Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.

1.Supplying a single gallon of gasoline in Afghanistan reportedly costs the U.S. military an average of $400, while sustaining a single U.S. soldier runs around $1 million a year (by contrast, sustaining an Afghan soldier costs about $12,000 a year). Afghanistan, a landlocked country in the heart of Central Asia, is one of the most isolated places on Earth. Hundreds of shipping containers and fuel trucks must enter the country every day from Pakistan and from the north to sustain the nearly 150,000 U.S. and allied forces.

2.When Barack Obama took office, there were 34,000 US troops in Afghanistan. This rose to about 104,000 and now will be ruduced to 70,000. Double the amount of when he took office. This war is an Obama priority, and he will be judged by the results. The peanut gallery thinks this war was and is a waste of time and money. In fact, the peanut gallery is of the opinion that any war whose goal is regime change, is doomed to failure. Our prediction is that once US Forces return home from Iraq and Afghanistan, none of the present regimes will survive.

3. Just when you think TSA can't get any worse...An elderly woman in the late-stages of leukemia was forced to undergo 45 minutes of additional screenings last Saturday when she tried to board a flight out of Northwest Florida Regional Airport, her daughter told FoxNews.com Lena Reppert, 95, was to say her final goodbyes to her daughter before she made what would most likely be her last flight to her native Michigan. After eight years of battling leukemia, doctors say she doesn’t have much time to live. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/26/dying-woman-undergoes-additional-tsa-security-screening-says-family/

COMMENT: Political correctness will be the end of this society. The peanut gallery has learned that TSA has stopped zero attempted terror attacks since its implementation after 9/11. And now they are demanding to be unionised.....

4.FT: The US dollar will lose its status as the global reserve currency over the next 25 years, according to a survey of central bank reserve managers who collectively control more than $8,000bn. More than half the managers, who were polled by UBS, predicted that the dollar would be replaced by a portfolio of currencies within the next 25 years. The peanut gallery predicts that this will happen much sooner, and that gold will be part of the basket.

5.FT: Central banks have bought about 151 tonnes of gold so far this year, led by Russia and Mexico, according to the World Gold Council, and are on track to make their largest annual purchases of bullion since the collapse in 1971 of the Bretton Woods system, which pegged the value of the dollar to gold.

6.Russell: Dennis Gartman writes that the raiding of the emergency oil reserves was the most blatant piece of political chicanery that he's ever seen. I agree. What's next? A free GM Volt for every person who castes his vote for Obama? Don't laugh, it could happen.

7.Greece...What problem? The EU funded underground in Athens is airconditioned with large plasma screeens to entertain while you wait. It is, in effect, free for the five million people of the Greek capital. The transport perks are not confined to the customers. Incredibly, the average salary on Greece’s railways is £60,000, which includes cleaners and track workers - treble the earnings of the average private sector employee in London. 

8.It gets better. The overground rail network is as big a racket as the EU-funded underground. While its annual income is only £80 million from ticket sales, the wage bill is more than £500m a year — prompting one Greek politician to famously remark that it would be cheaper to put all the commuters into private taxis. There isn’t a single private company in Greece with that kind of average pay.

9.We're on a Greek roll....Ridiculously, Greek pastry chefs, radio announcers, hairdressers and masseurs in steam baths are among more than 600 professions allowed to retire at 50 (with a state pension of 95 per cent of their last working year’s earnings) — on account of the ‘arduous and perilous’ nature of their work.

COMMENT: The peanut gallery believes that there might be a case for an idealogical connection between the far left and militant Islam. Try some of these words....corruption, fraud, decadence, dishonesty....all on a massive scale. These guys deserve everything they get.

10. There is now a new type of refugee. They call them "Water Refugees" or "Climate Refugees" or even "Environmental Refugees". The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) recently announced that some 50 million people have become climate refugees, displaced from their homes due to dramatic climate changes. They come predominantly from developing nations where climate changes are coupled with already existing war and poverty to intensify the situation. 

COMMENT: Its still a trickle......

11.A senior Jordanian official says the Hashemite kingdom will vote against a Palestinian statehood bid scheduled to be put before the UN General Assembly in September. "Jordan's top national interests will be in danger if the Palestinian Authority declares statehood unilaterally – especially in everything related to the issue of refugees, water, Jerusalem, and the borders," the UAE-based al-Bayan quoted a Jordanian state official as saying.

COMMENT:How believable is this report?. The majority of population in Jordan are Palestinians. Jordan has just received $400 million from Saudi Arabia to stay afloat economically. The Jordanians must be pretty nervous, considering the events unfolding in the arab world. Logical....but nothing logical in these countries.

The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything-or nothing - Nancy Astor 

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Big Picture 2

Newsweek: Even those who deny the existence of global climate change are having trouble dismissing the evidence of the last year. In the US alone, nearly 1,000 tornadoes have ripped across the heartland, killing more than 500 people and inflicting $9 billion in damage. The Midwest suffered the wettest April in 116 years, forcing the Mississippi to flood thousands of square miles, even as drought-plagued Texas suffered the driest month in a century.

There was flooding in New York City, especially in lower Manhattan; swamped roads and infrastructure along the Gulf Coast; coral bleaching and eventual death of Hawaii's reefs; villages in Alaska are being moved away from melting permafrost and rising seas; North Carolina's historic Cape Hatteras lighthouse was moved inland in 1999; and, threatened by storm surges, California's famed Highway 1 will have to be rerouted.

Worldwide, the litany of weather's extremes has reached biblical proportions. The 2010 heat wave in Russia killed an estimated 15,000 people. Floods in Australia and Pakistan killed 2,000 and left large swaths of each country under water. A months-long drought in China has devastated millions of acres of farmland. And the temperature keeps rising: 2010 was the hottest year on earth since weather records began. The stable climate of the last 12,000 years is gone. Which means you haven't seen anything yet.

And we are not prepared. The burning of fossil fuels has raised atmospheric levels of heat-trapping carbon dioxide by 40% above what they were before the Industrial Revolution. The added heat in the atmosphere retains more moisture, ratchets up the energy in the system, and incites more violent and extreme weather.
There is wide consensus that the 2 degrees Fahrenheit of global warming of the last century is behind the rise in sea levels, more intense hurricanes, more heat waves, and more droughts and deluges. Changing temperatures will have a profound effect on the plants and animals among us.


Crops that flourished in the old climate regime will have to adapt to the new one, as some pests are already doing. Tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever are reaching temperate regions, and ragweed and poison ivy thrive in the hothouse world. In much of the US Northeast, farmers will be unable to grow popular varieties of apples, blueberries, and cranberries, for instance; in Vermont, maple sugaring will likely go the way of ox-drawn plows. States and cities will have to make huge investments in infrastructure to handle the encroaching sea and raging rivers. In Ventura, California, construction crews moved Surfer's Point
65-feet inland, the state's first experiment in "managed retreat."


Miami and New Orleans will become islands as surrounding communities are sacrificed. Given that Manhattan is already an island, architects design Venice-like canals for the southern tip. Around the world, nearly 1-billion people live in low-lying river deltas, from Guangzhou to New Orleans, that will be reclaimed by the sea, forcing tens of millions of people to migrate. Britain is taking adaptation seriously, planning to raise the height of the
floodgates protecting central London from the Thames by 12 inches.


Global warming is already responsible for one war (Darfur). A second war (in Yemen) has its roots in water supply. These are just curtain raisers.....The violence in the Middle East has a basis in hunger, partly induced by global warming. The great human migrations, similar to those in the animal kingdom, have begun. A small trickle.....for now.

If global warming is real, and it is, shifting from carbon to nuclear power is inevitable.

COMMENT:DON"T WORRY ABOUT THE PLANET, IT WILL SURVIVE....WE WON'T! DON"T BELIEVE YOUR POLITICIANS. THEY ARE THE ONES WHO PUT US IN THIS POSITION. AND TYPICALLY, THEY WILL ONLY REACT WHEN IT IS TOO LATE. 

There is nothing stable in the world - uproar's our only music. - John Keats


Israel - The Miracle Continues....

1.Israeli Startup Presents No-Glasses 3D Laptop

An Israeli firm, 3DTVision, has come up with a way to create and display 3D content that does not require the viewer to wear 3D glasses. According to David Ohayon the firm’s founder and CEO, the technique is similar to the 3D that requires glasses in that two images are displayed – one for each eye to see. However, there is no need for the glasses: the human brain does the work of ‘deciding’ which eye sees which image. The firm also makes laptops with screens that can toggle from 2D to 3D display – the first such laptop in the world, according to Ohayon.

2.Israel setting up missile defense center

Defense News: Israel's Ministry of Defense is working to integrate all four of the anti-missile defense systems developed in the country into a national command and control center for the interception of enemy missiles.
Pentagon Missile Defense Agency director Lt. General Patrick O'Reilly told Defense News that the Israeli national command and control center for intercepting missiles would also help the US and its partners in the region to defend themselves against the Iranian threat. He said that all sides benefited from the maneuvers, trials and hundreds of simulations of hardware systems that were being funded jointly by the Israel and US.

COMMENT: This is not a slip of the tongue. Its time to acknowledge the Israeli contribution to US interests.

3.Airbus, Israel join forces on early-warning plane

Airbus says it's joining forces with state-run Israel Aerospace Industries to develop a new airborne early warning and control aircraft. Spokeswoman Barbara Kracht said Tuesday this is the first time that Airbus will jointly work with an Israeli company on a military project. (AP)

4.IMI tank defense system succeeds in US test

Israel Military Industries Ltd's (IMI) Porcupine Quill tank defense system has succeeded in a series of tests in the US. The system intercepts antitank missiles and RPGs. The tests were conducted at the US Army Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. The Porcupine Quill can operate in all weather conditions and at night. It can identify the source of the incoming missile enabling the defense to accurately fire back at the source.

COMMENT: This is the second similar system coming out of Israel successfully tested (the other is "Trophy"). It looks like all those years of US aid are now paying off for the US. I wonder how US aid to other countries has played out?

5.Unemployment hits historic low

The rate of unemployment in Israel fell in April to 5.8%, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today. This is an all-time low, beating the previous historic low for unemployment of 5.9% in the summer of 2008. Israelis over the age of 15 are part of the workforce - 62% of men and 53% of women.

6.Elbit's civilian aircraft first ever

Elbit will unveil for the first time, in full size, its advanced C-Music pod carried in the hold of a civilian aircraft and designed to protect it from shoulder-launched missiles. The system, the first of its kind in the world, is based on a laser that disrupts the missile's flight. Aircraft of Israeli airlines are due to be equipped with the system.

Change is inevitable. Its direction that counts - Gil Atkinson

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Muslim World

1.Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Elaraby on Monday told Iran not to meddle in the internal affairs of Gulf Arab states, saying that Cairo considers the security of fellow Arab countries "a red line", or no-go area. Tensions between non-Arab Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbors have risen after Tehran objected to the dispatch of Saudi troops to Bahrain in March to help crush an uprising by mostly Shiite Muslims against the kingdom's Sunni rulers, and a spying row. (Reuters)

Comment: Sunni vs Shia...Arab muslim vs non-arab muslim

2.More than 10,000 Syrians have fled their country Monday in search of refuge in Turkey and Lebanon, due to the brutal repression by President Bashar al-Assad's regime, according to UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Valerie Amos.

Comment: The civil war in Syria heats up. After all, it is an arab spring.

3.An online video uploaded by Syrian opposition activists shows protestors setting fire to Iranian and Hezbollah flags during a demonstration held east of Damascus on Tuesday. "Not Iran and not Hezbollah, we want a president who's afraid of Allah," the protesters shouted.

COMMENT: More proof that the so-called uprising and "Arab Spring" is nothing more than a religious proxy war between Sunni's and Shia's and the furthest thing from their minds is the Obama democracy spin.

4.Palestinian officials said Sunday that a high-profile meeting between the leaders of the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, set for Tuesday, has been called off. Tuesday's meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal had been expected to name the prime minister over an emerging reconciliation government. (AP)

COMMENT: I wish the stock market was as predictable as these buffoons.

5.A European shipment of humanitarian aid arrived at Gaza Strip via the Port of el-Arish in Egypt, on Wednesday. The shipment – which was part of the "Miles of Smiles" project – The sail was coordinated with Egyptian authorities and transferred to Gaza in what IDF sources described as "proof there is no need to breach the Gaza blockade"

COMMENT:This confirms again what we all know. The Flotilla is nothing more than a provocation. It is just one more example of deceit and fabrication coming out of the muslim world.

6.BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group is preparing for a possible war with Israel to relieve perceived Western pressure to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, its guardian ally, sources close to the movement say.

COMMENT: Really? Hizbullah is telegraphing its intentions through the western media? Mariam Karouny of Reuters quotes "sources".....No wonder western media is rated in the same integrity bracket as politicians.

Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed -  Mark Twain

Follow The Money

1.The lack of regulation that allowed A.I.G. to sell hundreds of billions of dollars in credit default swaps on mortgage-backed securities was a direct result of efforts by the Treasury (first under Rubin and then under Summers), the Federal Reserve (under Greenspan), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (under Arthur Levitt) to deregulate the derivatives markets. Summers, another Harvard professor, was the head of Obama's economic council until he jumped ship recently. Both Levitt and greenspan have admitted their mistakes, but Summers said "but what's happened at A.I.G. ... the way it was not regulated, the way no one was watching ... is outrageous." No wonder the economy looks like it does!

2.Nearly two years of recession have left Spain with a 21.3-percent unemployment rate — the highest in the 17-nation euro zone — and saddled with debt. The jobless rate, which has more than doubled since 2007, jumps to 35 percent for people aged 16 to 29. Many young, highly educated Spaniards can't find jobs as the eurozone's No. 4 economy struggles with low growth. Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards demonstrate across Spain.

COMMENT: First Greece and now Spain. Its spreading.....

3.Its finally happening. The Financial times reports that China has become a net seller of US treasuries over the last 4 months. According to FT, the Chinese are purchasing European Govt. Bonds. This comes after confirmed reports that Russia has reduced its US treasuries holdings from $175B to $125B in the last 7 months.

COMMENT: During uncertain times its safer to diversify.

4.For more than a decade starting in the early 1990s, U.S. inflation declined as low-wage workers in China and other developing nations joined the global economy and produced a tide of cheap goods that washed onto U.S. shores. That epoch appears to be over. Prices of imported goods are climbing, becoming a source of inflationary pressure. These changes are particularly apparent in apparel and footwear. U.S. consumer prices for apparel fell for 13 of the past 17 years, according to Labor Department data. Now, retailers and manufacturers warn of plans to push up prices on Nike sneakers, Hanes underwear, Abercrombie & Fitch and Polo apparel, Ugg boots and other products when fall lines hit the racks. Prices are expected to rise 4-6%.

5.Rare Earth prices soar as China stocks up. Prices of some Rare Earth metals have doubled in just three weeks amid heavy stockpiling in China that has raised fears over global supplies. China produces more than 90 per cent of the world's Rare Earths, which refer to 17 elements used in hybrid cars, fluorescent lights and many high technology applications.

COMMENT:It is finally sinking in on markets that the big news is China will set up a "strategic reserve" for heavy Rare Earths, echoing what it has already done with light Rare-Earth reserves. Another word for this is "hoarding"

Once you realize that there are no geniuses out there, you can think "I can do that" - Donny Deutsch

Monday, June 20, 2011

The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.

1.Austin Goolsbee, senior economic advisor to barack Obama has resigned and returned to academia. Obama's economic spring is starting to look like the arab spring. Obama, the professor of law has surrounded himself with academia. Bernanke is another example. Maybe they should all go back to school.

2.One of the areas of electricity generation which is very practical and real is the solar panel. Solar panels require silver. Thin film silver requires materials that are more scarce than silver, tellurium and iridium. And so-called organic thin films which have many advantages over solar require a LOT of silver as well. Thus, in future years as the demand for production of sustainable energy becomes increasingly insistent, there will be a huge demand for silver. So for now, solar and silver are linked together like brothers and sisters. The rising demand for solar energy will put silver in the spotlight as a much-wanted material. Unlike gold, silver will enjoy a huge industrial demand.

3.The so-called Misery Index was invented by Arthur Oken back in the 1970s. The Index is constructed by simply adding the inflation rate and the unemployment rate together. The Index gained popularity during the reign of Jimmy Carter, whose easy money policies pushed the Index to a post-war high.  Last January the Index was 10.63. In March it was 11.48. The latest figure we have was for May when the Misery Index rose to 12.70. This marks the fourth successive monthly rise, and it is now 62% higher than when Obama took office. Obama'a Misery Index is higher than George W. Bush's 8.11 or Clinton's 7.8. Is it any wonder that Americans feel the squeeze and are unhappy.

4.The collapse of real estate prices just eclipsed the record established during the Great Depression. According to S&P's Case-Shiller data, home prices have fallen 33% from their high. During the Depression home prices fell 31% Since the current housing collapse first started in 2006, volume of home sales have fallen 82%. During the Depression years, home sales dropped 80%. And the problem is that the housing market is continuing to deteriorate and is now in the feared "double dip." The peanut gallery is of the opinion that the US economy cannot recover until the housing market recovers. This should be considered a key index!

5.Russia is selling its US treasury bills. They have reduced holdings in the last 7 months from $175 billion to $125 billion, and and apparently intend reducing further. According to the WSJ Russia is the the world's third largest holder of US assets after China and Japan. Another signal to the peanut gallery of the challenge to US world leadership. Peanut gallery principle: A country's economic strength is measured by the strength of its currency.

6.China's energy shortage is leading to compromise with their great rival, Russia. Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Russia on June 16 to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, one of Russia’s largest annual economic conferences. At the conference, Hu will meet with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and sign a long-awaited, significant oil deal. China caved on the Russian demands to pay a flat tariff, thus paying more than they do to alternate suppliers. The name of this game is diversification in an uncertain world.

7.According to a UN report in 2007, about 7 million Syrians are living under the poverty level. This is about a third of the population. Todays figure would be much higher. Add to this the fact that as a result of global warming, Syria is one of the countries whose water resources are fast disappearing. The peanut gallery believes that as violence continues in this country, a refugee problem will quickly develop and the name of the game will be survival of the fittest. Same goes for Yemen and the Sudan (Darfur).

8.The Turks are sitting on the fence. Their policy of being the good guy in the muslim world is falling to pieces. On the one hand they are threatening the Syrians lest the Syrian army opens fire on innocent civilians straddling the Turkish border (it doesn't seem to bother them that their Turkish army is murdering Kurds). On the other hand they are aware that Assad might just suppress the uprising. What to do? Being a good guy muslim in the muslim world clearly is not paying dividends. They will have to decide soon. Especially if hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees cross the border into Turkey.

9.The United States regularly makes spy exchanges with different intelligence services, sometimes freeing foreign agents with American blood on their hands. The CIA participates in the torture of individuals in foreign countries to circumvent US law. Jonathan Pollard should serve a full sentence for his crimes. But this is where the peanut gallery draws the line. If murderers and traitors are allowed conjugal visits in american jails, then Pollard should have been allowed to attend his fathers funeral. At some point the path of decency must override the wrath of justice. Disgusting inhumanity is the politically correct description of this decision.

10.Flooding across eastern, southern and southwestern China has killed at least 175 people and is causing significant damage to vegetable crops, adding to upward pressure on food prices at a time when the government is battling to contain inflation. State media called it the worst in decades in some areas. Still think global warming is a myth?

11.The peanut gallery predicts that the next US president will be Texas Governor Rick Perry or Jon Huntsman.

THE REWARD FOR CONFORMITY IS EVERYONE LIKES YOU BUT YOURSELF - RITA MAE BROWN

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The Big Picture

We have often pointed to the increase in world population from one billion a hundred years ago to 7 billion today as one of the primary reasons for economic shortages and violence among non-competitive countries. There is however, another factor that needs to be tied into the equation. So much has been written about global warming that it would be suffice to describe it as the collection of Carbon dioxide and other air pollution in the atmosphere, which forms a thickening blanket. This blanket is trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up. Anybody who disagrees with this should wake up and smell the coffee. Or maybe simply step outside and feel the difference.

Outside the developed countries, global warming is one of the major factors having a devastating effect in the  
geopolitical world. Many countries find themselves on the verge of economic collapse and with an even larger problem in the form of mass movements of refugees. Yemen is emersed in a deadly civil war between tribes and sponsored by Al Qaeda, thousands are being massacred and the fighting knows no boundaries. An even larger problem is looming. Daniel Pipes: "But it's the second danger that staggers the mind: an unprecedented emptying out of Yemen, with millions of unskilled and uninvited refugees, first in the Middle East, then in the West, many of them Islamists, demanding economic asylum." 

The Yemen problem begins with an increasingly cataclysmic water shortfall. Gerhard Lichtenthāler, a specialist this topic, wrote in 2010 how, in many of the country's mountainous areas, "available drinking water, usually drawn from a spring or a cistern, is down to less than one quart per person per day. Its aquifers are being mined at such a rate that groundwater levels have been falling by 10 to 20 feet annually, threatening agriculture and leaving major cities without adequate safe drinking water. Sanaa could be the first capital city in the world to run dry."
Yemen might be the first country on the planet to run out of water! As the Earths crust heats up, the drier countries face a diminishing water supply, while the colder countries see their water levels rise as the ice caps melt. Those two words "Threatening Agriculture" need to light a fire under all of us. Changing temperatures and weather patterns across the globe will alter water supply and thus agricultural conditions will change. The great animal migrations in Africa (Tanzania and Kenya) are created by an instinct for survival as the animals migrate because of rain or the lack of it. When a seasonal drought dries up grass and water supplies in one area, the grazing animals move on to the next area along the Serengeti migration route where seasonal rains are falling. This does not apply only to animals and global warming will remove the word "seasonal" from the rationale.

Many also recognize the conflict occurring in Darfur, Sudan as the first war in history caused by a global warming-induced drought. After centuries of relying upon each other for trade and supplies, the nomadic herdsman have been exacting genocide on their agrarian, farming neighbors, starting when both sides armed themselves during a drought in the 1980's and continuing with the advancing deserts of the Sahara.

And for anyone who thinks this is somebody elses problem, far away from home, an historic drought is the cause of an on-going legal battle over water rights between the states of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. On the other side of the continent, researchers predict the parched Southwest has begun a 90 year mega-drought. In Australia, cities are purchasing water from farms to meet their needs as that country also battles an historic drought situation. Spain and Cyprus are importing water by ship with no lasting relief in sight to their water shortage problems. Even normally wet England and Ireland are expected to face water shortages due to population growth and less rainfall due to global warming. Similar patterns of drought experienced by Yemen have developed in Syria and Iraq.

The largest area of global water usage by far comes from agriculture, which accounts for 70% of total global water usage. Expect shortages to increase as humanity attempts to adjust to the changing conditions. Instability is now increasing at a pace where we can no longer sit back and expect the next generation to take care of itself. The time is now! For those of us who believe that global warming is a myth, all I can do is quote my cousin Hilton who often says "There is no cure for stupidity". 

Don't agonize, Organize - Florence Kennedy

Israel - Follow The Money

While the arab world blusters and threatens, trying to work out the seasons of the year, The Israeli miracle continues....

1.Magic Wand defense system slated for test run

Defense establishment sources said Tuesday that Magic Wand – the IDF's mid-range anti-missile system – is likely to become operational sooner than expected. "Over the next few months we will be conducting full-system test runs and we may declare Magic Wand fully operational in the very near future," Colonel (Res.) Pini Yungman, who heads the project for RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems, said.

2.US to give Israel millions for missile defense

The US pledged record-breaking funding for Israeli defense programs Wednesday as Congress voted to add $235.7 million dollars in aid for the David's Sling and Arrow 3 missile defense systems. The additional funding will also go towards additional Arrow 2 batteries, as well as the development of a system to defend Israel from outer space, against Iranian missiles. The overall sum is a record-breaking $440 million for defense systems, in addition to the defense budget Israel receives regularly from the US, which stands at $3 billion.

COMMENT: A win-win situation for Israel and the US. Israel gets missile defense and the US participates in Israeli missile technology (In real time testing).


3.Israel, India look to hi-tech as trade ties expand

Israeli and Indian industry associations signed a memorandum of understating on Wednesday aimed at spurring cross-border innovation and entrepreneurship, as the two countries add high technology to their growing network of trade and economic cooperation. The two countries are negotiating a free-trade-area agreement (FTA) that will remove barriers to trade.

4.Elbit in first export deal for most advanced UAV

Chile is the first country outside Israel to procure the most advanced unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made by Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT), the Hermes 900. Industry sources estimate the deal at several tens of millions of dollars. Elbit Systems will also supply ground control stations and designated payload systems for a range of operations.

5.Better Place signs renewable energy deal in Australia
   
Shai Agassi's electric car venture Better Place LLC has signed a $60 million 10-year deal with Australia's ActewAGL Ltd. for the supply of renewable energy to Better Place’s electric car charging network in Canberra. This is the largest renewable energy deal of its kind in Australia. ActewAGL will supply the renewable energy from wind, hydro, and solar sources.

6.Ormat wins largest ever geothermal deal

Ormat Industries Ltd. (TASE: ORMT) US subsidiary Ormat Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ORA) has won a $130 million order in New Zealand - the largest ever in the company's history. Ormat signed a supply contract and an engineering, procurement and construction, (EPC) contract with Mighty River Power Ltd. for the first stage of the Ngatamariki geothermal project. Construction of the power plant is scheduled to take two years.  

7.Tamar partners cut gas price for IEC

The Tamar gas field partners - Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), Noble energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL), Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L), and Alon Natural Gas Exploration Ltd. (TASE: ALGS) - have agreed to cut the price of natural gas to Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) in what could be the largest gas supply contract in Israeli history, exceeding $20 billion.

To make a difference is not a matter of accident, a matter of casual occurrence of the tides. People choose to make a difference - Maya Angelo 

Thursday, June 9, 2011

The Muslim World

1.SANAA/TAIZ (Reuters) - The Yemeni air force bombed an al Qaeda-held southern city on Monday while residents in another city said soldiers had opened fire on a demonstration and run protesters over with bulldozers, killing at least 15.

COMMENT: "Al Qaeda-held city?" in Yemen. Protestors run over with bulldozers? It was Reuters who called them pro-democracy forces.......

2.Iran's parliament voted on Wednesday in favor of taking Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to court over what lawmakers say is a violation of the country's constitution stemming from the president's move last month to declare himself caretaker oil minister. The vote in the conservative-dominated assembly is its latest action against Ahmadinejad since the president in April publicly challenged Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (AP)

COMMENT: Iran, the once great Persian Empire, now land of the mullahs....How the mighty hath fallen!

3.Jordan's finance minister says Saudi Arabia has donated $400 million to shore up his nation's wobbly economy. Jordan has a record deficit of $2 billion this year, which could endanger reform plans. The donation covers 20 percent of Jordan's rising energy bill as well as subsidies promised in the wake of street protests over high food and gasoline prices. (AP)

COMMENT: Saudi Arabia, shortly after the Obama speech gave Egypt $4B. This looks more like food for oil, and the economic shoring up of struggling Sunni regimes, who incidently are all American allies and definitely not democracies.

4.A top Al Qaeda commander and possible replacement for Usama bin Laden was killed in an American drone-fired missile strike close to the Afghan border, the militant group he heads and a Pakistani intelligence official said Saturday.
Comment: The CIA is on a tear. Info from the OBL assasination. Say a big thank you to Israel for the drone technology!

5.State-run Syrian television says 120 policemen and security forces were killed in an ambush by "armed groups" in a tense northern town. Security forces have been conducting military operations in the town of Jisr al-Shughour for several days as part of a crackdown on anti-government protests. (AP)

COMMENT:This is no longer an uprising. It is a new civil war. Neither side are pro-democracy. Keep it up fellows. The world is watching you show your true colours.

6.Hillary Clinton held an event Monday launching the "Women's World Cup Initiative" to empower women through sports, but a coalition of rights activists is asking the U.S. secretary of state to get involved in a case dealing with an issue just as basic: driving while female. Chiding the U.S. government for its "public silence" on the issue, the rights group has called on Clinton to take a stand in the case of a mother arrested for driving in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prohibits women from getting behind the wheel.

Life would be tragic if it weren't funny - Stephen Hawking

Follow The Money

1.Financial Times: US house prices are in a double dip that has erased all of their bounce since the recession and threatens to derail a stuttering economic recovery. The S&P/Case-Shiller house price index fell by 4.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2011, breaking through a 2009 low to hit its weakest level since 2002. House prices are now 33 per cent below their peak in 2006 – a sharper fall than the 31 per cent drop recorded during the Great Depression, according to analysts at Capital Economics.

2.WSJ: For years, China has made it tough for capital to flow to and from its economy, the second-largest in the world. Now, the government in Beijing is forging ahead with a campaign to bring the yuan onto the world stage—and breaches are appearing in that formidable financial barrier. A yuan that's more widely used in international trade and investment could eventually challenge the dollar's supremacy, correct some of the imbalances that plague the Chinese and global economy, and force a profligate U.S. to live within its means. It won't be an easy transition.

3.The only thing keeping America from nationwide job losses last month were the Golden Arches. Contrary to popular belief, McDonald's April hiring binge wasn't counted in the government;s April employment report. Those 62,000 McJobs "created" in the one day HR/publicity stunt are the only reason that America didn't flat out lose jobs according to May's report. That makes the numbers all the more depressing. McDonald's hired more people than the rest of America combined.

4.Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, will leave his position by the end of the summer, marking the latest shake-up in President Barack Obama's economic team. Mr. Goolsbee, who assumed the top job at the economic council last September, will return this fall to his position as a professor at the University of Chicago, the White House announced on Monday.

COMMENT: Looks like the ship is leaking....

5.Russell:Outrageous prices continue to be paid for art, gems and collectibles. A record half a million dollars was paid for 27 bottles of red wine. At a Sotheby's Hong Kong auction three bottles of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild wine sold for $232,000 a bottle or $696,000 for the three bottles. Hey, when you've got a billion dollars that are losing purchasing power every month, what does it matter what you pay for a rarity? So drink up at fifty grand a swallow!

Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm - Winston Churchill

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.

1.There has been some pretty bad economic news in the headlines lately. Housing is in the feared "double dip" with millions of foreclosures in the wings. Employment statistics are disappointing, consumer sales are stagnating, Washington is in a chaotic mood and unable even to agree on what time it is. Bill Gross and El-Erian, both of PIMCO, say there'll be QE3. So is Bernanke just going to sit and watch as the economy slips into the dreaded "double dip?"

2.The  past decade in wage growth of 4.2%, has been the worst ever -- worse even than the 5% growth rate from 1929 to 1939 during the Great Depression. The current rate is occurring while prices for consumer goods are rising. No wonder Americans are grumbling.


3.Diverging messages from the markets. The Peanut Gallery believes that all known news has been discounted by the marketplace. Markets look ahead, not backwards. Equity and commodity markets are still trending up, despite recent profit taking. The USD is still trending down. Conclusion: Stagflation. Markets to tread water, while at the same time whispering a prayer heavenwards to calm the waves.

4.The best kept secret in Washington! So well kept, that even Obama is unaware of it. TARP, QE1 and QE2 were never meant to create economic growth and jobs. These programs were put in place to avert a catastrophe of momentus proportions and slow the downward slide. Anybody who can read a balance sheet, would agree. Humanity can handle misery and hardship, not fear, panic or hunger.

5. Another peanut gallery principle: Government does not create jobs. They are created by large, medium and small business. The Robin Hood principle might sound good in theory, but only works in thriving economies. Doubtful if the present qualifies.

6.Osama BL might be fishfood, but Al Qaeda is not going away. AQAP - Al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula is alive and well. They now control two cities in Yemen. It is the nature of this beast, that wherever The US retreats, they will be there to replace them. The war on terror never ends.

7.In March 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton let it be known that the United States no longer supported the British in the matter of the Falkland Islands, which have been British territory since 1833, and that "negotiations" with Argentina were in order. This administration makes a point of abandoning allies and appeasing crocodiles. Distateful.

8.Li Na became the first woman from the continent of Asia to win a grand slam event when she beat defending champion Francesca Schiavone 6-4 7-6 in the French Open final. The sixth seed from China lost her first major final at the Australian Open earlier this year but went one better against the Italian with a determined performance. Peanut gallery philosophy: Sport creates more flexibility and understanding than do politicians.

9.Anybody who still does not believe in global warming should ignore this. France has 58 nuclear power stations. They are expecting the warmest summer in their history. However, 24 of these stations do not have cooling towers and therefore will be offline as the temperature heats up. France imports electricity from  Germany, but Germany has decided to do away with nuclear power, immediately taking 40% of capacity offline. In 2003, the heat wave in France was exceptionally severe, with the minister of health issuing a report that about 15,000 people may have died as result of increased temperatures.

10.The root of California's woes is its reliance on taxing the wealthy. Nearly half of California's income taxes before the recession came from the top 1% of earners. High earners, it turns out, have especially volatile incomes -- their earnings fell by more than twice as much as the rest of the population's during the recession. When they crashed, they took California's finances down with them. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois -- states that are the most heavily reliant on the taxes of the wealthy -- are now among those with the biggest budget holes. The peanut gallery believes the solution is a flat tax on all income.

It is the business of the future to be dangerous - Alfred North Whitehead

China Watch

1.Chinese weapons sales to Pakistan are increasing and it has signed agreements to invest up to $30 billion in Pakistan over the next five years. New reports also show that Pakistan is speeding production of four new nuclear reactors for plutonium production. When complete, it is estimated these will give Pakistan the ability to produce at least two dozen nuclear weapons per year.

2.ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan wants China to build a naval base at a deep-sea port in southwestern Baluchistan province, its defense minister said Sunday, while also inferring that Washington was a fair weather friend. The deep-sea port was around 75 percent financed by China, which Pakistan has been trying to draw in as a strategic partner, especially since the discovery and U.S. killing on May 2 of Osama bin Laden north of Islamabad. India, however, has voiced “serious concern” about defense ties between China and Pakistan and said it would need to bolster its own military capabilities in response.

3.BEIJING—Chinese police clamped heavy controls across Inner Mongolia on Sunday after a week of ethnic protests by students over the hit-and-run killing of a Mongolian herder by a Chinese truck driver. The incident exposed simmering tensions in the resource-rich region, which so far has largely escaped the violence that has plagued China's Tibetan and Muslim regions.

4.Supply shocks are once again charged with pushing up China's food prices, but it is a surplus of money, not a deficit of pigs, that is the real culprit. As of Monday, the Ministry of Agriculture's index of wholesale food prices was up 2.2% from its April level, a turnaround after two months of falling prices. Pork prices, in particular, are on the rise. With food accounting for almost a third of China's consumer price index, an increase in prices suggests the markets should prepare for another increase in inflation when the data for May are released on June 14.

5.Huge crowds in Hong Kong turned out to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown of June 4, 1989, amid concerns that the human rights situation in China has taken a turn for the worse in the past year. According to organizers, around 150,000 people attended the gathering at Victoria Park in Hong Kong. Local media reports say Hong Kong police, which have generally given far lower crowd estimates than those of the organizers, put the maximum number of attendees at 77,000.

Whenever you take a step forward you are bound to disturb something - Indira Ghandi

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.

1. Latest US economic indicators are reflecting a slowdown in that economy. The peanut gallery predicts helicopter aviator, Bill Bernanke will announce QE3 under a different name. Bottom line, the printing machines will continue to be employed. Whats the alternative? A double dip recession approaching an election year?

2.China has far more problems than it is letting on. The Chinese economy needs to sustain 8% growth annually to absorb 16 million new jobs a year. Add to that, rising wages and an aging population, food inflation and a sprinkling of corrupt practises. Not all is well with the half awake giant....expect both religious, political and economic discord.

3.Looking for an Obama replacement? The peanut gallery is watching with interest the fortunes of former ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman and governor Rick Perry of Texas.

4.Historically gold has risen in price as the US dollar devalues. A slight but distinct metamorphosis is taking place. Gold has taken on a life of its own and is reacting to instability in all currencies, be it the USD, Euro or emerging markets currencies. It is also reacting to mismanagement of economies by mediocre government officials (by definition) and greedy interest groups.

5.The fog is starting to clear. The results of QE1 and QE2 are becoming apparent. The creation of two trillion dollars of debt in a period of two years has resulted in meagre growth in the US economy. Real unemployment is around 16%. Real estate is doing a double dip. The falling dollar has created a spike in commodity and food prices. So US and foreign manufacturers, both large and small are hesitating. They see demand disappearing while costs continue to rise.

6.The banks are making are making a fortune, borrowing from the federal reserve (an organization that has infinite power) at low rates and lending to the treasury at higher rates. Bank loans to business has fallen 13% this year. Why should they give loans when profits are gifted to them by professors Bernanke and Obama?

7. As for the man in the street, the peanut gallery vaguely remembers the title "Main Street". Anybody remember? It was a key expression used by the president in most of his pre-election speeches. Well main street is still struggling to find or hold onto a job. Wages are stagnant while prices of gas, food and manufactured goods rise. And the hero of main street? He is still making speeches and saving main street....In the Middle East....

8.Wall Street? Profits continue and so do the bonuses....

9.To sum it up. The economists call it stagflation. The peanut gallery mirror on the wall calls it "stagnating economic growth" plus "inflation".

10.The peanut gallery continues to warn. Not all Americans are naive. Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. They are a great nation of brilliant innovators. This will be the source of their revival.

Can't usually means won't. We can.... if we will - Don Ward