Monday 29 February 2016

Is Hillary Clinton Bought and Paid for by BIG Oil?

The Clinton's have used the Foundation as a criminal enterprise and slush fund for the past 15 years. Questionable donations to the Foundation have followed or preceded US State Dept actions while Hillary was Secretary of State.

If the FBI can prove that Hillary took actions as SOS in exchange for "donations," or that Huma Abedin was funneling classified or unclassified data from the US State Dept to the Foundation on behalf of Hillary, then you have a case for treason.

How can she say that she is a Progressive Democratic candidate that will reform the big business economy while taking donations like that?

That's like saying I'm going to ban chocolate production while being an advertiser FOR chocolate.

I don't hate Hillary, but I'm not thrilled with her as a front-runner. I'm fine with her policies, but she's so damn hated by the right that I honestly believe Sanders would be able to make more compromise than she could. On top of that the e-mail thing is actually an issue and it kinda sickens me that she'd our presumptive nominee has stupidly exposed herself in this way.

She doesn't get big money from independent investors or even innovative institutional investors. She is taking big money from entrenched competition in a market teetering on oligarchy. Nothing they have instructed her to do will benefit every day Americans, even those that thing of themselves as in the investor class.

People spend millions on lobbying because they get 1000% return on all the money put in. Similarly:

Do you think people in Wall Street would collectively spend 40 million on a candidate if they didn't think they wouldn't get at least what they invested back? People like that tend to put a lot of thought into their investments. A puppet to wall street? No, but they do intend to at least sway her. At this stage in the game they know very well what kind of return they are likely to get because they've been doing it for many decades.

I think while she may have ties to Wall Street, her family foundation is not a political organization (or at least, it reports not to be). It's a charity with its own focuses.

While people may be skeptical of this, I will point out that the Clinton family is very rich and has a charity just like many other rich families. And Wall Street gives massive amounts of money to many similar organizations.

Wednesday 17 February 2016

WANTED BY U.S.: THE STOLEN MILLIONS OF DESPOTS AND CROOKED ELITES


SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

It’s hard to imagine a public official with more toys than Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, who spent $300 million on Ferraris, a Gulfstream jet, a California mansion and even Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” jacket. The buying spree is all the more remarkable since this scion of the ruling family of Equatorial Guinea, one of Africa’s smallest countries, bought all this while on an official salary of $100,000 a year.
But legal action by the Justice Department has brought an end to Mr. Obiang’s spendthrift ways. His $30 million Malibu estate is on the market, as are his luxury cars and six life-size Jackson statues. Proceeds from these sales are earmarked for citizens of Equatorial Guinea, who prosecutors claim are victims of Mr. Obiang’s “relentless embezzlement and extortion.”
The turnabout in Mr. Obiang’s fortunes is part of an effort by the federal government to recover assets it says were stolen by foreign officials — dictators, politicians and ruling elites — and laundered in the United States. Since its start in 2010, the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative has grown to include a dozen government lawyers and teams from the F.B.I. and Homeland Security.
“We don’t want the United States to be a haven for this money,” said Leslie Caldwell, assistant attorney general and head of the criminal division. “If it comes into this country, we have the ability to reach out and grab it. Kleptocracy undermines the rule of law and breeds crime and terrorism.”

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Monday 15 February 2016

The Rhetoric Of The Republican Campaign Gets Tougher


In 2011, the Republican vice presidential candidate US, Sarah Palin, raised eyebrows by using an acronym out of _WTF_ tone to criticize the policies of President Barack Obama.

Five years later, Donald Trump has left behind the acronyms in a campaign swearing for the Republican nomination for president, a race in which several candidates have thrown insults and disparaging comments rivals and critics.

In recent days, Trump calling coward, against rival Ted Cruz and directed a tirade of comments contempt for other candidates, who he branded pathetic liars, losers, vile and evil, among others stuff.

Although Trump began an exchanged of darts in aggressive debate Saturday night.

Cruz said that Trump is "raving", criticized his "tantrums" in a pun on the name of the magnate and detracted from the insults of the entrepreneur dubbing them "hysterical".

Before leaving the campaign, the governor of New Jersey Chris Christie predicted that Hillary Clinton could win a debate, He attacked the Republican Marco Rubio to describe him as a fragile "bubble boy".

Even Jeb Bush, from his mother whos 90 years old complained recently that he is too polite.

Bush, a favorite target of attacks from Trump replied to him in a tweet: "Not only are you a loser, you're a liar and a complainer." And that after weeks of calling him an "idiot".

They have intended to keep the insults and curses away from the microphones.
Now they are on the podium, and its deliberately.

"There is a general breakdown of taboos allowed to pass more and more quickly," said Robert Lane Green, author of "You Are What You Speak", a book about the politics of language. "The first time someone does, people are surprised and concerned, but when it happens more often then it becomes less shocking."

The race for the Democratic nomination has been lukewarm compared to the Republican.

Hillary Clinton complained about a "low blow" when Bernie Sanders accused her of being progressive only "a few days". Sanders, however, rejected the accusation that the Clinton campaign has launched an "elaborate smear" by suggesting that she was close to Wall Street.

As for the Republicans, Trump voters who despise everything about the ruling class, including the idea of ​​seeming "presidential," said Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and has spent decades following the American presidential politics.

Trump's opponents can counter with traditional tactics. "Its like being a boxer playing with the rules of the Marchioness of Queensberry, and faces a type of MMA that even playing with the rules of mixed martial arts, would stoop to that level?" He asked Ornstein. "There is no simple answer, because if one tries to show that he is different from the ordinary type, then he will take a beating."

Green sees the hardness of the Republican campaign as a demonstration that "the fight to become the alpha male in the room has become more obvious this time than in previous elections."

Seems like the voters who have put forward Trump in the polls and gave him the victory in the first primary by direct vote of the country, New Hampshire.
Around a quarter of Republican voters in New Hampshire said the most important thing when choosing a candidate was "telling it like it is", and two thirds of those voters chose the man that says lit like no other.

Trump has promised to lower the tone if closer to the presidency, noting, "when one is president, or whether it will become president, behaves differently."

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert in political communication, said Trump has "hijacked" political correctness to justify usual personal attacks.

All part of a larger trend toward informality in politics that takes more than a century under way, Greene said.

Many Americans are attracted to Trump, because he speaks as "the guy sitting next to them at the bar."

"Some people find the type repulsive, but many Americans are just like that and love it."

United Satanists of America - away from Christianity!


President Barack Hussein Obama declared: "We are no longer a Christian nation", in another speech, President Obama said that given the number of American Muslims, America is one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.

Obama reveals what was known a long time, namely, that America was never a Christian but was and is a country imbued with the spirit of the Talmud and the Zionist design for introducing the New World Order or global state of the Antichrist.

Which Obama is no longer hiding.

NYPD WANTS TO MAKE "RESISTING ARREST" A FELONY


It's no secret that "resisting arrest" is the go-to excuse for violence committed against suspects by corrupt cops -- it's practically a running gag.
But if NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton gets his way, resisting arrest will offer near-perfect impunity to his force's most violent and sleazy officers, who will be able to threaten anyone who complains about gratuitous violence during arrests with long prison sentences and felony records.
The Commission has suggested that he will be able to curb abuses of the new powers by having the police investigate fellow officers who lay higher-than-average resisting arrest charges in the course of their duties.
In theory, a resisting arrest charge allows the state to further punish suspects who endanger the safety of police officers as they're being apprehended; in practice, it gives tautological justification to cops who enjoy roughing people up. Why did you use force against that suspect, officer? Because she was resisting arrest. How do I know you're telling the truth? Because I charged her with it, sir.
Consider a few recent would-be felons:
* Chaumtoli Huq, former general counsel to NYC Public Advocate Letitia James, who was charged with resisting arrest for waiting for her family outside the Times Square Ruby Tuesday's.
*Jahmil-El Cuffee, who was charged with resisting arrest after he found himself on the receiving end of a head-stomp from a barbarous cop because he was allegedly rolling a joint. ("Stop resisting!" cops screamed at him as he lay helpless, pinned under a pile of officers.)
*Denise Stewart, who was charged with resisting arrest after a gang of New York's Finest threw her half-naked from her own apartment into the lobby of her building. (They had the wrong apartment, it turned out.)
*Santiago Hernandez, who was charged with resisting arrest after a group of cops beat the shit out of him following a stop-and-frisk. "One kicks me, he steps back. Another one comes to punch me and he steps back...They were taking turns on me like a gang," Hernandez told reporters.

*Eric Garner, who no doubt would have been charged with resisting had the chokehold from Daniel Pantaleo not ended his life first. 

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SOURCE: BOING BOING

Sunday 14 February 2016

United Satanists of America - epidemic of suicides in the US



According to the CDC, the United States observed in recent years, a surge in the number of suicides.

Did you know that now more Americans die from suicide than are killed in the course of the year - in car accidents?

Today, indicative 9.3 million Americans profess to having suicidal thoughts and 2.7 million Americans each year plan to commit suicide.

We are a deeply, deeply unhappy country, but of course, this phenomenon is not limited to America.

According to WHO (World Health Organization), suicide - it is now the third turn, the highest cause of death in the world. Globally, the number of suicides increased by 60 percent over the past 45 years, and WHO predicts that by 2020, every 20 seconds someone in the world will commit suicide.

In Guardian'ie I came across an article entitled .: "Depression, financial dependence and the increase of suicides in " white America. " Article took a look at the extremely alarming growth among Americans approaching retirement age and experiencing significant physical pain. In Amazement, for example, I learned that in the State of Montana, issued 82 prescriptions for painkillers - for every 100 people. In desperation to be free from suffering, many Americans in the aforesaid age group, are considering suicide. 56 year old Kevin Lowney, is one example ...

Kevin Lowney, lies awake at night, wondering if he should kill himself.

"Every night I experience such pain that suicide comes to mind - just to ease the pain. What stops him, a sense of responsibility, especially - to the youngest daughter, "admits Kevin.

56 year old ex with chronic pain, associated with a substantial number of other problems - medical debt, impoverishment and the bleak prospects for retirement.

They contribute to the growing number of suicides in the US,  increased mortality of white Americans, middle-aged, as well as premature deaths due to alcohol and drugs.

This is not only an American problem. In the United Kingdom, some studies have shown that the number of suicides of men in the age group 45-49 years increased by 40 percent in seven years ...

The number of middle-aged men, who made an attempt to take there own life, has increased dramatically during the past decade. The new research, published today by the Commission Equality and Human Rights - has revealed that the last seven years has brought 40 percent increase in the number of suicides of men aged 45-49.

Young people - also kill themselves more often.

According to a report by Fox News, the number of suicides Americans in the age category 10-24 years, "increases each year" ...

These deaths like other recent death -which highlighted national headlines-from Westport, Connecticut - Omaha, Nebraska, is part of a continuous growth among young people aged 10-24 years, since 2007.

"We are seeing a significant increase in suicides in the above-mentioned age categories," said FoxNews.com - Dr. Thomas Simon, an expert Centers for Infectious Disease Control and Prevention of Suicide. "Since 2007, we observed in this age group - an increase each year."

What causes this phenomenon?

Without a doubt, the collapse of our economy plays a role. The middle class is shrinking and many Americans falls from it each month. Many Americans approaching retirement age do not see a meaningful future, and therefore subjected to complete depression and despair.

I do not think, however, that it explains everything. I think there's another factor - namely, that our society "itself destroys the" pharmacological agents.

Rather than address the real causes, many expect troubleshooting with magical government intervention. It should be noted a new proposal for the mandatory preventive diagnostics against depression, against what many warn as likely to bring very serious consequences. The following excerpt from the current text Ron Paul ...

Specially appointed for this purpose Preventive Services Task Force of the United States, recently he recommended preventive diagnostics to all Americans.

That team is going to force health insurance companies to cover the costs of such research. Even elementary knowledge of economics, just as catastrophic program Obamacare demonstrate its harm to Americans.

If you know someone with depression, contemplate suicide, it is advisable to look for flowing signals as:

feelings of hopelessness or desperation,

insomnia,

social isolation,

irritability,

rage,

the feeling of being a burden,

Life - is more than the number of things in our possession, or the amount of our bank deposits.

Many of the people considering suicide could have a future much brighter, if they were not focused on the wrong purposes.

So what do you think causes the astounding growth of suicides, both here in the US and globally?

Please feel free to share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment below ...

Vatican suspects that the pope was the victim of an internal conspiracy

Since a few days ago in the Italian press there were rumors about the alleged illness of Francis, Vatican suspects that the pope was the victim of an internal conspiracy aimed at undermining his authority.

On Wednesday, a little-known Italian daily "Quotidiano Nazionale" on the first page said that Pope Francis is suffering from brain cancer. Vatican spokesman immediately denied the reports in.


Behind the scenes of a serious crisis

The Vatican is going through a serious crisis, which is trying to fight Francis. But the pope, in a way, is a prisoner of the Roman Curia, and many decisions falls behind the scenes; divisions within are deep - says John Thavis, a former Vatican correspondent

One gets the impression that machiaweliczne intrigue and manipulation  reached new heights.

The cardinals and other church hierarchs suspect that the publication of completely unfounded rumors about the cancer was an attempt to discredit the 78-year-old pope and his decisions. It is widely known that the Pope has many enemies among conservative Vatican officials.

Suspicion raises especially the fact that the leak occurred a few days before the end of the Synod of Bishops on the family. During the three-week session attended by 270 bishops and cardinals from around the world discussed many sensitive topics, among others, a proposal giving communion to those divorced, which re-established the family or the position of the Church against homosexual relationships.

Vatican newspaper "L'Osservatore Romano" sharply criticized the reports of cancer, calling them baseless lie. "Even the choice of the publication indicates that this is an attempt of manipulation," said the newspaper.

Nervous atmosphere

- For me it is obvious that some people do not like the Pope - says a member of the synod, Cardinal Walter Kasper, the liberal Cardinal from Germany, who agrees with the views of Francis. - You may have tried in this way to influence us.

In the Italian press speculating about the "shadow conspiracy." Newspapers speculate that the rumor released by conservative Vatican officials, who did not relish the reform of the pope and his tolerant attitude towards homosexuality, according to the doctrine the church is considered to be an aberration.

"Who wants the pope's death?" wonders in the header of "Il Giornale", the conservative daily, warning that the Church "plunged into chaos."

Journalist and author of books on the Vatican, Massimo Franco, believes that whoever planted the rumor in newspaper "Quotidiano Nazionale", he did it to undermine the credibility of the Pope. "This ugly rumor looks at the work of enemies of Jorge Mario Bergoglio (as the pope called before assuming authority over the Catholic Church in 2013), who want to imply that they have an eye on him," he writes in his column in the "Corriere della Sera ".

The hidden goal could be reason to doubt the efficiency of the papal mind and suggest that his actions and words to the effect of "improper functioning of the brain," says Franco.

This "subliminal and disturbing" message, planted by the enemies of the Pope, in line with thickening the atmosphere of rebellion from conservative defenders of the Catholic tradition, who have criticized Francis too tolerant liberal views and decisions.

Outraged defenders of tradition

Still unclear who is behind the leak of the supposed disease of the Pope. Most Vatican watchers believe that it's likely the conservative members of the Synod.

Defenders of the tradition especially indignant appeal of the Pope for greater compassion for Catholics who have divorced and then founded a new family, without first obtaining the annulment of the marriage. Today, such people can not accede to Holy Communion, because in the eyes of the Church they are living in adultery.

Victor Manuel Fernandez, Bishop of homeland Francis, Argentina, compared the spreading of rumors to the "strategy of the apocalypse." In his opinion, it was an attempt "to discredit the one who is in power." - It's slander, spread completely false rumors about him. Speaking of someone in this way proves one thing: the intention is to destabilize his position.

According to information published by the "Quotidiano Nazionale", the Pope met secretly at the Vatican with the Japanese surgeon who diagnosed him with cancer, he believes is curable and does not require surgery.

The Vatican immediately issued three statements categorically denying reports that a Japanese expert, Dr. Takanori Fukushima, said that he never investigated the pope and gave him medical consultations.

Ks. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said that the information published by the newspaper are "completely unfounded" and their dissemination "is irresponsible and unworthy of attention." "The Pope is active and as always performs his daily duties" - assured the spokesman.

"Quotidiano Nazionale", however, maintains its own version. Andrea Cangini, editor-in-chief of the newspaper, there is no doubt as to the reliability of the information and stresses that its journalists spent several months checking the reliability of the sources.

Saturday 13 February 2016

Early to bed — Early to Rise. Work Like Hell and Advertise


This past week, I had to opportunity to attend an appearance by Ted Turner, the outspoken billionaire, at my children’s school.

The title above was his advice to an 8th grader who asked for some tips on business. While his answer brought down the house, I was struck more by his opening comments.

Before taking questions, he spoke for about 15 minutes about the three words/beliefs he lives by — honor, courage, and humility. But rather than pontificating, he quoted Shakespeare, at length, to explain what he meant by each of these principles.

While what he said appeared to go over the heads of his teenage audience, it made a considerable impression on me and, I suspect, the other adults in the room. Much of today’s society seems to ignore literature and lionize business acumen, yet here was one of richest men in the worldbuttressing his points with the classics he had memorized in high school 50 years earlier.

I often reflect on how much the emerging generations are missing because our societal shift in from education to vocation. Sure we’re producing a record number of graduates who can balance a spreadsheet or develop a business plan. But do they understand the difference between a symphony and sonata or a poem and a sonnet? I have had the opportunity to visit with hundreds of senior executives during the past two decades.

It is rare that our conversations focus on business. Most of the time, they want to discuss travel, culture, social issues or the best book we’ve each read recently. As anyone who studies leaders will tell you, the higher one rises within an organization, the less he or she uses the technical skills learned in school and the more relationships dominate everyday agendas.

These relationships are what drive the big sales contracts and expansion within any firm and those relationships revolve around the fabric of society, not its technical attributes.

With this shift in focus from a liberal arts education to vocational training for most of those currently enrolled in college, I have to wonder what the emerging generations discuss in 20 years over cocktails?

RUSSIA WARNS OF ‘NEW WORLD WAR’ STARTING IN SYRIA


Russia warned of “a new world war” starting in Syria on Thursday after a dramatic day in which Gulf states threatened to send in ground forces.
Foreign and defence ministers of the leading international states backing different factions in the war-torn country met in separate meetings in Munich and Brussels following the collapse of the latest round of peace talks.
Both Russia and the United States demanded ceasefires in the long-running civil war so that the fight could be concentrated against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) – but each on their own, conflicting terms.

But the Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, staged their own intervention, saying they were committed to sending ground troops to the country. Their favoured rebel groups have been pulverised by Russian air raids and driven back on the ground by Iranian-supplied pro-regime troops.

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THE HIDDEN AGENDA BEHIND SAUDI ARABIA’S MARKET SHARE STRATEGY


Yves here. This is an interesting theory, but I’m not sure I buy it. McEndree’s argument is basically that US shale players weren’t the main target of the Saudis because they haven’t succeeded in lowering their production. The fact that the effort so far has not worked as perhaps planned isn’t proof that it wasn’t the Saudis’ aim, particularly since they said at the very outset that they as the low cost producer, should not be the swing producer.
Note I find the “main target” to be a bit of a straw man, since even at the time of the Saudi refusal to cut production to support prices, many observers (including yours truly) argued the Saudis were targeting not just the US but all higher cost producers, including its geopolitical enemies like Russia and Iran.
The mistake of the Saudis (and most oil analysts) was one not made by John Dizard of the Financial Times. Dizard correctly predicted that the shale players would keep pumping as long as they had access to financing. Indeed, as we’ve seen, they are continuing to pump strictly to keep servicing debt. And the need to produce revenues (which is the motivation for most major oil producing nations, since they need oil income to finance their national budgets) means all the producers are locked into a bad equilibrium: they are all going to keep producing at levels higher than the markets can absorb until either a deal or an external force makes them stop. With the frackers, it will be access to financing.
And what I believe McEndree also misses, but I welcome informed criticism if I have this wrong, is that fracking won’t be so easily resumed once fracking companies start hitting the wall and/or defaulting. Their old business model presupposed much higher prices and high leverage. I doubt we’ll see prices above $60 a barrel, nor will we see anywhere near as much gearing of shale gas plays as in the past. How many fields are economically viable if one assumes the odds don’t favor oil over $60 for at least the next few years, much higher levels of equity financing, and you also factor in your required equity return greater regulatory risk (curbs or outright ban in some areas due to earthquake risk and the impact on water supplies)?
By Dalan McEndree, whose career has focused on the Soviet Union and Russia, and has included fifteen years in Russia as a U.S. diplomat, in business, working both for international and Russian businesses, and in consulting. Originally published at OilPrice
Do the Saudis have an oil market strategy beyond pumping crude to defend their market share? Are they indifferent to which countries’ oil industries survive? Or, alternatively, are they targeting specific global competitors and specific national markets? Did they start with a particular strategy in November 2014 when Saudi Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali al-Naimi announced the new market share policy at the OPEC meeting in Vienna and are they sticking with it, or has their strategy evolved with the evolution of the global markets since?
And, of course, what does the Saudi strategy beyond pumping crude portend for the Saudi approach to some OPEC members’ calls for coordinated production cuts within OPEC and with Russia?
Conventional Wisdom
Conventional wisdom has it that the Saudis are focused primarily on crushing the U.S. shale industry. In this view, the Saudis blame the U.S. for the supply-demand imbalance that began to make itself felt in 2014. U.S. production data seems to support this. Between 2009 and 2014, U.S. crude and NGLs output increased nearly 4 million barrels per day, while Saudi Arabia’s increased only 1.64 million barrels per day, Canada’s 1.06 million, Iraq’s 0.9 million, and Russia’s 0.7 million (Saudi data doesn’t include NGLs).
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In addition, the Saudis, among many others, believed that U.S. shale would be the most vulnerable to Saudi strategy, given relatively high production costs compared to Saudi production costs and shale’s rapid decline rates and the need therefore repeatedly to reinvest in new wells to maintain output.
Yet, if the Saudis were focused on the U.S., their efforts have been unsuccessful, at least in 2015. As the table below shows, U.S. output growth in 2015 outstripped Saudi output growth and the growth of output from other major producers in absolute terms. In addition, many observers also came to believe that U.S. shale production will recover more quickly than production in traditional plays once markets balance due to its unique accelerated production cycle and that this quick recovery will limit price increases when markets balance.
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Is the U.S. Really the Primary Target?
The above considerations imply the Saudis—if indeed they primarily were targeting U.S. shale—embarked on a self-defeating campaign in November 2014 that could at best deliver a Pyrrhic victory and permanent revenues losses in the US$ hundred billions.
Is the U.S. the primary target? U.S. import data (from the EIA) suggests the U.S. is not now the Saudis’ primary target, if it ever was. Like other producers, the Saudis operate within a set of constraints. Domestic capacity is one. In its 2015 Medium Term Market Report (Oil), the IEA put Saudi Arabia’s sustainable crude output capacityat 12.34 million barrels per day in 2015 and at 12.42 million in 2016. Export capacity—output minus domestic demand—is another.
Rather than maintaining crude output at 2014’s level in 2015, the Saudis steadily increased it after al-Naimi’s announcement in Vienna as they brought idle capacity on line (data from the IEA monthly Oil Market Report):

 DMESaudihiddenC
This allowed them to increase average daily crude exports by 460,000 barrels in 2015 over 2014 average export levels—even as Saudi domestic demand increased—and exports peaked in 4Q 2015 at 7.01 million barrels per day (assuming the Saudis keep output at average 2H 2015 levels in 2016, and domestic demand increased 400,000 barrels per day, as the IEA forecasts, the Saudis could export nearly 7 million barrels per day on average in 2016):
DMESaudihiddenD
The Saudis did not ship any of their incremental crude exports to the U.S.—in other words, they did not increase volumes exported to the U.S., did not directly seek to constrain U.S. output, and did not seek to increase U.S. market share. Based on EIA data, Saudi imports into the U.S. declined from 1.191 million barrels per day in 2014 to 1.045 million in 2015—and have steadily declined since peaking in 2012 at 1,396 million barrels per day. (OPEC’s shipments also declined from 2014 to 2015, from 3.05 million barrels per day to 2.64 million, continuing the downward trend that started in 2010). Canada, however, which has sent increasing volumes to the U.S. since 2009, increased exports to the U.S. 306,000 barrels per day in 2015:
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Also, the Saudi share of U.S. crude imports declined 1.9 percentage points in 2015 from 2014, and has declined 2.6 percentage points since peaking at 16.9 percent in 2013; during the same two periods, Canada’s share increased 4.5 and 9.9 percentage points respectively (and has more than doubled since 2009):
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Other Markets
The Saudis presumably exported the incremental 606,000 barrels per day (460,000 from net increased export capacity plus 146,000 diverted from the U.S.) to their focus markets. Since other countries’ import data generally is less current, complete, and available than U.S. data, where these barrels ended up must be found indirectly, at least partially.
In its 2015 Medium Term Market Report (Oil), the IEA projected that the bulk of growth from 2015 to 2020 will come in China, Other Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, while demand will remain more or less stagnant in OECD U.S. and OECD Europe:
DMESaudihiddenG
The Saudis find themselves in a difficult battle for market share in China, the world’s second largest import market and the country in which the IEA expects absolute import volume will increase the most through 2020—1.5 million barrels per day (it projects Other Asia demand to increase 2.0 million). The Saudis are China’s leading crude supplier. However, their position is under sustained attack from their major—and minor—global export competitors. For example, through the first eleven months of 2015, imports from Saudi Arabia increased only 2.1 percent to 46.08 million metric tons, while imports from Russia increased 28 percent to 37.62 million, Oman 9.1 percent to 28.94 million, Iraq 10.3 percent to 28.82 million, Venezuela 20.7 percent to 14.77 million, Kuwait 42.6 percent to 12.68 million, and Brazil 102.1 percent to 12.07 million.
As a result of the competition, the Saudi share of China’s imports has dropped from ~20 percent since 2012 to ~15 percent in 2015, even as Chinese demand increased 16.7 percent, or 1.6 million barrels per day, from 9.6 million in 2012 to 11.2 million in 2015. Moreover, the competition for Chinese market share promises to intensify with the lifting of UN sanctions on Iran, which occupied second place in Chinese imports pre-UN sanctions and has expressed determination to regain its prior position (Iran’s exports to China fell 2.1 percent to 24.36 million tons in the first eleven months of 2015).
Moreover, several Saudi competitors enjoy substantial competitive advantages. Russia has two. One is the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO) which directly connects Russia to China—important because the Chinese are said to fear the U.S. Navy’s ability to interdict ocean supplies routes. Its capacity currently is 15 million metric tons per year (~300,000 barrels per day) and capacity is expected to double by 2017, when a twin comes on stream. The second is the agreement Rosneft, Russia’s dominant producer, has with China National Petroleum Corporation to ship ~400 million metric tons of crude over twenty-five years, and for which China has already made prepayments. Russia shares a third with other suppliers. Saudis contracts contain destination restrictions and other provisions that constrain their customers’ ability to market the crude, whereas those of some other suppliers do not.
Marketing flexibility will be particularly attractive to the smaller Chinese refineries, which Chinese government has authorized to import 1 million-plus barrels per day.
While they fight for market share in China, the Saudis also have to fight for market share in the established, slow-growing or stagnant IEA-member markets (generally OECD member countries). Saudi exports to these markets declined 310,000 barrels per day between 2012 and 2014, and 490,000 barrels per day between 2012 and 2015’s first three quarters. Only in Asia Oceania did Saudi export volumes through 2015’s first three quarters manage to equal 2012’s export volumes. During the same period, Iraq managed to increase its exports to Europe 340,000 barrels per day (data from IEA monthly Oil Market Report).
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It is therefore not surprising that the Saudis moved aggressively in Europe in 4Q 2015—successfully courting traditional Russian customers in Northern Europe and Eastern Europe and drawing complaints from Rosneft.
As with China, the competition will intensify with Iran’s liberation from UN sanctions. For example, Iran has promised to regain its pre-UN sanctions European market share—which implies an increase in exports into the stagnant European market of 970,000 barrels per day (2011’s 1.33 million barrels per day minus 2015’s 360,000 barrels per day).
Might the U.S. be an Ally?
Without unlimited crude export resources, the Saudis have had to choose in which global markets to conduct their market share war, and therefore, implicitly, against which competitors to direct their crude exports.
Why did the Saudis ignore the U.S. market? First, U.S. crude does not represent a threat to the Saudis’ other crude export markets. Until late 2015, when the U.S. Congress passed, and President Obama signed, legislation lifting the prohibition, U.S. producers, with limited exceptions, could not export crude. Even with the prohibition lifted, it is unlikely the U.S. will become a significant competitor, given that the U.S. is a net crude importer. Therefore, directing crude to the U.S. would not improve the Saudi competitive position elsewhere.
Second, the U.S. oil industry is one of the least vulnerable (if not the least vulnerable) to Saudi pressure—and therefore least likely and less quickly to crack. Low production costs are a competitive advantage, but are not the only one and perhaps not the most important one. Financing, technology, equipment, and skilled manpower availability is important, as are political stability, physical security, a robust legal framework for extracting crude, attractive economics, and access and ease of access to markets. The Saudis major export competitors—Russia, Iran, and Iraq—are far weaker than the U.S. on all these areas, as are its minor export competitors, including those within—Nigeria, Libya, Venezuela, and Angola—and outside OPEC—Brazil.
Third, in the U.S. market, the Saudis face tough, well-managed domestic competitors, and a foreign competitor, Canada, that enjoys multiple advantages including proximity, pipeline transport, and trade agreements, the Saudis do not enjoy.
Finally, the Saudis may be focused on gaining a sustainable long term advantage in a different market than the global crude export market—the higher value added and therefore more valuable petroleum product market. Saudi Aramco has set a target to double its global (domestic and international) refining capacity to 10 million barrels per day by 2025. Depressed revenues from crude will squeeze what governments have to spend on their oil industries and, presumably, they will have to prioritize maintaining crude output over investments in refining.
In this Saudi effort, the U.S. could be an ally. The U.S. became a net petroleum product exporter in 2012 (minus numbers in the table below indicate net exports), and net exports grew steadily through 2015. Growth continued in January, with net product exports averaging 1.802 million barrels per day, and, in the week ending February 5, 2.046 million. U.S. exports will lessen the financial attractiveness of investment in domestic refining capacity, both for governments and for foreign investors in their countries’ oil industries (data from EIA).
DMEsaudextra
Saudi Intentions
The view that the Saudi market share strategy is focused on crushing the U.S. shale industry has led market observers obsessively to await the EIA’s weekly Wednesday petroleum status report and Baker-Hugh’s weekly Friday U.S. rig count—and to react with dismay as U.S. rig count has dropped, but production remained resilient.
In fact, they might be better served welcoming resilient U.S. production. It may be that the Saudis will not change course until Russian output declines, Iraq’s stagnates, Iran’s output growth is stunted—and that receding output from weaker countries within and outside OPEC would not be enough. If this is case, the Saudis will see resilient U.S. production as increasing pressure on their competitors and bringing forward the day when they can contemplate moderating their output.

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SOURCE: NAKED CAPITALISM

SUPREME JUSTICE SCALIA JUST DIED; NOW A THIRD OF THE SUPREME COURT WILL BE OBAMA NOMINEES


scalia
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative in the highest court in the land, died in his sleep last night while on a hunting trip in Texas at the age of 79, further tipping what is supposed to be the highest court in the land.
Supreme Court justices are appointed for life. There are nine of them: the Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices.
President Obama has already nominated TWO of the nine justices in there… FOR LIFE. Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. Now Obama is going to get a third?
That means a full 33 percent — ONE THIRD — of the Supreme Court will be derived from one of the worst presidents this nation has ever endured. And they’re there for life.
Think about that for a second. Just let that sink in

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Federal Reserve Bank of New York was officially opened on 16 November 1914

Under the direction of Benjamin Strong Jr., employed the guards 7 and 85 employees, obtained mainly from local banks. On the first day, the bank received $ 100 million. Benjamin Strong served as director until his death in 1928.

Over the years, the Bank dynamically developed employing a growing number of employees. In the mid-20s based bank moved to Wall Street, where it stands to this day. 25 meters beneath the streets of Manhattan built the treasury. In 1927. In bank safes were as many as 10% of the world of money invested in gold.
In 2003. In one day the bank carried out operations amounting to the sum of 1.8 trillion dollars, an amount which is almost four times greater than the GDP Polish.
The current bank director William C. Dudley, who performs this function since 2009.

The largest repository of gold in the world

In the underground bank vault is now about 7 000 tons of pure gold at about 540 thousand. bars, with a market value of $ 346 billion (approx. 1.18 billion PLN) (December 2011), making it the largest such repository in the world, larger even than Fort Knox. Almost 95% of the gold is owned by many different countries, central banks and organizations such as the IMF, the rest belongs to the United States.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York is only the guardian, and only charged a fee for the transfer of gold in another place - $ 1.75 for the nugget. Treasury is open to the public for visitors.


Thursday 11 February 2016

Life is About Evolution

If you truly want to be a person of influence you first have to embrace evolution. Wisdom will always let you know that fighting change is definitely a losing battle so it is imperative that you move towards being a more evolved enlightened human being. One of the great principle of life is stated this way; "Freedom and happiness are found in the flexibility and ease with which we move through change." 

If you truly want to transition or transform from someone who moves through life unconsciously to a person who becomes the wealthy individual who's completely aware of and completely at ease with all things around him or her then you must embrace change. It doesn't matter at all where you are from or what you've done in the past, you're never trapped in any circumstance, relationship, cycle, or situation unless you say and/or believe you are. It's always better to take each and everyday and treat it just as it is; a new day with new opportunities to do what's right. 

If you're at a point in your life where you realize you're going in the wrong direction which means you're producing the wrong results then simply in most cases do the opposite of what you're doing right now. Trust me this will make a world of difference and you'll almost see small and/or big result quickly. I know this is easier said then done but when you add courage and persistent practice to your constant thought pattern that's saying "it's time to make the necessary changes" then I'm absolutely sure you'll make great progress in living a more happy and fulfilled life.

Honest Truth About Internet Marketing

Here is the basic honest truth: most of the people get into Internet Marketing because they are convinced it is an easy way to earn quick money. Their approach is to make a fast website, put up some advertising and a few affiliate links and then sit back and watch while they earn real cash. There are a large amount of individuals who do this and also earn lots of money on the internet. But what if you want more than some extra or even quick cash (quick cash, naturally being a misnomer)? Can Internet Marketing really be leveraged to produce a worthwhile and long term career? 

The quick and dirty answer is that yes, you are able to make Internet Marketing your long term and sustainable career. You only need to take on the project properly. The procedures and programs you use to build something to earn fast money are not all that different than the methods and systems you will use to build long term profits. So what would you do if you need to develop a sustainable career on the internet? 

It is very important that the first thing you do, in order to earn long term money online, is accept the fact that you are going to have to do real work. You will have to do actual and real work on a daily basis and you will have days when you feel fantastic about what you do and days when you wish you could find something else to take on. This causes it to be just about like every other occupation that is out there. If you want to produce lasting cash flow by working lots right now and not at all later on then you are going to be in for a rude awakening in a little while. So be ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work. 

There are a few ventures that lend themselves much better to a long term career than others will. Affiliate marketing, to use one example, is a great task for someone who wants to earn money on a part time basis or to supplement your already existent income. Is it truly possible to earn a full time income in this manner? You could if you pick out only the right products and then work like crazy to promote them. A far better approach, nevertheless, is to create your own products or websites and then promote those. This gives you full control over the projects you take on and how you accomplish them. And you will end up more likely to stick with it in the long run. If you want to give a service on the web this works much the same way. Writers, for example, need to create websites for themselves and create portfolios that they can point to as examples of their work. 

Finally, perhaps the most significant thing that you need to recognize is that, when you want to build a long term and reliable income on the internet, you need to truly dedicate yourself to your task. You might have fun and feel rewarded by your efforts but first you should tell yourself "yes, I really want to do this." Making a half hearted effort is not about to get you anywhere.

Nokia Accessories Review


Nokia accessories are created to make sure that clients make use of every function of the mobile phone to the fullest. These kinds of accessories have true benefits and in addition it enables you to make use of the mobile phone efficiently. You will find number of accessories made with attractive hues, designs and styles in the mobile mart. Almost you will find volume of accessories for every mobile phone. 

You can buy Nokia accessories in addition to personalize mobile phone within your preferred method. The particular requirement with regard to advanced mobile phone accessories is really developing day-by-day simply because users are usually realizing the importance of these mobile phone accessories. 

Nokia accessories could be availed by either by online portals or even by visiting mobile stores. Budget-concerned individuals can opt for cheap Nokia accessories and could carry out their own requirement. From the mobile phone accessories, the most important accessory is mobile phone cases. Mobile phone cases are constructed with top quality materials for example leather, rubber and so forth. 

Leather mobile covers safeguard mobile phone against any type of damage, grime, water as well as from any sudden impacts. You can select mobile phone cases that better suits your need and budget as well. 

USB data cable and memory cards are also helpful accessories as with the help of USB data cable you can transfer information from mobile phone to PC and vice versa. With the help of Bluetooth, you can exchange information with other compatible devices. Another essential accessory is the screen protector. With the help of this accessory, you can protect the sensitive screen of the mobile phone against any type of damage. 

Battery is also an important accessory as it provides capacity to the mobile phone. Without it mobile phone is of no use. Charger is also another essential accessory for mobile phones as it provides power to the mobile phone. 

You should buy Nokia accessories not just for style statement but from the protection aspect as well and which satiates your need. To get more information regarding Nokia accessories as well as cheap Nokia accessories, you can surf various websites and online portals on internet.

Wednesday 3 February 2016

Can Dogs Eat Bread?


Yes, dogs can eat bread, but neither too much nor as a regular food every day. Bread is a kind of ordinary human food which is high
in calories, and excess calorie intake for dogs could lead to healthy problems, such as weight gain. Furthermore, most commercial breads made in bakery or super market contain lost of added sugar, it is very harmful for your dog’s health, and can easily make you dog sick.

Bread benefits for dogs

In dog’s regular meals, they don’t always get enough fiber and possibly can get constipation, but the wheat in bread is really a great source of fiber. In this case, give your dog few pieces of bread or bread crumbs as an occasional treats could ease the discomfort.

Allergic reaction to bread

Some dogs might have an allergic reaction to wheat in the bread. If you suspect you dog are allergic to wheat, you’d better watch out carefully when your dog eating bread for the first time. If your dog has an allergic reaction to wheat or any other ingredients in the bread, you can try to substitute wheat flour with rice or rye flour and choose your own combination of ingredients to offer your dog homemade bread.
All in all, bread is not a natural part of a dog’s diet, but a wonderful snack in small potions. If taken occasionally in small amounts, it can be a perfect addition to your dog’s diet and can help your dog keep in shape.

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