China Urged to Shift Urban Growth to Supercities
March 24th, 2008Via: Reuters:
Shifting China’s model of urbanization to favor huge supercities could boost per capita output, improve energy efficiency and help contain the loss of arable land, the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) said on Monday.
Rapid urbanization has been a major driver of Chinese growth over the past two decades and will become more so over the next 20 years; cities will account for 95 percent of China’s gross domestic product by 2025, up from 75 percent today, MGI said.
But the institute, the economics research arm of consultants McKinsey & Co, said in a report that China could reap even greater economic benefits by adopting a more concentrated pattern of urban growth.
By enforcing land acquisition rules more strictly and by tweaking incentives for local officials, national policy makers could nurture 15 supercities with average populations of 25 million people, the report said.
Alternatively, planners could develop 11 clusters of cities with combined populations of more than 60 million people.
China currently only has two cities of more than 10 million people, Beijing and Shanghai.
China’s urbanization rate doubled between 1980 and 2005 to 44 percent and will climb to 66 percent by 2025, driven by the influx of an additional 240 million rural migrants, MGI said.
This flight from the land will impose huge strains.
Urban China will need to find double the energy and water resources they now consume. Arable land could shrink 20 percent in the worst case, and pollution, no matter what, will be severe.
Banks Remain Wary of Home Loans; Lending Standards as Strict as They Were 20 Years Ago
March 24th, 2008By definition, Ponzi schemes collapse when the supply of “greater fools” diminishes to the point where existing participants no longer receive payments. (See: Pyramids Crumbling.) Where does that leave this economic system? The banking elite aren’t just going to give up, so what’s next?
I can’t see beyond the popping of the twin derivative and U.S. dollar bubbles. On this one, my Magic 8 Ball is coming up, “Reply Hazy, Try Again,” over and over again. Looking at the chicken entrails splattered against the wall, all I can discern is a bloody mess. The global system that was established after World War II is in another transformation phase now. The collapse of Bear Stearns signaled that the shift was underway. (The last transformation occurred when President Richard Nixon defaulted on paying U.S. obligations in gold.)
Clearly, there are system level plans afoot, but look at any mafia family with big plans. What always happens? Double crosses. Side rackets. Skimming. Back stabbing. I find it hard to believe that the concerted action by the Central Banks will be able to keep the show going in a recognizable manner. (And if my simple doubt about this isn’t strong enough for you, check out, The Financial Destruction of the Average Man.) If that kind of concerted action is required to keep the system going, increasing numbers of participants will look at the antics and think, “How can I make my way to the exit while the rest of the idiots dawdle?”
While systemic financial collapse has looked imminent many times before in recent decades, the black magicians somehow manage to prevail to take the system to new and more insane heights of folly. I’m assuming that some form of emergency will be declared and that aspects of an overt planned economy will be attempted; restrictions on the movement of capital, price controls, rationing, work camps, etc. But I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.
I’m sticking with my earlier assessment that the financial situation will continue to devolve toward a crisis point in the Fall of 2008. I’m guessing that this period will represent the peak in foreclosures and bankruptcies, with all of the follow on consequences popping up in the spring. I’ll stop there. No sense in terrifying people if I’m wrong.
Via: IHT:
Just when consumers and the U.S. economy need banks to lend more freely, the mortgage industry is making it harder to borrow — even for those with good credit.
Mortgage insurers, whose backing is required for borrowers who can’t afford the traditional 20 percent down payment on a home, have already flagged nearly a quarter of the nation’s ZIP codes where they refuse to insure some home loans.
That encompasses a wide variety of neighborhoods: McMansions in Scottsdale, Ariz.; luxury Miami condos; 1960 ranch houses in Flint, Mich.; and early 20th century kit homes in Metuchen, N.J.
The entire states of California, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Ohio and Nevada — which have seen the highest foreclosure rates and the worst price declines — are blackballed on some mortgage insurers’ lists.
Banks that have lost billions because of bad bets during the housing boom are now reverting to strict lending standards not seen in nearly 20 years, according to industry data and interviews with lenders.
For new home buyers and those seeking to refinance, it can mean higher down payments and a higher bar for credit scores, among other requirements. The toughest restrictions are in markets where home prices are falling, though regions where property values are rising are not immune.
“We’re in the midst of an epic, broad, sweeping change in the mortgage industry,” said Chris Sipe, a loan officer with America East Mortgage in Frederick, Md.
The reluctance to extend credit comes despite a flurry of government initiatives, including steady interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, intended to make it easier for would-be borrowers and those facing interest-rate resets on their mortgages.
Lenders’ growing leeriness threatens to dampen sellers’ already soggy prospects for the spring home-buying season — and that means more pain for the already battered housing sector and the broader economy.
In recent weeks, mortgage insurers have flagged more than 9,600 ZIP codes in at least 34 states where they won’t insure certain types of home loans — those for investment properties or second homes, those with riskier adjustable-rate or interest-only mortgages, or for buyers making down payments of less than 3 percent.
MIT Developed Microchip 10X More Energy-Efficient than Present Technology
March 23rd, 2008Sure! Clouds of NSA dust and Homeland Security e-mites. The air will be so thick with the stuff that “the terrorists” won’t be able to find their targets.
Via: MIT Energy Initiative:
Researchers at MIT and Texas Instruments have designed a new chip for portable electronics that could be up to 10 times more energy-efficient than present technology. Given its reduced power consumption, the new chip could lead to cell phones, handheld computers, and remote sensors that last far longer when running from a battery.
Indeed, the power required could be so low that implantable medical devices such as pacemakers and health monitors could be powered indefinitely by a person’s body heat or motion—no battery needed.
…
For example, portable and implantable medical devices, portable communications devices, and networking devices could be based on such chips and thus have greatly increased operating times. There may also be a variety of military applications in the production of tiny, self-contained sensor networks that could be dispersed in a battlefield.
In some applications, such as implantable medical devices, the goal is to make the power requirements so low that they could be powered by “ambient energy,” Chandrakasan says—using the body’s own heat or movement to provide all the needed power. In addition, the technology could be suitable for body area networks or wirelessly enabled body sensor networks.
Senior Republican Ratfucker from Florida Told FBI About Spitzer
March 23rd, 2008Ratfucking is an American slang term for political sabotage or dirty tricks. It was first brought to public attention by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in their book All the President’s Men.
Ok, so now it’s official: Spitzer was taken out on purpose.
I assume that any connections to Florida are related to drugs. But who knows… Over the last week or so, I’ve read Spitzer-9/11 and Spitzer-subprime.
The only thing I know for sure is: I don’t know.
For example, I’m sitting here wondering: CIA involvement or No CIA involvement? Sure, it’s possible, maybe even likely, that this Roger Stone prick has, “a social contact in an adult-themed club.” After all, we’re talking about the “family values” crew here. But what are the odds that this particular prick would hear the dope on Spitzer via such channels? Of all the whores and johns and clubs and Republican goons in the world, Roger Stone has something to say to the FBI about what Elliot Spitzer was doing with his wee wee?!
Oh yeah, don’t forget the pimp with three passports (two Israeli and one U.S.).
Via: Miami Herald:
Almost four months before Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in a sex scandal, a lawyer for Republican political operative Roger Stone sent a letter to the FBI alleging that Spitzer ”used the services of high-priced call girls” while in Florida.
The letter, dated Nov. 19, said Miami Beach resident Stone learned the information from ”a social contact in an adult-themed club.” It offered one potentially identifying detail: the man in question hadn’t taken off his calf-length black socks “during the sex act.”
Stone, known for shutting down the 2000 presidential election recount effort in Miami-Dade County, is a longtime Spitzer nemesis whose political experience ranges from the Nixon White House to Al Sharpton’s presidential campaign. His lawyer wrote the letter containing the call-girl allegations after FBI agents had asked to speak to Stone, though he says the FBI did not specify why he was contacted.
”Mr. Stone respectfully declines to meet with you at this time,” the letter states, before going on to offer ”certain information” about Spitzer.
”The governor has paid literally tens of thousands of dollars for these services. It is Mr. Stone’s understanding that the governor paid not with credit cards or cash but through some pre-arranged transfer,” the letter said.
”It is also my client’s understanding from the same source that Governor Spitzer did not remove his mid-calf length black socks during the sex act. Perhaps you can use this detail to corroborate Mr. Stone’s information,” the letter said, signed by attorney Paul Rolf Jensen of Costa Mesa, Calif.
The letter also notes that while Stone believes the information is true, he ”cannot swear to its accuracy” because it is second-hand.
James Margolin, a spokesman for the FBI’s New York office, would not say whether the bureau had received the letter. A spokeswoman for Spitzer also had no comment.
The letter was written several months after allegations were leveled at Stone that he had left a threatening phone message at the office of Bernard Spitzer, the ex-governor’s father, regarding ”phony” campaign loans involving his son’s unsuccessful 1994 bid for attorney general. Stone denied making the call but resigned as a consultant for state Senate Republicans in Albany.
Spitzer, the crusading attorney general who became governor, resigned March 12 amid allegations he was a client of a high-paid prostitution ring, the Emperors’ Club. Four people have been charged with operating the ring. Spitzer has not been charged. A federal affidavit described a rendezvous between Spitzer and a prostitute known as Kristen, since identified as Ashley Alexandra Dupre, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on Feb. 13.
One of Stone’s lawyers, Fort Lauderdale attorney Robert Buschel, said the letter’s release is an attempt to set the record straight about Stone’s possible part in the Spitzer drama. Stone confirmed the letter and referred The Miami Herald to his lawyer for comments.
”The conspiracy enthusiasts on the Internet are going wild over Roger Stone’s role in the fall of Eliot Spitzer. We felt it was important to lay out for the public exactly what Mr. Stone did tell the government,” said Buschel, a partner in Rothstein, Rosenfeldt, Adler of Fort Lauderdale.
Stone works as a partner in a separate public affairs and consulting company with the same name — Rothstein, Rosenfeldt, Adler — in the same office as the law firm.
”We trust this information was helpful to federal authorities in making their case against Mr. Spitzer,” Buschel said.
Clean, Green U.S. Prison Camp: The Guantanamo Naval Base Wind Farm
March 23rd, 2008For years, I wanted to believe that Peak Oil could bring this horror show down. My problem, of course, was that I couldn’t ignore simple, observable realities and the fact that evil people have many plans up their sleeves.
Some of you view collapse due to Peak Oil as a given. I understand that desire. Unfortunately, it’s just not going to go that way. The people of the “developed world” are going to be handled in a manner similar to the way conventional Western medicine treats cancer patients. We’re going to be kept alive only to the extent that corporations can lift our wallets. And somehow, guess what: This system is going to limp on, creaking and grinding and murdering and polluting all the way into the grim dystopia of clean, green fascism.
—Shell’s $30 per Barrel Oil Shale Process
Lockheed Martin has signed an exclusive international rights agreement to integrate and market Electrical Energy Storage Units (EESU) from EEStor, Inc., for military and homeland security applications. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
EEStor, based in Cedar Park, TX, is developing a ceramic battery chemistry that could provide 10 times the energy density of lead acid batteries at 1/10th the weight and volume. As envisioned, EESUs will be a fully “green” technology that will be half the price per stored watt-hour than traditional battery technologies.
“Lockheed Martin has a wide range of innovative energy solutions for federal, state and regional energy applications,” said Glenn Miller, vice president of Technical Operations and Applied Research at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “The EEStor energy storage technology provides potential solutions for the demanding requirements for energy in military and homeland defense applications.”
EESUs are planned as nontoxic, non-hazardous and non-explosive. Since the EESU design is based on ultra-capacitor architecture, it will allow for flexible packaging and rapid charge/discharge capabilities. EESUs will be ideally suited for a wide range of power management initiatives that could lead to energy independence for the Warfighter.
—Lockheed Martin to Use EEstor’s Ultracapacitors for Military and Homeland Security Applications
The water bottles, plastic foam plates and other trash discarded by American troops in Iraq’s mess halls may soon be serving double-duty — as an unlikely power source to illuminate barracks and power up laptops.
The Army is preparing to deploy to Iraq two 4-ton biomass refineries designed to turn piles of trash into electricity. Each can run for 20 hours on a ton of trash, producing enough power to light a small village.
The novel machines were built by defense contractors and Purdue University scientists as part of the Army’s push to reduce troops’ diesel fuel use in Iraq, where convoys are frequently targeted by insurgents.
Army planners say cutting the fuel needs of the generators that power military encampments will mean fewer trips into harm’s way for soldiers who drive tanker trucks. It will also free up more fuel for tanks, Humvees and other military equipment.
—Tactical Biorefineries: Army to Turn Trash Into Power in Iraq
I’ve already written the commentary to this story dozens of times over…
Via: Cryptome:
Guantanamo Naval Base Wind Farm
Eyeball
More: Guantanamo Harnessing Wind to Create Power, Cut Emissions
Research Credit: MD
Obama: “I would reach out to the first George Bush.”
March 22nd, 2008Imagine my shock.
Via: CNN:
KING: A couple of quick things, Senator. Would you, in your administration, make use of Bill Clinton?
OBAMA: Absolutely. I think that, you know, Bill Clinton is a brilliant statesman and politician, and I think that any president would want to use his skills and his relationships around the world.
By the way, I would reach out to the first George Bush. You know, one of the things that I think George H.W. Bush doesn’t get enough credit for was his foreign policy team and the way that he helped negotiate the end of the Cold War and prosecuted the Gulf War. That cost us 20 billion dollars. That’s all it cost. It was extremely successful. I think there were a lot of very wise people. So I want a bipartisan team that can help to provide me good advice and counsel when I’m president of the United States.
“The Bear situation changed everything: people saw death before their eyes.”
March 22nd, 2008Via: Financial Times:
The Federal Reserve and Treasury are playing a dominant day-to-day role in overseeing Wall Street following this week’s rescue of Bear Stearns, raising the prospect that the central bank might be given more permanent authority over securities firms.
Bankers say the greater authority is a direct consequence of the Fed’s extraordinary decisions to extend a $30bn credit line to help JPMorgan Chase’s takeover of Bear and to lend emergency funds to securities houses for the first time in more than 70 years.
“There is a new sheriff in town,” said a senior banker. “The Bear situation changed everything: people saw death before their eyes. The Fed and Treasury are in charge now and are not going to let go”.
Under a regulatory regime dating back to the 1930s, the Fed oversees commercial banks, but investment banks are primarily regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
But as the credit crunch deepened, Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, Tim Geithner, president of the New York Fed, Hank Paulson, Treasury secretary, and Robert Steel, his number two, have been in unusually close contact with Wall Street executives.
People close to the situation said the Fed and Treasury feared further problems among securities firms could destabilise the financial system and expose US taxpayers to sizeable losses on the new Fed loans.
Their stance has triggered talk of new financial services legislation, with bankers and politicians, including Barney Frank, House financial services committee chairman, asking whether investment banks should be regulated by the SEC or the Fed.
An extension of the Fed’s powers to investment banks might force them to reduce risk and leverage in order to comply with the tougher requirements faced by deposit-taking banks.
However, any change would require legislative action, which looks increasingly difficult ahead of the November presidential election, and could be even more problematic under a new Administration.
The SEC said different agencies were functioning as “equal partners at the regulatory forefront”.
Central Banks Float Rescue Ideas: Hold on to Your Wallet
March 22nd, 2008IMF Special Drawing Rights for toxic waste mortgage backed securities?
What’s described below isn’t going to happen tomorrow, but the banking elite are clearly thinking about how They can force all of us to eat this slop. In Russia, I hear there’s a saying that describes the situation with the mob at all levels of society:
“Everybody pays.”
Related: Modern Mafia Operates at Every Level of Italian Society
Via: Financial Times:
Central banks on both sides of the Atlantic are actively engaged in discussions about the feasibility of mass purchases of mortgage-backed securities as a possible solution to the credit crisis.
Such a move would involve the use of public funds to shore up the market in a key financial instrument and restore confidence by ending the current vicious circle of forced sales, falling prices and weakening balance sheets.
The conversations, part of a broader exchange as to possible future steps in battling financial turmoil, are at an early stage. However, the fact that such a move is being discussed at all indicates the depth of concern that exists over the health of the banking system.
It shows how far the policy debate has shifted in recent weeks as the crisis has spread to prime mortgage assets in the US and engulfed Bear Stearns, the investment bank.
The Bank of England appears most enthusiastic to explore the idea. The Federal Reserve is open in principle to the possibility that intervention in the MBS market might be justified in certain scenarios, but only as a last resort. The European Central Bank appears least enthusiastic.
Any move to buy mortgage-backed securities would require government involvement because taxpayers would be assuming credit risk. There is no indication as yet that the US administration would favour such moves. In the eurozone it would require agreement from 15 separate governments.
UPDATE: Fed Denies It
Quick Note on Thursday’s Trades
March 21st, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
I took profit on my FXF (Swiss Franc ETF) trade, not so much because I believe that the current dollar rally is real, but because I want to have some dry powder on hand in case I decide to get back into DBA (Powershares Agriculture ETF). DBA is collapsing nicely now. I don’t have a margin account, so I need to have settled funds on hand. Also, it was just a really good run on that Swissy, and nobody ever went broke by taking a profit (I keep telling myself).
I also bought some deep out of the money put options on XLF (Financial Select Sector SPDR), as the financials were rallying sharply. These are April expiration with strikes at 19. This is essentially a wild ass roll of the dice that the financial sector is going to have big, big problems over the next month. They were really shilling that piece of trash up on Thursday, so I pulled the trigger on some puts.
Are Dealers Running Low on Silver?
March 21st, 2008Maybe people who are into holding physical silver can provide some reports on availability with their dealers…
Via: Silver Seek:
Since my email earlier tonight, where I reported that 5-6 major silver dealers (Amark, Tulving, 2 in Vancouver, my local dealer, NWT Mint) are “out of inventory”, 13 more reports came in, saying that the dealers were out of silver inventory. Some of these names are big names in the business, Scotia bank, the Perth Mint in Australia, CNI Numismatics in LA, APMEX says they have some items, but are looking to buy.
Research Credit: EB
