Chemically Green
Don’t Be Duped! U.S. Government lying about $700 Billion Bail Out?
Green but not Forgotten.
Federal Government is Duping the American Taxpayer on the $700 Billion Bailout!
Bail Out or Rescue? Picture Credit: BigBird3
New Definition of Affordable Housing?
Taxpayers paying for people’s houses who’s inhabitants cannot make their house payments because they could not afford payments in the first place.! Our tax dollars are bieng used to pay house payments for people who cannot make the payment or never could afford to make payments. But these people still got a loan.
End result, foreclosure and each American tax payer may get saddled with a $10,000.00 note to pay for the bailout. To top it all off, the same Democrats, Dodd , Frank, Pelosi, and Reid, who wrecked Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will still be in charge. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!
Today’s headlines: The Federal Government Nationalizing our Banks for a Period of Time, taxpayers stand to make trillions. Main street has to be bailed out. Is the time really growing short on the $700 billion bail using American taxpayer money?The federal government is saying the taxpayer is going to reap massive amounts of money if this so called bailout goes through. Trillions of dollars says the government. Whoa! Why all the pressure on a time table to pass this monster? The government is going to reap giant benefits from this bail out, but is it really a rescue? Why all the pressure to sign a bill no one knows about? We need to have more details and the big question is? What is it really going to cost the U.S. taxpayer and what kind of hidden benefits will the feds receive that is being kept a secret?The bailout does not take into cosideration all the foreclosures that still have to be bailed out. These foreclosures will still have to be written off the bank’s books.
1999 New York Times News Article tells it all.
Don’t buy the Democratic tale about the market will be fine. Look at the market today. Down 400-600 points. This is from The New York Times dated September 30, 1999. The headline is “Fannie Mae Eases Credit to Aid Mortgage Lending.” let’s share the first two paragraphs with you from this 1999 article that’s 1999!!
“In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets — including the New York metropolitan region — will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.”
Fannie Mae, as you may know, is not a purely private sector enterprise. Its’ called a GSE … a Government Sponsored Entity. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were doing all they could to back up the banks and lending institutions who were making these subprime, almost worthless loans. No lender is going to make a loan that they feel is a mistake unless there is someone out there to back them up. The entities backing them up were Fannie and Freddie – and they were doing so on instructions from their controllers on Capitol Hill.
Remember, too, that John McCain tried in 2005 to enact a bill that would bring some oversight to Fannie and Freddie. Again the response … was stopped cold by a Democrat solid party line vote. Again … do your own research. But we have Rahm Emanuel blaming the free market for our current problems — completely ignoring the government role in enabling the bad mortgages and blocking reform.
Picture Credit L Rob Bluey
Big Government Means Big Spending of taxpayer’s money.
Look at what John Stossell has to say about the U.S. financial mess:
‘The government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created precisely to interfere with the housing and mortgage markets. In effect, Freddie and Fannie diverted money to people who wouldn’t have qualified for mortgages in a real private market.
Had actual private companies performed these activities, they would have been subject to market checks. But they were not. The results were predictable. Now that it’s all tumbling down, the politicians and pundits blame the free market.
It’s not simply misunderstanding. It’s demagoguery by people who will never admit that their “progressive” social policies have spawned a taxpayer bill that boggles the mind.
This is a story not of private enterprise but of cynical political opportunism. Moral hazard — the poisonous mix of private profits and taxpayer-covered losses — is what you get when politicians indulge their hubris to redesign society. The bailout of those companies holding bad mortgages — big-business socialism — sets us up for the next crisis.
What if the government cut Freddie, Fannie, Bear, AIG and the others loose and let them do what other businesses do on hard times: renegotiate with creditors and revalue assets? Would there be another Great Depression? Not likely. What turned a recession into the Great Depression was the Federal Reserve’s contraction of the money supply. I doubt they’d make that mistake twice.
We do know that the taxpayer will buy — Probably for too much money, because the private sellers will fool the government managers — at least $700 billion in “illiquid” assets. Where will this money come from: taxation, borrowing or the printing press? What will that do to our economic well-being?
Crisis is the friend of the State. The politicians are desperate to be seen as “showing leadership,” so we’re surely in for a new round of government interventions. Watch for the equivalent of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. There’ll be much posturing about how the new regulations “will keep this from ever happening again,” but that’s more nonsense because the root problem is not lack of regulation. It’s government social engineering of the housing market, which will be unchanged.
Read the rest of the story, this really sheds the light on what has and is happening with this so called bailout.Source: TownHall.com: LINK
Uh, looks like the bailout has started!
WASHINGTON - Warned that time was running short to bolster the distressed economy, congressional Republicans and Democrats reported agreement in principle Thursday on a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, and said they would present it to the Bush administration in hopes of a vote within days. Source: Yahoo News. (This news turned out not to be true. Was big government trying to railroad us taxpayers again before even reading the bill before signing?)
What happened? Who caved on the issues and what is really in store for the U.S. taxpayer? Time will tell.
What the Feds didn’t tell you!
FDIC’s Secret List of Possible Bank Failures. The FDIC knows which banks are at risk; it has a watch list with 117 institutions. The agency won’t disclose their names because doing so could cause depositors to panic and pull out all of their funds. It won’t take many more failures before the FDIC itself runs out of money. The agency had $45.2 billion in its coffers as of June 30, far short of the $200 billion Whalen says it will need to pay claims by the end of next year. The U.S. Treasury will almost certainly come to the rescue. Source: Bloomberg.com. Read the Link.
China Banks told to stop loaning money to U.S.
BEIJING, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Chinese regulators have told domestic banks to stop interbank lending to U.S. financial institutions to prevent possible losses during the financial crisis, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday. “The decree appears to be Beijing’s first attempt to erect defences against the deepening U.S. financial meltdown after the mainland’s major lenders reported billions of U.S. dollars in exposure to the credit crisis,” the SCMP said.
Federal government making loans to U.S. automobile manufacturers: The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a $25bn package of low-cost loans to help hard-pressed carmakers and their suppliers finance plant modernisation at a time of restricted access to public capital markets.The automotive loans are separate from the proposed $700bn bail-out for the banking sector, which is still being debated in Congress. The House approved the measure 370-58, setting the stage for Senate approval within days. This money is about getting votes in Michigan and Ohio. Politics as usual and we want to loan the ultimate spenders on capital hill $700 billion dollars? Who is going to get the wrong end of this transaction?Source FT.com. Read the LINK.
U.S. will loose it’s Global Super Power Status Rating in World Financial Markets.
The US will lose its role as a global financial “superpower” in the wake of the financial crisis, Peer Steinbrück, German finance minister, forecast on Thursday in the most outspoken comments by a senior European government figure since Wall Street plunged into chaos two weeks ago. Mr Steinbrück, a Social Democrat and long-time champion of tougher financial market rules, said the US government was to blame for the severity of the crisis because it had resisted European calls for stricter regulation until it was too late. Source FT.com. Read the LINK.
Will taxes be raised on small business? The Small Business Person gets whacked every time one of these social resucue packagaes passes!! Wreck the little guy and see how far the economy will go!
Taxpayers get stabbed with earmarks again! It’s only our money and they can’t even decide on the bailout/rescue bill until Congress figures out how to fleece the taxpayers again.
(Washington, D.C.) - The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today (9/26/08) blasted House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisconsin) for presiding over a dysfunctional, chaotic federal budget circus. In a flurry of activity yesterday, Chairman Obey forced Congress to vote on a stop-gap continuing resolution worth $1 trillion in spending with less than 24 hours to review its contents. The rush was aimed at getting lawmakers out of Washington, D.C. as quickly as possible to campaign before the November election and to short-circuit any in-depth scrutiny of the billions of dollars in wasteful spending. The bill came to the House floor under a closed rule, which prohibited amendments and passed 370 to 58. Source: CCAGW
Bottom Line Message from the U.S. taxpayer to the Federal Government: No Bailout With Our Tax Dollars!
Last thoughts:
“We do need protection from reckless businessmen. But there is only one way to provide that: market discipline. That means: no privileges, and no bailouts.” Government is our problem even though you are going to hear so many lies and blame for a while on our financial crisis. Remember this. The same people in our government who caused these problems are the one clamoring for the $700 billion bail out and they may be the same ones running the show when all is said and done. How long will it be before the next crisis?
Is U.S Going Broke or Is Cash Still King?
Picture Credit: Jabberer
Little Interest in Green as Americans stay focused on the current U.S. financial crisis.
Well, it seems there has been little headline news about global warming, green issues and green fuel alternatives this week as the financial crisis unwinds and the fallout has started. The “gang of 20″ (a group of so-called bipartisan senators) has made a statement concerning the environment and oil drilling issues.
Election year has poisoned debate on expanded drilling?
A bipartisan group of senators who sought a compromise in the rancorous energy debate won’t introduce their bill before lawmakers adjourn for the elections, several Senate aides said Thursday. Instead, the so-called Gang of 20 will offer a statement of principals outlining their agreement on a host of divisive issues, including expanded offshore drilling. They plan to offer legislation once the political season has ended, according to an aide to a Democrat involved in the discussions. The aide said that the election-year environment has poisoned the atmosphere and hampered the chances of passing a bill on such a controversial campaign topic. Source, The Hill.
The green movement is taking a back seat to the U.S. and its current financial dilemma as oil speculators are staring to jump back into the oil speculation market. Oil costs are on the rise again. You be the judge. China is looking at buying Morgan Stanley and what else is going to happen to the U.S. before this mess is straightened out?
Stock Market Meltdown?
Why doesn’t the federal government get it as the stock market almost had a complete melt down last week? Pure Chaos and there is a lot of blaming going on. I doubt if anything our do-nothing Congress tries, just may be to little to late or their decisions will make matters worse. Are we already so broke, the crisis cannot be fixed? We will find out before long. Remember, all the money spent so far has not stopped the home foreclosures? This is really one of the critical issues that has to be address, but at what Cost?
From the Washington Post: The market was 500 trades away from Armageddon last Thursday, traders inside two large custodial banks tell The Post.
Had the Treasury and Fed not quickly stepped into the fray that morning with a quick $105 billion injection of liquidity, the Dow could have collapsed to the 8,300-level - a 22 percent decline! - while the clang of the opening bell was still echoing around the cavernous exchange floor.
According to traders, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, money market funds were inundated with $500 billion in sell orders prior to the opening. The total money-market capitalization was roughly $4 trillion that morning. Amazing, the crisis as of today, is still hanging around, yet we are all still here. The best simple solution is keep the government and government control out of solving these problems.
Cash is King.
Picture Credit: Tobiasmik
Warren Buffett, the financial giant, is gobbling up companies like the old Pacman game and as the old adage goes, Cash is King, is truer than ever in financial markets.
Berkshire Hathaway has the highest of 10 investment-grade credit ratings by both S&P and Moody’s Investors Service. S&P rates Mid American at A-, four levels above junk status. Uh, wonder how good Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s grade is rated after the government bail out of these really poorly managed companies? Buffett is making deals at a time when others can’t. A yearlong contraction in global credit markets has choked funding for leveraged buyouts and reduced corporations’ ability to acquire rivals, shrinking the value of announced mergers 29 percent to $2.29 trillion this year from the same period in 2007. Buffett welcomes “tuck-in” deals when he can acquire businesses and place them under managers who have already shown their stuff at Berkshire,” he said in a letter to shareholders last year.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Warren Buffett, one of the world’s best known and wealthiest investors, is betting $5 billion that the U.S. financial system is not about to collapse.
Buffett buys into Goldman-Sachs for $5 billion. Read the article!
Picture Credit: Divedi
Was Warren Buffett right when he said that derivatives and the crazy financing of Wall Street would bring the destruction to Capitalism? With the government taking over running financial institutions, does this mean the end of capitalism? Socialism in its grandest form. Government controlling a nations banks and banking system.
Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) –Krispy Kreme Donuts Inc. is offering “Kredit Krunch Treats,” 12 deep-fried rings for the price of seven. To truly reflect the current zeitgeist, sprinkle them with arsenic.
Day by day, the world of finance is discovering to its cost just how right Warren Buffett was earlier this decade about the dangers posed by the derivatives market.
“Weapons of financial mass destruction,” was how the billionaire investor described the new fangled securities.”The range of derivatives contracts is limited only by the imagination of man or sometimes, so it seems, madmen,” Buffett said in his 2003 letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders.
AIG, American International Group Inc. makes a bold statement that comes true, but ends up a nightmare!
A year ago, American International Group Inc. said only a U.S. housing market crash of “depression proportions” would pose a problem for its $32.6 billion of mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations tied to the sub-prime market.
Should we infer from AIG’s collapse, then, that a depression is imminent? Most of those hits came in the derivatives arena. AIG revealed last year that it had $64 billion at risk in contracts representing AAA rated CDO portions, known as “super senior” debt. This stuff turned out to be not quite so super after all; the insurance company has posted losses of $18.5 billion over the past three quarters after its financial-products trading division generated about $25 billion of write-downs. Don’t forget General Electric, it may be the next major U.S. company to seek government assistance to survive the current credit crunch!
Our Congress bailed on the U.S. citizens last week and billions of dollars are being asked from the American taxpayer. What happens to future inflation from all the fiat money that has been printed and billions more will be printed and pumped into the system and this still may not save the financial destruction of America. Socialism is here to stay as the government takes over the banking system.
Hard Working Americans Make Up the U.S. Economy. Americans are being asked to cough up $700 billion dollars to fix the mess that our Congress, Yes our Congress and greedy people, messed up. Americans have always paid the price when the chips are down. There are going to be problems, and this to will pass, because of the people who pay the price everyday, the citizens of the U.S. If we think these economic conditions are tough and this is the end of the world, wait till the crisis for Social Security comes calling to be paid.
I Don’t Like Ike
Hurricane Ike was only a category 2. If this storm had been a category 4 or 5, our oil refining industry probably would have been severely crippled or even destroyed. Oil is our Achilles heel and Mother Nature can smite us upon that heel anytime she feels like it and America will be devastated. This has just happened by Hurricane Ike. Because of the current financial situation, calling for billions of dollars for repairing damage, caused by Ike and the demise of several financial institutions, America may come up short on financing future green projects to lower our oil use in the U.S. This will be due to tight credit demands and money being hoarded by the banks until they see if any other financial institutions have to shut down.
Merrill Lynch is no more. Bank of America Corp. said it is snapping up Merrill Lynch Co. Inc. in a $50 billion all-stock transaction. Who can forget Merrill Lynch’s commercials on television talking about investing your money, as the great ML raging bull ran across the country. Yet Merrill Lynch, like other financial institutes, could not ignore the ‘greed factor’ involved in the sub-prime mortgage rip off. Its payback time and payback is hell. Americans would hope this financial nightmare is coming to an end, but there is still billions of dollars financial institutions will have to write off. Is this the tip of the iceberg? How many thousands of jobs will be lost at Merrill Lynch and how many millionaires woke up today and were millionaires no more?
Picture Credit: Shelpler (America searching for answers in a dead bull)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp’s $50 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co Inc. marks the end of a storied name in American finance, but also creates the nation’s biggest bank by far. Read the rest of the story: LINK
How is your retirement plan looking? Do you feel like the person in the above picture looking from the hind end of a bankrupt bull?
For those of you who are not completely aware of the U.S. financial situation, America needs to wake up. It may be too late. The really bad part about the whole financial situation is, regardless of what happens, you and I, the taxpayers, are getting screwed by the Federal Government. We are going to pay for all the bail outs that are taking place including the massive bail out of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae!
Where’s is the federal government? I thought our government would know how to take care of these problems? Amazing, the feds helped cause the problem. Our do-nothing Congress has failed again to take care of business. The real answer is that the government is not interested in taking care of business because they care more about being elected than solving tough hard problems. Some of the main problems that are being over looked by our Congress are government regulation, accountability, corruption and greed.
The Raging Bull is dead! Picture Credit: Spaulson
Financial Institutions go from Green to Red or Even Dead!
NEW YORK (AP) “When Wall Street woke up Monday morning, two more of its storied firms had vanished. Lehman Brothers, burdened by $60 billion in soured real-estate holdings, said it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after attempts to rescue the 158-year-old firm failed.”and Merill Lynch is being purchased by Bank of America.
Picture Credit: Pixelateit
Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) — “Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, succumbed to the sub-prime mortgage crisis it helped create in the biggest bankruptcy filing in history.” Read the rest of the Story.
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday in New York, listing debts of $613 billion and naming as unsecured creditors owed hundreds of millions of dollars banks from Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore and Taipei, among others. (Note unsecured creditors owed hundred of millions of dollars from foreign banks). Again, as with Merrill Lynch, thousands of jobs are going to be lost because of the Lehman Brother’s fiasco.
Lehman Brothers largest bankruptcy in the history of U.S.
Lehman Brother’s CEO, Richard Fuld, is being blamed according to this article. The demise of the independent Wall Street institutions came as shock waves from the 14-month-old credit crisis roiled the U.S. financial system six months after the collapse of Bear Stearns.
Read this article. It is a must read for understanding to what went on with Lehman Brothers during the financial fallout on Monday. How the Master’s of the Universe Ran Amok and Cost us the Universe: LINK (Excerpt from article): Lehman embarked on massively leveraged property acquisitions and expansion. Equity trading soared. And the bank plunged heavily into sub-prime lending. Indeed, just ahead of the market collapse, Lehman underwrote more mortgage-backed securities than any other firm. By the end, 62-year-old Fuld was Lehman’s biggest individual stockholder. Despite the crash, he stands to leave with about $65 million, based on Lehman’s Friday morning stock price of $3.73. This tally includes 8.6 million unrestricted shares worth some $32.1 million as of Friday morning – though they had been worth $582 million last November before the credit crunch hurricane struck.
Read this article: Another must read: UK may have had a hand in the demise of Lehman Brothers. Great video and information. LINK Is the U.S heading toward Socialism or State Capitalism? Unlike mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, broker dealers are not crucial pillars of the US housing market. Lehman is an optimal candidate for ritual sacrifice. While the appearances of free market discipline have been upheld, the reality of the weekend events is a further lurch towards socialism, or state capitalism if you prefer.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC.com, Wilbur Ross, chairman and CEO of WL Ross & Co., says he sees possibly as many as a thousand bank closures in the coming months. And this will create opportunities for investors. Check out this Link.
Greenspan says U.S. in once in a century financial crisis in the following article.
AIG, General Electric and GMAC all having financial woes: The following article is about A.I.G. (American International Group) the insurance giant has asked for a bridge loan of $40 million from the Federal Reserve to keep its doors open another 2-3 days as of September 15, 2008. A.I.G.’s extraordinary move of reaching out to the Fed for help may spur other non-investment banks to try a similar move. Companies ranging from General Electric to GMAC have been hurting badly and would desperately need the liquidity that the Fed would provide.
Comments on what caused this financial crisis, another point of view: (it didn’ happen over night): The failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, setting in motion the biggest government bailout/takeover in U.S. history, brings a grim sense of fulfillment to competent economists. After all, what did people expect, that water would flow uphill forever? An Important LINK to read!
What about the future for the U.S.?
With the current financial crisis taking place, the big question we need to ask is: What happens next time a major financial crisis occurs? What about all the workers that will loose jobs? Fewer workers, less tax revenues and our do-nothing Congress will raise taxes if they can. Also, states, cities and towns tax revenues are way off due to economic conditions and they will continue to raise property taxes every year to meet budget demands. The next big financial area the Congress will have to face is Social Security. Why? The baby boomers are reaching retirement age and will be drawing out money from the broke SS FUND faster than the American taxpayer can pay SS TAXES to cover the outgo. Another crisis is looming on the horizon?
There has to be accountability for greed, wasteful spending and corruption. This is the only way our financial systems a can survive. We do not need anymore government regulations. The buck has to stop with the U.S. Congress and an example needs to start with the House and Senate. What about Social Security and Medicare when they reach the point there are not enough funds to support these government agencies? Stop and think. The time is coming in the near future and will the government wait to act when these agencies start into bankruptcy? If our do nothing Congress is true to form, we are all in for serious trouble in the near future.
China May Be the Death of the Environmental Movement
I am all for a green planet, cleaner water and air. Since there a lot of people watched the Olympics and China moved a lot of factories to clean up around the Bird Nest stadium, lets take a look at what is happening to China and their environmental impact on the world and the U.S in regards to pollution. Air pollution became a big issue in China as to whether the Olympics would even be held.
CHINA is the world’s worst polluter, in their quest for cleaner air, China cannot (or will not) try and stop or control their heavy polluting of particulate matter, mainly soot, ashes and coal dust. Even though China moved their factories for the Olympics to reduce air pollution and clean up around the Olympic site, they did not shut down these factories.
China Polluting the U.S. according to CBS News YOUTUBE video.
China’s pollution will warm U. S temperature by 3 degrees in the next 50 years, so says this article.
WASHINGTON (AP) — “Smog, soot and other particles like the kind often seen hanging over Beijing add to global warming and may raise summer temperatures in the American heartland by three degrees in about 50 years, says a new federal science report released Thursday.”
Our “Do Nothing” Congress wants to put massive tax burdens on the U.S. taxpayers to control climate change through a cap and trade system. This system is only a tax plan for the states to receive massive amounts of tax dollars as Senator Barbara Boxer promised the states large amounts of money (ear marks) to help Congress pass the Cap and Trade bill.
See CG previous Post: Cap and Trade Bill, Really a Tax with little Benefits.
Since China is the number one polluter in the world, what can they do to clean up their mess? Remember China and India were exempt from the KYOTO Protocol Treaty and the U.S. did not sign the treaty due to China and India’s exemption and other reasons.
China Pollution Picture Credit” B Howdy
“The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the international on Framework Convention for Climate Change with the objective of reducing greenhouse gases in an effort to prevent anthropogenic climate change.”
Many Amercians had excellent arguments for the U.S. Voting against the Kyoto Protocol because of the disastrous effects on the U.S. economy and putting Americans out of work. Even the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly against the Kyoto Protocol. A person writes the reason he opposed it:
Check out this person’s Reason for opposing Kyoto Treaty.
Picture Credit: Michel de tay
So can China clean up their act and get their pollution problems under control?
Not very easy according to an article from Climate Skeptic:
“I have written on a number of occasions that, years from now, folks who would like to see meaningful reductions in man’s negative impacts on the environment are going to look back on the global warming charade as a disaster for their movement — not just in terms of credibility, but in terms of lost focus on real, meaningful improvements.” Source Coyote Blog.
“China is a great example. Like London in the 19th century or Pittsburgh in the early 20th, China’s air quality is a mess. Real steps need to be taken to clean up the air, for the health and safety of its residents. The Olympics might have been a venue for people around the world to apply pressure to China to clean up its act.”
“But, in fact, there is little real pressure from outside for China to clean up the soot, unburned hydrocarbons, NO2, SO2 and other such pollutants from its vehicles and coal plants. That is because all the pressure, all the attention, is on China’s CO2 production. But there is nothing China can do to slow down CO2 growth without killing its economy and probably destabilizing its government in the process. So, it gives the world a big belching burp of pollutants to such admonitions.”
Chinese soot is causing more problems than Co2 and the Chinese cannot stop their gigantic manufacturing machine. Also, millions of Chinese workers have come into the big cities to work and China has to create millions of jobs to keep the workers satisfied and this means enormous clouds of soot belching into the atmosphere that is floating to the California shores and causing environmental fallout.
There is good reason to worry about China’s environmental challenges. Consider for instance that, “Of 142 countries for which environmental sustainability was evaluated, China ranked 129th.” The consequences for environment degradation affect socio-economic losses, heath costs, and even increasing rates of natural disasters. It is impossible to put an exact price on the cost felt by society, but there are a number of poignant examples that will get the point across. We will start small and work our way up: consider, “the annual loss of $250 million arising from factory closures due to water shortages in a single city, Xian.” Or mull over the fact that, “losses of crops and forests due to acid rain amount to $730 million per year.” Increasing in cost there is, “the $6 billion cost of the ‘green wall’ of trees being built to shield Beijing against the sand and dust, the annual direct losses due to desertification ($7 billion). The losses from pollution and ecological damages ranged from 7% to 20% of GDP every year in the past two decades.” Then there are the health costs. “About 300,000 deaths per year are attributed to air pollution. Average blood lead levels in Chinese city dwellers are nearly double those considered to be dangerously high and to endanger children’s mental development.” There are certainly grounds for concern.
Picture credit: luu, luu
Other problems contribute heavily to particulate pollution including burning wood fires and read the rest of the story from Climate Skeptic .
“Which is a shame. Unlike for CO2 abatement, there are real technologies that are proven to be economic that can abate the worst of China’s pollution problems. Had we instead been spending our moral capital pressuring China to take such steps, there might be real progress.”
The Truth About Jatropha Curcas Biodiesel
(Piecing together the puzzle for Jatropha Curcas being a source for biodiesel)
I just received an interesting report about using Jatropha bushes for biodiesel production titled: “Best Practices For Long-Term Jatropha Development., A Position paper by KnowGenix.
Jatropha Curcas is being heavily planted for harvesting of it nuts to produce biodiesel. Jatropha has been the buzzword on the lips of many biofuel investors, Government Officials and researchers. The potential this plant has as an environmentally friendly and socially aware source of Biodiesel is astounding. As Jatropha is poised on the brink of commercialization, Jatropha investors have stepped up their efforts to develop a viable source of biodiesel, and some are already well on the road to success.
Check out the Chemically Green comment section where comments on investment opportunities for Jatropha Curcas have been received.
Biodiesel derived from Jatropha is fast becoming recognized as a viable source of alternative fuel to meet the rising fuel demands of countries around the world. As technological developments stand today, Jatropha has the potential to serve as fuel to power automobiles, combined heat and power (CHP) plants and cooking stoves, just to name a few.
(Jatropha Plant: Photo Credit World Politicsreview)
Mediocre Results Obtained when Jatropha is not maintained properly.
However, with so many new projects coming up, and a lack of RELIABLE information, many projects are only achieving mediocre results. Plagued with funding troubles, poor plantation management, and lack of understanding of the Jatropha Curcas plant, many projects are not performing at optimal productivity.
Knowing where to place your Jatropha project is critical, and requires a holistic view of certain key criteria for site selection. These include agro-climatic conditions, availability of labor, logistical consideration and local legislation.
The Jatropha Curcas L plant is an ‘energy species’, but it needs to be domesticated as a ‘tree crop’ for widespread commercial cultivation and application.
In order to achieve maximum commercial performance, it is crucial to understand the crop’s requirements, predict its possible interactions with the environment and develop practices for industrial cultivation.
(Jatropha Fruit Picture Credit: Woetan)
Most reported information on Jatropha Curcas does not give the whole picture and some of the major requirements for maintaining Jatropha Curcas.
1. True or False: Jatropha will grow in just about any dry or poor soil and takes little maintenance.
FALSE.
To get maximum yields from Jatropha, the soil must be cultivated, prepared and properly maintained for maximum fruit yields and more than one yearly crop. If planted in poor soil conditions, Jatropha will yield poor production or no production at all. Though reported to grow on marginal soils and land, Jartopha really needs decent quality land for maximum crop yields which will maintain any project for growing Jartropha.
2. True or False: Jatropha requires little water and will grow well even in drought conditions.
FALSE.
The use of water is the most important criteria for growing Jatropha. If sustainable fruit yields and several harvest per year are desired from Jatropha, the grown plants must be irrigated on a regular basis. In critical areas of water supply, the impact of indiscriminate removal of ground water in fragile ecosystems will have to be studied and appropriate actions taken to keep from depleting water supply during irrigation. Claims that Jatropa can grown in drought conditions or low rainfall areas is proving to be false and experience has shown Jatropha needs higher levels of water for optimum yields.
3. True of False: Jatropha is labor intensive for harvesting fruits.
TRUE.
Jatropha bushes are real compact and the fruits have to be picked by hand. Mechanical harvesting would damage the bush. Because Jatropha is such a compact bush, plant maintenance is labor intensive.
4. True or False: Jatropha contains toxins that might be harmful to man.
TRUE.
Jatropha contains a chemical toxin similar to Ricin, Curcin.
Main Toxins of Jatropha. MAIN TOXINS: Curcin - a phytotoxin (toxalbumin), found mainly in the seeds and also in the fruit and sap. Purgative oil - the seed yields 40% oil, known as hell oil, pinheon oil, oleum infernale or oleum ricini majoris, which contains small amounts of an irritant curcanoleic acid, which is related to ricinoleic acid and crotonoleic acid, the principle active ingredients of castor oil and croton oil respectively (Joubert et al., 1984). OTHER TOXINS: This genera also may contain hydrocyanic acid (CRC Critical Reviews in Toxicology 1977). There may be a dermatitis producing resin (Lampe & Fagerstrom, 1968). There may be an alkaloid, and a glycoside which produce cardiovascular and respiratory depression. Tetramethylpyrazine (TMPZ), an amide alkaloid has been obtained from the stem of J. podagrica (Ojewole & Odebiyi, 1981). Atropine-like effects have also been reported following ingestion of Jatropha multifida (Aplin 1976). For more details, please visit here
5. True or False: Jatropha Curcas has been used for medicines and possibly treatment of cancer tumors.
TRUE.
6. True or False: Millions of Dollars are being invested for growing Jatropha.
TRUE.
Check out CG previous post: Jatropha Curcas Update.
7. True or False: Many developing countries are working with Jatropha for new income sources.
TRUE.
8. True or False: Jatropha Curcas can be grown in many habitats through out the world.
FALSE.
Check out CG previous post: Jatropha Curcas Update.
9. TRUE OR FALSE: The meal left over from the Jatropha seeds after oil extraction make a good fertilizer for recycling.
True. The Meal after extraction an excellent organic manure (38%Protien N:P:K ration 2.7:1.2:1).
So what are the major considerations for growing Jatropha Curcas and other plants (Palm) for biodiesel?
To ensure sustained use of water supplies, land and natural resources, the development of biofuels must be planned, managed and maintained. Ecosystems and Rainforests through out the world, that are being destroyed for the sake of biofuels, must be stopped. Other major considerations are land competition for food vs. biofuel production, considerations on habitat destruction and animal species, availability of water, pollution of lands with fertilizers which can lead to soil erosion, safety of people who harvest phytoproducts for biofuel production and issues of developing large massive plants instead of small localized plants near the crops that will be used to manufacture biofuels.
(Jatropha Seeds Photo Credit: Nrfigueiredo)
Jatropha Curcas looks like it will be a main factor in the race to produce biodiesel.
Attack of the Food Clones?
The FDA says that cloned food products may have entered the food chain.
Check out this LINK, FDA says cloned meats and milk o.k. for consumption by consumers.
EU not sure about safety of cloned animals. LINK
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Food and milk from the offspring of cloned animals may already have entered the U.S. food supply, the Food and Drug Administration said on Monday, but it would be impossible to know because there is no difference between cloned and conventional products.
The FDA said in January meat and milk from cloned cattle, swine and goats and their offspring were as safe to eat as products obtained from traditional animals. Before then, farmers and ranchers had followed a voluntary moratorium that prevented the sale of clones and their offspring.
Cloned animals in the food supply, What’s The Beef?
(Picture Credit: Guy Scoop)
Cloned offspring are in the food supply?
“It is theoretically possible” offspring from clones are in the food supply, said Siobhan DeLancey, an FDA spokeswoman. “I don’t know whether they are or not. I could imagine there are not very many of them.”
Many ranchers and dairy producers have already cloned animals for meat and milk production, but a voluntary moratorium initiated about five years ago by the FDA has largely kept them and their offspring out of grocery stores and restaurants.
However, ranchers say there is no doubt that some of the animals taken to slaughterhouses in the past couple of years have been fathered by clones.
(Picture Credit: Jay Duggers)
Even as the FDA unveiled its final rule, USDA asked in January for the cloning industry to prolong the ban on selling products from cloned animals during a “transition” period expected to last at least several months. That ban would not extend to meat and milk from the clone’s offspring.
Groups still protest using cloned offspring for food supply
(Picture Credit: Heath & B.L.T.)
But a study released this month by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that 64 percent of Americans are uncomfortable with animal cloning and that 43 percent believe food from clones is unsafe.
Safety isn’t the only concern among consumers. Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America, based in Washington, said the primary issue is that the food should be labeled so consumers can avoid products derived from clones if they wish.
Critics still contend not enough is known about the technology to ensure it is safe, and they also say the FDA needs to address concerns over animal cruelty and ethical issues. “It worries me that this technology is out of control in so many ways,” said Charles Margulis, a spokesman with the Center for Environmental Health. The possibility of offspring being in the food supply “is just another element of that,” he said.
Some meat processors say will not process cloned animals.
Despite the backing from FDA, major food companies including Tyson Foods Inc, the largest U.S. meat company, and Smithfield Foods, Inc. have said they would avoid using cloned animals because of safety concerns.
Christmas in July for Alaska This Year
The coldest summer ever? You might be looking at it, weather folks say. Not in Georgia, or the lower U.S. states, but Alaska.
Check out this article from the: Anchorage Daily News
Anchorage Alaska, (photo credit: retro traveler)
Right now the so-called summer of ‘08 is on pace to produce the fewest days ever recorded in which the temperature in Anchorage managed to reach 65 degrees.
That unhappy record was set in 1970, when the temperature only made it to the 65-degree mark, which many Alaskans consider a nice temperature, 16 days out of 365.
This year, however — with the summer just about over — there have been only seven 65-degree days so far. And that’s with just a few days of potential “balmy” days remaining and the forecast looking gloomy.
The current three-month outlook posted by the national Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md., calls for below-normal temperatures for the south coast of Alaska from August through October — turning to above-normal temperatures from October through December.
