(Crazy) economy news

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by Skybird

For crypto fans, there is a lesson to learn in this:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-are-too-great

Not only do you still sell and buy cryptocurrencies in FIAT currencies, but the state does control it, does track it, and can prohibit and prevent it any time. Even anonymously bought gold places itself more advantageously.

They manipualte FIAt moeny values. They amnipuklate gold prices. The ymanipzkate stockmarkets. How comes so many peope, think they do not track and manuolukate Bitcoins as well? It is anything but invulnerable! The illusion of security from it might be fallacious.

To me, the Bitcoin/Blockchain always rather has been more interesting as a technology. It is as much a real "money" as is FIAT money: not at all, since it has zero intrinsic value. Beyond that, its just a gamble.

2021 will may be the year crypto currency withers away.



https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...me/ar-BB1gTUsg

"Attacks on critical US infrastructure facilitated by cryptocurrencies will not go unnoticed by the US government and other countries. I would argue that the regulatory threat to cryptocurrencies has increased exponentially."


Critics of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have long argued that they facilitate crime thanks to their anonymous and decentralized nature, which means they are very hard to trace and link to individuals.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in January that she was concerned about cryptocurrencies for this reason. "I think many are used - at least in a transaction sense - mainly for illicit financing," she told lawmakers during her confirmation hearing.


Gary Gensler, the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission markets regulator, has made similar criticisms in the past.


"Beyond use on the darknet, there are those around the globe who seek to use these new technologies to thwart government oversight of money laundering, tax evasion, terrorism financing, or evading sanctions regimes," he told Congress in 2018.


Although cryptocurrency companies that deal with customers in the US are covered by various financial regulations, the digital asset markets is largely a grey area outside the traditional world of finance. Regulators have consistently warned that investors should only buy in if they're willing to lose all their money.

[Skybird]

Oh yes, the "fight against crime", against terrorism, against money laundering and tax evasion. The Golden Bullet to apologize for ever more extensive state totalitarianism and the incapacitating total control of the citizen, his being-put-under-general-suspicion, as long as he has not proven his innocence. Was it not even different in the old legal system of our culture, a long time ago: inadmissible as long as the guilt is not proven? And wasn't the burden of proof with the plaintiff instead of the defendant?

Whether cryptocurrency or a ban on cash, these are all just propaganda lies by the political regimes and their vicarious agents: the central and commercial banks, and their primary weapon of crime: the FIAT money system. It is these who represent the core of the actual crime, the operators and inventors of the FIAT money system, for the excessive deformations of it, where normal citizens are supposed to be plundered and robbed, for which they are being prepared with a ban on cash and bitcoins that ties them to the table so that it is all the more safe to assault the defenseless victims afterwards, who can then no longer escape. It's about robbery and looting: run by central banks and governments.

In principle, not much has changed since the Middle Ages, there is still a professional criminality called the political establishment that rises above the general public and makes them submissive with lies and clever tricks, but ultimately regards them as their property and serfs, who even are to pay for the antics of those who ultimately empower themselves, and to pay for their wounds. Try to get rid of these fine needle-walk gangsters, go there and unselect them, chase them down! You cannot. They keep coming back, they are always being supplied with posts and influentous new posiitons and titles. They cannot be killed, and they breed their own successors in their law systems and organsiation and potical hierarchies designed to support their egoist needs and keep the public away and unáware and impotent. -

Does anyone really believe that terrorists and organized crime are so stupid as to pay their millions in cash at the bank counter? Do they even have to? Don't they have their mafia lawyers and political buddies and corporate advisors and legal money laundering facilities to simply circumvent these measures such as a cash and bitcoin ban?

No, these measures are not aimed at crime, they never were, just as a gold ban was never aimed at organized crime, but against private financial provision; they target the citizen who tries to withdraw his private fortune from the state kleptocrats and professional gangsters of the FED and ECB, who want to put private fortune under the total disposal power of tax offices and banks with negative interest rates and digital money, so that these fortunes can be scooped up at will and this as a "Service fee" can be trivialized, and thus credit card institutes fees for their - unnecessary! - "Services" can be adjusted upwards at will due to the lack of alternative cash payments. Ultimately, the looting of private property is glorified by placing the legal owner of the same property under general suspicion, and his guilt is considered proven as long as he cannot prove his innocence - and that with every new occurrence. The guilt of the real criminals - the central banks and financial authorities as agents of the largest organized crime cartels that exist on this planet: the states and governments - is being passed on to their victims.

Damn thug pack, all as they are.

Anger. Just pure anger. And when relatively harmless ordinary citizens like me begin to lose their inhibitions, one can imagine the potential for explosive outbreaks fermenting beneath the surface of our societies. The bolder the criminal pack in the international political and banking institutions operates its conspiracies, the bolder the brazen propaganda lies with which people are sold for stupid, the louder the bang will be in the end. And the times when I would help prevent this, are long gone.

Quit it.

-----

The Eu has sued Germany becasue the - formally plltically independent - German Constitutional High court dared to criticise the European High Court over its state_fioanncing polcies, whcih they de facto are: state-fioanncing money polticies - that by rule and European treaty and laws are illegal and not allowed. The eU now says that this refleciton on and criticism of f the European Court is not allowed and illegal and has sued Germany over it. What it implies is that the European institutions are infalliable and can never err, and of course can never be corrupted. What do the EU gangster expect the German to do now? The government gagging the court?

I see also a psyhcological issue at hand here. Super-Uschi, the carricature of a commission president, is German by natiuonality, and like many German politicians she looks down on her Germanness as if it were the plague. To demonstrate her anti-German germanness, to call it this way, and her neutrality, she now popens fire at germany, like she already helped anti-German Merkel in preventing Germany dpoijng its best to secure vaccinatrion doses by its own, and instead turnign it into the EU vaccination deaster where instead thwe "community" buys doses collectively - all under the caretaking and wonderful caring hand and supervision of the EU, of course.

There have been since years ambition sin the eU parliament to make any criticskm of the eU, its polcies and insttitiuoions, a piunishable crime. There are those who want an official EU institution where criticism gets filed, and then this EU institution decides whethere the EU can afford to allow this criticism, else the perso voicing it gets persecuted. When I first red about this group of politicians (from all party blocks in the eU parliament, btw!) over ten years ago, I had my lunch dripping off the monitor. Gan gster and ideologists do n ot weant to stop their evil doing. They just want to ban calling it evil doing. Whjo does so, becomes the offender. The real offender - themselves - always is beyond doubt. Dont we have rule to settle such things in a civilised manner? Dont we have law and order? Aren't there official, government-certified valves to steam off anger and rage? Isnt fight against money laundering and tax evasion a good thing so that it justifies to destroy freedoms ever more? Isn't the war on drugs working well? Isn'T BVrmode and Flouride in your food and water positive for your teeth and health?
Arten'T you a socially responsible, honest citizen?

If you have nothiugn tio hide, you must not fear control. Obey, submit, hand yourself over, and be safe.


Attributed to Benjamin Franklin:


"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

[FireDragon76]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Two quotes from the master himself:

"The gold standard did not collapse. Governments abolished it in order to pave the way for inflation. The whole grim apparatus of oppression and coercion, policemen, customs guards, penal courts, prisons, in some countries even executioners, had to be put into action in order to destroy the gold standard."

"The illusiveness of this concept of national income is to be seen in its dependence on changes in the purchasing power of the monetary unit. The more inflation progresses, the higher rises the national income."

L.v. Mises

"Strange times", Neal? Absolutely terrifying, I say. Beyond "dug deep in and take cover", I have run out of advice.

That's old hat that happened almost a century ago, for a variety of reasons, some good, some bad. More significant is Nixon's creation of the petrodollar to shore up America's economy by forcing countries to buy US dollars.


The guy that educated me on the petrodollar and what it was (I had no knowledge of this stuff in school, they don't teach it), was an ex military intelligence analyst.

[Rockstar]

The days of paper currency are soon coming to a close.

The Federal Reserve is taking what may be the first significant step toward launching its own virtual currency, a move that could shake up banks, give millions of low-income Americans access to the financial system and fortify the dollar's status as the world’s reserve currency.

The idea of creating a fully digital version of the U.S. dollar, which was unthinkable just a few years ago, has gained bipartisan interest from lawmakers as diverse as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) because of its potential benefits for consumers who don’t have bank accounts. But it’s also sparking strong pushback from those with the most to lose: banks.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/0...-dollar-493548

[Skybird]

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ru...umping-dollars



https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitic...old-us-dollars

[Rockstar]

R’oh r’oh Raggy

[Skybird]

Producer prices in Germany have risen by over 8 percent in the last 12 months. Thats the highest mark since over 40 years.



Well. The music started playing, now the carousel starts turning.

[Skybird]

Austrian "Die Presse" writes:

Brussels is currently considering a central "property register" for all inmates of the Union. This is not a good idea because it not only makes money laundering more difficult. When new standards in the European Union are justified by the fact that they are necessary to combat money laundering and tax evasion, a certain amount of skepticism is always required. For example, if, as just planned, an upper limit for the use of cash is to be introduced, which not only makes money laundering more difficult, but above all enables the control and taxation of citizens. -

In this light, a call for tenders by the EU Commission will also have to be assessed, which was placed discreetly online in the middle of the summer when many journalists are on vacation in Brussels. A feasibility study for a future "EU asset register" is being put out to tender. The Commission itself expresses its aim openly: “The aim of this project is to examine various options for collecting information on the establishment of an asset register, which can then be used in a future political initiative. The aim is to examine how information available from various sources of property ownership (e.g. land registers, business registers, trust and foundation registers, central securities depositaries, etc.) can be collected and linked, and the design, scope and challenges for such a Union property register. ”Further:“ The possibility of including data on the ownership of other assets such as cryptocurrencies, works of art, real estate and gold in the register must also be taken into account. ”(“ Feasibility study for a European property register in With regard to combating money laundering and tax evasion ", 2021 / S 136-358265 of July 16, 2021) -

What emerges here - possibly, the matter is still at the beginning - is the financially transparent EU citizen whose property, from the hoarded gold coins to the account balance, can be called up at any time. You don't have to suffer from severe paranoia to find this strange. The mere fact that tax authorities can de facto gain access to every account without any problems is incompatible with the discretionary claim of a bourgeois-liberal society. The idea that in future a central authority will be able to access the property status of every EU inmate is even more worrying. -

The argument that someone who has nothing to hide does not have to shy away from transparency falls short of the mark. Countries like Germany or Austria, with their sometimes excessive data protection requirements, should understand this. Because here not only abuse is to be feared, but a total access of the state to all assets of its citizens, should that one day be politically desired. As a reminder: At the height of the corona crisis, it was not possible to collect data that was absolutely sensible in order to meet data protection requirements. For the lame and flimsy argument “money laundering” this has to apply even more. -

An EU property register makes much more sense if you follow the debate in Canada: In view of the highly inflated national debt caused by the corona, the head of the social democratic New Democratic Party proposes that the wealthy be subject to a property tax of one percent per year; other “Tax the Rich” proponents are calling for a one-off tax of three percent. -

The problem with such taxes has been that they are difficult to implement because the tax office cannot always know which valuables the taxpayer has deposited where. Unless, of course, he is forced from the outset and under threat of punishment to report his entire property to the authorities - ideally across Europe so that loopholes do not arise in the first place. This has relatively little to do with money laundering - but such an “asset register” is an excellent preparation for partial expropriations. -


----


Earlier this month, the german ministry for financial crime, expropriation, blackmailing and money inflation, and the godfathers of the organised crime in the government and parliament have turned active a new law that quietly reversed a basic pillar of western law, namely the presumption of innocence. Due to the now existing obligation to provide receipts for cash deposits of annual sums of over 10,000 euros, everyone who has monetary values is ultimately declared a criminal who no longer even has to be accused of the crime, but who, by definition, is criminal because of circumstances - until he has proven himself as innocent. The criminal act, the crime no longer has to be proven, the claim of guilt must not be proven anymore - the accused must prove his innocence instead. The propaganda lie, with which this is excused, is of course the fight against tax evasion and money laundering, the usual opportunistic bull. As if organised crime would be affected in any way by this! Of course the purpose is another one: plundering ordinary people's private savings that they have withdrawn from bank accounts so that banks can no longer steal penalty fees for savings beyond 50000 and 100000 euros , and pushign people to abandoning cash payment and money and accept digital money exclusively - and then being totally helpless and defenceless against any taxation, expropriaton and plundering by banks and government and the EU. That is the only reason and always has been the only reason why they want to destroy cash money use.

While they of course say nobody wants to destroy cash money.

And Walther Ulbricht said nobody had the intention to build an inner-German wall.



And Bush said they know that the had them and where they are (Iraq's claimed nukes).

The worst and most malicious criminals and gangster all sit in government, central banks, and ministries.

I will not resist any violent revolution that overthrows these conditions and kills them mafia scumbags all, like the French revolution got rid of the French aristocratic class in a very brutla and overboardening fashion, and then drowned all France in blood. If these criminal ways are their vision for the future, I prefer the brutal alternative as self-defence. This scum has long since started with pushing its crimes too far. They render people like me defenceless against their coups and want people like me and all population helpless and naked and dependent and completely at their mercy, and that is when I do not mind anymore to see it all getting destroyed, because then I have nothing to lose anymore, only maybe something to win.

When I made my quarterly payment to balance my banking account (I hold no money savings on bank accounts anymore, since years), I was treated like a terrorist and threatened with prosecution and a mission started on me by the Finanzfahndung if I do not file receipts and documentations within shortest time.

I hope I live to see it all going up in flames. Because I am pissed beyond recovery.

[Skybird]

I just red that the federöla state Brandenburg has almost 4000 energy windmills. Over 400 of them will soon drop out of a subvention scheme.

They will get deconstructed. Plenty of critical materials.

Why do they not continue to operate? Although they had over 20 years time to do so, they did not manage to ever get into an economically profitable range (which can nobody really surprise).

In other words: only endless subventions kept them alive.

[mapuc]

It has been in the news here the last few days.

The upcoming collapse of the Chinese company Evergrande.

China’s embattled developer Evergrande is on the brink of default. Here’s why it matters

“Evergrande’s collapse would be the biggest test that China’s financial system has faced in years,” says Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economic

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/17/chin...tor-risks.html

In the comment threads where Danish newspaper is mentioned this lots of people are taking about the Great Reset.

Edit
the stock market has shown red the last few days here in Denmark and Sweden.
End edit.

Markus

[Skybird]

Risk of a huge blackout grows.
FOCUS Online writes:


Because this year there was neither a strong wind nor the sun to be seen sufficiently, coal is again Germany's most important energy supplier. This turns energy supply plans upside down, increases the risk of a blackout and, in the short term, drives up coal and gas prices.

The energy turnaround in Germany has been reversed this year: from energy generation, which in the first half of 2020 had already shifted to renewable energy sources, it turned back significantly in the first half of 2021: instead of just under 52 percent of the electricity consumed, only 44 came Percent from renewable sources. The significantly larger part came from coal, nuclear energy and natural gas. Of these three energy sources, coal made up the largest share with 27 percent. Coal-fired power plants are by far the largest producers of the climate-damaging gas CO2.

The data come from the Federal Statistical Office. They are explosive in light of the fact that the majority of the parties, with a view to ramping up alternative energy sources, first decided to phase out nuclear power around ten years ago and last year to phase out coal-fired power generation. In addition, until two months ago there was controversial discussion among the parties about the completion of the Nordstream II gas pipeline.

The Greens had called for an appeal to be signed against the completion, because the pipeline was "a bet against the European climate targets" and should never be realized. The pipeline has now been completed. However, there are still EU rules in the way of commissioning, which require unbundling between gas suppliers and pipeline operators. In the election campaign last week, the Union had also presented a concept according to which Germany should satisfy its hunger for electricity from renewable energies as quickly as possible.

By gradually shutting down power plants that work with fossil fuels, the risk of a blackout - i.e. a total power failure - increases significantly if the alternative energy sources are currently unable to deliver. In its current overview, the Federal Office for Civil Protection in Bonn has therefore rated the likelihood of a catastrophe caused by a power failure in Germany being higher than any other risk. The civil protection activists also rate the damage higher than, for example, a new pandemic or rain floods that hit West Germany in midsummer.

The Office for Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag has been warning of a blackout for years: “The impact analyzes have shown that after a few days in the affected area, the nationwide and needs-based supply of the population with essential goods and services can no longer be guaranteed. Public security is at risk, the constitutional duty to protect life and limb of its citizens can no longer be met by the state. "

At the moment, however, the decline in the production of electricity from solar and wind energy caused by the doldrums and rain is initially leading to rising prices for gas and coal. The gas supply is a particular headache for the experts. Before the start of the heating season, supplies are far too scarce at the end of September. According to the comparison portal Verivox, 32 regional gas providers have announced price increases averaging 12.6 percent for September and October. When heating a single-family house, this leads to additional costs of 188 euros per year. Between January and July alone, the increase in import prices, which are determined by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control, was around 42 percent.

The situation is similar with coal. The world market price for coal has increased more than three-and-a-half-fold since September 2020 to meanwhile up to 177 dollars per ton. That is the highest price in ten years. This means that the raw material price for coal has risen significantly faster than the two asset classes that have seen the strongest growth to date: real estate and stocks. Disruptions in the supply chain, a drought in China and, above all, the increased demand for energy due to the recovery of the global economy have caused the price of coal to skyrocket and "made one of the world's most unpopular commodities into one of the best investments," noted British commodity traders.

[Skybird]

And Deutsche Welle supplements the above with this:



Energy costs are soaring in Europe, with ordinary citizens and businesses worst-hit. Weather has played a big role, although there are also questions over Russia's gas supply. The onset of winter is adding to worries.

All across Europe, electricity bills for households and businesses have been rising dramatically. They have increased steadily throughout 2021, but in September, the upward surge has been dramatic. This month alone, wholesale power prices in Germany have risen by almost 50%.

Prices are hitting record highs as a combination of factors buffets Europe's energy sector. The main cause is a global gas shortage — the price of natural gas has quadrupled in Europe since the start of the year.

The situation appears to be getting worse, and many governments are now fearful of blackouts and fuel poverty ahead of an inevitable jump in demand throughout the winter.

In the United Kingdom, the country's largest energy companies have requested an emergency bailout package from the government. Five smaller suppliers have already gone out of business over the last month, unable to pay for energy they had already committed to supplying to businesses. Others fear they could go to the wall in the coming days and weeks.

In Spain, the government has already passed emergency legislation to reduce the soaring price of energy bills for consumers by redirecting profits from energy companies. Italy is expected to unveil a €4.5-billion ($5.28-billion) support package for households this week, while France has already introduced subsidies for millions of low-income households adversely hit by price hikes.

According to Verivox, a website which compares energy prices, prices in Germany have risen by an average of 12.6% in September and October. Verivox said such an increase is equal to €188 ($220) a year in extra heating costs for a family home.

But why is this happening? Europe gets its energy from various sources, with natural gas accounting for around 20% of that supply. Individual countries are more reliant on it than others; Germany, for example, uses it to heat around half of households.

The gas squeeze has largely been prompted by the weather. The last European winter was unusually cold, depleting stocks of stored natural gas. Normally this would be replenished during the spring and summer in preparation for the next winter, but one of the coldest Aprils in two decades further hit stock.

Then there is the Russian question. Russia's gas exporting monopoly Gazprom, which provides around a third of all Europe's natural gas, has this year steadfastly refused to increase supply in "spot markets," where natural gas is bought as the need arises, often to fill a short-term need — as opposed to longer-term contracts planned well in advance.

The reasons are a source of intrigue and debate. Russia has its own increased storage needs to meet, but some commentators have speculated that Russia has held back supplies to put pressure on the European Union to fully embrace the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Last week, Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the new Baltic Sea pipeline would "significantly balance price parameters for natural gas in Europe."

Other factors have combined to exacerbate the problem. An unusually hot Asian summer led to an increase in demand for air conditioning and, as a result, electricity. That further hit natural gas supplies.

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has apparently withheld supplies from Europe, but the reasons why are unclear

There have also been issues with the alternatives. Demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been rising fast around the world, particularly in Asia due to rapid economic and population growth. That has hit supply to Europe, with a significant drop in imports in 2021 compared with 2020.

Coal is another alternative, but the price is also now routinely at record highs, partly due to the gas crisis but also because of the bloc's increasingly strict climate change policies. The EU's carbon market is experiencing an unprecedented price boom. The EU's emissions trading system (ETS) sees the owners trade "carbon credits," which allow them to emit carbon dioxide at a cost dictated by the market. The price has been hitting new records all year, a trend that is likely to continue.

The EU's 2030 and 2050 climate goals have seen the bloc set ambitious targets for the amount of renewable energy it uses relative to other sources. In 2019, renewable energy represented 19.7% of energy consumed in the EU. The target for 2030 is 32%.

But renewable energy sources have also been hit recently. Wind energy has been Germany's top producer of electricity in recent years, but its share of the electric grid dropped from 29% to 22% in the first half of 2021. That, too, was driven by the weather and the unusually still conditions at wind farms.

As a result of this and the rise in the carbon price, Europe's energy price crisis has led to accusations that the bloc's climate change policies are to blame, the charge being that the transition to a climate-neutral future is too expensive for consumers.

The transition to renewable energy requires a lot of investment, but that's not the main reason for surging electricity prices

In the European Parliament last week, during a debate on the European Commission's "Fit for 55" climate legislation proposals, several European lawmakers spoke of anger expressed by citizens at how climate change policies were affecting energy prices.

However, Frans Timmermans, the European Commission vice president in charge of climate issues, has rejected the charge, saying the gas shortage was the primary reason for the energy crisis and that increasing costs strengthened the argument for speeding up the transition to renewable sources.

The overall picture is very complex. but for consumers all across Europe, it's quite simple: Their heating and electricity costs a lot more. The scenario governments are desperate to avoid ahead of the winter is blackouts, for consumers and businesses alike.

A mild winter would obviously solve a lot of problems, as would an improvement in wind conditions. Likewise, were Russia to increase gas supply — either through existing pipelines or through the as-of-yet unapproved Nord Stream 2 — then prices would likely come down.

If that does not happen, and if this European winter is as cold as the last, the energy crisis could become a defining one for the EU. Businesses and citizens are already starting to feel the chill.




Time to check my prepper reserves.

[Skybird]

Brace yourself everybody in Europe, winter is coming.

Achse-des-Guten writes:


The electricity crisis is here. And winter is coming

What has been announced for years by Rüdiger Stobbe and others in countless expert articles on Achgut has now come true : The Europe of the energy transition has a crisis-ridden power shortage. The first factories shut down due to a lack of electricity, citizens demonstrate against skyrocketing electricity prices, and large-scale blackouts threaten. The American news agency Bloomberg sums up the general situation:
“Europe is preparing for a harsh winter. An energy crisis that has been conjured up for years is forcing the continent to rely on the whims of the weather. With gas and electricity prices rising, countries from Great Britain to Germany have to hope for mild temperatures in order to survive the heating season. Europe lacks gas and coal, and if the wind doesn't blow, the worst scenario could arise: widespread power outages forcing companies and factories to close. "
The Viennese daily Die Presse reports under the heading “Europe in the electricity price shock”:
“This winter is going to be expensive. Shortly before the start of the heating season, Europe's gas storage facilities are as empty as they have not been for a long time. And the prices for electricity and natural gas on the stock exchanges climb to new record levels almost every day. Gas is three times more expensive today than it was at the beginning of the year. And anyone who wants to buy electricity wholesalers has to pay more than twice as much as they did a few months ago. "
On the Irish island - usually an electricity exporter - the network operators EirGrid (Republic of Ireland) and SONI (Northern Ireland) warn customers that there are “no more reserves”; “If something goes wrong”, there will be widespread power outages. The Moyle Interconnector, which is used to transfer electricity from the island of Ireland to Scotland, has been shut down to prevent electricity exports. In August, Irish newspapers reported that in July, up to 25 percent of the electricity needed in Ireland was temporarily produced by the only coal-fired power station, Moneypoint. The government decided in the spring to switch this off in the next few years in order to achieve its climate targets.
In Spain, which shut down seven of its 15 coal-fired power plants last year , there have been demonstrations against high electricity prices for months . In the Galician city of Vigo, the police arrested a 54-year-old who had thrown stones into the windows of the local branch of the energy supplier Naturgy . According to press reports, the man told the police that he was "unable to keep himself in check" after receiving his electricity bill.


Spain's government, in which the Marxist party Podemos is also involved, announced this month that it would lower the electricity tax from 5.1 to 0.5 percent. In addition, it wants to tax energy suppliers more heavily and has set maximum prices for the price of natural gas that end consumers have to pay. In other words, it wants to drive energy companies into bankruptcy.
In the UK , the Guardian newspaper reports :
"Record energy prices have forced two fertilizer plants in the north of England to close and steel mills to a standstill."
The paper calls this one of the "clearest signs that the energy crisis in Europe could deal a blow to the economic recovery". It also says:
“The US fertilizer manufacturer CF Industries has stopped production at its plants in Billingham in Teesside and Ince in Cheshire, which employ around 600 workers, due to soaring gas prices, which have successively reached record highs across Europe in recent weeks. Goldman Sachs, a major commodities trader, warned heavy industry across Europe was at risk of power outages this winter, especially if there were frosts across Europe and Asia by 2022. The warning came when UK Steel, the industry trade association, said steelmakers were already forced to stop working during peak electricity demand due to market prices for electricity. The energy price shock led to calls to UK ministers toUrgent action to protect homes and businesses as governments across Europe push bailout deals to help energy consumers weather the coming winter. "


In Norway, the fertilizer company Yara also had to close a factory because the price of natural gas is too high. The British meat industry association warns that there is no longer enough CO2 as a result of the closed fertilizer factories. This is a by-product of the natural gas splitting in the fertilizer factories and is needed, among other things, for stunning animals before slaughter. Now there is also a threat of meat shortages.
In an “ explanatory text ” for the population, the British government explains what it believes are the causes of the trouble. There is talk of the world economy and especially Asia using more gas in the course of the "reopening after the lockdown", which is why there is less of it for the British. Then the winter was also cold. And finally, the “weather” has recently been unfavorable again. Why is it winter again on the island? It is not explained. What is meant is something that should not be said: the wind has not played along lately. Because the wind did not blow as required, the electricity has to be generated elsewhere. The UK electricity mix on September 18, 2021, 9 p.m .: nuclear 16.9%, natural gas 48.6%, coal 1.7%, wind 14.1%, solar 0.0%, hydropower 0.5%, import 11 , 1%, memory 1.0%, other 0.5%.
Now a slack in the wind market inevitably leads to exploding natural gas prices - especially since not only Great Britain depends on natural gas as the primary energy source, but all countries in the world that are treading the path of "renewable energies" and building Potemkin villages out of wind turbines.
A good example of this is - alongside Germany - the US state of California, which presents itself as a state that leads “the nation on the way to the future of 100 percent clean energy”. The truth is that California is the United States' largest importer of electricity . Where does the imported electricity come from? Mainly from the Intermountain Power Plant , a coal-fired power plant in Utah. At the same time, California and the other two democratically governed states on the west coast - Oregon and Washington State - are resisting the construction of a terminal with which coal from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming could be shipped to Asia. The result: The coal workers in the Powder River Basin lose their jobs. As Hillary Clinton announced in 2016 : "We will still make many coal workers unemployed."


Because the wind is only a little more reliable than the promises made by politicians, the reliable electricity that nuclear and coal-fired power plants used to provide has to be generated by burning natural gas. And that is a scarce - and expensive - good.
On June 30, the British government announced that the “coal exit” had been brought forward by one year to October 2024. Energy and Climate Change Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said :
“Today we are sending a clear signal around the world that the UK is about to put coal-fired power in the history books and that we are serious about decarbonising our electricity system so that we can meet our ambitious, world-leading climate goals. Britain's net zero future is powered by renewable energy, and it is this technology that will fuel the green industrial revolution and create new jobs across the country. "
Now it's time to take the command back. The remaining coal-fired power plants would be paid "huge sums" to "keep the lights on," writes the Guardian .
In the UK, many electricity traders are now bankrupt because the current wholesale prices they have to pay are well above the limit set by the government in January 2019 for end users . Now the interventionist government is trying to persuade the not yet bankrupt suppliers to accept hundreds of thousands of new customers. "Unfortunately, small suppliers are feeling the pressure of suddenly rising gas prices," tweeted Economics Minister Kwasi Kwarteng on September 19; If necessary, the government will set up a “special administrator” together with the network operator so that all British people will continue to be supplied with electricity.
Further reports on the situation:

• Amos Hochstein, the US State Department's energy security officer, worries that Europe's natural gas stocks will be too low before the start of the heating season. "If the winter gets cold, they are not enough." Shouldn't this concern rather be on the mind of the German government?
• Italy's electricity prices will soon be increased by 40 percent. "In the last quarter, electricity prices rose by 20 percent and in the next they will rise by 40 percent," said Roberto Cingolani, Italy's Minister for Ecological Transition, at a trade union conference. "It has to be said. We have to face it. This happens because the gas price is rising internationally and because the CO2 price is rising. "
• Javier Blas, the energy correspondent for Bloomberg News, tweeted : If you convert the current price of natural gas into a price per barrel of oil using a conversion formula commonly used in the markets, you get a price of 150 US dollars per barrel - more than the previous record in the year 2008.
• Steam coal prices in Asia have climbed to a 13-year high . Newcastle, Australia's benchmark has more than doubled this year. "If demand is rising but there is no supply to respond, that's what comes out," said Andrew Cosgrove, mining analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence.
• A state-run Chinese newspaper warns that Chinese power plants will not be able to buy enough natural gas or coal for the winter. Electricity rationing threatened.
• According to the Association of Coal Importers (VdKI), coal-fired power generation in Germany rose by 35.6 percent in the first half of the year compared to the previous year. The association cited cold weather and less wind as reasons.
• A Dutch court in June a judgment like , after which the oil and gas company Royal Dutch / Shell violated the "human rights" because it contributes to "climate change". The company must reduce its "emissions" faster, so the court. In order to exacerbate Europe's energy and electricity price crisis, the Netherlands decided in 2019 to end gas production by 2030. The Netherlands are Europe's largest gas producer and supply around a third of the natural gas consumed in Germany.
• Three activists from the eco-hedge fund Engine No. 1 was chosen , although it only holds 0.02 percent of the shares. Engine No. 1 wants Exxon-Mobil to put climate change at the center of its business decisions.
• In Australia, a court ruled in May that the government had to take into account its "obligation to children", who are "harmed" by "climate change", in the approval process for the expansion of a coal mine.
• The European Court of Justice has ordered Poland to pay a fine of 500,000 euros for every day the Turow open-cast lignite mine continues to operate in the Polish-German-Czech border area. The license for the open pit was extended in 2020 "without the necessary environmental impact assessments". Polish energy providers are expected to have to raise electricity prices by 40 percent next year. Poland's government is planning a law that will oblige suppliers to state on their electricity bills how much of the electricity price is caused by the EU's electricity policy.
• In Greece, the government plans to lower electricity and gas prices for citizens through subsidies. “There is an international energy crisis,” said Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas. "Our government has decided to support those whose bills are increasing." Because Greece depends on transfer payments from the EU, this leads to the interesting situation that consumers in Germany are paying ever higher taxes for energy so that it becomes cheaper in Greece.

For the current energy crisis in Europe, one can refer to many individual events that exacerbate the situation. In some places, power plants are out of order for maintenance work, the power cable between France and England was damaged in a fire and the Russian state-owned company Gazprom is supplying less natural gas in order to put pressure on Germany to bring the Nord Stream 2 pipeline into operation more quickly. But these are all details. The big picture is that politics deliberately sabotaged the energy supply. Coal and nuclear power plants were shut down. Obtaining liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the USA has never been an issue for European politics. LNG is sold through long-term contracts and Europe has not signed anybecause it relies on Russia. That is why, when the wind is not blowing, the continent no longer only depends on Russia for heating (it has always been that way), but also for electricity generation.
In the absence of nuclear power plants, coal is the only guarantee of a secure electricity supply in Europe. But above all, a worldwide war is being waged against them. Corporations submit to the dictates of the ESG , in English: environment, social and corporate governance. ESG has little to do with "social", it essentially stands for the demonization of the energy sources coal, oil and gas. When mining companies publish their quarterly results, ESG is now a main topic. Anyone who does not collect enough ESG points will be punished. For example, many insurers refuse to do business with corporations that have anything to do with steam coal or the extraction of oil from tar sands.
The big mining companies BHP, Rio Tinto and Anglo American are therefore withdrawing from coal production or have already done so. Joe Kraft, the chairman of the board of the American energy company Alliance Resource Partners, said at the presentation of the quarterly results in July that his company had to pay twice as high interest as comparable companies because of its coal production, namely currently nine percent. The distribution of the last investment certificate, with which investors could bet on a basket of coal stocks - the VanEck Vectors Coal ETF - was discontinued in December 2020. The financial service provider feared for its reputation.
On the other hand, China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan are planning to build 600 new coal-fired power plants. In China, a 1,800-kilometer railway line was inaugurated in 2019 , which cost around 25 billion euros and is only there to bring coal from Inner Mongolia to China's southern provinces.


Nevertheless, one can read again and again in the press and on the websites of green lobby associations that coal is being phased out. Because wind power and solar energy are "much cheaper", coal will no longer be needed or desired by anyone at some point.
Because I never understood how wind turbines and solar systems that only produce electricity sporadically can replace natural gas, coal and nuclear power, I asked the Federal Environment Ministry. A spokesman explains to me:
"For the acceptance of the energy transition and for Germany as a business location, security of supply must indeed be guaranteed, even in an electricity system with 100 percent renewable energies until around 2040. This can only succeed if the expansion of renewables is much more ambitious than this so far is the case. For almost a year now, the BMU has been calling for the expansion rate to be doubled by 2030 compared to the expansion path now set in the EEG 2021. After all, it is important to replace the electricity that is no longer available from nuclear and coal with solar and wind energy and not with gas-fired power plants. "
That means: If, as in the last few months, the wind doesn't blow enough, more wind turbines are needed. So when the wind as by Rüdiger Stobbe shown , has produced the electricity consumed in the last week temporarily only two percent, we need - how much more wind turbines? Fifty times as many as now?
It's going to be difficult. That is why the spokesman for the Federal Environment Ministry adds in his email:
“In addition, supply and demand must be better coordinated and the flexibility of demand and generation must be increased significantly. In addition, the German power grid and cross-border exchange capacities must be expanded and improved. This increased exchange with neighboring European countries not only increases the reliability of the electricity supply with renewable energies, but also strengthens the security of supply in all European countries and, since fewer reserve capacities need to be kept in total, it is also cost-effective. In addition, electricity storage facilities and gas-fired power plants will also be used - but in the long term, gas-fired power plants will only be used if they are operated with renewable gases or green hydrogen. "
Let's look forward to what the future has in store for us with its electricity storage systems and green hydrogen. The flexibility of demand already exists: If there is not enough electricity, industrial plants are switched off. In the future, this will also affect small customers. Better to buy a diesel generator now, with which you can then charge the battery of the electric car.
The war on oil, gas, and coal has many similarities to the war on drugs. In either case, it is difficult or impossible for the state to take action to reduce demand . What the war is against is the offer . The war on drugs does not mean that there is no cocaine or that it is not used, it just makes it expensive . This also applies to the EU's energy policy. By outlawing the energy sources coal and gas, it does not reduce their consumption, but only ensures that the price rises. So the only thing it achieves with it is to reduce the purchasing power of the population, to make people poorer than they would be without this policy.

[Skybird]

China, the biggest crypto currency market, bans Bitcoin & Co, declaring all crypto currency transactions illegal.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58678907

Trading crypto-currency has officially been banned in China since 2019, but has continued online through foreign exchanges.

However, there has been a significant crackdown this year.

In May, Chinese state intuitions warned buyers they would have no protection for continuing to trade Bitcoin and other currencies online, as government officials vowed to increase pressure on the industry.

In June, it told banks and payment platforms to stop facilitating transactions and issued bans on "mining" the currencies - the trade of using powerful computers to make new coins.

But Friday's announcement is the clearest indication yet that China wants to shut down crypto-currency trading in all its forms.

The statement makes clear that those who are involved in "illegal financial activities" are committing a crime and will be prosecuted.

And foreign websites providing such services to Chinese citizens online is also an illegal activity, it said.

As the wise men knew since long. Nations will not allow any means that could threaten their paper money ponzy schemes and the instrument to enforce them, central banks. Not precious metals. Not crypto currencies. No parallel paper currencies putting the lead currency into question.

[mapuc]

I live on a little island where we are 110 % self-sufficient.

We have three types of power who deliver electricity to us. Ca 6000 habitants.

Markus