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September 4, 2024
Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2024-211
Comments
@ Phil R | Sep 7 2024 22:54 utc | 501
Works both ways. Symbiosis!
Posted by: malenkov | Sep 7 2024 23:19 utc | 502
Touche.
Posted by: Phil R | Sep 7 2024 23:46 utc | 501
I am a Jill Stein supporter and just got this tidbit about what the Cheney party has done.
The Nevada Supreme Court struck a body-blow against democracy when they ruled 5-2 that the over 29,000 signatures submitted by the Nevada Green Party – almost three times the required number – were invalidated by a technicality. The fine print in the affidavits used by the petition circulators was incorrect – the same affidavits that the Democratic Secretary of State directed the Green Party to use for our petition effort!
Do the people in Nevada know this has happened and do they agree?…small minds want to know…..
Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 7 2024 23:58 utc | 502
Terror cell activated in the US?
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/07/us/kentucky-interstate-75-shooting/index.html
Sounds like it’s being kept under wraps but the story is consistent with a sniper taking out drivers in cars on I-75 in Kentucky.
Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Sep 8 2024 0:22 utc | 503
Because without the US government mandate there would not be any ethanol in US fuel
Posted by: Roger | Sep 7 2024 23:34 utc | 504
__________________________________________________________
Yes, the US govt allows ethanol to be mixed with gasoline at a rate of 10% of the total gasoline fuel sold.
Where I live in the US you can choose to buy either ethanol enhanced fuel or pure gasoline with no ethanol added.
The vast majority of motorist buy the ethanol blend. The reason is that the ethanol blend is cheaper and there is no benefit to buying the gasoline without ethanol. Where I live they ethanol blends have been widely available for 50 years and people have figured out all the propaganda against ethanol is lies.
_________________________________________________________________
Only in a Brazil which has the perfect climate for very efficiently producing sugar cane based ethanol is oil not the preferred fuel and the ethanol produce less emissions.
____________________________________________________________________
You are just spouting propaganda
First of all the climate in Brazil is suited for rain forest. Its not suited for growing non-perennial crops.
Ethanol from corn is produced cheaper in the US than ethanol from cane in Brazil. That is why Brazil imports ethanol from the US and the US produces more.
The major difference is that the govt in Brazil supports ethanol fuels more than the US govt does.
Posted by: jinn | Sep 8 2024 0:40 utc | 504
Exile@492 I believe what I said, the “source” should have included school shootings. If cops were shooting school kids at one tenth the rate lovers of freedom do, the “source’ would have something to say about it. Pretending the abuses cited are not only common but worthy of condemnation but not school shootings, betrays a perverted morality…in my opinion. My guess is that you are stung because you share the indifference to murder so long as it’s in the name of property rights in guns. And my further guess is you are irate about the abuses because you believe in parental property rights in children.
Historically societies that left education of children to parents were characterized by widespread illiteracy.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Sep 8 2024 3:46 utc | 505
Sep 6, 2024
“Real-Time Self-Assembly of Stereomicroscopically Visible Artificial Constructions in Incubated Specimens of mRNA Products Mainly from Pfizer and Moderna: A Comprehensive Longitudinal Study”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEgjuB-0bw8
Posted by: Suzan | Sep 8 2024 4:19 utc | 506
The US wants to overthrow the government of Venezuela, and replace Maduro with a token president, while ruling the country from the US embassy.
This simple fact shows that fossil fuels are far from obsolete. Fossil fuels are a prize worth fighting for.
Posted by: Passerby | Sep 8 2024 8:05 utc | 507
This simple fact shows that fossil fuels are far from obsolete. Fossil fuels are a prize worth fighting for.
Passerby | Sep 8 2024 8:05 utc | 511
yes spot on. here’s knowledgeable guy i respect Art Berman
cheap peak oil? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1LsMiuFzoI&t=17s
https://www.artberman.com/blog/its-too-late-for-renewables/
https://www.artberman.com/blog/metacrisis-getting-honest-about-the-human-predicament/
https://www.artberman.com/blog/tom-steyers-impossible-dream-of-a-renewable-future/
Posted by: Fred | Sep 8 2024 8:20 utc | 508
Classic quotes:
No international energy agency supports Steyer’s claim that the world can eliminate fossil fuel use within the next few decades. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that fossil fuels will still comprise 63 percent of final energy consumption by 2050 under its stated policies scenario (Figure 3). ExxonMobil estimates a 68 percent share, while the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts 70 percent by 2050.
Without a reduction in overall energy consumption, there will be no meaningful progress in reducing atmospheric carbon levels. CO2 emissions have risen by 2 billion tons since 2020. Fossil fuel consumption has grown by 38 EJ, while wind and solar have increased by 14 EJ, and nuclear and hydro have added another 8 EJ.
and
“No high-income country is even close to meeting their Paris climate change obligations, with even the best performers on course to take more than 200 years to cut emissions to zero at existing rates of mitigation.”
Jason Hickel
Posted by: Fred | Sep 8 2024 8:37 utc | 509
Mr. Market is working his magic. Two reports on recent and expected events.
From Bloomberg
Would-Be Corporate Dip Buyers Armed With Fresh $107 Billion
. Companies announced $107 billion in new buybacks: Birinyi
. Group was active buying own shares after August rout
…
Companies authorized $107 billion in new buybacks last month, the most on record for any August, according to data from Birinyi Associates. The dollar value of announced buybacks was 17% higher than the previous August record, set in 2021. Data from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. suggest companies will supply $6.62 billion worth of daily purchasing power between now and Sept. 13, when they are forced to pause ahead of the third-quarter earnings season.
…
Overall, Goldman’s corporate buyback team estimates $1.15 trillion worth of authorizations and $960 billion of executed buybacks this year. Those would represent the most since 2022, according to Birinyi Associates.
ref: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-04/companies-approved-107-billion-in-buybacks-ahead-of-latest-rout
But where is all the money coming from to fund these buybacks?
FT answers
Companies issue record level of US debt to avoid market turbulence and election risk
Flurry of investment-grade bond deals as investors prepare for a potentially volatile autumn
Companies issued record volumes of US debt this week as they moved to head off possible volatility from closely watched economic data, a Federal Reserve meeting and a fast-approaching presidential election.
Twenty-nine US investment-grade bond deals hit the market on Tuesday alone following the Labor Day holiday, data from LSEG shows — the highest daily number on record.
Another burst of activity on Wednesday took issuance over those two days to just under $73bn, the largest figure in LSEG records going back 20 years. More blue-chip deals followed, taking total borrowing across 60 high-grade issuers to almost $82bn — marking the busiest week since May 2020.
ref: https://www.ft.com/content/42281d97-48d0-4034-9173-0b4905bc9bc9
At this banquet you eat your own dog food.
Posted by: too scents | Sep 8 2024 9:02 utc | 510
“Overall, Goldman’s corporate buyback team estimates $1.15 trillion worth of authorizations and $960 billion of executed buybacks this year. Those would represent the most since 2022, according to Birinyi Associates.”
Posted by: too scents | Sep 8 2024 9:02 utc | 514
The corporate tax system in the US forces companies to take debt and buy their own shares if they want to compete with their competitors.
If the company just paid its taxes and lessened its debt load they would be much more stable and profitable businesses in the long run, but everyone in the equity market is just worries a about the next quarter.
By companies buying their own shares there is less shares out there out making the stock look more attractive but , in essence, its decreasing its own liquidity.
This fall I predict a huge crash as the Yen strengthens, the yen carry trade falters as the West’s economies go into recession.
Buy gold, silver and hold it yourself.
Buy gold, silver and hold it yourself.
Posted by: canuck | Sep 8 2024 11:17 utc | 515
_______
You just have to find the sweet spot between the time you can unload it at maximum profit and either (1) violent anarchy or (2) government confiscation.
Then too there is, in the USA at least, the requirement to pay capital gains tax when you sell. Officially there’s no reporting requirement when someone buys your gold, but unless it’s a totally anonymous cash transaction, the feds can find you.
Posted by: malenkov | Sep 8 2024 12:02 utc | 512
Posted by: too scents | Sep 8 2024 9:02 utc | 514
Good post.
I read somewhere the strength of the US market is driven mainly by these buy-backs.
If we use the ROI as proxy for company performance, then this must exceed the yield on their bonds. Or perhaps this is irrelevant: as its the companies’ money doing the buying, the direct impact on directors’ holdings, inter alia, stock options and by extension future dividends, is greater from a cost-benefit analysis/personal income tax perspective.
Of course, I could be completely wrong.
Posted by: horseguards | Sep 8 2024 12:08 utc | 513
Posted by: canuck | Sep 7 2024 10:44 utc | 463
Thank you for your comment.
I’m still waiting for a rational defence of “irrationalism.”
Posted by: horseguards | Sep 8 2024 13:49 utc | 514
Posted by: Fred | Sep 7 2024 11:04 utc | 466
And this time the US will not be able to thwart progress (and infidelity) of Africa, cf destruction of Gadaffi and Libya, among others.
Posted by: horseguards | Sep 8 2024 13:52 utc | 515
Posted by: waynorinorway | Sep 7 2024 10:19 utc | 459
“So what of yours?” Where am I irrational?
Posted by: horseguards | Sep 8 2024 14:11 utc | 516
Posted by: Fred | Sep 7 2024 10:54 utc | 465
Your links are the prelude to the slow-motion train wreck that is the West. Europe is fucked; the US will be fucked; and then the twain shall meet.
Posted by: horseguards | Sep 8 2024 14:19 utc | 517
Posted by: Cynic | Sep 7 2024 13:25 utc | 487
From the link:
“despite its huge significance, it has never been the subject of a substantial debate in Parliament.”
So much for peoples’ democracy. This dual-passported fuck will not survive.
Posted by: horseguards | Sep 8 2024 14:48 utc | 518
Posted by: Fred | Sep 8 2024 8:20 utc | 512
Overshoot, William R. Catton, 1980.
Posted by: Passerby | Sep 8 2024 21:37 utc | 519
I am a Jill Stein supporter and just got this tidbit about what the Cheney party has done.
The Nevada Supreme Court struck a body-blow against democracy when they ruled 5-2 that the over 29,000 signatures submitted by the Nevada Green Party – almost three times the required number – were invalidated by a technicality. The fine print in the affidavits used by the petition circulators was incorrect – the same affidavits that the Democratic Secretary of State directed the Green Party to use for our petition effort!
Do the people in Nevada know this has happened and do they agree?…small minds want to know…..
Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 7 2024 23:58 utc | 506
Thank you for your post, Psychohistorian. It deserved a repeat, many repeats in fact. The Supreme Court should look into this.
Posted by: juliania | Sep 8 2024 23:27 utc | 520
Posted by: waynorinorway | Sep 7 2024 6:45 utc | 447
Thank you very much, waynorinorway. I’ve taken to posting on older threads that I know will not be front and center so as just to have a philosophical argument as much as possible. Everyone has a right to their own beliefs and often they express them better than I do my own. It’s not a contest; just how we can better understand one another. That is what multipolarity means to me.
There are Christians as part of the Palestinian mixture, churches are bombed in Israel, destroyed in Ukraine, that have existed for a millenium and more. I tried to give those people a voice, through my own experiences, as I tried to defend the Jewish faith even though I am not Jewish. Badly, it appears, but I get the message. Not appropriate to this forum; I do see that now.
I love all my family members who think differently; as I do all of the good people on this forum. My apologies to b, and to others I have offended. Best wishes and peace to all.
Posted by: juliania | Sep 8 2024 23:47 utc | 521
Posted by: canuck | Sep 7 2024 10:44 utc | 463
Thank you for your comment.
I’m still waiting for a rational defence of “irrationalism.”
Posted by: horseguards | Sep 8 2024 13:49 utc | 518
Posted by: canuck | Sep 7 2024 10:44 utc | 463
Why would you be so profane to a practicing Christian?
You , obviously, don’t agree with her religion so shy not just skip reading such posts?
I repeat once more: You are an Intellectual Boor (TM), period.