Meltdown

[BachQ]

Spain's truck drivers begin national strike over fuel prices


MADRID (Thomson Financial) - Spanish truck drivers began a national strike on Friday to protest rising fuel prices, joining the country's fishermen, which began industrial action May 30.
Spokesman for the organizing group, "Platform for Defence of the Merchandise Transportation Sector," Antonio Llano, told Thomson Financial News that the strike is indefinite and could eventually involve up to 300,000 vehicles across Spain.

[BachQ]

San Francisco Chronicle:  The price of oil soars, with no limit in sight

As the Bush gang continues to spend recklessly on its illegal war in Iraq and its aimless "war on terror" caper in Afghanistan, while at the same time borrowing billions of dollars a day to keep the U.S. government afloat, the price of oil is sky-rocketing. In response to some increasingly ominous indicators, including newly announced job losses during the month of May (Globe and Mail), the Bush gang has shown little interest in helping to fix the ailing U.S. economy or to put the government's financial affairs in order. Meanwhile, the horde of defense-contractor corporations that have scored big from the Bush-Cheney wars realize that the time they have left for unrestricted profiteering from the war biz - their unlimited dipping into a shrinking supply of American-taxpayer dollars - could soon be over.

[BachQ]

June 8, 2008, 9:26AM

Houston Chronicle: Higher cost of oil will cause massive domino effect
By BRETT CLANTON

Already facing $4 gasoline prices, U.S. consumers may soon be paying more for a list of other petroleum-based products, from tires to deodorant, as new chemical price hikes trickle down to store shelves.  In recent days, Dow and other major chemical makers, including several Houston firms, said they will boost chemical prices by as much as 25 percent to offset rising energy and raw material costs.
The move will increase the cost of making hundreds of everyday consumer products, and may, in turn, pressure manufacturers of those products to respond with price increases of their own.

[BachQ]

An ominous warning that the rapid rise in oil prices has only just begun
By Danny Fortson, Business Correspondent
Wednesday, 11 June 2008


The chief executive of the world's largest energy company has issued the most dire warning yet about the soaring the price of oil, predicting that it will hit $250 per barrel "in the foreseeable future".  ... His comments were the most stark to be expressed by an industry executive and come just days after the oil price registered its largest-ever single-day spike, hitting $139.12 per barrel last week amid fears that the world's faltering supply will be unable to keep up with demand. [His] prediction ... stoked an already febrile atmosphere of growing public anger across Europe over a soaring fuel cost that is wreaking havoc at nearly every level of the economy.  The British Government was urging motorists yesterday not to panic-buy petrol in anticipation of a strike on Friday by lorry drivers who deliver petrol to forecourts for Royal Dutch Shell, assuring motorists that contingency plans would ensure sufficient supplies. ... Philip Shaw, an economist at Investec Securities, warned that oil at that level would exert an extraordinary drag on the economy at a time when it is already decelerating at a rapid rate. ... The price of everything from food to energy would see significant price rises. Household electricity and gas bills are particularly vulnerable.

[BachQ]

PETROL IS BOUND TO RUN OUT IN STRIKE

Petrol stations will run dry over the weekend causing havoc for motorists if a tanker drivers' strike goes ahead. About 1,000 Shell garages – one in 10 of all filling stations – will be hit by the four-day walkout due to start on Friday. The strike would be a disaster for motorists because fuel shortages could push record petrol prices even higher. With non-Shell outlets  braced for a rush of extra customers, Gordon Brown and the petrol industry urged motorists not to panic buy. In an attempt to prevent the chaos spiralling out of control, the Government yesterday moved to reassure the public by invoking emergency measures to try to safeguard petrol supplies. But, despite the frantic preparations behind the scenes to minimise disruption, some forecourts will inevitably run out of fuel.

[BachQ]

    Telegraph.uk: Petrol sales fall 20pc as drivers feel the pinch
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and Robert Winnett Last Updated: 12:55am BST 11/06/2008


Petrol retailers have disclosed that fuel sales dropped sharply over the past few weeks and the latest figures appear to show that demand for petrol in Britain has slumped by as much as 20 per cent over the past 12 months.

[BachQ]

Telegraph.uk:'House prices to fall until 2010': the options for buyers and sellers

Homeowners are being warned to brace themselves for three years of falling house prices, writes Paul Farrow...The number of houses changing hands has also "collapsed" to the lowest level in 30 years. The fall in sales far exceeds the depths of the last housing crash in the 1990s and is the lowest since records began in 1978.

[BachQ]

KUNSTLER: A Harsh Season

[BachQ]

  Florida at the Precipice of Depression
" Banks cannot afford to take 50-75% hits on mortgages, and that is exactly what is happening.  The precipice is here, and we are on it.  Recent reports about home sales rebounding are insignificant, because no one is accurately describing the growing inventory build-up.  Banks simply don't have the margins to deal with this crisis.  And for that reason, we will see massive bank failures and this will snowball into a complete economic meltdown.  If you have an argument against this scenario, I'd love to debate you on a live conference call.  We deal with the banks.  We know what is going on before the numbers show up at the Fed or any analysts desks.  We deal with the public, so we hear the desperation at all levels.  I listen to grown men cry about how to explain to their families that they are losing everything.  I listen to people that I fear are on the verge of suicide.  I read about people committing crimes simply to put food on the table.  Spend a week with me, and you'll understand why there is no feasible way to avoid a Depression. "

[BachQ]

Diesel thieves wreak havoc on California farmers


BAKERSFIELD, California (CNN) -- Standing in a field of organic tomatoes, farmer Pete Belluomini says the ground-cracking drought and unrelenting insects make it difficult enough to make a living on the land. But they are the least of his concern these days as a new menace haunts farmers in Bakersfield, California: diesel thieves.  Sgt. Walt Reed of the Kern County Sheriff's Department and a member of California's Rural Crimes Task Force said that more than $300,000 worth of diesel fuel was stolen in Kern County in the past three months. "It's an epidemic, gigantic problem," Reed said. "In Kern County alone, we're getting reports of five to seven diesel thefts from farms a week. It's happening in other parts of the San Joaquin Valley, too." The crooks work around the clock, searching during the daytime for irrigation pumps run by diesel engines and supply tanks filled with diesel or gasoline, police and farmers say. They return at night, with their headlights off, to steal hundreds of gallons of fuel at a time.

[BachQ]

$5 gas may hit California soon
David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff WriterSunday, June 8, 2008




... San Francisco drivers now pay, on average, $4.42 for a gallon of regular. In Oakland, the average is $4.39. In San Jose, $4.40.

[BachQ]

Texas Steps In to Curb Electricity-Price Rises
BY REBECCA SMITH
Word Count: 699  |  Companies Featured in This Article: Texas Power, PNM Resources
Texas took urgent action to quell electricity-price spikes that have struck its wholesale market just as the season of highest energy usage begins. Consumers could face record prices this summer reflecting both wholesale-market gyrations and rising fuel costs for power generators.

[BachQ]

The Federal Reserve's rescue has failed
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor
Last Updated: 2:15am GMT 07/03/2008Page 1 of 2




The verdict is in. The Fed's emergency rate cuts in January have failed to halt the downward spiral towards a full-blown debt deflation. Much more drastic action will be needed. Yields on two-year US Treasuries plummeted to 1.63pc on Friday in a flight to safety, foretelling financial winter. *** The debt markets are freezing ever deeper, a full eight months into the crunch. Contagion is spreading into the safest pockets of the US credit universe. Sub-prime debt is plumbing new depths. A-rated securities issued in early 2007 fell to a record 12.72pc of face value on Friday. The BBB tier fetched 10.42pc. The "toxic" tranches are worthless. Why won't it end? Because US house prices are in free fall. The Case-Shiller index for the 20 biggest cities dropped 9.1pc year-on-year in December. The annualised rate of fall was 18pc in the fourth quarter, and gathering speed.  ...US households are only halfway through the tsunami of rate resets - 300 basis points upwards - on teaser loans.  (... continued ...)

[DavidRoss]

Whether this is the beginning of the end or just another bump in the road to eventual meltdown, the insanity and probable outcome of an exploding global population dependent on a finite, non-renewable energy supply has been painfully obvious for half a century.

[Lethevich]

Diesel thieves wreak havoc on California farmers


BAKERSFIELD, California (CNN) -- Standing in a field of organic tomatoes, farmer Pete Belluomini says the ground-cracking drought and unrelenting insects make it difficult enough to make a living on the land. But they are the least of his concern these days as a new menace haunts farmers in Bakersfield, California: diesel thieves.  Sgt. Walt Reed of the Kern County Sheriff's Department and a member of California's Rural Crimes Task Force said that more than $300,000 worth of diesel fuel was stolen in Kern County in the past three months. "It's an epidemic, gigantic problem," Reed said. "In Kern County alone, we're getting reports of five to seven diesel thefts from farms a week. It's happening in other parts of the San Joaquin Valley, too." The crooks work around the clock, searching during the daytime for irrigation pumps run by diesel engines and supply tanks filled with diesel or gasoline, police and farmers say. They return at night, with their headlights off, to steal hundreds of gallons of fuel at a time.

This is the US - all that needs to happen is a few thieves get their heads blown off by someone "defending their property", and the problem will be lessened

[uffeviking]

My Dear DM, member of the classical music forum, and prolific poster of 'copy-paste' newspaper and periodical articles: Has it ever occurred to you that your fellow members of GMG are adequately educated in reading and writing, and in all probability have read already the news posted by you? 

[bwv 1080]

Maybe we could lock it with this:

Special Reports WITH ALL THE TALK ABOUT PEAK GLOBAL OIL SUPPLY, WHAT ABOUT PEAK OIL DEMAND
June 11, 2008
Despite the pullback over the past two days, crude oil prices continue to trade about 50% above their recent levels of less than US$90 per barrel in February 2008. In addition to the falling U.S. dollar, the market has cast its attention on a host of supply-side factors, including slowing growth in non-OPEC supply, rising production costs, and fears about further output disruptions in Nigeria, Iran, Iraq and Venezuela. Meanwhile, the global push to develop alternative fuel sources has encountered some potholes, notably the "food versus fuel" debate surrounding ethanol.
Still, as prices move higher and higher, investors should be wary about trading patterns that resemble a proverbial hockey stick - especially at a time when market supply/demand fundamentals are visibly beginning to slacken. Put simply, as we move into the summer driving season, world crude supply growth is exceeding that of demand and U.S. and global inventories are healthy. Spare production capacity within the OPEC cartel increased to 3 million barrels per day in April, up from a low in 2005 of 1 million barrels per day.
What about peak demand?
The market has recently rallied in large part on slowing growth in non-OPEC supply. These concerns are indeed well-founded. Despite the lure of high prices over the past few years, the global output response has been meagre, with non-OPEC supply essentially flat on a Y/Y basis in the first four months of 2008. This year's slowdown in non-OPEC output growth has added credence to the view that world oil production is set to peak earlier than some forecasters had projected.
That being said, there are two parts to the equation: supply and demand. And in our view, the market has largely been turning a blind eye to developments on the demand front. Overall, crude oil consumption so far in 2008 has softened to a paltry 0.4%, in line with non-OPEC supply gains and well below overall total world production growth. The culprit has been an outright decline in consumption within the OECD, led by a 3% drop in the United States and a 1% decline in Western Europe. This downtrend is almost certain to accelerate. In particular, stay tuned for data on summertime fuel consumption in the U.S. and Europe, which are likely to show high fuel prices putting a growing damper on driving activity.
The prevailing view in the crude oil market is that demand growth in the non-OECD countries (i.e., China, India, OPEC and other developing regions) has been taking up the slack. This is only partly true. So far this year, growth in non-OECD demand is up a solid 3.1%, spearheaded by a gain of more than 6% in China. However, in order to have kept overall world oil consumption growth running at last year's 1.2% rate so far this year, growth of 5% would have been required. Moreover, there are early signs that non-OECD consumption growth may have peaked.
Going forward, we would expect non-OECD demand growth to slacken further, as anemic U.S. demand increasingly weighs on emerging-market GDP growth through the export channel. A related downside risk to oil consumption is the likelihood that central banks around the world will need to tighten their monetary settings in response to rising inflation risks. There is also a growing number of countries announcing reductions in fuel subsidies, which tend to weaken consumption. Recently, India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, have announced moves to raise retail gasoline prices. There is also speculation that China may follow suit, albeit after the hosting of the Summer Olympics.
The bottom line
The trends witnessed so far this year indicate that elevated prices are beginning to put a damper on global consumption of crude oil and refined products. And evidence of demand destruction is almost certain to become even more visible in the months ahead as the price spike this spring likely provokes an accelerated behavioural response. In our view, it is only a matter of time before these emerging fundamental trends begin to catch up to the crude oil market, sending prices substantially lower. Our current forecast profile has prices settling at about US$100 on average in 2009, although this assumes that prices have reached a peak. To the extent that crude oil prices continue to soar to new records in the coming weeks, next year's correction could be even more dramatic.

Derek Burleton
AVP & Director of Economic Studies
416-982-2514
Dina Cover, Economist
416-982-2555

http://www.td.com/economics/special/db0608_oil.jsp

[BachQ]

My Dear DM, member of the classical music forum, and prolific poster of 'copy-paste' newspaper and periodical articles: Has it ever occurred to you that your fellow members of GMG are adequately educated in reading and writing, and in all probability have read already the news posted by you? 

I been bad bad boy ........



I go pee pee in my pants now ........

[uffeviking]

 

[uffeviking]

DM: When you posted - many articles ago! - about the coming water crisis, had you read the book by Chris Wood:

http://www.bychriswood.com/

The title Dry Spring should peek your interest!