Chris Martenson
This is your chart of the day. If anything can explain exactly the sort of difficulties our economy is facing, this is it.
Source
All economic growth requires energy. This decline in energy use is the first such decline in the entire history of our energy records. Sure, there have been a couple of minor dips (back in the 1970’s), but nothing quite like this.
Chart of the Day – US Oil Imports
PREVIEWThis is your chart of the day. If anything can explain exactly the sort of difficulties our economy is facing, this is it.
Source
All economic growth requires energy. This decline in energy use is the first such decline in the entire history of our energy records. Sure, there have been a couple of minor dips (back in the 1970’s), but nothing quite like this.
This is a must-read article. It shows that the big money, and what I consider to be the long-term smart money, is moving aggressively towards locking up the last remaining critical resources on the planet. This article centers on crop land, but it could just as easily center on critical mineral resources. Or oil.
Wish you weren’t here: The devastating effects of the new colonialists
Resource Wars
PREVIEWThis is a must-read article. It shows that the big money, and what I consider to be the long-term smart money, is moving aggressively towards locking up the last remaining critical resources on the planet. This article centers on crop land, but it could just as easily center on critical mineral resources. Or oil.
Wish you weren’t here: The devastating effects of the new colonialists
Sugar Rallies 40% in Options Pointing to ‘81 Peak
Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) — Damaged crops from India to Brazil mean the world won’t have enough sugar for a second straight year.
Global demand will exceed output by as much as 5 million metric tons in the year through September 2010, leading to a record two-year shortfall, according to the International Sugar Organization in London. Parts of Brazil, the largest grower, are drenched by rainfall four times more than normal and too wet to harvest. India, the biggest consumer, had its driest June in 83 years and may double imports.
The number of options to buy sugar for delivery in March at 30 cents a pound, 44 percent higher than the Aug. 7 price in New York, has jumped more than 18-fold in four months. The rally is boosting expenses for food makers from Kellogg Co. to Kraft Foods Inc. and increasing profits for Cosan SA Industria e Comercio, the largest cane processor.
“I haven’t seen sugar fundamentals being so severely unbalanced in my time,” said Adam Leetham, the Gurgaon, India- based director of Czarnikow Group who has been tracking the domestic industry since 1994. “It’s not just India. You see fundamental deficits in a number of large markets. It certainly looks like we will enter uncharted territory.”
August 10 – Tidbits
PREVIEWSugar Rallies 40% in Options Pointing to ‘81 Peak
Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) — Damaged crops from India to Brazil mean the world won’t have enough sugar for a second straight year.
Global demand will exceed output by as much as 5 million metric tons in the year through September 2010, leading to a record two-year shortfall, according to the International Sugar Organization in London. Parts of Brazil, the largest grower, are drenched by rainfall four times more than normal and too wet to harvest. India, the biggest consumer, had its driest June in 83 years and may double imports.
The number of options to buy sugar for delivery in March at 30 cents a pound, 44 percent higher than the Aug. 7 price in New York, has jumped more than 18-fold in four months. The rally is boosting expenses for food makers from Kellogg Co. to Kraft Foods Inc. and increasing profits for Cosan SA Industria e Comercio, the largest cane processor.
“I haven’t seen sugar fundamentals being so severely unbalanced in my time,” said Adam Leetham, the Gurgaon, India- based director of Czarnikow Group who has been tracking the domestic industry since 1994. “It’s not just India. You see fundamental deficits in a number of large markets. It certainly looks like we will enter uncharted territory.”
Today, again, we receive news that Fed is continuing to pour more and more POMO money into the banking system, this time with a ‘mere’ ~$2 billion addition.
August 7 – New York Fed purchases $1.937 billion in agency coupons
As long-time readers here know, I have been tracking the Permanent Open Market Operations (or "POMO") activity of the Fed for a long time.
As I wrote in The Five Horsemen ( May 31 2009, enrollment required $):
Martenson Insider – Fed POMO activity and the Stock Market
PREVIEWToday, again, we receive news that Fed is continuing to pour more and more POMO money into the banking system, this time with a ‘mere’ ~$2 billion addition.
August 7 – New York Fed purchases $1.937 billion in agency coupons
As long-time readers here know, I have been tracking the Permanent Open Market Operations (or "POMO") activity of the Fed for a long time.
As I wrote in The Five Horsemen ( May 31 2009, enrollment required $):
In concert with the claims I made in the prior post, The Fed bought $7 billion in Treasuries today and even more yesterday.
This is at the upper end of their recent range of already exceptional purchasing activity.
If things are so rosy that every single dip is being bought in the stock market with a vengeance, I wonder why these printing operations are really necessary?
The Fed Buys Last Week’s Treasury Notes
PREVIEWIn concert with the claims I made in the prior post, The Fed bought $7 billion in Treasuries today and even more yesterday.
This is at the upper end of their recent range of already exceptional purchasing activity.
If things are so rosy that every single dip is being bought in the stock market with a vengeance, I wonder why these printing operations are really necessary?
Welcome to the start of a new feature for enrolled members called the Martenson Insider. We are pleased to offer this new enrolled benefit, which replaces the In Session forum threads with a blog-style format that will support easier access, viewing, searching, and comment-threading beneath each post.
I’ve granted full access to today’s postings for everyone to see, which includes all comments, by the way. After today, the content and comments will be only viewable by enrolled members (unless I grant access for a given posting, and then everything will be viewable for that post).
Here’s the first post of the day:
Trust Actions, Not Words
The "green shoots" idea is trotted out in Europe, especially in the UK, just like it is in the US. The purpose is to use words and statistics to try and convince everyone that "we’ve turned the corner."
While admirable, it is also a source of amusement to those paying attention. Here we might note the humorous gap between what they are saying and what they are doing.
Check out the next two articles from yesterday (8/5/09), which contain the words, and then compare them to the third article, which has the actions.
New Feature – The Martenson Insider
PREVIEWWelcome to the start of a new feature for enrolled members called the Martenson Insider. We are pleased to offer this new enrolled benefit, which replaces the In Session forum threads with a blog-style format that will support easier access, viewing, searching, and comment-threading beneath each post.
I’ve granted full access to today’s postings for everyone to see, which includes all comments, by the way. After today, the content and comments will be only viewable by enrolled members (unless I grant access for a given posting, and then everything will be viewable for that post).
Here’s the first post of the day:
Trust Actions, Not Words
The "green shoots" idea is trotted out in Europe, especially in the UK, just like it is in the US. The purpose is to use words and statistics to try and convince everyone that "we’ve turned the corner."
While admirable, it is also a source of amusement to those paying attention. Here we might note the humorous gap between what they are saying and what they are doing.
Check out the next two articles from yesterday (8/5/09), which contain the words, and then compare them to the third article, which has the actions.
A long while ago (September 2008), I wrote an article entitled " The Greatest Looting Operation in History" and followed it up with another entitled "America is Being Looted."
What shocked me at the time was how brazen the perpetrators were being in their efforts, almost as if they had no fear of being exposed or being asked any hard questions.
In an article that came out today, this was confirmed to an extraordinary degree.
Goldman Sachs’ Incredible Trading Returns are Literally Unbelievable
A long while ago (September 2008), I wrote an article entitled " The Greatest Looting Operation in History" and followed it up with another entitled "America is Being Looted."
What shocked me at the time was how brazen the perpetrators were being in their efforts, almost as if they had no fear of being exposed or being asked any hard questions.
In an article that came out today, this was confirmed to an extraordinary degree.
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