Wednesday 2 July 2014

Headlines

## Global Ponzi meltdown/House of Cards ##
One of the Grand Narratives of our era is the substitution of debt for income: as earned income and disposable income have stagnated for 40 years, the gap between the rising cost of living and stagnant household income has been filled by borrowed money.
Emerging-market companies that took on more than $2 trillion of foreign borrowing since 2008 are vulnerable to an evaporation of funding at the first sign of trouble, according to the Bank for International Settlements.
China has invited India to participate in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) — Beijing’s brainchild to steer development along the ancient “silk route” free from the influence of western-backed lenders such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
China's central bank said it has signed agreements for yuan clearing arrangements with France and Luxembourg, with the aim of promoting greater use of its currency overseas.

## Airline Death Spiral ##
The airliner might consider privatisation, discontinuing some routes, and layoffs.

## Iraq ##

## Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums ##

## Global unrest/mob rule/angry people/torches and pitchforks ##
Law exempts soldiers and police from criminal responsibility if they cause injuries or deaths
Israeli police today forcibly broke up up a three-day desert sit-in by hundreds of African migrants who bolted a detention center to march toward the Egyptian border, where they were rebuffed by Egyptian soldiers.
"The howl of rage from polarization and the crippling cost of welfare dependence is a toxic cocktail commingled to stall growth and foster discontent," he is quoted as saying.

## Energy/resources ##
Egypt’s daily fuel deficit is expected to worsen in Ramadan to 16m sq metres each of gas and electricity if citizens do not ration energy consumption, according to a senior official at the Egyptian Gas Holding Company (EGAS).

## Got food? ##
The technology in question is nanotechnology, the process of manipulating or creating matter at the molecular level. While there are a range of uses for nanotechnology, including the development of clothing and cosmetics, it has become particularly prevalent in the commercial food sector.

## Environment/health ##

## Intelligence/propaganda/security/internet/cyberwar ##
So it seems that Facebook and the U.S. military are likely working together to study civil unrest and work on ways to manipulate the masses into apathy or misguided feelings of contentment in the face of continued banker and oligarch theft.

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##
The Obama administration warned states on Tuesday that federal highway funds will be largely depleted in August, limiting the money states can expect from Washington to pay for road and bridge projects this summer.

## Japan ##
Japan may cut crude refining capacity by as much as 10 percent, or 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), by March 2017, under a new round of reductions set to be forced on the country's refiners amid forecasts for declining demand for oil products.
The government, facing the first summer in 40 years without nuclear power, is fielding complaints from residents who say key points have been missed in planning for any mass evacuation.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet adopted on Tuesday a resolution dropping a ban that has kept the military from fighting overseas since World War Two, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera confirmed, a dramatic step away from post-war pacifism and a political victory for the conservative premier.
The government on Tuesday launched a voluntary power-saving campaign for businesses and households in all parts of Japan except Okinawa, in order to conserve electricity.

## China ##

## UK ##
Department of Work and Pensions figures show recession and slow recovery mean families no better off than 12 years ago
The ageing oil and gas network of the UK North Sea is seeing a welcome rise in interest from infrastructure specialists and pension funds, giving oil majors a chance to offload unwanted assets and ultimately improve recovery from mature fields.

## US ##
"It's frightening, because you think this is something that only happens somewhere like Africa."
Federally funded programs will add at least 2,300 new primary care practitioners by the end of 2015, but the funding for at least one of those programs is set to expire at the same time, contributing to a massive shortage of doctors available to treat patients — including those newly insured through the Affordable Care Act and Medicare.
Americans' confidence in all three branches of the U.S. government has fallen, reaching record lows  for the Supreme Court (30%) and Congress (7%), and a six-year low for the presidency (29%). The presidency had the largest drop of the three branches this year, down seven percentage points from its previous rating of 36%.
That's because of a landmark decision from one of the highest state courts in the land. Upholding the right of individual towns to regulate shale drilling, trumping state or federal regulatory regimes.
Colorado school districts are collecting broad, detailed educational and psychological data on their students for use by private  companies and the federal government, yet parental access to the same information remains limited and difficult to come by.



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