Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Friday, September 19, 2014
Driverless Audi A7 to hit streets of California
Published on Sep 19, 2014
California’s law allowing street
trials of driverless vehicles goes into effect this week, with an
autonomous Audi A7 having the honor of being the first vehicle to hit
the road for testing. Researchers estimate that by 2025, manufacturers
will be producing at least 230,000 autonomous vehicles yearly, with most
of the major auto makers hoping to have publically available driverless
vehicles by 2020. RT’s Lindsay France takes a look at the law and the
hopes of the industry.
trials of driverless vehicles goes into effect this week, with an
autonomous Audi A7 having the honor of being the first vehicle to hit
the road for testing. Researchers estimate that by 2025, manufacturers
will be producing at least 230,000 autonomous vehicles yearly, with most
of the major auto makers hoping to have publically available driverless
vehicles by 2020. RT’s Lindsay France takes a look at the law and the
hopes of the industry.
- Note the insurance implications.
Find RT America in your area: http://rt.com/where-to-watch/
Or watch us online: http://rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air/
Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/RTAmerica
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/RT_America
Find RT America in your area: http://rt.com/where-to-watch/
Or watch us online: http://rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air/
Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/RTAmerica
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/RT_America
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Plateau of Permanent Addiction to Monetary Liquidity Injections
Here is one chart that should put everything in perspective, and explain why the world has reached a plateau of permanent addiction to monetary liquidity injections, and why nothing else matters.
Source: "JPM
US Households Are Not "Deleveraging" - They Are Simply Defaulting In Bulk
From Zerohedge:
Lately there has been an amusing and very spurious, not to mention wrong, argument among both the "serious media" and the various tabloids, that US households have delevered to the tune of $1 trillion, primarily as a result of mortgage debt reductions (not to be confused with total consumer debt which month after month hits new record highs, primarily due to soaring student and GM auto loans). The implication here is that unlike in year past, US households are finally doing the responsible thing and are actively deleveraging of their own free will. This couldn't be further from the truth, and to put baseless rumors of this nature to rest once and for all, below we have compiled a simple chart using the NY Fed's own data, showing the total change in mortgage debt, and what portion of it is due to discharges (aka defaults) of 1st and 2nd lien debt. In a nutshell: based on NYFed calculations, there has been $800 billion in mortgage debt deleveraging since the end of 2007. This has been due to $1.2 trillion in discharges (the amount is greater than the total first lien mortgages, due to the increasing use of HELOCs and 2nd lien mortgages before the housing bubble popped).
Lately there has been an amusing and very spurious, not to mention wrong, argument among both the "serious media" and the various tabloids, that US households have delevered to the tune of $1 trillion, primarily as a result of mortgage debt reductions (not to be confused with total consumer debt which month after month hits new record highs, primarily due to soaring student and GM auto loans). The implication here is that unlike in year past, US households are finally doing the responsible thing and are actively deleveraging of their own free will. This couldn't be further from the truth, and to put baseless rumors of this nature to rest once and for all, below we have compiled a simple chart using the NY Fed's own data, showing the total change in mortgage debt, and what portion of it is due to discharges (aka defaults) of 1st and 2nd lien debt. In a nutshell: based on NYFed calculations, there has been $800 billion in mortgage debt deleveraging since the end of 2007. This has been due to $1.2 trillion in discharges (the amount is greater than the total first lien mortgages, due to the increasing use of HELOCs and 2nd lien mortgages before the housing bubble popped).
In other words, instead of actual responsible behavior of paying down debt, the primary if not only reason there has been any "deleveraging" at all at the US household level, is because of excess debt which became insurmountable, not because it was being paid down, the result of which is that more and more Americans are simply handing their keys in to the bank and walking away, and also explains why the US banking system is now practicing Foreclosure Stuffing, as defined first here, as the banks know too well, if all the housing inventory which is currently in the default pipeline were unleashed, it would rip off any floor below the US housing "recovery" which is not a recovery at all, but merely a subsidized bounce, as millions of units are held on the banks' books in hopes that what limited inventory there is gets bid up so high the second housing bubble can be inflated before the first one has even fully burst.
Naturally, two concurrent housing bubbles can not happen, Bernanke's fondest wishes to the contrary notwithstanding, especially since as shown above, US households do not delever unless they actually file for bankruptcy, and in the process destroy their credit rating for years, making them ineligible for future debt for at least five years. It is thus safe to say that all the other increasingly poorer US households (who arenot getting paid more as we showed this morning with the chart showing Y/Y change in US household earnings) are merely adding on more and more debt in hopes of going out in a bankrupt blaze of glory just like everyone else: from their neighbors, to all "developed world" governments.
And why not: after all this behavior is being endorsed by the Fed with both hands and feet.
Source: NY Fed
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Obama is deploying nearly 3,000 military personnel to West Africa to spread the Ebola virus
Because he wants to save the world right? Seems like an awefully foolish thing to do. He is increasing the risk of spreading the disease to American troops. But don't worry, between Obamacare and the latest and greatest from #BigPharma, I am sure we'll all be just fine...
Monday, September 15, 2014
It's Official: #ISIS is now also an oil cartel
From Zerohedge:
We recently explained how ISIS remains so well funded but what was unclear was who exactly what purchasing their 'recently-provisioned' oil reserves? The assumption being some desperate third-world nation or some scheming offshore hedge-fund arbitrageur; however, as Sott.net reports, a senior European Union official has revealed that some EU member states have purchased oil from ISIL Takfiri militants despite their rhetoric against the group. The official declined to disclose any names but Turkey remains a front-runner (having already shunned President Obama) and potentially France (after their recent anti-Petrodollar comments).
As The Daily Signal's Kelsey Harkness ( @kelseyjharkness ) notes,
According to the Iraq Energy Institute, an independent, nonprofit policy organization focused on Iraq’s energy sector, the army of radical Islamists controls production of 30,000 barrels of oil a day in Iraq and 50,000 barrels in Syria.And now we know who is buying... (as Sott.net reports)
A senior European Union official has revealed that some EU member states have purchased oil from ISIL Takfiri militants despite their rhetoric against the group.* * *
In a briefing to the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, EU Ambassador to Iraq Jana Hybas-kova said some European countries have purchased crude from the ISIL.
She, however, refused to disclose any names despite pressure by some Parliament members to do so.
The EU official also warned against any support by the West for separatist Kurdish groups who, she said, would destabilize the Middle East.
Earlier reports accused Turkey of buying and transporting oil from both the ISIL and Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. According to the reports, Western intelligence agencies could track ISIL oil shipments as they moved across Iraq and Turkey.
ISIL reportedly controls eleven oil fields in northern Iraq as well as Syria's Raqqa province.
US intelligence officials estimate that the Takfiri militants earn more than USD 3 million a day from oil profit, theft, human trafficking and ransom. They say the militants sell oil and other products via established networks in Turkey, Jordan and Iraq's Kurdistan region. ?Turkey has denied reports of involvement in ISIL's oil smuggling operations.
There are plenty of things to worry about these days
From Zerohedge:
There are plenty of things to worry about these days. A cursory look through today’s (13 Sep 14) drudgereport.com sets the tone: the Pope says WWIII is underway; a senior Democrat accuses the Republicans of endangering civilization; drones are invading the privacy of citizens; militias are blocking traffic in the Mexican border; Feds run a US$589 billion budget deficit; the UK might fall apart; the Ebola epidemic is getting serious in Africa; a mystery virus spreads to NY and CT (and we could not resist adding this one: Hillary Clinton is doing yoga).
With all of this in our minds it is easy to forget, or at least put in proper context, the extraordinary progress that mankind has achieved over the centuries against remarkable odds. World population has steadily increased, proving Malthus wrong. Serious diseases like polio and smallpox, which affected even monarchs and presidents over the centuries, have been eradicated. We can crisscross the planet in less than 24 hours and put satellites in deep space. The baby boomers and their offspring are the most prosperous generations the world has ever seen.
This shows that with enough intelligence, political will, common sense and perseverance most challenges we face as a species can be overcome. This should provide a decent amount of hope that we can tackle whatever we are facing right now.
So why worry?
Well, what will happen if we start losing those qualities and values as a global society? Which is why we believe that the following graphs are the scariest in the world today:
WORLD IQ LEVEL OVER TIMEThe average world citizen is getting dumber while our means of doing harm are increasing. This trend is clearly not our friend.
Source: MailOnline, University of Hartford.
INDEX OF MILITARY EXPENDITURES OVER TIME (1950 = 100)(a)
Source: SIPRI.
(a) Based on NATO expenditures (in 2011 constant US$), the longest data series publicly available.
Consider the following.
Countries around the world today spend over US$1.7 trillion on weaponry - more than the total global investment in energy supply. Beyond the manufacturers and suppliers downstream, this produces zero economic benefits (weapons become obsolete very quickly and do not generate any returns; on the contrary as, well, they blow stuff up) and the associated costs add to already bloated government debt levels. And that’s US$1.7 trillion less available each year to improve world education, food and fuel availability, the environment and shifting global demographics, all critical issues of the 21st century.
Also concerning is the fact that control over these weapons can be quickly lost, creating the prospect of blowbacks, never ending conflicts and major tragedies.
Prior to 1991, the Soviet Union had more than 27,000 nuclear warheads and plenty of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium to triple that number. While there have been no confirmed reports of missing or stolen former-Soviet nuclear weapons (astonishing given all the political and economic turmoil since then), there is ample evidence of a significant black market in nuclear materials. How long before someone in that rapidly expanding pool of idiots gets a hold of some is anybody’s guess.
Note: accidents can happen as well, adding to the unease of handling this type of firepower. For instance, in 1961, a B-52 carrying two nuclear bombs broke up in mid-air, dropping its nuclear payload very close to Goldsboro in North Carolina. Five of the six fuses designed to prevent a detonation failed in one of the bombs, with only the last one averting a nuclear explosion. That was an unbelievable close call.
And now turmoil is spreading across the Middle East yet again. With all the conflict going on, anyone showing up and volunteering to fight for one of the sides will be given free food and weapons, courtesy of the associated regional and international powers. Will those weapons stay there, concerning as that might already be for local populations, or will they be used elsewhere, even if the conflict is contained or resolved? As we all know fundamentalists – probably the most idiotic of the bunch – are ready to do anything.
Humanity cannot risk its future falling into the hands of increasingly lethal buffoons. The stakes are just too high now. Hopefully our leaders are paying attention, but this should concern us all. Let’s try to be smart about it – while the smart is still going.
Massive climate action march to rock NYC #climate2014
>br/>
You need to look up "weather modification" and "solar radiation management". It's not HUMANS that are affecting #climatechange. It's the SUN stupid.
You need to look up "weather modification" and "solar radiation management". It's not HUMANS that are affecting #climatechange. It's the SUN stupid.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)