Despite being touted as a clean energy alternative to gasoline or diesel powered vehicles, Jurica Dujmovic describes electric vehicles as "poised to be one of the biggest new sources of pollution." He writes in MarketWatch: The International Energy Agency (IEA) said this year it’s expecting 145 million electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide by 2030. If governments ramp up efforts to meet international energy and climate goals, the number could soar even higher — up to 230 million — and that’s not counting two- and three-wheel vehicles. That’s a lot of new cars to hit global markets. Also … a … [Read more...]
About Jeremy Jones, CFA
NOBODY WANTS TO WATCH JOE: TV Ratings Falls in Post-Trump Era
Apparently, Americans don't want to watch Joe Biden on TV. Ratings have fallen in the post-Trump years as Americans avoid television. The Financial Times' Anna Nicolaou and Caitlin Gilbert write: As the news cycle has calmed under Joe Biden’s presidency and the pandemic has eased, US media groups have suffered dramatic audience declines, with primetime ratings for cable television news networks CNN and MSNBC falling more than 50 per cent in the third quarter compared with a year ago. Last year’s cocktail of Donald Trump, a deadly pandemic, the US presidential election and historic racial … [Read more...]
Summers: A Woke Federal Reserve Won’t Save America from Inflation
The Federal Reserve's mission is to control inflation and encourage full employment, while at the same time maintaining the strength of the dollar. But, in the last few years progressive politicians and even some members of the Federal Reserve board have encouraged the central bank to take on more roles promoting social justice. As inflation heats up, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has slammed the Fed for its focus on being "woke," as its core mission is failing. Fox Business's Megan Henney reports: Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers on Wednesday excoriated Federal … [Read more...]
WHAT INDEPENDENCE? The Fed and Treasury Are Yin and Yang
In The Wall Street Journal, Judy Shelton explains that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury are working hand in hand. She writes of the relationship: In short, with the Fed owning roughly one-quarter of the federal debt held by the public on which the Treasury must pay interest—and with the Fed’s practice of sending weekly remittances to Treasury—it’s clear that monetary and fiscal policy are conflated. There’s a further complication: If the Federal Reserve were to raise the interest rate it pays on the $4.1 trillion in reserve balances held by commercial banks and other savings … [Read more...]
PANDEMIC PROFITS: Washington’s Windfall
Leave it to the federal government to turn a pandemic that shuts down businesses and drives Americans into bankruptcy into a way to make money. The government earned record "profits," (a.k.a. your tax dollars), during its most recent fiscal year (October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021). The Wall Street Journal reports: Washington has had an excellent pandemic. If you doubt it, look no further than the Congressional Budget Office’s summary for revenues and outlays for fiscal 2021, which ended on Sept. 30. The federal government has never had it so good—literally. The budget gnomes estimate … [Read more...]
PRICES UP AT THE PUMP: Shale Drillers Can’t Save America from Green Agenda
Despite soaring gasoline prices and ample oil in the ground in America's shale basins, drillers won't be able to save the country from the green agenda being pushed both by the Biden administration and ESG fund managers. Collin Eaton reports in The Wall Street Journal: Shale companies are on track to spend a little more money pumping oil next year, but most aren’t opening up the spigots, even as prices top $80 a barrel. Capital investments in U.S. oil patches this year are projected to come in at the lowest levels since 2004, years before the fracking boom made America the world’s top oil … [Read more...]
The 5G Revolution Begins
Meghan Bobrowsky of The Wall Street Journal writes, 5G technology is beginning to expand beyond smartphones. She writes (abridged): The deployment of superfast 5G networks is supposed to usher in a new era for so much more than the smartphone—everything from enhanced virtual-reality videogames to remote heart surgery. That vision has been slow to come into focus, but a first wave of 5G-enabled gadgets is emerging. Among the first uses of 5G to hit the consumer market is the delivery of home broadband internet service for the ultimate cord-cutters: those looking to not just shed their … [Read more...]
COAL CRUNCH: China Can’t Keep the Lights On
China is firing up its dirty coal power plants in an effort to keep lights on across the country. Edward White and Hudson Lockett report for the Financial Times: China has ordered coal miners to boost production as President Xi Jinping races to combat an energy crisis now threatening to slow the world’s second-biggest economy and force his administration to backtrack on climate change promises. Energy officials in Inner Mongolia, one of China’s largest coal-producing regions, instructed 72 local miners to expand capacity by 100m tonnes, according to a report by Securities Times, a … [Read more...]
DIGITAL DANGERS: Does America Need a Digital Dollar?
In what seems like a relentless drive toward self-actualization, discussion of the digitalization of the dollar has been winding its way through economic and financial news and analysis. But does America need a digital dollar? And are there dangers in such a creation? Alexander William Salter, an associate professor of economics in the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University and a senior fellow with the Sound Money Project, discusses some of the dangers of digitizing the world's reserve currency in The Wall Street Journal, writing: The Federal Reserve plans to consider the idea of … [Read more...]
CANARY IN THE COVID MINE? New Zealand One of First Developed Economies to Raise Rates
New Zealand is preparing to raise interest rates after locking down hard for COVID-19. Stephen Wright reports at The Wall Street Journal: New Zealand largely kept out Covid-19 by closing to the outside world, a policy accompanied by stimulus to keep the economy moving. Now the resulting labor shortages and surging demand, notably for housing, have led it to become one of the first developed economies to raise interest rates since the pandemic began. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand lifted its benchmark rate to 0.5% from a record-low 0.25% and signaled more increases over the next year, as … [Read more...]
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