Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Energy Giant Shell Says Oil Demand Could Peak in Just Five Years
November 6th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s second-biggest energy company by market value, thinks demand for oil could peak in as little as five years, a rare statement in an industry that commonly forecasts decades of growth. “We’ve long been of the opinion that demand will peak before supply,” Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry […]
‘Spookier Than a Deranged-Looking Bozo’
October 28th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: Forget scary clowns. For finance professionals, Corporate America’s credit cycle and the U.S. economic outlook — not to mention Brexit-induced stresses and debt dynamics in Asia — are all spookier than a deranged-looking Bozo. With Halloween just around the corner, we asked top analysts around the world for charts about things that go […]
About Half a Million Solar Panels Were Installed Every Day Around the World in 2015
October 26th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — *grin* Via: IEA: The International Energy Agency said today that it was significantly increasing its five-year growth forecast for renewables thanks to strong policy support in key countries and sharp cost reductions. Renewables have surpassed coal last year to become the largest source of installed […]
The Pentagon’s ‘Terminator Conundrum’
October 25th, 2016Almost unnoticed outside of defense circles… I’ve been posting about this on here since 2002. 😐 Via: New York Times: Almost unnoticed outside defense circles, the Pentagon has put artificial intelligence at the center of its strategy to maintain the United States’ position as the world’s dominant military power. It is spending billions of dollars […]
Self Driving Truck Makes First Commercial Delivery
October 25th, 2016Via: New York Times: The futurists of Silicon Valley may not have seen this one coming: The first commercial delivery made by a self-driving truck was 2,000 cases of Budweiser beer. On Tuesday, Otto, the Uber-owned self-driving vehicle operation, announced the completion of its first commercial delivery, having delivered its beer load from Fort Collins, […]
Obamacare Premiums to Soar 22% On Average
October 24th, 2016Via: CNN: Obamacare premiums are set to skyrocket an average of 22% for the benchmark silver plan in 2017, according to a government report released Monday. The price hike is the latest blow to Obamacare. Insurers are raising prices and downsizing their presence on the exchanges as they try to stem losses from sicker-than-anticipated customers. […]
Batteries May Trip ‘Death Spiral’ in $3.4 Trillion Credit Market
October 23rd, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Bloomberg: Battery technologies starting to disrupt the electricity and automobile industries may also emerge as a trillion-dollar threat to credit markets, according to Fitch Ratings. A quarter of outstanding global corporate debt, or as much as $3.4 trillion, is linked to the utility- and […]
AT&T Announces Purchase of Time Warner for Nearly $86 Billion
October 22nd, 2016E-Corp! Via: BBC: The US telecoms giant AT&T has announced that it will buy entertainment group Time Warner for nearly $86bn (£70bn). The deal was agreed at a meeting of the two boards on Saturday but will still need to be approved by regulators. Correspondents say it is the biggest deal in the world this […]
America, Land of Opportunity? Not for Young People
October 21st, 2016Via: McClatchy: The United States is supposed to be a land of opportunity where young people can expect their quality of life will be better than their parents’. But the U.S. isn’t even in the top 20 countries when it comes to opportunities for young people. The U.S. ranks 23 on a list of 183 […]
Google Has Quietly Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking
October 21st, 2016Via: ProPublica: When Google bought the advertising network DoubleClick in 2007, Google founder Sergey Brin said that privacy would be the company’s “number one priority when we contemplate new kinds of advertising products.” And, for nearly a decade, Google did in fact keep DoubleClick’s massive database of web-browsing records separate by default from the names […]
