|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
|
|
. |
 |
|
|
|
| Last Updated: Aug 15th, 2008 - 11:26:43 |
Newsletters
:
2006 Newsletters
:
9 June 2006
Thought for the Day
China is now using South African technology to convert coal to oil at $15 per barrel. There are one trillion tons of coal available in the world which should last for quite a while!
Our politicians should forget peak oil and concentrate on getting steady economic growth of 4% or 5% per year.
May 2, 2006, 06:30
Newsletters
:
2006 Newsletters
:
9 June 2006
Oil Sands Production Could Triple by 2015
There is plenty of oil but we may have increasing environmental problems. Read this report from CBC News:
Production of Alberta’s oil sands reserves could triple to three million barrels of oil a day by 2015, making Canada a world leader in oil production, the National Energy Board said in a report released Thursday.
However, National Energy Board chairman Kenneth Vollman warned that many obstacles lie ahead, including escalating costs for capital and operations, as well as the availability of labour, the need for larger pipelines and significant environmental concerns.
In its regular market report, the National Energy Board said Canada’s oil sands are the second-largest hydrocarbon reserve in the world. They produced 1.1 million barrels per day in 2005, a volume that is expected to rise as world demand for energy continues to escalate.
But the National Energy Board, an independent federal regulator and watchdog, said producers are dealing with rising prices for steel, cement and industrial equipment. The cost of labour is also rising because of the limited supply of skilled workers in northern Alberta where the oil sands are found.
Environmental concerns remain a significant issue. Oil producers have cleaned up their emissions of greenhouse gases, but total pollution continues to rise as production goes up.
Water pollution is also a significant factor because oil sands operations use large amounts of water, far more than the local Athabaska River can provide.
Another challenge, the National Energy Board warned, is getting the oil to market. The major export pipelines are already at capacity, and more pipelines will be needed in future. That alone is a significant environmental concern.
Still, nothing that can't be fixed. there is plenty of oil it just gets a bit more expensive, that's all.
Jun 6, 2006, 13:34
Newsletters
:
2006 Newsletters
:
9 June 2006
When the Economically Illiterate are in Charge
I see that our money is continuing to be debased as our governments continue to increase the supply by around 8% per year. Our lowest coin will be the 10c piece. 50 years ago the 5c coin was called a sixpence and would buy a big chocolate coated icecream - now it buys nothing and is being discontinued. That icecream now costs $3; Sixty times as much. 50 years ago an average house might cost $5000 (or 2,500 pounds). Now it might cost $300,000 - 60 times as much. Are we any richer?
In another 15 years the average house will cost $1,000,000. Will we be any richer? Politicians around the world are playing a dangerous game with fiat currency which they continually devalue.
If our governments devalue our money by 8% each year and move more of us into a higher tax bracket by allowing 5% pay increases, then who is better off? If I put my money on term deposit at 7% and then pay tax of nearly 3% and CPI is now running at 4% then I am no wealthier after one year. What is the point of saving? Why would I play this game? People are seeking better returns and reduced risk by investing offshore and the government is now making rules to stop this. Why is our government continually working to stop us creating wealth? Are they jealous or envious? What is the point of a rich government and poor people?
Our politicians must start to address these questions very seriously and very soon. We need a sound currency with low or zero inflation and a high economic growth rate to catch up with Australia and other smart first world countries. It takes effort to do this and no effort to continue down the slippery slope to poverty.
On the lighter side, here is a discussion of money and coins for when inflation really takes off. Zimbabwe is an object lesson to us all:
A brief introduction to the Zimbabwe theory of Quantum
Mathematics also known as Bobenomics. The day is very hot
and you are passing the Keg and Sable in Borrowdale, so
naturally you go in for a nice cold beer. The barman
informs you that one beer now costs 150,000.00 Zimbabwe
dollars.
You can pay with three crisp new $50,000.00 notes, still
damp from the printing press, or, if you are feeling a bit
bloody-minded, and if you can still source the coins
(remember those things: they were still quite common a few
years ago) you can sit back and enjoy a beer while the
barman counts out 15,000,000 Zimbabwe one cent coins.
But hold it! We have a problem. Each Zim one cent coin
weighs 3 grams, so this little lot weighs in at 45,000,000
grams or 45,000 kgs or 45 tonnes. After humping 45 tonnes
of coins into the pub you are going to need a helluva lot
more than one beer to cool down. But don't panic - we have
a plan.
Like all brilliant ideas this one relies entirely on its
simplicity.
Plan B: We sell the metal and drink the proceeds. There is
a small legal question about smelting coin of the realm and
exporting the resulting brass ingots. However we'll let the
buyer worry about that one. There doesn't seem to be an
international price for brass. Its main ingredient, copper,
has recently been selling for an all-time high of US
$5,200.00 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, but we
won't be greedy.
For a quick sale let's discount it to US$2,600.00 a tonne.
We are now the proud owners of US$117,000.00. But we still
can't buy that beer as the Keg is only allowed to accept
Zimbabwe currency. We must resist the temptation to change
our money on the lucrative but illegal black market (only
the Governor of the Reserve Bank and Cabinet Ministers are
allowed to do that.)
So we change at the prevailing interbank mid rate which is
US$1.00 = Zim $99,201.58 Our heap of US green-backs
now miraculously becomes a mountain of Zim
$11,606,584,860.00 For the uninitiated the billions start
at the tenth figure, counting from the right.
So if the price of beer has not increased while we were
doing this calculation you can now walk back into the Keg
and order 77,377 beers!
HAPPY DRINKING!
May 16, 2006, 11:11
|
|
|
|
