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OPEC in a ‘Whatever It Takes’ Moment to Prop Up Oil Prices
Many of these countries are dying due to low oil prices, cutting production will only hasten the time of death. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia are in deep trouble due to current oil price levels and need a significant increase to support their budgets. I continue to believe the accurate price point for oil is closer to $30 bbl than it is to $80 bbl. This attempt to cut oil to drive up prices will not aid the Russians or the Saudis, but It will do wonders for the US frackers. Boohya! When Will It Be OK To Laugh At The Climate Campaigners?
"The climate campaigners are so terribly, terribly earnest. I guess it’s what we should expect. After all, they have a mission to “save the planet.” A great opportunity to demonstrate your earnestness and fervor as a climate campaigner has been the latest UN climate confab, known as “COP 24,” taking place in Katowice, Poland this week and last. 22,000 bureaucrats and functionaries have gathered to tell the world that it must promptly do away with the evil fossil fuels and transition to clean energy. Over and over, the alarm was sounded. From Think Progress on December 10: The conference comes only two months after the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released an ominous report projecting that the world only has around 12 years before crossing a dangerous global warming threshold. A subsequent report released two weeks ago, the congressionally-mandated National Climate Assessment, found that every region of the United States is already suffering the impacts of climate change." Apocalyptic secular religions are the worst for earnest fervor over the most nonsensical of issues. "And then, into the middle of what should have been universal acclaim for immediate UN-directed action, there dropped a U.S.-sponsored panel with the title “U.S. Innovative Technologies Spur Economic Dynamism.” The lead speaker was a guy named Wells Griffith, advisor to President Trump at the Department of Energy. Other panelists included “speakers representing natural gas, fracking, and nuclear energy proponents.” Griffith was quoted as saying “We strongly believe that no country should have to sacrifice economic prosperity or energy security.” Such incredible chutzpah! What is the proper response?Anger and protests, of course. Oh, and also laughter. I mean, this was completely outside the bounds of polite conversation. What kind of dolts could be saying such preposterous things? From the Independent: Mr. Griffith spoke for about ten minutes before the audience started laughing, mocking, and yelling at him. Eventually, they started chanting “keep it in the ground” and “shame on you.” Meanwhile, out here in the real world, are we allowed to notice that absolutely no one is remotely taking seriously the idea that carbon emissions from fossil fuels are really going to be significantly reduced?" No. In the real world, we understand that the variations in climate are mostly natural with only the barest human involvement. "And how about the world’s massive investments in wind and solar energy. No matter how many wind and solar energy facilities you build, you will be lucky to decrease world CO2 emissions by 10-15%. Why? First, this only addresses the electricity sector, which is only about 40% of emissions – the rest being things like transportation, shipping and industry. Second, the wind and solar only work part time (30% at best) and you need full fossil fuel backup to run the rest of the time. At best you save 30% of 40%, which is 12% -- and that assumes that you actually get the 30% from the wind and solar, and that you have no efficiency losses on the fossil fuel plants running in back-up mode. To get higher than the 10-15% emissions savings from wind and solar, you need things that haven’t been invented yet, that nobody is actually working on or seriously considering, and that look to cost wildly too much to ever be realistic. Things like trillions upon trillions of dollars worth of batteries (see my post from last week here), or maybe the ability to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere (which will take a huge amount of new energy – from where?). So my question is, who should be laughing at whom here?" Religion doesn't require its dogma to be realistic, only that it has dogma which the masses an believe as a given truth. Laugh if you desire, it is better to use humor but read When prophecy fails to understand the process through which mass movements need to proceed to resolution and collapse. Sadly, even if reformed or collapsed, the true believers of the mass movement will more commonly move to another mass movement to obtain what they desire from belonging to a mass movement. Ace of Spades HQ
I am not a fan of antitrust actions which are commonly inefficient competitors using the power of the federal government to shanghai a superior competitor, but here there is a national security angle to consider. "As Chick-fil-A surges, McDonald’s and Wendy’s are under threat
What Makes Chickens Happy? Nobody Is Quite Sure Who cares? Decades of data suggest parenthood makes people unhappy Happiness is a momentary thing" Happiness is a temporal state which occurs when an individual escapes the normal vicissitudes of life. You go to a movie, it engages you, you enjoy it, and ultimately you leave happy. The movie did not make you happy. The movie allowed you to forget about the bills needing payment, or the car which needs new tires, or the other vicissitudes of life. Happiness should never be a goal; it is too ephemeral. Joy, contentment and the like can be goals. These states can last in a permanent or near-permanent state regardless of the vicissitudes of life. Parenthood is work, and the concerns parents have with the raising and teaching of their children only grow. The worries and concerns do not abate because the child leaves home and strikes out on their own, often the worries grow. What the focus on happiness misunderstands is that this is how it must be. A change in focus to contentment, joy or the like is likely to show that family is a benefit, while aloneness is not. We focus too much on happiness, try a different metric and enjoy life more. I dropped the bike about noon after I hit a small patch of wet leaves and the front end lost traction and slid into a large patch of wet leaves in the gutter. I was only going about 20 and damage to the bike was pretty minimal. A kid driving by was nice enough to help me lift the 560 lb bike, which I checked out and rode the 5 miles or so home. I was a little sore, so I took a shower and hit the rack.
When I got up a half hour or so later, I was much sorer, and sitting in a chair in the family room was not improving matters. Moving had become a real bear, and I could feel clunking and movement at the injury site. I decided the better part of valor at that point was to see a physician, so I had daughter drive me down to the urgent care facility, and they immediately referred me to the Saint Vincent Hospital ER. I had great staff helping me in the ER. They treaded my pain appropriately and convinced me a CAT scan with contrast was needed. Seemed like a lot to ask of a cat, but I agreed anyway. I expected black and white cats to provide the contrast, but to my surprise, I found there were no cats, just a big machine and I was the donut hole filler. The machine whirred and buzzed, told me to breathe and hold my breath; it seems quite in tune to what was happening — good thing I was a bit out of it after receiving a morphine push. The folks at the St. Vincent's were great. But after they found nine broken ribs, a bruised kidney, and a pneumothorax, I was transferred by ambulance to Emanuel Hospital's trauma unit. On arrival, I was treated to the full trauma unit Monty; they work hard and earn their pay down there. They booked me for a room for the night, or two, or three depending upon how my innards heal. Sigh. But I feel good and have been walking and being my usual garrulous self. Note to self, don't drop the bike. Yes, I wear full EN1621-2 armor and leathers, a full face helmet, riding gloves, and boots, all the gear all the time. I was riding within the speed limit of about 20 mph. I just hit poorly and did some serious damage. Stay safe out there, have fun, and Merry Christmas! Maddog Walgreens Employee With Concealed Carry Permit Fatally Shoots Armed Assailant Who Jumped the Counter
We live in the times of the unhinged, carry concealed and survive. Trump Is Considering Firing Fed Chair Powell
We need to reform the Fed, turn it into an algorithm and return the interest rate setting calculations to the market. Only then will we get rid of the myriad problems created by the Fed. Or we can continue with the Fed and its boom and bust cycles and occasional Great Depression or Great Recession. Government and the wealthy love the Fed because it creates massive long-term inflation which they use to lower their interest carrying costs and steal value from the average Joe or as they view us, rubes. With the advent of the new socio-economic system, we need to overhaul our entire economic and monetary systems both nationally and internationally. This might seem like a Herculean task, but we did it quite quickly after WWII at Bretton Woods and through other agreements and policy changes. In the long term, we will need to eliminate the World Bank, the IMF, and either eliminate or completely reform the Central Bank system. Until this happens, the progressive model will continue to hang on in the background even if we were to eliminate or reform that now destitute political model. Trump has much on his plate, but this is something he needs to address. Reform the Fed and the Bretton Woods system now! LeBron James: NFL Owners 'Old White Men' with 'Slave Mentality' Toward Players
How some of history's highest-paid athletes believe this twaddle is beyond me. Dude, you athlete's play children's games and get paid millions for doing so, you are not slaves. If you don't like your work or pay, leave and get a real job. What is LeBron thinking when he denigrates the suffering of actual slaves by calling NFL players "slaves?" Modern althets are not slaves they are pampered, spoilt princelings. |
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