Paul Krugman, SPECIAL #NYT Op-Ed, Meanwhile In China

Meanwhile In China

I am, of course, anxiously awaiting the results of Greferendum, although the next few days in Greece will be terrible whoever wins. But we shouldn’t lose sight of other risks facing the world. Some of us have been worrying quite a lot about China — an economy that at market exchange rates is 40 times the size of Greece, and isseverely unbalanced. 

And in the past month, mainly in the past few days, the Shanghai stock index has fallen almost 30 percent. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the feared crisis has come, but it’s definitely not a good sign.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/

Paul Krugman

The Conscience of a Liberal

First Financial Insights Inc.

Our Comments:  July 5, 2015

 Indeed there is long and ever-growing list of economic news disasters percolating out there; starting with Global Bonds, Real Estate Bubbles, Brazil, Chicago, Pensions, Spain, Italy, Japan, UK, Ukraine, Stock Crashes, Mexico, Oil Supplies, and on and on...

Not to impolitely forget - there's that nice ole Pope Francis fella with all those “So-GOP-Called”  - 188 pages of encyclical ranting and nonsense regarding the global climate. Imagine, him thinking we have a possible melting problem in the Arctic and Antarctic. “He is not even a scientist,  and plus, he lives in Europe somewhere - so what does he know? Boy, that guy has some nerve! “

Anyway, he has much better connections than they could ever hope for, apparently.

Hence, Greece somehow seems like a pimple on the elephant's back in the  more broader and larger context of global turmoil. Yet, there is a shining beacon of good news coming out of Iceland with reports of a miraculous economic turnaround since its meltdown. Why? They are supposedly one of the few who had actually  - JAILED THE BANKERS!!!.

Not only, was it historically a great economic-political-decision and priceless-lesson for all of us, but it also leaves the door wide-open  to another valuable question -  WHY STOP THERE?

July 5, 2015

Toronto, Canada

China Surpass US Oil Imports - War Ahead?

China's Crude Oil Imports Surpass Those Of US In April

Chinese crude oil imports surpassed those of the United States for the first time in April, making the Asian nation the world’s top importer of crude oil. According to a report by the Financial Times, the world’s second-largest economy purchased 7.4 million barrels of crude oil a day in April, topping U.S. imports of 7.2 million barrels a day.

“Being the world's biggest crude importer should give China more buying power. China's engagement in the Middle East will continue to change, and it will no longer be the minority player,” Philip Andrews-Speed, head of energy security research at the National University of Singapore, told Reuters. Read More

Why Is Everyone Thinking About It?

Dr. Kinesa's - Global Edge

Thousands of implications, concerns and conclusions may be drawn from this economic energy watershed, but does anyone want to bet that this will not lead to war by 2050?  Figure if China matched US per capita consumption their imports could exceed 40 million per day and  they are heading to that level within a mere 25 years even though there is no physical chance to meet this need from global reserves and production. 

Now  you should see the problem because no nation in the world is going to give up growth policies, and thereby create domestic and geopolitical suicide. Never. Growth addictions exist and have no cure or rehab without hitting rock bottom first, as they say.

"So, beam me up Scotty"

International Offices
May 18, 2015

New Chinese Laws Attack Pollution

China Takes On Pollution With Biggest Changes in 25 Years

BEIJING (Bloomberg News) – China’s legislature passed the biggest changes to its environmental protection laws in 25 years, punishing polluters more severely as the government works to limit smog and contaminated water and soil linked to three decades of economic growth.

Amendments to the law “sets environmental protection as the country’s basic policy,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. The rules hadn’t been changed since first enacted in 1989 as China began consuming more energy as the most-populous country grew into a global manufacturing hub.

Now the world’s biggest carbon emitter, China has moved to address the environmental damage that has been a byproduct of its breakneck economic growth and become a leading cause of social unrest. Government reports and recent comments from top officials about pollution have revealed the extent of the damage and health issues related to China’s soil, water, and air. 

The amendments give the public and government “powerful new tools” to cut pollution, Barbara Finamore, senior attorney and Asia director at the Natural Resources and Defense Council in New York, said in an interview. “The pollution is now impossible to ignore,” she said. “This is very big news.” 

Read More 

Pollution Doomsday

China's Fresh Air Supply At Risk

China's latest fad is breath of fresh air: Oxygen stations set up across the country

By Susannah Hills

(Daily Mail) – It is one of the most polluted countries on earth.

So it may come as little surprise that the latest fad in China is literally offering its city dwellers a breath of fresh air.


Numerous fresh air stations have been set up in some of China's most polluted cities.

The stations are stocked with individual air bags which provide users with pollution-free fresh air.



And they have proved to be a big hit with one air station in Zhengzhou city in central China's Henan province which was inundated with visitors.

China's Newest Fashion Statement

Uniformed air hostesses hook up visitors to oxygen masks so they can breathe air sourced from the Laojun Mountain scenic spot in Luanchuan county, which is 80% green land, in Henan province.



There was no shortage of takers as locals flooded to enjoy the free fresh air.

User Feng Lin, 75, said: 'The air is really good, but the time is too short. I had to stop too soon but it was really great until then.'

It comes after just three of China's 74 cities met the official air quality standards, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection in China.

Snow Storm in Buffalo N.Y?  Wrong again!

The air bags are China's latest attempt to address its dangerous smog levels - described as an environmental crisis by the World Health Organisation - after canned and bottled air already hit the streets.

The air stations follow on from last week when costumed characters called Oxygen Babies were giving away air bottles filled with air collected at the Tianmu mountain scenic spot in the county of Linan in Zhejiang province

See For Yourself

Read More

China Digs LA Size Coal Base; Carbon Grave Dooms Climate

China Is Building a "Coal Base" the Size of LA

Brian Merchant

(Motherboard) – China, faced with ever-worsening pollution in its major cities—a recent report deemed Beijing "barely suitable for living"—is doing what so many industrializing nations have done before it: banishing its titanic smog spewers to poor or rural areas so everyone else can breathe easier.

But China isn't just relegating its dirty coal-fired power plants to the outskirts of society; for years, it's been building 16 unprecedentedly massive, brand new "coal bases" in rural parts of the country. There, they won't stifle China's megacities; they'll churn out enough pollution to help smother the entire world.

The biggest of those bases, the Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base, spans nearly 400 square miles, about the size of LA. 

Just Adding to This Unbelievable Devastation 

It's already operational, and seemingly always expanding. It's operated by Shenhua, one of the biggest coal companies in the world. China hopes to uses these coal bases not just to host some of the world's largest coal-fired power plants, but to use super-energy intensive technology to convert the coal into a fuel called syngas and use it to make plastics and other materials. 

(Read More)

MARKET ALERT - China in Trouble - Platinum Wealth Partners

Thanks to our Affiliate - Platinum Wealth Partners

 

Default of a Chinese Bond:Isolated event or the beginning of something bigger?

It finally happened. A Chinese domestic bond has defaulted. It was the first default since the Chinese central bank (PBOC) started regulating the market in 1997. The unlucky company was Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science and Technology (Chaori). The major question though is this a sign of healthy maturing market or the beginning of a major problem?

If you had to choose allow a bond to default, Chaori was certainly a prime candidate. First it is small. It has only 1,500 employees. Second it is a private company, not a large state owned firm. Third, it is in the struggling solar industry with substantial over capacity. Fourth, its issues were well known. Some sort of default was expected. Trading in the bonds was suspended last June. At that time they were trading at only 50% of their face value. The total issue is $160 million and the missed payment was only $15 million.

China’s premier Li Kequiang warned that Chaori was not the last. He said on 12^th March last week that future defaults of financial products are “unavoidable”. He pointed out that allowing defaults was a natural part of the financial deregulation process. There is also the issue of moral hazard, which the authorities are trying to address. In essence if you don’t allow companies to default, the markets assumes that they will never take place. With the certainty that companies cannot go under, investors will continue to pour money into risky assets.

(Read More)

   What Me Worry?

 

Our bets are that this is just the beginning, as it was long 

overdue. There are so many cracks in the portfolio that it can 

only get worse. Recently we observed the fall in copper price, a BIG signal that the real economy is suffering. As  goes China - so goes the global economy. Put this at the top of your watch-list - as the walls come tumbling down

Platinum Wealth Partners

March 19, 2014 

This is not looking good - for anyone, anywhere.

.

Dr Peter G Kinesa

March 19, 2014