Tag: economics

Italy withdraws from China’s Belt and Road project

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Italy has formally withdrawn from China’s vast Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, more than four years after becoming the only G7 nation to sign up, a government source said Wednesday.

The long-expected decision was communicated to Beijing three days ago, according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, without any official statement from either side.

An Italian government source confirmed to AFP that Rome had pulled out, without giving details beyond saying it was done in such a way as to “keep channels of political dialogue open.”

Before coming to power last year, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the decision by a previous government to join in 2019 was a “serious mistake.”

Critics have denounced the trillion-dollar investment scheme as a predatory “Trojan horse” aimed at buying political influence.

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Study shows Salton Sea has world’s largest lithium supply

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A California lake could sit on top of a ‘white gold’ mine after a federally funded study found the Salton Sea has the world’s largest lithium supply.

The Department of Energy (DOE) shared the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory results, which determined the underground pool could hold 18 million tons – enough to meet the US’s demand for the valuable metal for decades.

One ton of lithium is currently priced at $29,000, making the supply in the Salton Sea worth more than $540 billion. 

While the Salton Sea has long been known to hold lithium, this is the first analysis to show the extent of the supply, which the DOE said could support over 375 million electric vehicle batteries.

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Just as EVs lose their luster and just after I sold my beach front property on the Salton Sea, even left the umbrellas behind. ABN

COP28 Craziness: EU Chief Demands ‘Trillions’ for Green Agenda at U.N. Climate Summit

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The European Union appears undeterred by years of calamitous climate policies, with EU Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen demanding new taxes and other schemes to take green agenda investment into the “trillions”.

Leaders from around the world descended (many of whom on private jets) upon the oil-rich Arabian nation of Dubai for the 28th instalment of the United Nation’s top annual climate summit, in which politicians demand that ordinary citizens bankroll their lofty visions of a so-called green future.

Despite people suffering across Europe under an energy crisis as a result of the war in Ukraine and the years of dumping money into dubious ‘renewable’ energy sources, EU Chief Ursula von der Leyen’s takeaway was to double down on the very same policies that precipitated Europe’s precarious energy situation.

“More is needed,” the German politician urged, proclaiming: “We have to move from billions to trillions.”

The EU leader admitted that to accomplish such a goal, Brussels will need to “find new sources of revenue”. To do so, von der Leyen said that she “fully supports” the plan proposed by Kenyan President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron to impose a global green tax targeting financial transactions to “raise more money for climate action.”

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BlackRock Set To Rake in $1 Trillion Rebuilding the Destruction They Financed in Ukraine

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War-profiteers BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase are set to reap a trillion dollar windfall in securing no-bid contracts to rebuild Ukraine – after years of financing and prolonging the conflict.

According to the Biden administration and mainstream media, the two globalist financial titans, BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase, are leading the charge in a “humanitarian effort” by helping to establish the Ukraine Development Fund, a reconstruction bank designed to steer public seed capital into projects that can attract hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment.

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I wonder, who is going to move into the now deserted Ukrainian landscape? One-half of Ukrainians have fled the country and 500,000 Ukrainian young men were killed in the war. Most of the people who left claimed they would never return. Ukraine is and was one of the most corrupt nations in the world, which largely explains its close alliance with USA. Why did US/NATO neocons provoke Russia and encourage the destruction of Ukraine? Cui bono? We will know who benefits by who ends up owning Ukraine and who moves there. ABN

Desalination system could produce freshwater that is cheaper than tap water

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Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to turn seawater into drinking water with a completely passive device that is inspired by the ocean, and powered by the sun.

In a paper appearing today in the journal Joule, the team outlines the design for a new solar desalination system that takes in saltwater and heats it with natural sunlight.

The configuration of the device allows water to circulate in swirling eddies, in a manner similar to the much larger “thermohaline” circulation of the ocean. This circulation, combined with the sun’s heat, drives water to evaporate, leaving salt behind. The resulting water vapor can then be condensed and collected as pure, drinkable water. In the meantime, the leftover salt continues to circulate through and out of the device, rather than accumulating and clogging the system.

The new system has a higher water-production rate and a higher salt-rejection rate than all other passive solar desalination concepts currently being tested.

The researchers estimate that if the system is scaled up to the size of a small suitcase, it could produce about 4 to 6 liters of drinking water per hour and last several years before requiring replacement parts. At this scale and performance, the system could produce drinking water at a rate and price that is cheaper than tap water.

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paper: Extreme salt-resisting multistage solar distillation with thermohaline convection

US Freezes Exports of Civilian Firearms

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This bit of news seems to have popped up suddenly and with little explanation. The federal government quietly issued a policy change yesterday halting the export of most civilian firearms, ammunition, and related accessories to much of the world. They also suspended the issuance of new firearms export licenses. There are some exceptions to the ban, but several of the world’s biggest importers of American firearms will be affected. The order was issued by the Commerce Department (?) and the reason given was rather vague, citing national security concerns and the need to ensure firearms aren’t “diverted” to hostile actors.

This is going to have an immediate impact on American firearms manufacturers including Smith & Wesson and Sig Sauer.

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Tenants Are Suing Landlords for Allegedly Price-Fixing Rents with Software and the Feds Could Get Involved

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A pair of lawsuits from tenants across the U.S. allege that landlords use rent-setting software to illegally collude and boost their rents. 

One lawsuit was filed in a district court in Tennessee and one in Washington. Both lawsuits were filed a year ago after a ProPublica investigation revealed that real estate software and analytics company RealPage’s rent-setting software, formerly called YieldStar, was artificially raising rents by sharing market data from competitors and setting prices for them, as well as sometimes encouraging landlords to leave units vacant.

Over 20 lawsuits from renters across the country alleging RealPage committed antitrust violations were consolidated in April in Tennesse’s Middle District, chosen for its central location. The United States Department of Justice filed a notice on October 17 asking for permission to participate in oral arguments on December 11. The court approved the government’s request, and the DOJ has until November 15 to submit a formal statement of intent if it wants to participate. 

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OVERCHARGED EXPECTATIONS: UNMASKING THE TRUE COSTS OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES

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Key Points

• The cost of producing electric vehicles (EVs) is far higher than the prices they are being sold for. Nearly $22 billion in federal and state subsidies and regulatory credits suppressed the retail price of EVs in 2021 by an average of almost $50,000.

• Thanks to an unlawful multiplier, EVs receive nearly seven times more credits under federal fuel efficiency programs than they provide in actual fuel economy benefits.

• Regulatory credits with bonus EV multipliers from federal fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions standards and state EV sales mandates provide an average of $27,881 in benefits per vehicle for producers of EVs.

• Home and public charging stations used by EVs put a significant strain on the electric grid, resulting in an average of $11,833 in socialized costs per EV over 10 years, which are shouldered by utility ratepayers and taxpayers.

• Direct state and federal subsidies for EVs average $8,984 per vehicle over 10 years.

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US federal deficit much larger than claimed — Peter St Onge

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Turns out this year’s federal deficit is a lot bigger than they claimed, and growing twice as fast.

Thanks to a cute accounting gimmick that counted student loan cancellation as revenue. That means our deficit is already $2 trillion — up 40% on a year ago.

And it means Congress promising $144 trillion in debt by 2053 could actually be low-balling.

This is another reason for war. Or more precisely, they don’t care about the deficit because they have known for a long time that they will be starting WW3. ABN