bluesky123

The Electric Car Will Usher in Smart Grid 2.0

the oil rich Gulf state of Qatar announced a $25billion contract has been awarded to build a high speed rail network to "prepare for the end of oil".

In Debt We Trust: Public Spending as a Tool of Economic Recovery

we didn't invest in the new energy economy, so there are no jobs. Qatar announced this week they are building a nationwide high speed rail network "to prepare for the end of oil". The contract is $25billion.

Real Estate Recovery in Southern California: Home Sales Increase for 16th Straight Month

shadow inventory of homes for sale in the worst hit states (FL, AZ, CA, NV) is 5-6 times the number of listings in the MLS. For those who have been living in a cave, I highly recommend the report below dated November 1st on the US housing market. Pay particular interest to slide #22 (printed in Seeking Alpha many, many times this year) and #24 before you drink more "rah, rah, sis boom bah housing market Kool Aid. Yep, great time to buy lumber futures. Best of luck with that.

fundmymutualfund.c...

Market Volume: Still an Unanswered Question

I agree with the author. Core to a country and a financial market system expected to elicit respect and confidence is transparency. Derivatives traded in the dark, dark pools with unknown volumes, derivatives with counter parties nobody can find, banks with derivatives exposure of 50 times assets (that make hedge funds look as safe as gold bars), nobody has a clue what is going on. I don't think any US bank has a Chief Risk Officer. US banks still have no clue whatsoever about risk management. If an overseas company is preparing to do an IPO, why list in such a lunatic marketplace? Companies can take their business elsewhere and are doing so. America has a long climb out of the sewer to re-establish credibility in the world. This short sighted thinking is costing the country dearly. Reputation and trust is everything.

Dr. Copper Spots a Monster Crash

Credit continues to collapse. Consumers deleveraging. US consumer spending was funded by "House as ATM Syndrome" which is over forever. Velocity of money has collapsed. There will be inflation one day. Just not any time soon.

Timber! The Best Way to Play a Change in Housing Sentiment

NYT reported yesterday 1 in 7 mortgages are in foreclosure or delinquent. The foreclosure market is now "in the eye of the hurricane". What if foreclosures rise to 1 in 6, or worse? Where are the jobs? Clean energy jobs are a mirage as the US Chamber of Commerce doesn't believe in clean tech (another industry in which we have ceded global leadership - duh!). So again, jobs from where? We built too many houses and there is nobody to pay for new ones. US consumer debt is 300% of GDP. The last thing we need now is lumber. The lumber entry point is far away. Common sense please.

Can UNL Tackle the Natural Gas Contango That's Plagued UNG?

Some newspaper articles in Europe speculated if the US really is awash in nat gas with no place to go, the US should consider exporting nat gas via LNG on tankers until such time as there is a vibrant US nat gas market. With no leadership on Capitol Hill on the issue, there is no tsunami of increasing US nat gas demand coming from anywhere.

China's Improbable Economic Growth Figures

China power consumption is up for the 5th consecutive month. Their industrial consumption of electricity is up 17.7% in the last year. I don't know what metric is a more reliable indicator than electricity consumption by the factories.

www.chinadaily.com.cn/...

China's Improbable Economic Growth Figures

tell the people of Wisconsin that China's growth is "improbable" and they will laugh you out of town. Wisconsin's economy is benefiting quite nicely from soaring China demand. Figure it out. There's a new 800lb gorilla in the room called China which is turning global trade upside down. Lament it, love it, whatever. Or you could just make money.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3.../

Chinese Exports: Can Emerging Markets Replace the U.S. Consumer?

demand from China is Wisconsin's entire economy

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3.../

Two More Myths About Business in China

I find Shaun's articles educational and informative. Any article that gives a western reader who has not had the opportunity to visit or work in China a window on everyday China life is of interest to me. I'm interested in the macro picture and in what ordinary Chinese people are doing, thinking, talking about, what's important to them, their daily struggles, how ordinary entrepreneurs bump up against the state etc. I was an exchange student in Japan and had a wonderful experience. The Japanese are a very gracious people. The description of Anna made me remember many Japanese women I met in Tokyo who had a similar lifestyle to Anna in Shanghai.

The Global Oil Scam: 50 Times Bigger than Madoff

Superb reporting. Well done author! You and people like Tyler Durden provide a huge service to the public. The Frankenstein financial industry is rotten to the very core. It has to be taken apart brick by brick and rebuilt. It has now become the biggest issue for the global economy.

On the subject of what is real oil supply, BP's latest Gulf of Mexico discovery involved drilling through 35,000 feet of rock underneath 4,000 feet of water. If a company resorts to such lengths, I have to imagine that peak oil is probably closer than we think.

bp.com/genericarti...

Buy an electric car. Charge it from a solar panel on your garage roof. Oil is evil.

Trade Deficit Threatens Double-Dip Recession

Transition US commercial transportation to nat gas:
1) reduce CO2 by 40%, reduce volatile organic compounds by 10%, reduce particulate matter by 80%
2) reduce our energy imports & trade deficit
3) jobs for Americans in the US nat gas industry (higher tax revenues at state & federal level)
4) reduce foreign energy dependence

A no brainer. I'll take a siesta and wait for the rest of sleepy Washington to come to its senses.

Whitney Tilson: 'Pullback of Some Sort Is Likely'

and meanwhile, Europe is seriously rich according to Newsweek. The American brand of capitalism no longer impresses anybody.

"This year, Europe surpassed the United States in wealth, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Next year, Europe's population is expected to hit half a billion and its GDP to nearly match that of the U.S. and China combined"

www.newsweek.com/id/22...

Examining the Latest in Commodity and Overseas ETFs

Newsweek: Europe's seriously rich

"This year, Europe surpassed the United States in wealth, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Next year, Europe's population is expected to hit half a billion and its GDP to nearly match that of the U.S. and China combined"

www.newsweek.com/id/22...