Copper catastrophe, old jewellry and a not so valuable university degree

February 2nd, 2010 by stacyherbert

Stacy Summary:  Good morning.

Tags:   · · 147 Comments

147 responses so far ↓

  • Mother Earth
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:03 am

    I never mind if the gloves come off, as long as the rest follows ;-)

  • Photoception
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:04 am

    @ Dr. Copper:
    “What we have now is we have a unique situation, whereby we have a surplus and production has gone up and consumption has gone down,” he said.

    Like I’ve said here before, increasing production will cause a depression. There is no fricken liquidity in the economy. Imagine if your car ran out of engine oil and you pissed in the oil tank, thats my analogy. We have no money and too many goods, not too much money chasing too few goods.

  • g7enn
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:07 am

    This is on main stream corporate TV? Something afoot?

    FED GAVE Banks Access to 23.7 TRILLION DOLLARS NOT $700 Billion!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDJc0PZV-Bk&feature=player_embedded

  • Phil /Germany
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:09 am

    OK, I’ll try again …

    Debt: What Is and What Should Never Be
    (take out the spaces after www. )
    http://www.s c h w a b.com/public/schwab/research_strategies/market_insight/todays_market/sonders/sonders_020110.html

    Here’s short audio … good listen :
    (take out the spaces after www. )
    http://www.s c h w a b c o n t e n t.com/straight_talk/audio/snd_sonders020110.mp3

  • Phil /Germany
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:10 am

    @g7enn .. yes, I posted earlier.

    Seems the SPam filter is blocking my links to a good article
    ( tried twice .. give up now )

  • Youri Carma
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:11 am

    Early draft of the Constitution found http://tinyurl.com/yfhakvj

  • ronron
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:13 am

    theres a video @ http://www.whatreallyhappened.com news room. watch before it’s gone. disscusting. hahaha

  • Youri Carma
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:13 am

    U.S. Rescue May Reach $23.7 Trillion, Barofsky Says July 20th 2009 (Bloomberg) http://tinyurl.com/q2gnj3

  • BlackDouglas
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:16 am

    “Warning: This is Not Another Wall Street Conspiracy Theory, These are the Facts”

    http://moneymorning.com/2010/02/02/aig-collapse/

  • Bonn
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:19 am

    Hassup Hassup back from me bar
    Hic ;-)

  • Bonn
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:20 am

    I see Gold going bonkers
    Hic ;-)

  • Youri Carma
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:22 am

    US ‘exposure to crisis $23.7 trillion’ 20 July 2009 (BBC News) http://tinyurl.com/kulzs4

    Geithner asks Congress for higher U.S. debt limit 7 August 2009 (Reuters) http://link.reuters.com/suq99c

  • Phil /Germany
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:24 am

    @Mother Earth … You mean http…

    Seems you have privileged status …my links keep getting blocked !

  • davem
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:25 am

    @wes

    brilliant! That’s more like it!

  • Youri Carma
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:41 am

    Construction spending falls sharply in Dec 1 February 2010, (Reuters) http://tinyurl.com/ybq4ek5

  • FranSix
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:45 am

    @Uranium Stampede

    This was a market created for our benefit. A full-on mania seeing idiot hedge funds storing Uranium Oxide in barrels in warehouses completely ignorant of the fuel cycle. When it finally crashed, and it crashed badly, and is in on-going deflation, people fully expected uranium prices to recover. This is no different than the oil market corner which recently blew out completely. (copper, nickel, antimony, wheat, etc, etc, etc…)

    The purpose of the uranium mania, which has now completely blown out, was to refit deteriorating thermonuclear weapons. No uranium ever mined was ever mined solely for peaceful purposes, it has a weapons cycle as well.

    There is no ‘uranium stampede.’ It is a TOTAL FICTION. (there WAS a stampede – its over now)

    Note that mining companies with Lithium deposits are getting a fair bit of attention as well. We are in the thermonuclear age, and a thermonuclear arms race requires not only enriched Uranium, but also Lithium-6, which only has application in thermonuclear weapons, a by-product of the refinement of lithium salts. Lithium-6 is the required fuel to create tritium. Tritium decays very quickly, so it is ineffective as a thermonuclear fuel unless it comes from Lithium-6.

    With the onset of ‘the war on terror’ we saw sudden, huge interest in nuclear energy, touted as a green energy. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    Only 0.17% of all uranium mined becomes enriched for use in plants. THE REST – THE GREAT BULK OF URANIUM IS THEN DISCARDED AS URANIUM HEXAFLOURIDE IN GAS CANNISTERS. THIS IS NOT A GREEN FUEL CYCLE IN THE LEAST.

    A market for Uranium is ‘required’ when you need to replace all of your aging thermonuclear weapons, because in order to make fuel for your weapons fleet renewal, you need ready access to enriched uranium to make plutonium.

    Plutonium is highly unstable, highly radioactive and deteriorates the casing of the very weapons that carry a small handful of it as a trigger for a thermonuclear fusion explosion.

    As long as you’re a total ignoramus about the so-called green benefits of uranium, and swallow some misguided notion about how useful it all is, then think again. Think hard. Take exlax. And above all, you need a bath and to stop smoking pot.

    We are headlong down the road of a great arms race and retrofitting your thermonuclear weapons are just part of the ad-hoc plan.

    My apologies if this explanation is not according to your expectations.

    F6

  • frances snoot
    Feb 2, 2010 at 10:55 am

    “The Vienna-based IAEA is promoting uranium exploration from China to the Democratic Republic of Congo as governments seek to generate power without adding to greenhouse gases, blamed for global warming. About 400 businesses have been set up to seek deposits since 2004, said Ganguly, a metallurgical engineer and former Chief Executive Officer of India’s Nuclear Fuel Complex.

    “In the last four to five years, exploration has mushroomed all over the world,” he said. “There’s an acute shortage of uranium geologists and uranium mining engineers. Our focus is to train up these youngsters in uranium geology.”

    Desperate Search

    In China, “they are desperately trying to find new uranium reserves,” he said. “On the border of Kazakhstan and Mongolia there are some deposits. The grade is very, very low. At least they have identified some low-grade uranium.”

    The IAEA, which together with the Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency publishes the bi-annual Uranium: Resources, Production and Demand guide, may boost the estimated level of known reserves when they compile new figures this year.”

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601090&sid=a2bpSSq1Z4D4

    Last Updated: May 29, 2009 09:40 EDT

  • FranSix
    Feb 2, 2010 at 11:22 am

    Monthly price chart for Uranium Oxide:

    http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=uranium&months=120

    The mania in uranium has totally blown out. This was in June, 2007. The peak of the BKX was in February, 2007. The peak of the oil futures contract market corner was in July, 2008.

    Ux SWU (nuclear fuel) remains stable by contrast.

  • frances snoot
    Feb 2, 2010 at 11:41 am

    “The African Development Bank’s own “currency”, the Units of Amount (UA) equal the SDR currency basket.”

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Drawing_Rights

    Tidy little banker heaven: Africa!

  • Giuseppe Bagodonutti
    Feb 2, 2010 at 11:56 am

    @FranSix

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fuel_cycle
    Just point people there…

    The bulk (96%) of the byproduct from enrichment is depleted uranium (DU), which can be used for armor, kinetic energy penetrators, radiation shielding and ballast. Still, there are vast quantities of depleted uranium in storage. The United States Department of Energy alone has 470,000 tonnes.[10] About 95% of depleted uranium is stored as uranium hexafluoride (UF6).

    So if UF6 is required for enrichment, then there is no need to mine it, hence the Jim Dines Uranium Bubble… at least not in the short term… Just work off the reserves (unless the stored UF6 can’t be used for some reason???)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotope_separation
    This talks about the use of Lithium-6 in Weapons manufacture (albeit briefly)
    Lithium has far more uses, though, so I don’t believe the recent mania over Li has much to do with that…

  • johnseattle
    Feb 2, 2010 at 12:03 pm

    The empty suit has now joined the “THE FAMILY” a secret religious sect!

    http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/02/02

  • Giuseppe Bagodonutti
    Feb 2, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    What if the world used UF6 as a backing for currency?
    THEN the USA could have plenty of reserves to justify the M1/M2…
    :D

  • frances snoot
    Feb 2, 2010 at 12:07 pm

    @Guiseppi:
    The exploration and development most likely is meant to colonize the African continent for the next century: these guys plan ahead. The carbon regulations and the depressed opportunities for energy viability from other sources (due to political regulations of the nuclear five) most likely will feed into a European based energy resource monopoly of control.

    Looking ahead in terms of a differential in the currency: those with pegs to sdr will survive the volitility intact. I’m not sure how this will play out: no one will know until the sdr is reweighted this year.

    The idea is to bankrupt, regulate, obfuscate, steal, and then control.

    Areva is 85% owned by the French government. It operates within the US.

    http://us.areva.com/home/liblocal/docs/Press%20releases/2009/AREVA%20-%20Changes%20to%20Organization%20-%204-27-2009.pdf

  • Viriathus
    Feb 2, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    News flash: BA’s aren’t worth the animal skin they’re printed on. More on the Totally Obvious News Network at eleven.

  • Zach OBrien
    Feb 2, 2010 at 2:13 pm

    If the copper price plunges, and my small business suddenly has a huge boon, (since copper is one of my largest expenses,) how is this catastrophic?

  • diggerdave
    Feb 2, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    Don’t look now, but…and correct me if wrong….melt gold sold as such “counts” in the City of London spot price fix everyday, no? Don’t these sales of “junk” gold after melting contribute (some) to the suppression of prices; since melt gold may be valued at an average purity, say 18kt. by the time you average the contents and alloys? Refined gold will be truly 24kt and should be the only transaction counted by CoL.

  • FranSix
    Feb 2, 2010 at 5:19 pm

    @for all of those pounding the table on Uranium and its uses

    Its a pretty bad fissile material, unless you have a weapons cycle. Because the way you refine Uranium is to produce Uranium salts, or UF6 (really a gas) and throw it in a centrifuge. The only usable portion is the enriched portion, which is 0.17% of the mined material which occurs naturally.

    THE REST IS WASTE

    And if you don’t believe me that Lithium-6, (an isotope of Lithium that occurs naturally and forms a small portion of all natural Lithium deposits,) -that its not actually used in thermonuclear weapons, then I would advise you to do some very, very serious reading on that very subject!

    I SAY AGAIN. THE URANIUM MARKET HAS CRASHED – THE BUBBLE HAS BURST – BUT NOT THE Ux SWU market, which has remained steady.

    The irreversible facts are here:

    http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=uranium&months=120

    Uranium is impractical and has no future.

  • FranSix
    Feb 2, 2010 at 5:34 pm

    The following about Lithium-6 from the article on Lithium:

    ” Large amounts of lithium-6 have been isotopically fractionated for use in nuclear weapons.”

    -they should say thermonuclear weapons – meaning hydrogen bombs.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium

    So my suggestion is not to be an igonoramus when you hear that hybrid cars are to be powered by lithium cells, when they actually burn just as much gas as before, and at the same time, there is a wondrous bull market in Lithium exploration juniors.

  • frances snoot
    Feb 2, 2010 at 5:38 pm

    Uranium is impractical and has no future.

    That is a very foolish sentence based on fluffy logic.

  • frances snoot
    Feb 2, 2010 at 5:45 pm

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/09/AR2009110902195.html

    “LONDON — The British government unveiled plans Monday to launch one of the world’s most ambitious expansions of nuclear-power capacity, calling for the construction of 10 plants to help meet surging energy demands in the era of global warming.

    After years of resistance to construction of nuclear-power plants, the British plan underscored how nations around the world are scrambling to find ways to generate more energy while slashing the emissions that cause climate change. To do that, nations including the United States are considering more reliance on nuclear power, which, while generating radioactive waste, produces almost no carbon emissions.

    To keep the lights on in Britain while meeting strict goals to slash emissions, the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown identified 10 sites in England and Wales for new nuclear plants, with the first expected to come online by 2018. Many of the plants are envisioned to replace aging plants that are set to be decommissioned in coming years and are a vestige of a period of accelerated nuclear construction from the 1950s to 1980s.”

    http://www.euractiv.com/en/foreign-affairs/ambassador-china-expand-nuclear-power-capacity/article-183819

    “Nuclear power will play an increasingly important role in China’s energy policy as the world’s most populous nation seeks to improve its energy efficiency, said the country’s EU Ambassador Zhe Song in a detailed and wide-ranging interview with EurActiv.

    Chinese EU Ambassador Zhe Song heads his country’s mission to the European Union in Brussels.”

    http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/01/obama-creates-panel-seeks-loan-guarantees-to-spur-nuclear-power-/1

    “President Obama, who called for a “new generation” of nuclear power plants in his State of the Union address Wednesday, is quickly moving forward. He created a panel Friday to recommend ways to dispose of used nuclear fuel and is expected Monday to propose tripling loan guarantees for new plant construction.”

  • frances snoot
    Feb 2, 2010 at 5:51 pm

    @Fransix:
    Uranium of course is impractical: but it is the basis of the nuclear five advantage in driving and controlling energy resource monopoly according to the five’s privileged position based on the NPT treaty.

    The hegemon is set to proceed against Iran.

  • BondiBhoy
    Feb 2, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    Silver has fallen close to its 200 day MA. looks tasty.

  • BondiBhoy
    Feb 2, 2010 at 6:11 pm

    apologies if this has been posted before………….

    20 reasons Global Debt Time Bomb explodes soon
    Commentary: Which trigger will ignite the Great Depression II?

    By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch.com

    20 economic weapons of mass destruction triggering ticking Global Debt Time Bomb

    1. Federal Budget Deficit Bomb. The Bush/Cheney wars pushed America deep into a debt hole. Federal debt limit was just raised almost 100% with Obama’s 2010 budget, to $14.3 trillion vs. $7.8 trillion in 2005. The Congressional Budget Office predicts future deficits around 4% through 2020. Get it? America’s debt at 84% of GDP will soon pass that toxic 90% trigger point.

    2. U.S. Foreign Trade Bomb. Monthly deficits actually dropped from $50 billion per month to roughly $35 billion. But the total continues climbing as $400 billion is added each year. Foreigners now own $2.5 trillion of America, with China holding over $1.3 trillion in Treasury debt.

    3. Weakening U.S. Dollar as Foreign Reserve Currency Bomb. Fear China and other currencies will replace dollar as main foreign reserves. The dollar’s fallen: The main index measuring dollar strength has gone from 120 at the Clinton-to-Bush handoff to below 80 today.

    4. Cheap Money Bomb: Credit Ratings Down, Rates Up. Economists at S&P, Fitch and Moody’s were totally co-conspirators of Fat Cat Bankers, misleading investors before meltdown: Soon, debt up, ratings down, interest rates soar.

    5. Global Real Estate Bomb. Dubai Tower, new “world’s tallest building” is empty. BusinessWeek warns that China’s housing collapse could be worse than America’s. Plus the U.S. commercial real estate bubble is now $1.7 trillion, a “ticking time bomb” bloating 25% of bank balance sheets.

    6. Peak Oil and the Population Bomb. China and India each need 500 new cities. The United Nations estimates world population exploding 50% from 6 billion to 9 billion by 2050: Three billion more humans demanding more automobiles, exhausting more resources to feed their version of the gas-guzzling “America Dream.”

    7. Social Security Bomb. We have no choice; eventually we must either cut benefits or raise taxes. Politicians hate both, so they’ll do nothing. Delays worsen solutions. Without action, by 2035 Social Security and Medicare benefits will eat up the entire federal budget other than defense.

    8. Medicare: A Nuclear Bomb. Going broke faster than Social Security. Prescription drug benefit added an unfunded $8.1 trillion. In 5 years estimates rose from about $35 trillion to over $60 trillion now.

    9. Health-care Insurance Bomb. Burden increasingly shifted to employees. Costs rising faster than inflation. Recent Obamacare plan would have cost $90 billion annually, paid to Big Pharma and insurers.

    10. State and Local Government Budget Bombs. Deficits of $110 billion in 2010, $178 billion in 2011on top of more than $450 billion in underfunded state and municipal employee pension funds.

    11. Underfunded Corporate Pensions Bomb. From $60 billion surplus in 2007 to $409 billion deficit in 2009. And a whopping 92% of the pension plans of companies are now underfunded. Defaults are guaranteed by taxpayers.

    12. Consumer Debt Bomb. Americans are still living beyond their means. Even with a downturn, consumer debt rose from about $2.3 to $2.5 trillion. Fat Cat Bankers love it – yes, love making matters worse by gouging cardholders and mortgagees, blocking help in foreclosures and bankruptcies.

    13. Personal Savings Bomb. Before the 2008 meltdown savings rate dropped from about 10% in the early 1980s to below zero. Now it’s increasing, slowing retail recovery. Today, government’s the big “unsaver.”

    14. War and Military Defense Deficits. Costs of Iraq and Afghanistan wars — $200+ billion annually, $3 trillion minimum, with massive long-term costs for veteran medical care, equipment renewal, recruitment.

    15. Homeland Insecurity Bomb. Security at airports, seaports, borders, vulnerable chemical plants all increase budgets.

    16. Fed/Treasury Bailout Bombs. Tax credits, loans, cash and purchase of toxic assets from Wall Street banks estimated at $23.7 trillion as new debt was shifted from too-big-to-fail Fat-Cat banks to taxpayers.

    17. Insatiable Washington Lobbyists Bombs. Paulson, Goldman, Geithner, Morgan and Wall Street banks, through their lobbyists and former employees working inside now have absolute power over government spending. Democracy and voters are now irrelevant in America’s new corporate-socialism.

    18. Shadow Banking: The Derivatives Bomb. Wall Street wants no regulation of this $670 trillion, high-risk, out-of-control casino that’s highly leveraged versus the $50 trillion total GDP of all nations. We forget that derivatives almost destroyed global economies in 2008-09, finally will by 2012.

    19. Dysfunctional Two-Party Political Bomb. Polarized partisanship increasing: Every day both parties show zero interest in cooperating for the public good. Instead they fight viciously, resisting everything and anything proposed by opponents. Only goal: Score political points, make the other side look bad.

    20. The Coming Populous Rebellion Bombs. Nobody trusts anyone in authority. For good reason. So immediate gratification, short-term betting and a lack of long-term perspective wins for individual investors, consumers and taxpayers as well as Washington, Wall Street and Corporate America CEOs. Today: “Doing what’s right for the common good and country” is just empty political rhetoric.

  • BondiBhoy
    Feb 2, 2010 at 6:34 pm

    Iran: We can live with U.N. uranium deal.
    Ahmadinejad says ‘no problem’ sending it abroad to be enriched

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35205084/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa

    Netanyahu, AIPAC, JINSA et al will be horrified by this story. So those bearded, scary Muslims aren’t actually getting ready to attack poor little defenceless Israel.

  • James
    Feb 2, 2010 at 7:04 pm

    With universities pumping out more students than there are positions available in many cases, we are seeing the effects of educational inflation. Those that do have qualifications in areas that are still in demand have been lucky enough to weather the down turn without any significant impact.

    I have a masters degree and I been out of work for over a year and a half with many unsuccessful job applications.

    Here is a couple of clips – US based education:

    The Million Dollar Lie
    http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Million-Dollar-Lie

    The high cost of higher education: Is it worth it?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppZJ9vhWypc

  • California Doctor
    Feb 3, 2010 at 7:01 pm

    @BondhiBoy -
    That observation may be irrelevant to people who suck gambling money out of American casinos in favor of placing another order for another 2 million rounds.

    No wonder those rounds of ammo are in shortage in California…they’re all sitting out in the Middle East.

  • Casper Studly
    Feb 4, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    Mish again: quoted from his website:

    “I wish governor Gibbons the best of luck in getting collective bargaining for public workers tossed in the ashcan where is belongs. Unfortunately collective bargaining agreements seem to be covered by federal as opposed to state rules.”

    Let me see.. the problem is that billionaire gangsters on Wall Street and in the City (of London) have ripped off the economies of both countries for Trillions of dollars.. so the answer, from Mish, is, in true right wing style..Fuck The Workers!!

    He even hopes the ring wing governor of Nevada violates laws and contracts in the process.

    Psychothic right wing hatred of workers, even to the violation of negotiated contracts and the breaking of laws. All to serve the bottom line of one greedy little ideologue.

    What in hell does the financial crises have to do with workers?? NOTHING. Nothing whatsoever. This is pure opportunism by greedy right wing cranks..

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