviv called “the most boring graph I have ever plotted in my life”.

This is the graph of the changes in the best estimate of the range of what is called “climate sensitivity” over the last forty years or so.

What is climate sensitivity when it’s at home? To explain that, I’ll have to take a slight detour. First, downwelling radiation.

Continue reading →

UK MP Jacob William Rees-Mogg Rips Theresa May With Letter Of No Confidence

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , ,

By Mike Shedlock – Re-Blogged From Freedom Outpost

We need politicians who are clear, concise, articulate, well-educated, and correct. I found one. Alas, he’s from the UK.

Please consider this video clip of UK MP Jacob William Rees-Mogg. He slammed Theresa May with a letter of no confidence then fielded questions from the public.

Continue reading →

Will The Snowiest Decade Continue?

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism , , ,

By Barry Burbnk – Re-Blogged From CBS Boston

Despite the snow blitz of 2015, many baby boomers still insist that, overall, we don’t get the harsh bitter cold and deep snowy winters like we did in the good ole days.

leominster snowman crop Will The Snowiest Decade Continue?

A Leominster teen posing with the giant snowman he built. (Photo credit: Mary Roche)

Weather records prove that just isn’t the case and despite the ongoing claims that snows are becoming rare and hurting winter sports, this millennium has been a blessing to snow lovers and winter sports enthusiasts.

nesisscale Will The Snowiest Decade Continue?

NESIS scale (Photo Courtesy: WeatherBell)

Continue reading →

Coral Adaptation and Epigenetics

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , , ,

By Rud Istvan – Re-Blogged From WUWT

WUWT has posted several excellent articles by Jim Steele on how global warming alarmism uses corals as the poster child for warming and acidifying oceans, none of which is scientifically justified. A brief review follows, calling attention to a recently discovered additional adaptation mechanism not covered AFAIK by Jim Steele’s posts. The motivation for this post was triggered by a recent lunch with newish neighbor Charles the Moderator (CtM), and his sharing many wonderful underwater photographs of the coral reef he now dives frequently off Pompano Beach (same reef system as off Fort Lauderdale, just a few miles further north and more conveniently onshore). If any coral reef images appear in this post, CtM added them and gets the photocredits.

Snorkeling in the neighborhood. Click for larger image. ~ctm

Continue reading →

Union of Concerned Scientists For Nukes!

usissuescom Energy Policy , , ,

By Reason – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Activist group finally recognizes that it can’t achieve its energy and climate goals without nuclear power.

Ronald Bailey|Nov. 13, 2018 4:00 pm

The activists at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) have had a partial change of heart about nuclear power. Back in 2007, the UCS’ Global Warming and Nuclear Power report declared, “prudence dictates that we develop as many options to reduce global warming emissions as possible, and begin by deploying those that achieve the largest reductions most quickly and with the lowest costs and risk. Nuclear power today does not meet these criteria.”

Continue reading →

US Economy Will Slow to Crawl Next Year

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , ,

[Economists tend to recognize Recessions long after they actually have started. -Bob]

Re-Blogged From Nwsmax

Goldman Sachs reportedly believes the U.S. economy will slow to a crawl next year.

“We expect tighter financial conditions and a fading fiscal stimulus to be the key drivers of the deceleration,” Goldman chief economist Jan Hatzius was quoted by CNBC as writing.

“Growth is likely to slow significantly next year, from a recent pace of 3.5 percent-plus to roughly our 1.75 percent estimate of potential by end-2019,” Hatzius wrote, according to CNBC.

Continue reading →

Does China Have Enough Gold To Move Toward Hard Currency?

usissuescom Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy , , , ,

By Alasdair Macleod – Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

Are the Chinese Keynesian?

We can be reasonably certain that Chinese government officials approaching middle age have been heavily westernised through their education. Nowhere is this likely to matter more than in the fields of finance and economics. In these disciplines there is perhaps a division between them and the old guard, exemplified and fronted by President Xi. The grey-beards who guide the National Peoples Congress are aging, and the brightest and best of their successors understand economic analysis differently, having been tutored in Western universities.

Continue reading →

“Scientists” Determine That the Worst Year in Human History Was… 536 AD.

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , , ,

By David Middleton – Re-Blogged From WUWT

From the American Association for the Advancement of Science! in America:

Why 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive’

Ask medieval historian Michael McCormick what year was the worst to be alive, and he’s got an answer: “536.” Not 1349, when the Black Death wiped out half of Europe. Not 1918, when the flu killed 50 million to 100 million people, mostly young adults. But 536. In Europe, “It was the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year,” says McCormick, a historian and archaeologist who chairs the Harvard University Initiative for the Science of the Human Past.

Continue reading →

Global Coal Demand Bounced Back in 2017

usissuescom Energy Policy , , , , ,

By David Middleton – Re-Blogged From WUWT

It looks like my third-favorite fossil fuel continues to refuse to die…

Coal Demand Bounced Back in 2017 After Two Years of Decline: IEA

  • India and Southeast Asia are driving demand for fossil fuels
  • Investment in new coal power plants at lowest in a decade

Demand for coal rose for the first time in two years in 2017 with China and India burning more than anyone else, a blow for environmental groups hoping to limit use of the dirtiest fossil fuel.

Continue reading →

Stacking Concrete Blocks is a Surprisingly Efficient Way to Store Energy

usissuescom Energy Policy , , , ,
By Akshat Rathi – Re-Blogged From Quartz

Thanks to the modern electric grid, you have access to electricity whenever you want. But the grid only works when electricity is generated in the same amounts as it is consumed. That said, it’s impossible to get the balance right all the time. So operators make grids more flexible by adding ways to store excess electricity for when production drops or consumption rises.

About 96% of the world’s energy-storage capacity comes in the form of one technology: pumped hydro. Whenever generation exceeds demand, the excess electricity is used to pump water up a dam. When demand exceeds generation, that water is allowed to fall—thanks to gravity—and the potential energy turns turbines to produce electricity.

Continue reading →

Russia Announces Nuclear Powered Reusable Rocket Program

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , ,

By Eric Worrall – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Russia has just raised the stakes in the space race, by going public with a reusable commercial nuclear powered launch vehicle which has been under development for the last decade.

Russia says it’s going to beat Elon Musk and SpaceX’s ‘old tech’ with a nuclear rocket

Elon Musk and SpaceX won’t be leading the reusable rocket space race long, at least not if Russia has anything to say about it. Russia’s Keldysh Research Center has been working on a reusable rocket solution for nearly a decade now, and now it’s ramping up the hype with a new concept video showing how its spacecraft works.

Speaking with reporters, Vladimir Koshlakov explained that Elon Musk and SpaceX pose no real threat to the group’s plans. Musk, Koshlakov says, is relying on technology that will soon be antiquated, while Russia is looking towards shaping the future of spaceflight.

1 December 1967: The first ground experimental nuclear rocket engine (XE) assembly is shown here in “cold flow” configuration, as it makes a late evening arrival at Engine Test Stand No. 1 at the Nuclear Rocket Development Station in Jackass Flats, Nevada. The US nuclear rocket programme was shelved in the 1970s. Source Wikimedia

Continue reading →

A Quick Post before the Monthly Global Surface and TLT Temperature Update

usissuescom Statistics , , , , ,

By Bob Tisdale – Re-Blogged From WUWT

I’m adding Two Graphs to my Monthly Global Surface and TLT Temperature Updates. The new graphs are being added for a simple reason: to provide different perspectives on the increases in global temperatures since 1979.

The graphs are of Berkeley Earth global land+ocean surface temperature data and RSS global lower troposphere temperature data, both in absolute (not anomaly) form. That way they include the annual cycles in temperatures, which are far greater than the warming that’s occurred since 1979, based on their linear trends.

Continue reading →

Gold Miners’ Q3’18 Fundamentals

usissuescom Stocks & Commodities , , , , ,

By Adam Hamilton – Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

The major gold miners’ stocks remain mired in universal bearishness, largely left for dead.  They are just wrapping up their third-quarter earnings season, which proved challenging.  Lower gold prices cut deeply into cash flows and profits, and production-growth struggles persisted.  But these elite companies did hold the line on costs, portending soaring earnings as gold recovers.  Their absurdly-cheap stock prices aren’t justified.

Four times a year publicly-traded companies release treasure troves of valuable information in the form of quarterly reports.  Companies trading in the States are required to file 10-Qs with the US Securities and Exchange Commission by 40 calendar days after quarter-ends.  Canadian companies have similar requirements at 45 days.  In other countries with half-year reporting, many companies still partially report quarterly.

Continue reading →

Antacid Drugs Linked to Stroke

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , , ,

By Newsmax Health – Re-Blogged From Newsmax

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are some of the most widely used medications on the market. [One example is Prlosec. -Bob]

They work by poisoning an enzyme that is responsible for stomach cells’ ability to make hydrochloric acid. Unfortunately, these drugs are associated with a host of adverse effects including osteoporosis, heart attacks, and abnormal bone fractures.

California, Temperatures, and Acres Burned

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , , , ,

By Willis Eschenbach – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Inspired by the work done by Robert Rohde attempting to link May to October temperatures and rainfall to fires, I thought I’d take a look at the acres burned over the years. Rohde compared the rainfall and temperature records and highlighted the largest fires. However, this gives only a few data points. I wanted a larger view of the situation.

So instead of major fires, I looked at the areas burned every year, which are available here. There is complete data from 1959 to 2016, and the last two years are available here and here.

The first thing I did was run a multiple regression on the data, using both May to October temperature and May to October rainfall to see how well they would predict the area burned. To my great surprise, I found out that rainfall is not significantly correlated with the area burned. Here is that result:

Continue reading →

Psychology Of Systemic Consensus

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Regulation , , , ,

By Alasdair Macleod – Re-Blogged From Silver Phoenix

We are all too familiar with established views rejecting change. It has nothing to do with the facts. Officialdom’s mind is often firmly closed to all reason on the big issues. To appreciate why we must understand the crowd psychology behind the systemic consensus. It is the distant engine that drives the generator that provides the electricity that drives us into repetitive disasters despite prior evidence they are avoidable, and even fuels the madness of political correctness.

Continue reading →

Trump: US May Not Impose More Tariffs on China

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , ,

By Thomson Reuters – Re-Blogged From Newsmax

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he may not impose more tariffs on Chinese goods after Beijing sent the United States a list of measures it was willing to take to resolve trade tensions, although he added it was unacceptable that some major items were omitted from the list.

Trump has imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports to force concessions from Beijing on the list of demands that would change the terms of trade between the two countries. China has responded with import tariffs on U.S. goods.

Al Gore Claims Wind and Solar are Now Cheaper than Coal

usissuescom Energy Policy , , ,

By Eric Worrall [Update by Willis Eschenbach] – Re-Blogged From WUWT

h/t Dr. Willie Soon – great news, wind power is so cheap government subsidies and market favouritism are no longer required.

New wind and solar generation costs fall below existing coal plants

Estimates jeopardise Trump’s hopes of reviving mining industry in US

Ed Crooks in New York, NOVEMBER 9, 2018

The cost of new wind and solar power generation has fallen below the cost of running existing coal-fired plants in many parts of the US, threatening to wreck President Donald Trump’s hopes of reviving the mining industry.

Continue reading →

The Stock Market Economy

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy, Stocks & Commodities , , , , ,

By Peter Schiff – Re-Blogged From Euro Pacific Capital

Currently, some market watchers have begun to openly question whether the bull market in stocks has finally come to an end. They certainly have cause to worry. Valuations are frothy after a record run-up in the last few years. Bond yields across the yield curve are rising sharply, as the Fed Funds Rate breaks into territory not seen since before the market crash of 2008. Much higher costs of capital are already putting pressure on rate-sensitive industries such as housing and autos. The boost to earnings provided by the corporate tax cuts will fade and rising prices resulting from past monetary policy and import tariffs may be expected to slow consumption and take a toll on balance sheets. All this points to possible lackluster performance, with stocks essentially flat so far this year.

Continue reading →

Greenspan Seeing ‘First Signs’ of Inflation

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , ,

Re-Blogged From Newsmax

Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan warned that he is “beginning to see the first signs” of inflation in the U.S. economy.

“We’re seeing it basically in the tightening of the labor markets first, which, as you know, have gotten very tight now. We’re beginning finally to see average wages rise, and clearly there’s no productivity behind it,” Greenspan told Bloomberg TV.

Greenspan said a lack of productivity growth meant “you’re getting into a system now which has no outcome that’s in equilibrium other than inflation and no productivity growth.”

Continue reading →