Global Ponzi meltdown/House of Cards
UAE banks under pressure as Dubai debt talks falter
"The UAE sentiment is seen negative and banks are likely to be hit after Royal Bank of Scotland and two other banks abandoned talks on restructuring Dubai Group's $10 billion debt and threatened legal action, said experts on Tuesday."
Nothing to see here, folks. Move right along. -- RF
Global turmoil, capacity glut force SCI not to place new orders (India)
CSA calls on domestic cargo owners to cut shipping capacity (China)
Loan Moratorium in Italy for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses; GDP Expected to Contract 2 Percent
Latin America's love affair with China may sour
"Latin America has developed a dangerous dependency on China as a voracious consumer of commodity exports and the region now faces a potential hit as the huge Asian economy cools."
GM under pressure as Opel fights overcapacity
ECB Advocates Forcing Senior Bondholders to Take Losses on Spanish Debt; What's It Mean?
Clouds gather over money market funds
Airline Death Spiral
Kuwait Airways situation ‘going from bad to worse’; Some passengers cancel reservations
Air India: Selling family silver to ease finances
Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums
China frigate heads home, averts new Philippines row
Mexico gang attacks Christian youth camp
How Iran Steams Past International Sanctions
Battle for the Pacific: Naval arms race in the China Sea
Hilarity Ensues as Russia Criticizes Saudi Arabia's Human Rights Record
After Creating Dollar Exclusion Zones In Asia And South America, China Set To Corner Africa Next
Global unrest/mob rule/angry people/torches and pitchforks
Protests hit Bahrain after opposition restrictions
Thousands protest civil servant wage cuts in Spain
Turkish Police Clash with Kurdish Protesters
Occupy Protests Enter Third Day in Downtown L.A.
Occupy protesters mark start of Bohemian retreat
Angolan police arrest 12 at anti-government rally
Ethiopia mosque sit-ins see deaths, arrests: protesters
Egyptians pelt Clinton motorcade with tomatoes
"Protesters threw tomatoes and shoes at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's motorcade on Sunday during her first visit to Egypt since the election of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi."
Energy/resources
Corn Ethanol Producers Enter A Perfect Storm
"Corn ethanol producers are shuttering plants, some of them permanently, in the face of losses of up to $0.20/gal."
Hidroelectrica to cut power output by 50pct from August on drought (Romania)
Israel Electric Corporation warns of blackouts as heat wave peaks
"The IEC is calling on the public to refrain from using high-consuming electrical appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers and ovens during the afternoon hours."
Electrical and Water Supply Diminished by Current Heat Wave (Tunisia)
Rebounding US Oil Production: The Historical View
The bottom line is that junk oil is dependent on high oil prices, while high prices are killing the economy. Not all oil is created equal. -- RF
UAE opens pipeline to bypass Strait of Hormuz
Dark Energy: Prices Undercut Oil Services
Saudi Arabia and What Lies Ahead
Infrastructure scavenging
Copper thieves hit Terrebonne power substations (US)
Got food?
Global food crisis looms as importers sit out grain price highs
Environment/health
Fugitive Methane Caught in the Act of Raising GHG
"It turns out that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are much higher from using natural gas to produce electricity than from using coal. So much for the myth that replacing coal with gas will help stave off global warming."
Intelligence/security/internet
Social networks scan for sexual predators, with uneven results
Verizon Claims Right to “Edit” What You See on the Internet
NSA Whistleblower: Spy Agency Gathering Info on ‘Virtually Every US Citizen’
Systemic breakdown
You can't just do one thing (Richard Heinberg)
Good read on why we must understand the systemic nature of problems. -- RF
Oxford computing prof claims overpopulation is at the root of all the planet’s troubles
TV channel blackouts becoming more common as profits stall
"Trade-Off": A Study In Global Systemic Collapse
Resilience through simplification: revisiting Tainter's theory of collapse (part 2)
Japan
SMBC first major bank to accept deposits in yuan
"Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. will become the first megabank in Japan to accept deposits in yuan from individual customers, recognizing the growing demand as it becomes a major global currency and a potentially lucrative investment."
Reported domestic violence cases up by 46.3% so far this year
China
China's "Heart Attack" In June: Beijing Overstated Q2 Growth
Skyscraper Index suggests coming end to China's boom times
UK
Olympic lanes could be suspended if London traffic is gridlocked
US
Pawn shops are going upscale for affluent clients
Tsunami of boomer mental illness looms
Scottsdale silent on facility for police
The rising credit risks in US student loans
Scranton, Pennsylvania: where even the mayor is on minimum wage
James Carville: Middle Class ‘Hit by a Truck’
And finally… Court laughs as 'bedridden' man walks
Jenna Orkin - Morning Edition
Headlines
The 'Monsanto Rider': Are Biotech Companies About to Gain Immunity from Federal Law?
"A so-called “Monsanto rider,” quietly slipped into the multi-billion dollar FY 2013 Agricultural Appropriations bill, would require – not just allow, but require - the Secretary of Agriculture to grant a temporary permit for the planting or cultivation of a genetically engineered crop, even if a federal court has ordered the planting be halted until an Environmental Impact Statement is completed. "
Ron Paul's 'delegate strategy' fails in Nebraska
So now how much "influence" will he have with the modern Republican party? Same as before, jack-shit - Wes
It's been a while since we recommended buying a long-term food supply to hedge against massive food price inflation. Well, consider the warning and recommendation issued. This winter will see brutal food cost increases everywhere. - Wes
"Trade-Off": A Study In Global Systemic Collapse
"This study considers the relationship between a global systemic banking, monetary and solvency crisis and its implications for the real-time flow of goods and services in the globalized economy. It outlines how contagion in the financial system could set off semi-autonomous contagion in supply chains globally, even where buyers and sellers are linked by solvency, sound money and bank inter-mediation. The cross-contagion between the financial system and trade/production networks is mutually reinforcing.
It is argued that in order to understand systemic risk in the globalized economy, account must be taken of how growing complexity (interconnectedness, interdependence and the speed of processes), the de-localization of production and concentration within key pillars of the globalized economy have magnified global vulnerability and opened up the possibility of a rapid and large-scale collapse. ‘Collapse’ in this sense means the irreversible loss of socio-economic complexity which fundamentally transforms the nature of the economy. These crucial issues have not been recognized by policy-makers nor are they reflected in economic thinking or modeling....
....We consider one scenario to give a practical dimension to understanding supply-chain contagion: a break-up of the Euro and an intertwined systemic banking crisis. Simple argument and modeling will point to the likelihood of a food security crisis within days in the directly affected countries and an initially exponential spread of production failures across the world beginning within a week. This will reinforce and spread financial system contagion. It is also argued that the longer the crisis goes on, the greater the likelihood of its irreversibility. This could be in as little as three weeks. This study draws upon simple ideas drawn from ecology, systems dynamics, and the study of complex networks to frame the discussion of the globalized economy. Real-life events such as United Kingdom fuel blockades (2000) and the Japanese Tsunami (2011) are used to shed light on modern trade vulnerability."
A very good read, worth your time. - Wes
Economy
Keep calm … if euro collapses we can still carry on trading
Rose colored glasses required. - Wes
Inside The Devastating Cost Of Education Cuts
"since 2007, as the economy has tanked and expenses for public schools have risen, New York City has made principals cut budgets by 13.7 percent. When budgets are cut, teachers are fired and others aren't replaced -- including at P.S. 148, which has lost at least $600,000 and eight teachers since 2010. When teachers are lost, class sizes balloon."
Goldman Sachs and the $580 Million Black Hole
I'm pretty sure $580 million is just a divet to Goldman. Their black holes are at least measured in the billions. - Wes
Does Central-Bank Gold-Buying Signal The Top Is Near?
"We think the trend of central-bank gold buying will continue. It's not hard to see why: central bankers around the world know what it must ultimately mean to run the printing presses the way the US has since 2008, even if price inflation is not immediately obvious. It's no surprise that they want to hedge their bets, moving more reserves into something with actual value... something that can't be debased with a few keystrokes. The US dollar has been the world's reserve currency since WWII, and that's beginning to change – the movement into gold is just one facet of that change."
PAUL KRUGMAN: Conventional Economic Wisdom Has Now Gone 'Stark Raving Mad'
Until economists start factoring in resource depletion and environmental destruction, all modern economic thinking is stark raving mad because it lacks a foundation in reality. - Wes
The Latest Economic Data Confirms That Weakness Has Gone Widespread
CHART: The Collapse Of The French Bond Market During The French Revolution
"Happy Bastille Day."
Deutsche Bank's 'Rule Of 10%' Gives New Perspective On The High Jobless Claims Number
Energy/Resources
Court to force clean up of UK's air pollution
Kuwaitis' oil wealth causes rise in diabetes
Over 500 Dead Penguins Wash Up On Beaches
Colo.: Dentist reused needles; thousands at risk
U.S to Map Genetic Codes of 100,000 Foodborne Pathogens to Speed Response
Military/Intelligence
New research says one in 10 prisoners is a former soldier
Neo-Conned: Bush's War Has Turned Iraq Into Iran's Best Friend
Kill a million people to steal their oil and what else should we expect from the majority Shia population in Iraq? - Wes
U.S. moving submersibles to Persian Gulf to oppose Iran
Minesweepers. – Wes
FDA monitors ‘enemies list’ of scientists, Congress, media
"While Federal authorities do have the legal right to monitor communications, both for national security reasons and as a routine part of internal security, the message sent by 80,000 pages of documentation is quite different. The “targeting system” effectively set up monitoring of a range of people whose jobs it is to deal with regulatory issues. Whether the scientists were right or wrong in their complaints and assessments is irrelevant. The point is that the FDA was apparently compiling a list of enemies."
Russia Starts Building Chinese Wall To Block Internet
Al-Qaeda tries to carve out a war for itself in Syria
Of course they are. Oceania has always been at war with Eur-Asia. – Wes
Civil Unrest/Politics
Mexicans protest against Peña Nieto's election win
Man sets himself on fire during social protest in Tel Aviv: Video
Occupy Bohemian Grove: protesting the elite's secret ceremonies
Get 'em! I hope they make it back alive and with film in the can. - Wes
