Category: politics

Trouble ahead. The Baltic Dry Index hit a fourth time all time low. 2/19 at 509.

baltic-dry-index-23This morning (Feb 12) the Baltic Dry Index hit an all time low at 553. The previous low of 554 was set on Aug 6 1985. What is the BDI you say?

The BDI is a very leading indicator signaling future guesses on the amount of shipping of dry freight that are to be conducted in the future. It is very volatile as we can see from these charts with a high of nearly 12000 in the spring of 2008 and dropping to about 700 a couple of months before the crash of 2008.

The new low  of 553 signals major trouble ahead.

A hint is in the Chinese trade balance for Jan 2015.

China Posts Highest Trade Surplus on Record in January.

China reported a USD 60 billion trade surplus in January of 2015 compared with a USD 31.86 billion surplus a year earlier as imports fell at a faster pace than exports.

In January, imports dropped by 19.9 percent toCNY 860 billion year-on-year (approximately USD 140 billion) with imports from US down 9.3 percentExports unexpectedly declined by 3.3 percent to CNY 1.23 trillion (approximately USD 200 billion), but exports to the US rose 4.9 percent.
Since the Lunar New Year typically falls in January or February, the country’s trade figure in early year often considered as volatile, due to companies rushing to fill orders ahead of holidays. What is doubly troubling is that this year the Chinese new year fell in February. Last year it fell in January, so the declines are doubly troubling.
There is trouble ahead.
Update 1: Friday 2/13 it hit 530, a new record low
Update 2: Tuesday 2/17 it hit 522 a new all-time low.
Update 3: Wednesday 2/18 hit 516, a new all time low.
Update 4: Thursday 2/19 hit 509, a fourth new all time low in a row.

 

The connection between banning oil exploration in ANWR, vetoing the Keystone XL pipeline and visiting Saudi Arabia. A Limerick.

President Obama announced Jan 25 that his administration plans to lock up the oil-rich 1.5 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain and offshore areas in Alaska from oil and gas exploration.

On a totally? unrelated matter President Barack Obama and the First Lady traveled to Saudi Arabia to pay respects following the death of King Abdullah

Obama  cut short an official trip to India and flew to Riyadh Jan 27 to meet the new King.

Obama: Ban oil drills in ANWR.100421bowingtwo

Import oil is better by far.

I must visit the crown,

to King Salman bow down.

Submit to his will, or it’s war.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is now Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, (Mecca and Medina).

That’s why.

Obama, Netanyahu, Congress, Iran, nukes and diplomacy. What could go wrong? A Limerick.

“We thought we’ve seen everything,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz  quoted an unnamed senior US official as saying. “But Bibi managed to surprise even us.

“There are things you simply don’t do. He spat in our face publicly and that’s no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price,” he said.

 

When Barry and Bibi converseobama-netanyahu-10p_grid-6x2

can Congress invite make it worse?

When Iran gets its nukes

it’s no time for rebukes.

Diplomacy? From bad to verse.

 

1700 private jets to Davos, Switzerland in World Economic Forum to combat climate change?

DavosA squadron of 1,700 private jets are rumbling into Davos, Switzerland, this week to discuss global warming and other issues as the annual World Economic Forum gets underway.
The influx of private jets is so great, the Swiss Armed Forces has been forced to open up a military air base for the first time ever to absorb all the super rich flying their private jets into the event, reports Newsweek.
. . . Former Vice President-turned-carbon billionaire Al Gore and rapper Pharrell Williams will be there as well; each plans to discuss global warming and recycling respectively. Professor Mario Molina, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the ozone layer will lecture on how to fight climate change denial with evidence.
Another big theme of the mega-rich confab will be combating “income inequality” and how the world’s rich can pay their fair share to reduce the gap between top earners and the lower class. Admission price for Davos: roughly $40,000 a ticket.

Hypocrisy anyone?

swarm_planes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1700

Obama MIA in Paris rally. Why? A Limerick.

“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam”: Barack Hussein Obama to the U.N.General Assembly September 25, 2012.

Obama did not go to France

Watched Football as if in a trance.

For he cannot confess

what is wrong. Let me guess:

Insulting the “Prophet” perchance?

The largest protest in French history conspicuously lacked one person. Leading by absence?

Paris Unity rally

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unemployment number 5.6%. Good news? Not with 451000 dropping out of the labor force! A Limerick.

If you have been unemployed more than a year,

you count as “discouraged”, a case less severe.

Do not go ballistic

You are a statistic.

No more unemployed, but a discard. So there!

The Bureau of Labor  Statistics (BLS) nonfarm payroll employment rose by 252,000 in December, and the unemployment rate
declined to 5.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in
professional and business services (52000), construction(48000), food services and drinking places(44000), health care(34000), and
manufacturing(17000).
The labor participation rate slid 0.2%, dropping to 62.7%, or the lowest print since December 1977.

LFP

Americans not in the labor forced soared by 451,000 in December, far outpacing the 111,000 jobs added according to the Household Survey, and is the primary reason why the number of uenmployed Americans dropped by 383,000.
Average wages dropped In December,  for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by 5
cents to $24.57. In December, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and
nonsupervisory employees decreased by 6 cents to $20.68.

One cannot help but notice the discrepancy in the 252000 jobs added according to BLS, versus the 111000 jobs added according to the household survey.

With the lowest labor participation rate since 1977 (the Carter malaise) we are not in a real recovery, the real numbers are much worse.

 

The liberals, the press, PETA, Sarah Palin, Ellen DeGeneres and a “tail” of two dogs.

The liberals, the press, PETA, Sarah Palin, Ellen DeGeneres and a tail of two dogs.
B6YQ1_aIgAEpzSgScreen-Shot-2015-01-02-at-2.29.44-PMThe Facebook message on the left shows Sarah Palin’s special needs son Trig using his personal service dog Jill Hadassah (Esther) as a stepping stone to be of help with the dishes. The Facebook picture on the right shows a girl using a fat, untrained dog being used in a similar way. It was posted by PETA person of the year 2009 Ellen DeGeneres last summer. It received over 50000 likes.

The dog on the left feels the warm, bare feet of Trig. She is so well trained she doesn’t even turn over to get a tummy rub. The dog on the right on the other hand fells only two boots on its back, and shows “Do I really have to put up with this?”
A 50-lb child standing on an UN-trained dog, especially a sleeping dog is a bad idea. With an UN-trained dog, this could have ended in a trip to the hospital for the child and a trip to the vet for the dog.
But, Jill Hadassah is a service dog that Sarah Palin got from the Puppy Jake Foundation. Part of a service dog’s training is to bear heavy weights, and to assist a person that has fallen to get up by whatever means appropriate. You can see from the picture, the dog is physically fit, and takes a special pleasure in being of help. She even spreads her front legs to give even more stability.
Why did PETA get upset about the picture?

This is an excerpt from their “Doing What’s Best for Our Companion Animals” fact sheet
Working Dogs
Relationships of mutual respect and benefit are truly wonderful between dogs and humans; however, working dogs are instead often used as a substitute for innovative non-animal programs that intelligently address human needs.
Optimally, humans should be relied upon for support of the disabled rather than working dogs and other animals—it is too common for animals to be exploited and abused.
So, PETA is against service dogs. They are not against dogs being locked indoors forever, even doing their thing in the laundry room, eating too much and not getting enough exercise. The dogs sit on the window sill in solitary confinement for hours waiting for their masters to come home. Somehow that is humane, but let a dog roam around in the backyard on a chain and leash is not. I do not understand PETA.
The outrage from the press and the liberals is easier to understand. They do not like anything about Sarah Palin and her special needs child. In a society that prefers abortion of children with birth defects Sarah Palin stands out like a sore thumb, reminding them that all life is precious.

China, the powerhouse of the world. Check the CO2 statistics.

The IMF numbers show China on track to produce $17.6 trillion worth of goods and services compared to the U.S.’s slated $17.4 trillion, based on a well-established and widely used economic measure known as purchasing-power parity (or PPP).
Meanwhile, in Lima, Peru, China offered new details on its commitment to rein in greenhouse gases and called on rich nations to speed up delivery of the $100 billion in annual climate-related aid they’ve promised by 2020. Su Wei, China’s lead climate negotiator, coupled his comments on China’s commitment with a call to accelerate funding for climate aid, shifting the pressure to industrialized nations, led by the U.S. and European Union, to do their part toward reaching an agreement next year. The “$10 billion is just one 10th of that objective,” and “we do not have any clear road map of meeting that target for 2020,” Su said. Climate aid is “a trust-building process,” he added.( –Alex Morales and Reed Landberg, Bloomberg, 5 December 2014)
Rich nations’ pledges of almost $10 billion to a green fund to help poor nations cope with global warming are “far from adequate,” particularly Australia’s lack of a donation, the head of China’s delegation at U.N. climate talks said on Thursday. Su Wei also urged all rich nations to deepen their planned cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, signaling that a joint Chinese-U.S. announcement of greenhouse gas curbs last month does not mean an end to deep differences on climate policy. (–Reuters, 5 December 2014)
Granted, rich nations produce more CO2 than poor nations, so how does China stack up in CO2 emissions?
Here are the stats for 2013:
China         10 GT of CO2 28% of world total
U.S.A           5                     14%
E.U.             3.6                   10%
India            2.5                     7%
Russia        2                         5%
Rest of world 13 GT           46% of world total.
By this account China is already a rich country and should be the first to share.
But it is getting worse.

Barack Obama and the Chinese negotiator agreed on a deal that U.S. would reduce its greenhouse gases by 24 to 28% by the year 2025 and China promised to try to halt its scheduled growth by the year 2030. E.U. have legislated similar reductions as the U.S.
So by 2030 we can look forward to a world CO2 emission balance like this:
China               30 GT of CO2, 45% of world total
U.S.A.                4                        7%
E.U                    3                         5%
India                  7.5                    11%
Russia              2                          3%
Rest of world 18                        28 % of world total.
This is what Barack Obama heralded as a major breakthrough!
He will allow China to become six times as powerful as the U.S.A in the next 15 years.
And we will help them by being part in transferring 100 Billion to developing countries (of which China is one) in the next 10 years.
If you doubt the numbers, consider this: China already consumes 45% of the world’s coal mining, mostly low grade, polluting lignite. The air quality in Beijing is so poor that a day that is merely unhealthy by our standards is considered a good day.
The climate conference in Lima, Peru, RIP.

[Update 1] Check out this memo from the White House!

Message: White House warning of extreme weather, Nov 19, 2014.
From: info@mail.whitehouse.gov
To: xxxx@xxxx.xxx
Subject: Make sure your community is ready for climate change
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 11:51:17 -0600
The White House  

Make sure your community is ready for climate change

Climate change is happening now — and we’ve got to be ready because we’re going to see more extreme weather.
That’s why we’re taking action. Last Tuesday, the President made a historic announcement with China that sets new targets for carbon pollution reductions.
And on Monday, the Administration released the Climate Resilience Toolkit to help our communities respond to our changing climate.
Check out these easy-to-use tools, including interactive maps and visualizations, that will help prepare your community for the impacts of climate change. See how you can help your community or business get ready.

Whether you’re a small business owner, planner, farmer, policy leader, or an interested resident, these tools can help you make sure that you have a climate-ready community or business.

Have questions about what climate change means for you, why it matters, and what we can do to fight it? Last Thursday, Dr. John P. Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, announced that he wants to answer your questions.

Ask Dr. Holdren your questions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Vine with the hashtag #AskDrH — and he’ll answer some of them on camera.

This email was sent to xxxx@xxx.xxx
Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy
Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House
The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 •

People through the ages have always complained about two things. Life isn’t fair, and the weather. Obama has promised to fix both.

[Update 2] On the other hand:

China has rejected the scrutiny of efforts to limit carbon emissions, a key tool that the US says is necessary as more than 190 countries work to come up with a new deal to fight climate change. Chinese negotiators sought to delete provisions in a draft text that would have paved the way for other countries and non-governmental organizations to submit questions about its carbon-reduction plans, according to environmental groups that are official observers to the talks. –South China Morning Post, 8 December 2014

Obviously, China is not satisfied being only six times more powerful than the U.S. by the year 2030.

FDR Thanksgiving day proclamation 1942 versus BHO Thanksgiving day proclamation 2014. A timely reminder.

In the year 1942, with WWII raging and the outcome was far from certain, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made this Thanksgiving day proclamation:DSC_0415
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.” Across the uncertain ways of space and time our hearts echo those words, for the days are with us again when, at the gathering of the harvest, we solemnly express our dependence upon Almighty God.
The final months of this year, now almost spent, find our Republic and the Nations joined with it waging a battle on many fronts for the preservation of liberty.
In giving thanks for the greatest harvest in the history of our Nation, we who plant and reap can well resolve that in the year to come we will do all in our power to pass that milestone; for by our labors in the fields we can share some part of the sacrifice with our brothers and sons who wear the uniform of the United States.
It is fitting that we recall now the reverent words of George Washington, “Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy Protection,” and that every American in his own way lift his voice to heaven.
I recommend that all of us bear in mind this great Psalm:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
Inspired with faith and courage by these words, let us turn again to the work that confronts us in this time of national emergency: in the armed services and the merchant marine; in factories and offices; on farms and in the mines; on highways, railways, and airways; in other places of public service to the Nation; and in our homes.
Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do hereby invite the attention of the people to the joint resolution of Congress approved December 26, 1941, which designates the fourth Thursday in November of each year as Thanksgiving Day; and I request that both Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1942, and New Year’s Day, January 1, 1943, be observed in prayer, publicly and privately.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

.
One generation has passed, and under similar circumstances, the war on Radical Islam has been waging since Sep 11 2001, ISIS is gaining strength, genocide against Christians and other religious minorities is increasing, riots, arson and anarchy in the streets, President Obama makes this
Presidential Proclamation — Thanksgiving Day, 2014
– – – – – – –

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION
Thanksgiving Day invites us to reflect on the blessings we enjoy and the freedoms we cherish. As we gather with family and friends to take part in this uniquely American celebration, we give thanks for the extraordinary opportunities we have in a Nation of limitless possibilities, and we pay tribute to all those who defend our Union as members of our Armed Forces. This holiday reminds us to show compassion and concern for people we have never met and deep gratitude toward those who have sacrificed to help build the most prosperous Nation on earth. These traditions honor the rich history of our country and hold us together as one American family, no matter who we are or where we come from.

Nearly 400 years ago, a group of Pilgrims left their homeland and sailed across an ocean in pursuit of liberty and prosperity. With the friendship and kindness of the Wampanoag people, they learned to harvest the rich bounty of a new world.
Together, they shared a successful crop, celebrating bonds of community during a time of great hardship. Through times of war and of peace, the example of a Native tribe who extended a hand to a new people has endured. During the American Revolution and the Civil War, days of thanksgiving drew Americans together in prayer and in the spirit that guides us to better days, and in each year since, our Nation has paused to show our gratitude for our families, communities, and country.

With God’s grace, this holiday season we carry forward the legacy of our forebears. In the company of our loved ones, we give thanks for the people we care about and the joy we share, and we remember those who are less fortunate. At shelters and soup kitchens, Americans give meaning to the simple truth that binds us together: we are our brother’s and our sister’s keepers. We remember how a determined people set out for a better world — how through faith and the charity of others, they forged a new life built on freedom and opportunity.

The spirit of Thanksgiving is universal. It is found in small moments between strangers, reunions shared with friends and loved ones, and in quiet prayers for others. Within the heart of America’s promise burns the inextinguishable belief that together we can advance our common prosperity — that we can build a more hopeful, more just, and more unified Nation. This Thanksgiving, let us recall the values that unite our diverse country, and let us resolve to strengthen these lasting ties.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 27, 2014, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage the people of the United States to join together — whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors — and give thanks for all we have received in the past year, express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and share our bounty with others.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-ninth.
BARACK OBAMA
The contrast could not be greater. The only reference left to God is God’s grace taken for granted. All the other references are about our dependence on each other, apart from God.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. While Obama speaks of getting together, his actions are driving us apart. This 2014 proclamation giving thanks to each other for a very successful year is not in the spirit of Thanksgiving, but is a symptom of the times we live in, “A Nation, divided, apart from God”.