1) Gold Buying by Central Banks May Send Signal to Sell
Countries were also increasing their holdings in 1980 when gold peaked at $850 an ounce, data compiled by the London-based World Gold Council show. The record was exceeded 28 years later.
XX Sean’s note — Maybe so. Or maybe they’re worried about the mountains of paper currencies they have, and they know they have to back that paper up with something real. Just sayin’.
2) Best Ben Bernanke/George W. Bush riff ever (hat-tip Jesse at Café Americain).
3) Meanwhile, read this and weep … weep for your tax dollars down the hole.
4) Nuclear Power Expansion in China Stirs Concerns
China is preparing to build three times as many nuclear power plants in the coming decade as the rest of the world combined, a breakneck pace with the potential to help slow global warming.
5) No Easy Answers on Saving the Planet
The White House expects a “meaningful” deal at the summit meeting that might, say observers, include a provision for richer nations to commit $10 billion a year by 2012 to help developing countries address climate change. There are those who think that would be just a drop in the bucket. Richard K. Lester wrote an op-ed piece — “The High Cost of Copenhagen” — in The Wall Street Journal on Saturday. Lester is the head of the department of nuclear science and engineering at MIT. That doesn’t mean he is right by any means, but he had some interesting thoughts. He addresses the idea that the U.S. will need to reduce its carbon emissions 83% by 2050, which has been mentioned as a goal.
For that to happen, says Lester, 30,000 megawatts of new wind power would have to be added every year between now and 2050. That would be “four times what was added in 2008, a record year.” Another 35,000 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity would need to be added every year; that is “100 times what was added last year — a record year for solar too.” The nuclear reactor fleet would have to multiply “fivefold” and all coal-fired plants would have to be retrofitted with “carbon capture and storage technology,” which has yet to be demonstrated effective on a large scale. Could it be done? “Perhaps,” says Lester, “though not without enormous effort.”
6) Gold / Oil Price Ratio Favors Precious Metal Miners
Do not allow yourself to be mesmerized by bullion prices alone. Remain cognizant of the gold/oil price ratio, and the energy status of the miners you hold, and this will be one less potential “surprise” to deal with in your investment portfolio.
7) Sea levels set to rise more than expected due to ‘deeply surprising’ Greenland melt
A new study by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program estimates that the sea will rise by 0.5 to 1.5 meters by 2100, threatening coastal cities and flooding island nations. This is double the predicted rise estimated by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on climate Change (IPCC) in 2007, which did not incorporate sea level rise due to the melting of Greenland and Antarctica’s ice sheets.
8 ) 50 Reasons Why Global Warming Isn’t Natural
A British newspaper today published a list of “100 reasons why global warming is natural”. Here we take a quick look at the first 50 of their claims - and debunk each one
Related Posts
- Thursday — the Lone Star Republic, and Other Stories (04/16/09)
- Thursday Charts — Crude Oil and More (05/14/09)
- 7 Stories and Charts for Tuesday (11/24/09)
- Why Lost Jobs Aren’t Coming Back and Other Links for Thursday (12/03/09)
- Thursday News Linkapalooza (05/21/09)
{ 0 comments… add one now }