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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
May 5, 2016
Published on Apr 28, 2016
http://democracynow.org - During an event Tuesday at the Brooklyn Public Library, Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned political dissident, linguist, author and professor, was asked about Bernie Sanders’ run for the White House. "He’s considered radical and extremist, which is a pretty interesting characterization, because he’s basically a mainstream New Deal Democrat," Chomsky said. "His positions would not have surprised President Eisenhower, who said, in fact, that anyone who does not accept New Deal programs doesn’t belong in the American political system. That’s now considered very radical." Chomsky concluded by noting that Sanders "has mobilized a large number of young people, these young people who are saying, 'Look, we’re not going to consent anymore.' And if that turns into a continuing, organized, mobilized force, that could change the country—maybe not for this election, but in the longer term."
Noam Chomsky: Young Bernie Sanders Supporters are a "Mobilized Force That Could Change the Country"
Published on Apr 28, 2016
http://democracynow.org - During an event Tuesday at the Brooklyn Public Library, Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned political dissident, linguist, author and professor, was asked about Bernie Sanders’ run for the White House. "He’s considered radical and extremist, which is a pretty interesting characterization, because he’s basically a mainstream New Deal Democrat," Chomsky said. "His positions would not have surprised President Eisenhower, who said, in fact, that anyone who does not accept New Deal programs doesn’t belong in the American political system. That’s now considered very radical." Chomsky concluded by noting that Sanders "has mobilized a large number of young people, these young people who are saying, 'Look, we’re not going to consent anymore.' And if that turns into a continuing, organized, mobilized force, that could change the country—maybe not for this election, but in the longer term."
May 5, 2016
The Great American Credit Collapse
By Bill Bonner, Chairman Bonner and Partners:
Please remember this warning when you go to the ATM to get cash — and there is none.
While we were thinking about what was really going on with today’s strange new money system, a startling thought occurred to us. Our financial system could take a surprising and catastrophic twist that almost nobody imagines, let alone anticipates.
.....(snip).....
There’s Not Enough Physical Money
Here’s how… and why:
It’s almost seems impossible. Hard to imagine. Difficult to understand. But if you look at M2 money supply – which measures coins and notes in circulation as well as bank deposits and money market accounts – America’s money stock amounted to $12.6 trillion as of last month.
But there was just $1.4 trillion of physical currency in circulation – about only half of which is in the US. (Nobody knows for sure.)
What we use as money today is mostly credit. It exists as zeros and ones in electronic bank accounts. We never see it. Touch it. Feel it. Count it out. Or lose it behind seat cushions.
.....(snip).....
At some point, a debt correction is inevitable. Debt expansions are always – always – followed by debt contractions. There is no other way. Debt cannot increase forever.
And when it happens, ZIRP and QE will not be enough to reverse the process, because they are already running at open throttle. ...........(more)
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/05/05/credit-collapse-dollar-panic/
The Great American Credit Collapse
The Great American Credit Collapse
By Bill Bonner, Chairman Bonner and Partners:
Please remember this warning when you go to the ATM to get cash — and there is none.
While we were thinking about what was really going on with today’s strange new money system, a startling thought occurred to us. Our financial system could take a surprising and catastrophic twist that almost nobody imagines, let alone anticipates.
.....(snip).....
There’s Not Enough Physical Money
Here’s how… and why:
It’s almost seems impossible. Hard to imagine. Difficult to understand. But if you look at M2 money supply – which measures coins and notes in circulation as well as bank deposits and money market accounts – America’s money stock amounted to $12.6 trillion as of last month.
But there was just $1.4 trillion of physical currency in circulation – about only half of which is in the US. (Nobody knows for sure.)
What we use as money today is mostly credit. It exists as zeros and ones in electronic bank accounts. We never see it. Touch it. Feel it. Count it out. Or lose it behind seat cushions.
.....(snip).....
At some point, a debt correction is inevitable. Debt expansions are always – always – followed by debt contractions. There is no other way. Debt cannot increase forever.
And when it happens, ZIRP and QE will not be enough to reverse the process, because they are already running at open throttle. ...........(more)
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/05/05/credit-collapse-dollar-panic/
May 5, 2016
from In These Times:
A Nation in the Grip of Greed
Rana Foroohar’s “Makers and Takers” breaks down crisis-prone U.S. economy
BY Chris Lehmann
Casual browsers might mistake Rana Foroohar’s Makers and Takers for a Tea Party manifesto. The phrase is most famously identified with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who warned in 2010 that “takers”—i.e., people who receive more in federal benefits than they pay in taxes—were poised to become the majority of Americans, eclipsing the “makers”—the business owners and financiers who create hardy economic value.
But Foroohar, an economics columnist for Time and analyst for CNN, inverts Ryan’s callow sloganeering to devastating effect. Makers and Takers is a closely argued, richly reported anatomy of the sluggish, unequal and crisis-prone state of the U.S. economy under the dictates of financialization—the tax giveaways, financial-sector deregulation, securitized debt, etc., that are celebrated by figures such as Ryan.
Take, for example, the fanciful pretext for Ryan’s remarks: the well-worn lament that to even slightly increase regulations is to browbeat would-be job creators into a state of paralysis. In truth, Foroohar notes, “there isn’t a shred of evidence to suggest that lowering taxes on the rich makes them any more or less likely to invest or start businesses.”
Indeed, citing a 2015 report from the Office of Financial Research, Foroohar notes that since the great crucible of the 2008 meltdown, corporate earnings “are rising” even as “sales growth for most public U.S. companies is not.” Astonishingly, as Democrats and Republicans alike have nonsensically preached austerity to the nation at large, the investor class—the real layabout “takers”—has sunk into an ocean of red ink, with corporate debt ballooning from $5.7 trillion in 2006 to $7.4 trillion today. Most of this dosh is repackaged into exotic new financial instruments designed to maximize short-term shareholder returns. In the 1970s, American companies invested more than 15 times what they paid out to shareholders; now that ratio is below 2 to 1. ................(more)
http://inthesetimes.com/article/19017/in-the-grip-of-greed
A Nation in the Grip of Greed
from In These Times:
A Nation in the Grip of Greed
Rana Foroohar’s “Makers and Takers” breaks down crisis-prone U.S. economy
BY Chris Lehmann
Casual browsers might mistake Rana Foroohar’s Makers and Takers for a Tea Party manifesto. The phrase is most famously identified with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who warned in 2010 that “takers”—i.e., people who receive more in federal benefits than they pay in taxes—were poised to become the majority of Americans, eclipsing the “makers”—the business owners and financiers who create hardy economic value.
But Foroohar, an economics columnist for Time and analyst for CNN, inverts Ryan’s callow sloganeering to devastating effect. Makers and Takers is a closely argued, richly reported anatomy of the sluggish, unequal and crisis-prone state of the U.S. economy under the dictates of financialization—the tax giveaways, financial-sector deregulation, securitized debt, etc., that are celebrated by figures such as Ryan.
Take, for example, the fanciful pretext for Ryan’s remarks: the well-worn lament that to even slightly increase regulations is to browbeat would-be job creators into a state of paralysis. In truth, Foroohar notes, “there isn’t a shred of evidence to suggest that lowering taxes on the rich makes them any more or less likely to invest or start businesses.”
Indeed, citing a 2015 report from the Office of Financial Research, Foroohar notes that since the great crucible of the 2008 meltdown, corporate earnings “are rising” even as “sales growth for most public U.S. companies is not.” Astonishingly, as Democrats and Republicans alike have nonsensically preached austerity to the nation at large, the investor class—the real layabout “takers”—has sunk into an ocean of red ink, with corporate debt ballooning from $5.7 trillion in 2006 to $7.4 trillion today. Most of this dosh is repackaged into exotic new financial instruments designed to maximize short-term shareholder returns. In the 1970s, American companies invested more than 15 times what they paid out to shareholders; now that ratio is below 2 to 1. ................(more)
http://inthesetimes.com/article/19017/in-the-grip-of-greed
May 5, 2016
(The Intercept) On the eve of the New York state primary last month, as Hillary Clinton came closer to the Democratic nomination, Vice President Joe Biden went on TV and defended her husband’s 1994 crime bill. Asked in an interview if he felt shame for his role passing a law that has been the subject of so much recent criticism, Biden answered, “Not at all,” and boasted of its successes — among them putting “100,000 cops on the street.” His remarks sparked a new round of debate over the legacy of the crime bill, which has haunted Clinton ever since she hit the campaign trail with a vow to “end the era of mass incarceration.”
A few days later, on April 24, a lesser-known crime law quietly turned 20. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 — or AEDPA — was signed by Bill Clinton in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing. While it has been mostly absent from the recent debates over the crime policies of the ’90s, its impact has been no less profound, particularly when it comes to a bedrock constitutional principle: habeas corpus, or the right of people in prison to challenge their detention. For 20 years, AEDPA has shut the courthouse door on prisoners trying to prove they were wrongfully convicted. Americans are mostly unaware of this legacy, even as we know more than ever about wrongful convictions. Barry Scheck, co-founder and head of the Innocence Project, calls AEDPA “a disaster” and “a major roadblock since its passage.” Many would like to see it repealed.
If the Clintons have not been forced to defend AEDPA, it’s partly because neither the law nor its shared history with the crime bill is well understood. AEDPA’s dizzying provisions — from harsh immigration policies to toughened federal sentencing — were certainly a hasty response to terrorism. But the law was also the product of an administration that long before the Oklahoma attack had abandoned its party’s core principles on criminal justice, deciding instead to wield crime policy as political weapon. After the Republicans seized control of Congress in the historic 1994 midterm elections, the Clinton White House sought to double down on its law-and-order image in advance of the 1996 presidential race. In the short term, it was a winning political strategy for Clinton. In the long term, it would help pave the way to one of the worst laws of his presidency.
The story that sets the stage for AEDPA can be partly told through White House memos from the time, a trove of which were released in 2014. Buried among hundreds of thousands of digital records housed in the Clinton Digital Library are previously confidential documents that shine light on Clinton’s criminal justice strategies in the mid-90s, yet have been largely overlooked.
One memo reveals a White House weighing its options in the weeks after the “Republican Revolution.” Dated November 22, 1994, it was written by top Department of Justice lawyer Ron Klain, who sent it to his boss as well as members of President Clinton’s inner circle, including Bruce Reed (the operative behind the famed pledge to “end welfare as we know it”) and senior White House adviser Rahm Emanuel. The memo was titled “Crime Bill ‘Redux.’” ..................(more)
https://theintercept.com/2016/05/04/the-untold-story-of-bill-clintons-other-crime-bill/
The Inside Story of How Bill Clinton Sacrificed Prisoners’ Rights for Political Gain
(The Intercept) On the eve of the New York state primary last month, as Hillary Clinton came closer to the Democratic nomination, Vice President Joe Biden went on TV and defended her husband’s 1994 crime bill. Asked in an interview if he felt shame for his role passing a law that has been the subject of so much recent criticism, Biden answered, “Not at all,” and boasted of its successes — among them putting “100,000 cops on the street.” His remarks sparked a new round of debate over the legacy of the crime bill, which has haunted Clinton ever since she hit the campaign trail with a vow to “end the era of mass incarceration.”
A few days later, on April 24, a lesser-known crime law quietly turned 20. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 — or AEDPA — was signed by Bill Clinton in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing. While it has been mostly absent from the recent debates over the crime policies of the ’90s, its impact has been no less profound, particularly when it comes to a bedrock constitutional principle: habeas corpus, or the right of people in prison to challenge their detention. For 20 years, AEDPA has shut the courthouse door on prisoners trying to prove they were wrongfully convicted. Americans are mostly unaware of this legacy, even as we know more than ever about wrongful convictions. Barry Scheck, co-founder and head of the Innocence Project, calls AEDPA “a disaster” and “a major roadblock since its passage.” Many would like to see it repealed.
If the Clintons have not been forced to defend AEDPA, it’s partly because neither the law nor its shared history with the crime bill is well understood. AEDPA’s dizzying provisions — from harsh immigration policies to toughened federal sentencing — were certainly a hasty response to terrorism. But the law was also the product of an administration that long before the Oklahoma attack had abandoned its party’s core principles on criminal justice, deciding instead to wield crime policy as political weapon. After the Republicans seized control of Congress in the historic 1994 midterm elections, the Clinton White House sought to double down on its law-and-order image in advance of the 1996 presidential race. In the short term, it was a winning political strategy for Clinton. In the long term, it would help pave the way to one of the worst laws of his presidency.
The story that sets the stage for AEDPA can be partly told through White House memos from the time, a trove of which were released in 2014. Buried among hundreds of thousands of digital records housed in the Clinton Digital Library are previously confidential documents that shine light on Clinton’s criminal justice strategies in the mid-90s, yet have been largely overlooked.
One memo reveals a White House weighing its options in the weeks after the “Republican Revolution.” Dated November 22, 1994, it was written by top Department of Justice lawyer Ron Klain, who sent it to his boss as well as members of President Clinton’s inner circle, including Bruce Reed (the operative behind the famed pledge to “end welfare as we know it”) and senior White House adviser Rahm Emanuel. The memo was titled “Crime Bill ‘Redux.’” ..................(more)
https://theintercept.com/2016/05/04/the-untold-story-of-bill-clintons-other-crime-bill/
May 5, 2016
Economist Paul Craig Roberts: Greece Must Leave the Eurozone to Regain Its Sovereignty
Wednesday, 04 May 2016 00:00
By Michael Nevradakis, Truthout | Interview
In Greece, the Syriza-led coalition government is now set to agree to new rounds of cuts and privatizations demanded by the country's lenders. Prior to its initial election in January 2015, Syriza had promised to abolish the country's loan agreements and austerity policies. Now, unemployment remains at record levels, and the young and educated continue to leave the country, while recent large-scale privatizations such as the sell-off of the port of Piraeus have been pushed through.
Paul Craig Roberts, a former undersecretary of the US Treasury and former Wall Street Journal editor, agreed to share his thoughts on the recent developments in Greece. The author of over a dozen books and numerous journal articles, Roberts regularly analyzes global economic conditions and geopolitics in his writing. In this interview, which has been lightly edited, he discusses how countries are indebted and forced to accept austerity, as well as current US economic conditions and the presidential election.
Michael Nevradakis: You have written that Greece is under foreign occupation. Explain why you believe this is the case.
Paul Craig Roberts: Greece is being looted like a colony of the private banks, which is what it is. Previous Greek governments accepted bribes to indebt Greece to private banks. For example, someone would come from Germany and say, "Let us make you this nice loan so you can buy German submarines, and here's a bag full of money for agreeing." This is the way much of the Greek debt was built up.
Normally in the past, when governments had excessive debt that they couldn't service, the debt was written down to an amount that could be serviced. For example, when Mexico couldn't pay in the 1980s, the debt was written down, and the US government came up with Brady bonds, which was a way of writing down the debt. But now that looting is completely unleashed; the rule is that if a government can't pay, the people have to pay, and the way they have to pay is to accept cuts in their pensions, cuts in employment, lower wages, cuts in social services. And they have to sell off their municipal water companies, their ports, the state lottery. This money is then used to pay the private bankers that lent the governments money that did not really benefit the people very much, but benefited the foreign recipients of the loans.
This is a looting process; it's the way that the colonialists looted the colonies in Africa and Asia, and now what we see is that the West is looting itself, and this all happens because the people accept it. Even when they protest, they don't go far enough. We have here a situation where the Greek people don't even understand what they have to do to save themselves and to be independent ... (They accept) EU domination, which means you have no national sovereignty. If you're a member of the EU and you use the euro, you have no financial independence. ..............(more)
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35883-economist-paul-craig-roberts-greece-must-leave-the-eurozone-to-regain-its-sovereignty
Economist Paul Craig Roberts: Greece Must Leave the Eurozone to Regain Its Sovereignty
Economist Paul Craig Roberts: Greece Must Leave the Eurozone to Regain Its Sovereignty
Wednesday, 04 May 2016 00:00
By Michael Nevradakis, Truthout | Interview
In Greece, the Syriza-led coalition government is now set to agree to new rounds of cuts and privatizations demanded by the country's lenders. Prior to its initial election in January 2015, Syriza had promised to abolish the country's loan agreements and austerity policies. Now, unemployment remains at record levels, and the young and educated continue to leave the country, while recent large-scale privatizations such as the sell-off of the port of Piraeus have been pushed through.
Paul Craig Roberts, a former undersecretary of the US Treasury and former Wall Street Journal editor, agreed to share his thoughts on the recent developments in Greece. The author of over a dozen books and numerous journal articles, Roberts regularly analyzes global economic conditions and geopolitics in his writing. In this interview, which has been lightly edited, he discusses how countries are indebted and forced to accept austerity, as well as current US economic conditions and the presidential election.
Michael Nevradakis: You have written that Greece is under foreign occupation. Explain why you believe this is the case.
Paul Craig Roberts: Greece is being looted like a colony of the private banks, which is what it is. Previous Greek governments accepted bribes to indebt Greece to private banks. For example, someone would come from Germany and say, "Let us make you this nice loan so you can buy German submarines, and here's a bag full of money for agreeing." This is the way much of the Greek debt was built up.
Normally in the past, when governments had excessive debt that they couldn't service, the debt was written down to an amount that could be serviced. For example, when Mexico couldn't pay in the 1980s, the debt was written down, and the US government came up with Brady bonds, which was a way of writing down the debt. But now that looting is completely unleashed; the rule is that if a government can't pay, the people have to pay, and the way they have to pay is to accept cuts in their pensions, cuts in employment, lower wages, cuts in social services. And they have to sell off their municipal water companies, their ports, the state lottery. This money is then used to pay the private bankers that lent the governments money that did not really benefit the people very much, but benefited the foreign recipients of the loans.
This is a looting process; it's the way that the colonialists looted the colonies in Africa and Asia, and now what we see is that the West is looting itself, and this all happens because the people accept it. Even when they protest, they don't go far enough. We have here a situation where the Greek people don't even understand what they have to do to save themselves and to be independent ... (They accept) EU domination, which means you have no national sovereignty. If you're a member of the EU and you use the euro, you have no financial independence. ..............(more)
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35883-economist-paul-craig-roberts-greece-must-leave-the-eurozone-to-regain-its-sovereignty
May 5, 2016
from the SF Examiner:
San Francisco approved a $260 million bailout of the major Transbay transportation and development project Tuesday after multiple errors have sent costs soaring to nearly double the initial estimate.
The multibillion-dollar project’s bailout, which was introduced by Mayor Ed Lee, was approved by the Board of Supervisors in a 10-1 vote.
Board members have expressed concerns about the cost escalations, but say the project is too important not to assist with funding to ensure its completion. The board vote authorizes the issuance of certificates of participation debt which would be paid back through the capture of property taxes within the Transbay area.
Since 2008, the project costs have increased by about 90 percent, from $1.189 billion to $2.259 billion. The latest shortfall estimate shows $260 million is needed to complete Phase 1 of the project by December 2017.
Tied to the rebuild of the Transbay Terminal, which is hailed as the “Grand Central Station of the West,” is the redevelopment of 40 acres within the area bounded by Mission, Main, Second and Folsom streets. ...................(more)
http://www.sfexaminer.com/260m-bailout-approved-transbay-transit-center-2/
San Francisco: $260 Million Bailout Approved for Transbay Transit Center
from the SF Examiner:
San Francisco approved a $260 million bailout of the major Transbay transportation and development project Tuesday after multiple errors have sent costs soaring to nearly double the initial estimate.
The multibillion-dollar project’s bailout, which was introduced by Mayor Ed Lee, was approved by the Board of Supervisors in a 10-1 vote.
Board members have expressed concerns about the cost escalations, but say the project is too important not to assist with funding to ensure its completion. The board vote authorizes the issuance of certificates of participation debt which would be paid back through the capture of property taxes within the Transbay area.
Since 2008, the project costs have increased by about 90 percent, from $1.189 billion to $2.259 billion. The latest shortfall estimate shows $260 million is needed to complete Phase 1 of the project by December 2017.
Tied to the rebuild of the Transbay Terminal, which is hailed as the “Grand Central Station of the West,” is the redevelopment of 40 acres within the area bounded by Mission, Main, Second and Folsom streets. ...................(more)
http://www.sfexaminer.com/260m-bailout-approved-transbay-transit-center-2/
May 5, 2016
The Great American Credit Collapse
By Bill Bonner, Chairman Bonner and Partners:
Please remember this warning when you go to the ATM to get cash — and there is none.
While we were thinking about what was really going on with today’s strange new money system, a startling thought occurred to us. Our financial system could take a surprising and catastrophic twist that almost nobody imagines, let alone anticipates.
.....(snip).....
There’s Not Enough Physical Money
Here’s how… and why:
It’s almost seems impossible. Hard to imagine. Difficult to understand. But if you look at M2 money supply – which measures coins and notes in circulation as well as bank deposits and money market accounts – America’s money stock amounted to $12.6 trillion as of last month.
But there was just $1.4 trillion of physical currency in circulation – about only half of which is in the US. (Nobody knows for sure.)
What we use as money today is mostly credit. It exists as zeros and ones in electronic bank accounts. We never see it. Touch it. Feel it. Count it out. Or lose it behind seat cushions.
.....(snip).....
At some point, a debt correction is inevitable. Debt expansions are always – always – followed by debt contractions. There is no other way. Debt cannot increase forever.
And when it happens, ZIRP and QE will not be enough to reverse the process, because they are already running at open throttle. ...........(more)
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/05/05/credit-collapse-dollar-panic/
The Great American Credit Collapse
The Great American Credit Collapse
By Bill Bonner, Chairman Bonner and Partners:
Please remember this warning when you go to the ATM to get cash — and there is none.
While we were thinking about what was really going on with today’s strange new money system, a startling thought occurred to us. Our financial system could take a surprising and catastrophic twist that almost nobody imagines, let alone anticipates.
.....(snip).....
There’s Not Enough Physical Money
Here’s how… and why:
It’s almost seems impossible. Hard to imagine. Difficult to understand. But if you look at M2 money supply – which measures coins and notes in circulation as well as bank deposits and money market accounts – America’s money stock amounted to $12.6 trillion as of last month.
But there was just $1.4 trillion of physical currency in circulation – about only half of which is in the US. (Nobody knows for sure.)
What we use as money today is mostly credit. It exists as zeros and ones in electronic bank accounts. We never see it. Touch it. Feel it. Count it out. Or lose it behind seat cushions.
.....(snip).....
At some point, a debt correction is inevitable. Debt expansions are always – always – followed by debt contractions. There is no other way. Debt cannot increase forever.
And when it happens, ZIRP and QE will not be enough to reverse the process, because they are already running at open throttle. ...........(more)
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/05/05/credit-collapse-dollar-panic/
May 5, 2016
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/05/04/freight-rail-traffic-plunges-aar-april-report-photos-idled-engines-transportation-recession/
Freight Rail Traffic Plunges: Haunting Pictures of Transportation Recession
by Wolf Richter • May 4, 2016
[font color="blue"]292 Union Pacific engines idled in Arizona Desert[/font]
Total US rail traffic in April plunged 11.8% from a year ago, the Association of American Railroads reported today. Carloads of bulk commodities such as coal, oil, grains, and chemicals plummeted 16.1% to 944,339 units.
The coal industry is in a horrible condition and cannot compete with US natural gas at current prices. Coal-fired power plants are being retired. Demand for steam coal is plunging. Major US coal miners – even the largest one – are now bankrupt. So in April, carloads of coal plummeted 40% from the already beaten-down levels a year ago. The AAR report:
Only five of the 20 commodity categories saw gains. Of the decliners, coal was the biggest. But petroleum products also plunged 25%, and grain mill products dropped 7%. Even without coal, carloads were down 3% year-over-year.
But it’s not just coal. In April, loads of containers and trailers fell 7.5% year-over-year to 1,028,460 intermodal units. They transport goods for retailers and wholesalers. They haul parts, components, and assemblies for manufacturers. They haul imported goods from ports and borders to different destinations across the country, and they haul goods to be exported to the ports and borders. They’re a measure of the real economy.
.....(snip).....
On paper, slow economic growth might look OK-ish, but in the US, where there’s significant population growth, it’s toxic. That’s why the numbers are hushed up. Read… Why this Economy Feels Even Lousier than the Lousy GDP Print
Freight Rail Traffic Plunges: Haunting Pictures of Transportation Recession
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/05/04/freight-rail-traffic-plunges-aar-april-report-photos-idled-engines-transportation-recession/
Freight Rail Traffic Plunges: Haunting Pictures of Transportation Recession
by Wolf Richter • May 4, 2016
[font color="blue"]292 Union Pacific engines idled in Arizona Desert[/font]
Total US rail traffic in April plunged 11.8% from a year ago, the Association of American Railroads reported today. Carloads of bulk commodities such as coal, oil, grains, and chemicals plummeted 16.1% to 944,339 units.
The coal industry is in a horrible condition and cannot compete with US natural gas at current prices. Coal-fired power plants are being retired. Demand for steam coal is plunging. Major US coal miners – even the largest one – are now bankrupt. So in April, carloads of coal plummeted 40% from the already beaten-down levels a year ago. The AAR report:
Rail coal traffic continues to suffer due to low natural gas prices and high coal stockpiles at power plants. Coal accounted for just 26% of non-intermodal rail traffic for US railroads in April 2016, down from 36% in April 2015 and 45% as recently as late 2011.
Only five of the 20 commodity categories saw gains. Of the decliners, coal was the biggest. But petroleum products also plunged 25%, and grain mill products dropped 7%. Even without coal, carloads were down 3% year-over-year.
But it’s not just coal. In April, loads of containers and trailers fell 7.5% year-over-year to 1,028,460 intermodal units. They transport goods for retailers and wholesalers. They haul parts, components, and assemblies for manufacturers. They haul imported goods from ports and borders to different destinations across the country, and they haul goods to be exported to the ports and borders. They’re a measure of the real economy.
.....(snip).....
On paper, slow economic growth might look OK-ish, but in the US, where there’s significant population growth, it’s toxic. That’s why the numbers are hushed up. Read… Why this Economy Feels Even Lousier than the Lousy GDP Print
May 5, 2016
R.I.P. TTIP?
by Don Quijones • May 4, 2016
[font color="blue"]Holy Grail US-EU trade deal is “probably doomed.”[/font]
By Don Quijones, Spain & Mexico, editor at WOLF STREET.
TTIP, the once super-secret transatlantic trade deal that is now broadly despised on both sides of the Atlantic, may not be alive yet but it could soon be dead. And all thanks to leaks which confirm a longstanding suspicion in Europe that the ultimate goal of TTIP is to pry open European markets for big U.S. corporations, with little offered in the way of reciprocity.
The UK Independent reports that the 248 pages of documents released by Greenpeace show that the “hated” deal would grant US corporations “unprecedented powers” over any new public health or safety regulations to be introduced in the future:
It is iron-clad confirmation that many of our biggest fears were well-founded. At long last the treaty that should not be named is being exposed to the harsh light of day, all its darkest intentions splashed across the front pages of Europe’s biggest selling newspapers. As the European Green party notes, “every single publicly voiced suspicion concerning the lack of transparency in these TTIP negotiations has been justified by the revelations stemming from the leak.” ................(more)
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/05/04/r-i-p-ttip-eu-us-trade-pact-leaks/
R.I.P. TTIP?
R.I.P. TTIP?
by Don Quijones • May 4, 2016
[font color="blue"]Holy Grail US-EU trade deal is “probably doomed.”[/font]
By Don Quijones, Spain & Mexico, editor at WOLF STREET.
TTIP, the once super-secret transatlantic trade deal that is now broadly despised on both sides of the Atlantic, may not be alive yet but it could soon be dead. And all thanks to leaks which confirm a longstanding suspicion in Europe that the ultimate goal of TTIP is to pry open European markets for big U.S. corporations, with little offered in the way of reciprocity.
The UK Independent reports that the 248 pages of documents released by Greenpeace show that the “hated” deal would grant US corporations “unprecedented powers” over any new public health or safety regulations to be introduced in the future:
If any European government does dare to bring in laws to raise social or environmental standards, TTIP will grant US investors the right to sue for loss of profits.
It is iron-clad confirmation that many of our biggest fears were well-founded. At long last the treaty that should not be named is being exposed to the harsh light of day, all its darkest intentions splashed across the front pages of Europe’s biggest selling newspapers. As the European Green party notes, “every single publicly voiced suspicion concerning the lack of transparency in these TTIP negotiations has been justified by the revelations stemming from the leak.” ................(more)
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/05/04/r-i-p-ttip-eu-us-trade-pact-leaks/
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