Month: July 2019

MMT Could be Used to Pay for the Green New Deal

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By Joel O’Bryan PhD – Re-Blogged From WUWT

NPR news is running this story on Green New Deal financing by writer Scott Horsley:

When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rolled out her “Green New Deal,” calling for clean energy, universal health care and guaranteed jobs, one of the first questions she got was: How do you plan to pay for it?
The New York Democrat argued that ambitious programs can easily be financed through deficit spending.
“I think the first thing that we need to do is kind of break the mistaken idea that taxes pay for 100% of government expenditure,” Ocasio-Cortez told NPR’s Morning Edition in February.
In doing so, she shined a spotlight on a once-obscure brand of economics known as “modern monetary theory,” or MMT.

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Study: Pacific Islands Will Survive Climate Change

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By Eric Worrall – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Who could have imagined that islands which survived rapid sea level rise at the end of the last ice age have no problem coping with changes in sea level?

Media Release, From: University of Auckland

Pacific atolls can adapt to rising seas and extreme storms – new study

Low-lying Pacific islands in atoll archipelagos such as Tuvalu, Tokelau and Kiribati are likely to adapt to the effects of climate change rather than simply sink beneath the waves, a new study shows.

A beach at Funafuti atoll, Tuvalu, on a sunny day. Author Stefan Lins, source Wikimedia
A beach at Funafuti atoll, Tuvalu, on a sunny day. Author Stefan Lins, source Wikimedia

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Central Bank Folly: Blame The Boomers…

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By Michael Ballanger – Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

“Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper.” – Ayn Rand

The baby-boom generation, of which I am a less-than-proud member, blew it.

There was a time long, long ago when the mention of the word “baby-boomer” evoked a sense of pride of membership. Amidst the prosperity of the post-WWII era, birth rates in North America soared while the sons and daughters of many men and women that fought in the war became the dominant demographic force by the year 1966. When I was in Grade 10, I wrote an essay that pointed to the defining moment where the excitement and unbridled optimism of the Space Race, advances in modern medicine, and unparalleled economic growth was snuffed out forever by an assassin’s bullet in Dallas in the autumn of 1963. With the end of Camelot, the boomer generation suddenly began to question things. They threw away the Beach Boys “Surfin’ Nirvana” lifestyle to the darker messages of Bob Dylan, CSNY, the Doors, and Hendrix as they watched while the Viet Nam war claimed over 58,000 U.S. servicemen and caused massive civil unrest to permeate the inner cities and the campuses of America.

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Energy Storage System Cost Benchmark

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By Roger Caiazza – Re-Blogged From WUWT

One of the biggest issues with plans to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy is intermittency. At some point that can only be addressed by energy storage but tracking down those costs is difficult. I recently found a recently released report from the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL): “2018 U.S. Utility-Scale Photovoltaics-Plus-Energy Storage System Cost Benchmark” that provides information that can be used to estimate the costs of the energy storage option.

According to the NREL summary, authors Fu and Margolis, along with fellow NREL researcher Timothy Remo, provide NREL’s first cost benchmarking of energy storage and PV-plus-storage systems. The abstract for the report states:

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Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #368

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The Week That Was: July 20, 2019, Brought to You by www.SEPP.org

By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project

Quote of the Week: “It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn’t get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before in various periods in the history of man.”– Richard P. Feynman, The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist

Number of the Week: Three Ways

The Greenhouse Effect – The Scientific Method: This week marks the 50th anniversary of humans landing on another celestial body, and their eventual safe return. The event is justly being celebrated in many ways, including recognition of the hundreds of thousands of scientists, engineers, technicians, and workers involved in the Apollo Mission and its success. Of special note are the Human Calculators, mostly women, who performed the tedious calculations of the trajectories involved, with precision. But most importantly, the Apollo Mission was a brilliant example of rigorous application of the scientific method, and its importance of expanding knowledge of the physical world.

Today, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is claiming we are in a “climate crisis” which is leading to extinction of a million species and is a grave danger to humanity. Its special report “Global Warming of 1.5 ºC” in October 2018 stated:

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Reading the Next Recession

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Bu David Haggith – Re-Blogged From The Great Recession Blog

Here is a journey in photos and facts to compare the present Great Recession with the past Great Depression to gain perspective on where we might be headed.

Just as we had two great world wars, we might have two great depressions, the last of which we started out calling “The Great Recession” because, at the time, we didn’t know where it would end up or how long it would continue. Remember that World War I did not start off being called WWI. It was originally called “The Great War.”

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The Reasoning Behind Gold’s Breakout

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By Alasdair Macleod – Re-Blogged From Gold Money

Gold’s dramatic move above $1400 has caught the investment establishment by surprise. Physical gold ETFs, as a proxy for direct portfolio investment, amount to only 0.05% of the estimated $250 trillion of global investment values. As well as being badly wrongfooted, investment managers have little understanding of the role of gold as money, believing it to have no role in the monetary system. They will have to undergo a rapid re-education. This article addresses their common misconceptions.

Introduction

One month ago, gold made a dramatic move above a three-year consolidation (delineated by the pecked lines in Chart 1), confirming for technical analysts that a bull market in gold dating from the December 2015 low at $1,050 is alive and well. Chart 1 shows that a basing process has actually been in train for over six years, highlighted by the lower rectangular box.

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Falling Home Prices Raise Bulls’ Wall Of Worry

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By Rick Ackerman– Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

Add to stock market bulls’ wall of worry a drop in West Coast home prices for the first time in seven years. This is part of a larger trend that saw U.S. home sales down 2.2% compared to a year ago. That’s the 16th straight month of annual sales declines, even as mortgage rates have fallen since last October from 4.95% to 3.75%. Some observers profess to be mystified, since the economy appears to be going great guns. Unemployment is near 50-year lows, wages are rising and GDP growth has been solid.

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Modern Societies Require Minerals, and Mining

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Paul Driessen and Ned Mamula – Re-Blogged Frm WUWT

When OPEC imposed its 1973 embargo, the United States was just over 40% dependent on foreign sources for its oil. But sudden price hikes and shortages severely disrupted families and businesses.

Today the USA relies on foreign sources for 100% of 14 minerals considered to be “critical” for modern technologies and societies, and 50-96% for 19 other “critical” minerals; only two are in the 14-25% dependency range, an updated report from the US Department of the Interior (DOI) cautions.

Congressional bills would end US mining and leave USA dependent on foreign critical materials

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US City With Highest Min Wage Signals a ‘Tipping Point,’ Businesses Uncertain on How They’ll ‘Survive It’

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The continued hike in the minimum wage in one California city — which has the highest in the U.S. — has local business owners worried.

The city of Emeryville, California, garnered the title of being the highest minimum wage city in the United States when the city saw a minimum wage hike in July from $15 to $16.30, according to The Wall Street Journal. Due to the city’s high cost of living in the Bay Area region, supporters of the wage hike saw it necessary.

Thomas White/Reuters

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Nuclear Talks in Doubt as North Korea Tests Missiles, Envoy Cancels Trip

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Re-Blogged From IJR

North Korea test-fired two new short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, South Korean officials said, its first missile test since its leader, Kim Jong Un, and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to revive denuclearisation talks last month.

South Korea, which supports efforts by North Korea and the United States to end years of hostility, urged the North to stop acts that are unhelpful to easing tension, saying the tests posed a military threat on the Korean peninsula.

The South’s National Security Council said it believed the missiles were a new type of ballistic missile but it would make a final assessment with the United States.

Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo/Reuters

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It’s Just A Matter Of Time Before The Market Tips Over Again

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By Dave Kranzler– Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

Texas Instruments reported its Q2 yesterday after the close.  Revenues were down 9% YoY for Q2 and management forecast an 11% decline for Q3.  The stock market rewarded this fundamental deterioration in TXN’s business model by adding nearly $8 billion to TXN’s valuation as I write this.

The Dow Jones Transports index is up 1% on the news that the U.S. is sending envoys over to Shangai for a face-to-face love-in with their Chinese counterparts to discuss the two Governments’ differences of opinions on how to conduct bi-lateral trade.  The  stock  market momentum chasers are happy because the headline announced that the meeting would “face to face,” therefore it’s a given that the meeting will save the freight industry from the deep recession into which it’s headed.

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The Third World Is Imploding

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By Maurice Jackson And Jayant Bhandari -Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

In this interview with Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable, Jayant Bhandari presents his world view and discusses how it meshes with investment in the precious metals markets.

Maurice Jackson: Joining us for a conversation is Jayant Bhandari, the founder of the world-renowned Capitalism and Morality seminar, and a highly sought-out advisor to institutional investors. Mr. Bhandari, welcome to the show, sir.

Jayant Bhandari: Thank you very much for having me, Maurice.

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Why Can’t America Fill a Pothole?

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By Kyle Smith – Re-Blogged From Prager Universty

Why can’t America build or repair infrastructure on a par with countries in Europe or Asia? Why are our bridges, roads, and airports not what they should be? Aren’t we the richest and most technologically savvy country in the world? Who or what is holding us back? Kyle Smith of National Review has the surprising (and frustrating) answer.

Please watch the Video.

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10 Fallacies About Arctic Sea Ice & Polar Bear Survival

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Dr. Susan Crockford’s Polar Bear Science – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Summer sea ice loss is finally ramping up: first year is disappearing, as it has done every year since ice came to the Arctic millions of years ago. But critical misconceptions, fallacies, and disinformation abound regarding Arctic sea ice and polar bear survival. Ahead of Arctic Sea Ice Day (15 July), here are 10 fallacies that teachers and parents especially need to know about.

polar_bear_summer_2-final-2

The cartoon above was done by Josh: you can drop off the price of a beer (or more) for his efforts here.

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Debunked Claim: Early Season Hurricanes Increasing Because of Climate Change

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By Bob Vislocky, Ph.D. – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Figures it wouldn’t take very long into the 2019 hurricane season for journalists to start screaming climate change. In this recent New Republic article by Eric Holthaus, the claim is made in the subtitle that “early season hurricanes is a sign of things to come for our warming world”.

https://newrepublic.com/article/154449/new-orleans-barry-storm-one-two-weather-punch

Further into the article the author, who is a meteorologist, makes the claim that “as the Gulf of Mexico waters warm because of climate change, early-season hurricanes like proto-Barry could become more common.” Let’s investigate that assertion further using actual historical data.

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Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels

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By Anthony Watts – Re-Blogged From WUWT

In the first part of a new video series, I give an outline of Chapter One of Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels, which covers environmental economics. I explain the role of economics in protecting the environment. In a nutshell, it’s this: economic prosperity gives humans the time to care about the environment. Otherwise it’s just a day-to-day battle for survival. As Dr. John Christy put it:

“We are not morally bad people for taking carbon and turning it into the energy that offers life to humanity in a world that would otherwise be brutal,”

“On the contrary, we are good people for doing so.”

“Without energy, life is brutal and short.”

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150703181333/http:/www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/06/uah_climate_scientist_question.html

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Goldfinger, Silver and Gold

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By GE Christenson – Re-Blogged From The Deviant Investor

Breaking News: On July 5, 2019 prices for contracts of paper gold and silver closed at $1,400 and $15.00, a multi-decade gold/silver ratio high. The great financial game continues. What game?

  1. Low gold prices inspire confidence in central bankers and governments. The-Powers-That-Be (TPTB) often devalue their currencies too rapidly, do something more stupid than usual, pound the middle class with excessive digital printing of fiat currency units, and expand wars. When people recognize fiscal and monetary disaster ahead, prices for gold and silver rise. Hence TPTB “manage” gold and silver prices on the paper exchanges to support their “everything is great” story.
  2. The financial game has worked for decades, with minor exceptions.
  3. Silver and gold prices peaked in 2011 and fell thereafter. But metals prices will adjust to our disastrous fiscal and monetary policies, ongoing Continue reading →

‘Returning’ to a Silver Dollar Standard

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  By Bob Shapiro

I read a lot on the alternative – Gold Bug – web sites that we need to get back on the Gold Standard. While I certainly don’t disagree, I would suggest that we already have Gold and Silver as official, legal tender in the US. It is only the need to implement a way for individuals and businesses to Earn, Spend, and Save using them which prevents general, daily, widespread use.

That implementation actually should be easier and less costly to get off the ground than you might expect.

First, you would need a bank which accepts for deposit – separately – both Paper Dollars and Silver Dollars. (I prefer the Silver Dollars over Gold $50 coins, but either could be used.) A depositer might have a Paper Dollar account with $100 in it, as well as a Silver Dollar account with $10 in it.

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What The World Doesn’t Need Now Is Lower Rates

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By Michael Pento – Re-Blogged From Pento Portfolio Strategies

The Q2 earnings season is upon us and the risks to the rally that started after the worst December on record at the close of last year is in serious jeopardy. We received a glimpse of this with some of the current companies that have reported. For example, to understand how dangerous this earnings reporting season can be, take a look at what one of the largest US multinational firms had to say recently after it reported earnings. The Minnesota-based Fastenal, which is the largest fastener distributor in North America, reported worse-than-expected second-quarter earnings and revenue. Shares of Fastenal promptly tanked more than 4%. But what the management said about the quarter was very interesting. The company said in its press release that its strategy to raise prices to offset tariffs placed to date on products sourced from China were not sufficient to also counter general inflation in the marketplace.

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NASA Funds Demo of 3D-Printed Spacecraft Parts Made, Assembled in Orbit

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From NASA – Re-Blogged From WUWT

NASA has awarded a $73.7 million contract to Made In Space, Inc. of Mountain View, California, to demonstrate the ability of a small spacecraft, called Archinaut One, to manufacture and assemble spacecraft components in low-Earth orbit. The in-space robotic manufacturing and assembly technologies could be important for America’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.

The contract is the start of the second phase of a partnership established through NASA’s Tipping Point solicitation. The public-private partnership combines NASA resources with an industry contribution of at least 25% of the program costs, shepherding the development of critical space technologies while also saving the agency, and American taxpayers, money.

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Social Security Soon Will Slide Into Insolvency

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By Robert Weisman – Re-Blogged From The Boston Globe

Some time next year, as the ranks of retirees swell, the Social Security system in the United States will pass an ominous tipping point and start the slide into insolvency.

For the first time in nearly four decades, the government program that provides retirement checks to older Americans will pay out more in benefits in 2020 than it takes in. That will force the program to dip into a rainy day fund that will be depleted in about 15 years.

And if the political dysfunction in Washington continues and lawmakers don’t fix the system, benefit cuts are in store for current and future retirees, most of whom haven’t socked away enough money in their personal retirement accounts.

Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, wants to expand Social Security, even as the program will pass an omnious tipping point.
Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, wants to expand Social Security, even as the program will pass an omnious tipping point.(Mark Wilson/Getty Images/File)
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“Clean Power Plan” is replaced by the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule

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Re-Blogged From WUWT

Confirmed – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Issues New Clean Air Rule

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Issues New Clean Air Rule

The July issue of Environment & Climate News reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it has formally replaced the prior administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) with the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which EPA proposed as a CPP replacement last August.

“We are delivering on one of President Trump’s core priorities: ensuring the American’s public has access to affordable, reliable energy in a manner that continues our nation’s environmental progress,” said Andrew Wheeler, Administrator of the EPA.

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Fed’s Final Bullet Hits ‘Em in the Foot

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By David Haggith – Re-Blogged From The Great Recession Blog

The Fed’s missteps and flip-flops this week tripped up multiple markets. After accidentally announcing their ammo is down to one last bullet against recession, can they be trusted to handle powerful weapons?

Given how the stock market is now trading on nothing but the Fed, it’s no surprise that its heart leaped instantly in the middle of the week when New York Fed President John Williams (a voting FOMC member) said the Fed should respond quickly to recessionary headwinds with its own rate cuts.

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CEI Files Formal Complaint Regarding NASA’s Claim of 97% Climate Scientist Agreement on Global Warming

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Re-Blogged From WUWT

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) petitioned NASA to remove from its website the claim that 97 percent of climate scientists agree humans are responsible for global warming. The petition, filed under the Information Quality Act (IQA), points out the major flaws in the studies cited by NASA to substantiate its claim. It requests the agency remove the claim from its website and stop circulating it in agency materials.

While NASA asserts the “97 percent” claim is supported by a number of studies, CEI contends that claim has major flaws that have been documented by critics. These include:

  • Incorrectly categorizing scientists who take “no-position” as endorsing the view that humans are responsible for climate change.
  • Failing to include relevant sources without explanation.
  • Failing to match the terms used as the basis for a study to the claim actually made by NASA.

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ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE NEWS

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[This is one good article from the Heartland’s Journal. It’s worth your time tolook at the whole Journal. -Bob ]

By Duggan Flanakin – Re-Blogged From Heartland Institute
The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) has identified the steps it is taking to improve transparency and public input for legal settlements it is considering.A memo from Daniel Jorjani, principal deputy solicitor at DOI, explains what the department is doing to insti-tute then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zin-ke’s 2018 directive to stop entering into secret “sue-and-settle” agreements.Regulatory ShortcutEnvironmental lobbyists often sue vari-ous agencies, including DOI, to force them to implement policies they favor without going through the normally required regulatory process.Under previous presidential admin-istrations, federal agencies have often agreed to legally binding settlement agreements or consent decrees, creat-ing priorities and rules and establish-ing timelines for action outside of the normal rulemaking process.

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COST OF U.S. TRANSITION TO 100% RENEWABLES – $4.5 TRILLION

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By Tim Benson – Re-Blogged From WUWT

A June 2019 analysis from Scottish consulting firm Wood Mackenzie estimates the cost of transitioning the United States to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, as recommended by the “Green New Deal” and other overzealous climate change plans, would cost at least $4.5 trillion over that time period.

“For any country to embrace a nationwide transition to 100 percent renewable energy … or zero carbon … emissions constitutes a massive disruption with far-flung economic and social repercussions,” the analysis states. In the United States, that means a $35,000 cost to each household, around $1,750 per year for 20 years.

“The total price of transition,” the analysis states, “includes everything needed to reliably produce and deliver clean energy to consumers. This price includes building and operating generation facilities, making capacity payments, investing in transmission and distribution infrastructure, delivering customer-facing grid edge technology and more.”

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Educating Kids to Debate Alarming Climate Claims

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By Paul Driessen – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Important new project provides videos and short non-technical issue briefs for students

It’s time to challenge the steady diet of bias, false information and alarmism on climate change that students are fed in and outside of their classrooms. Science and public policy analyst Dr. David Wojick has launched an important new project to do exactly that.

From kindergarten onward, our young people are repeatedly told that they, our wildlife and our planet face unprecedented cataclysms from manmade climate change, resulting from our fossil fuel use. The science is settled, they are constantly hoodwinked, and little or no discussion is allowed in classrooms.

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Two Fed Nominations Every Gold Investor Should Be Aware Of

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By Arkadiusz Sieroń – Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

The delicate balance of forces at the Fed has been disturbed. The doves grew stronger recently, and with new governors coming, their strength may increase even further. Will gold warm up to them?

Goldbug in the Fed?

Trump wants to nominate a goldbug to the Federal Reserve Board. At the beginning of this month, President announced – yes, on Twitter – the names of two nominees to fill vacant posts on the Fed’s Board of Governors. He thought earlier about Herman Cain and Stephan Moore, but they withdrew from consideration in the face of criticism.

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Most of the Brutally Violent MS-13 Members Arrested in L.A. Were ILLEGALS

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By Claire Russel – Re-Blogged From Liberty Headlines

‘Victim was dismembered and his body parts were thrown into a canyon…’

Nearly all of the members in an MS-13 gang charged with slaying seven California residents were illegal aliens, according to law enforcement.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles charged 22 people affiliated with MS-13, a violent gang known for brutal crimes and drug peddling, for murdering residents with machetes, bats, and knives in the Angeles National Forest.

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Stalling Markets

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy, Stocks & Commodities , , , , ,
By Alasdair Macleod – Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

The combination of American trade protectionism and the end of a failing credit expansion is leading into a global economic downturn, and potentially a systemic crisis. Meanwhile, investors still believe more extreme monetary policies will stabilise economies and that the ultra-low interest rate environment will persist without renewed price inflation. As Samuel Johnson reputedly said of a second marriage, it represents the triumph of hope over experience.

Introduction

There is a moment just after the top of every credit cycle where positive momentum stalls before a new reality emerges. When the stall begins, as appears to be the case today, everything is still read positively. Perennial bulls say “Don’t worry, the central bank will reduce interest rates and inject enough money into the banking system to ensure any recession will be minor and growth will resume”. With interest rates falling, confidence in the final outcome means stocks continue to rise. With this mindset, bad news for the economy is always good news for stocks.

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Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #367

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The Week That Was: July 13, 2019, Brought to You by www.SEPP.org

By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project

Quote of the Week: “The interesting thing about the Green New Deal,” he said, “is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all. … Do you guys think of it as a climate thing? … Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.” – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti to Governor Jay Inslee’s climate director Sam Ricketts, as reported by David Montgomery of the Washington Post.

Number of the Week: Between 11 and 48,000 deaths

Groupthink or Bureaucratic Science: The death of exceptional journalist Christopher Booker is an unfortunate loss for those who dare think on their own. As his friend Andy Shaw relates, Booker was working on a book on Groupthink, which was based on work by psychologist Irving Janis. Booker was greatly expanding his paper on groupthink and climate change, which was published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). Fortunately, we have that paper, the executive summary of which states:

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Leaving the EU is ‘More Vital Than Climate Change’

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , ,
  • Climate change came third in list of priorities voters identified for Government
  • Eleven per cent of participants mentioned climate as top issues facing country
  • Second place was ‘tackling poverty’ on 12%, and ‘resolving Brexit’ top at 24%

By Harry Cole – Re-Blogged From The Daily Mail

Resolving Brexit should be the Government’s number-one priority – and is more important to voters than issues such as climate change, according to the results of a new survey.

Thirty-six per cent of people questioned by pollsters Opinium identified Brexit as the most important issue facing politicians.

MPs have so far been unable to reach a majority in the House of Commons to break the deadlock surrounding our departure from the EU – yet last month, they found enough common ground to declare a ‘climate emergency’.

Climate change came third in the list of priorities voters identified for the Government – 11 per cent mentioned it – while in second place was ‘tackling poverty’ on 12 per cent.

Resolving Brexit should be the Government¿s number-one priority ¿ and is more important to voters than issues such as climate change, according to a new survey. Pictured: Pro-Brexit protesters marching around Westminster in April

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That Old Gas Stove Is Not Your Friend

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By Jean Tepprman – Re-Blogged From East Bay Express

As the United States has begun transitioning away from the use of coal and petroleum as a source of electricity and fuel, natural gas has been viewed as a relatively benign fossil fuel. After all, natural gas produces less carbon dioxide when burned than those other fossil fuels. It remains the energy source in about half of California’s buildings.

But scientists have increasingly warned that methane, the main component of natural gas, is itself a key heat-trapping gas — 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first twenty years after release, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. In addition to the carbon dioxide created by its burning, the inevitable leaks as natural gas is extracted and shipped, make gas a serious climate threat in its own right.

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Europe Circumvents U.S. Sanctions On Iran

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By Frances Coppota – Re-Blogged From Forbes

Europe has found a way of circumventing U.S. sanctions on Iran. The governments of France, Germany and the United Kingdom have developed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to enable European businesses to maintain non-dollar trade with Iran without breaking U.S. sanctions. That SPV, known as INSTEX, is now up and running.

The three governments announced the successful implementation of INSTEX at a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on June 28, 2019. The meeting was chaired on behalf of the EU by the Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Helga Schmid, and was attended by representatives of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Iran.

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EPA’S Adoption of LNT for Cancer Risk Assessment

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By Edward J. Calabresea, & Robert J. Golden – Re-Blogged From Junk Science

1. IntroductionThe US Congress passed, and President Richard Nixon signed intolaw the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974. A significant provision of theAct involved engaging the US NAS to advise the EPA on multiple sci-entific and technical areas such as chemical and radiation risk assess-ment, including cancer risk assessment. To achieve these goals the NAScreated the Safe Drinking Water Committee (SDWC) in 1975. In 1977the SDWC published the 700 pageDrinking Water and Health[1] reportoffering EPA widespread guidance, including cancer risk assessmentand its underlying scientific foundations that supported the LNT.Within two years EPA would issue the first national drinking waterstandard for a chemical carcinogen using the LNT for total trihalo-methanes (THM) [2]. This action would jump start an avalanche ofother LNT based cancer risk assessments by EPA, not just for drinkingwater but for other environmental media as well.

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How to Become a Dangerous Person

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By Nancy Rommelmann

How do you become “dangerous”? Writer and Portland-based podcaster Nancy Rommelmann would have thought she was the last person to answer that question — until she publicly dared to raise some questions about the #MeToo movement. Then her life suddenly changed and she became public enemy number one. She tells her astonishing story — what happened and why — in this compelling video.

Please watch the Video.

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Federal Debt Ceiling Reached As Federal Spending Rages

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , ,
By Clint Siegner – Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

The federal government will soon run up against its self-imposed borrowing cap once again.

Current estimates are for the government to max out its credit limit at a little over $22 trillion in early September. Congress goes on recess in August, so there is some pressure to address the cap right now.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has been fulfilling what seems to be the most sacred responsibility of his position: borrowing money. It’s one that each of his predecessors has also undertaken, without fail and without regard to party affiliation, in recent decades.

He is solemnly arguing why it would be wholly irresponsible for Congress not to approve another massive increase in what the Treasury can borrow.

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It’s Been A Great Recession For A Few

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By David Haggith – Re-Blogged From Silver Phoenix

This month the economic expansion brought to you by your Federal Reserve and by US government largess becomes the longest expansion in the history of the United States! That’s something, right? Something? Let’s take an honest look at what we now call great.

By “the longest expansion” we mean the longest period in which US GDP has been growing without a recession. Now, that’s something to crow about, right?

Not so fast for many reasons. It’s also been the most anemic expansion on the books, and it’s not too hard to see why it’s been the longest, having nothing at all to do with a great economy. It has cost us far more than any expansion (by an order of magnitude) because we’ve piled up ten times the national debt over any amount we accumulated during previous expansions. (I’ve said before, it’s easy to let the “good times” roll when you are buying it all on the company credit card.) We also quadrupled the size of the Fed’s balance sheet. That didn’t cost anything, but we sure didn’t get much bang for the buck! We actually got less bang than in any previous expansion!

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Will Fed Easing Turn Out Like ’95 Or ‘07?

usissuescom Monetary Policy, Stocks & Commodities , , , , ,
By Michael Pento – Re-Blogged From PentoPort

You should completely understand that the market is dangerously overvalued and that global economic growth has slowed to a crawl along with S&P 500 earnings. However, you must also be wondering when the massive overhang of unprecedented debt levels, artificial market manipulations, and the anemic economy will finally shock Wall Street to a brutal reality.

Artificially-low bond yields are prolonging the life of this terminally-ill market. In fact, record-low borrowing costs have been the lynchpin for perpetuating the illusion. Therefore, what will finally pull the plug on this market’s life support system is spiking corporate bond yields, which will manifest from the bursting of the $5.4 trillion BBB, Junk bond and leveraged loan markets. And, for that to occur, you will first need an outright US recession and/or a bonafide inflation scare.

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Experiments Show Dramatic Increase in Solar Cell Output

usissuescom Discussion Categories, Energy Policy , ,

By MIT – Re-Blogged From Eureka Alert

Method for collecting two electrons from each photon could break through theoretical solar-cell efficiency limit

CAMBRIDGE, MA — In any conventional silicon-based solar cell, there is an absolute limit on overall efficiency, based partly on the fact that each photon of light can only knock loose a single electron, even if that photon carried twice the energy needed to do so. But now, researchers have demonstrated a method for getting high-energy photons striking silicon to kick out two electrons instead of one, opening the door for a new kind of solar cell with greater efficiency than was thought possible.

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Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #366

usissuescom Energy Policy, Foreign Policy, Regulation , , , , , , ,

The Week That Was: July 6, 2019, Brought to You by www.SEPP.org

By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project

Quote of the Week: “There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in them.” – George Orwell [H/t John Dunn]

Number of the Week: 2012

Beauty in Physics: On his web site, The Reference Frame, string theorist Lubos Motl had a long post reporting his search for the terms beautiful, beauty, and pretty in the Feynman Lectures on Physics (1963). Richard Feynman was a co-recipient of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in Quantum Electrodynamics and an exceptional lecturer who insisted on teaching students introductory physics. Perhaps it is his expression of finding exceptional explanations of complex problems beautiful that makes Feynman’s lecturers so memorable. Fortunately, they are available to read online. One of the many examples Molt gives is on Kepler’s laws:

Here are the promised Kepler’s laws.

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Global Greening is Happening Faster Than Climate Change

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By Matt Ridley – Re-Blogged From WUWT

REJOICE IN THE LUSH GLOBAL GREENING CO2 is plant food. The greening of the earth means more food for animals and greater crop yields for humans. Why is no one talking about it?

Click to enlarge. Green areas are the areas in which the vegetation has increased since 1982, massively in some areas. Infografic: Boston University

Amid all the talk of an imminent planetary catastrophe caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, another fact is often ignored: global greening is happening faster than climate change. The amount of vegetation growing on the earth has been increasing every year for at least 30 years. The evidence comes from the growth rate of plants and from satellite data.

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Climate Extremists Plan to Attack Airport with Small Drones

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism , , , , ,

By Eric Worrall – Re-Blogged From WUWT

h/t Breitbart – Eco extremists have openly admitted plans to shut down Heathrow by flying drones in controlled airspace, to terrorise authorities into suspending flight operations.

Exclusive: How Extinction Rebellion Plans To Shut Heathrow Airport Down

Document reveals how climate change activists will use drones to organise mass disruption lasting up to 16 days later this year.

By George Bowden
04/07/2019 12:12 BST | Updated 04/07/2019 13:10 BST

Millions of passengers could face travel turmoil at Heathrow this autumn as Extinction Rebellion plans mass disruptions using drones, according to a new detailed proposal seen by HuffPost UK.

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THE COST TO SOCIETY OF RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Energy Policy, Foreign Policy , , , , ,

By Allan M.R. MacRae & M.Eng. – Re-Blogged From WUWT

1. Introduction.

Ever wonder why extremists attack honest scientists who oppose global warming and climate change hysteria? Ever wonder why climate extremists refuse to debate the science?

It is because global warming and climate change alarmism was never about the science – it was always a false narrative, a smokescreen for the totalitarian objectives of the extreme left.

The novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, written by George Orwell in 1949, foresaw a time “when much of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, historical negationism and propaganda”. It now appears that Orwell had remarkable foresight.

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Energy Department Is Preparing To Nix Dishwasher Reg

usissuescom Regulation , ,

By Chris White Tech Reporter – Re-Blogged From The Daily Caller

The Department of Energy announced Tuesday a rule-making process that could ding an Obama-era environmental regulation slowing down dishwashers.

DOE decided to grant a petition to the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) to allow a dishwasher product class with a cycle time for the normal cycle of less than one hour. Former President Barack Obama enacted a rule in 2016 making the average dishwasher cycle more than two hours — Americans enjoyed a cycle time of one hour decades ago.

The Obama-era rule was part of the DOE’s plan at the time to impose 23 different energy efficiency regulations for household appliances by 2018. Obama issued more energy standards for household appliances than any previous administration, all in the name of fighting global warming.

President Barack Obama reacts with a gesture on stage as he listens to a speech by Hillary Clinton at the Charlotte Convention Center. Shutterstock

President Barack Obama reacts with a gesture on stage as he listens to a speech by Hillary Clinton at the Charlotte Convention Center. Shutterstock

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A Declaration of Mineral Independence Against Eco Tyranny

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By Paul Driessen & Ann Bridges – Re-Blogged From WUWT

It’s an essential first step in making the USA less dangerously dependent on foreign minerals.

Many of the colonists’ grievances against King George III resonate today, as tyrannical environmentalists continue to block domestic development of minerals that are critical for our businesses, security and living standards. To protect our freedoms, we have updated that revered 1776 statement, to highlight and upend the status quo.

A Declaration of Mineral Independence

of and for the People of the United States of America

from tyrannical environmentalist organizations,

with a goal of full mineral independence by the 250th Anniversary

of America’s first Declaration of Independence, July 4, 2026

WE still hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men and Women are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator and protected by our Constitution with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness, which require access to the minerals that make modern societies, defense and other technologies, health and living standards possible.

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Climate Models are Fudged

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism , , ,

Re-Blogged From WUWT

Dr. Patrick Michaels, former Virginia State Climatologist has some strong comments about climate models during an interview with Mark Levin:

“It is nowhere near as warm as it’s ‘supposed’ to be,” says climatologist Dr. Patrick Michaels. “The computer models are making systematic, dramatic errors.”

There are 32 different computer models used to predict the climate, all of them run by government entities. And all of those models, except for the Russian model, are predicting far, far too much warming. The Russian model pretty much matches reality.

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A Long Shadow Creeps Over The Economy This Summer

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy, Stocks & Commodities , , , , , , ,
By David Haggith – Re-Blogged From Gold Eagle

It’s time to turn around and see the darkness that the Fed sees looming over you. Earnings season is already extending signs of recession with the first corporate reports coming in far darker than expectations that were already twilight dim in FactSet’s estimations, which pegged earnings as likely to show a 2% contraction.

Even the Fed sees problems ahead. Jerome Powell’s speech to congress has been called “one of the most dovish Fed speeches ever!” While that quickened the heart of a sugar-hungry stock market, what does it really tell you about how soon or likely the Fed sees recession looming for the economy or sees trouble for the stock market? Why else would Father Fed suddenly become the “most dovish … ever?” Does the Fed become its “most dovish … ever” when the economy and the stock market are doing great?

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