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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

March 19, 2018

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot


Gordon Parks Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. Football practice 1943
Here’s a delicious little rant from Dr. D., by now a regular contributor at the Automatic Earth.

Dr. D: The schizophrenia surrounding the tariff plan is really startling. But then I could just say, “the level of insanity everywhere is startling.”

Self-avowed schmartz-guys are all “doesn’t the U.S. know their empire is failing and everybody is cutting them off? What are they thinking starting trade wars with allies and raising prices???” Stop. So your argument is the U.S. is losing its influence, other nations are about to cut it off and end the trade deficit, and thereby basically halt imports? While the U.S. has no internal manufacturing? And your argument here is that, not if but when the world cuts us off we a) would like to have some steel and aluminum to build factories, washing machines and tanks or b) do NOT want to have access to the basic raw materials of society? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

I’m sorry that this generation burned down the factory, then retreated to the mansion, sold off and burned all the furniture there too, then ran up the credit card with cocaine and heroin parties while yelling “I’m a rock star! I’m a Contender!”, but they did. Now there are only bad decisions, like the ones real adults have.

And there’s nothing but work to put that factory back up, and that’s going to cost something, in this case, money and higher prices, using the thousand-year method of protective tariffs. Why not? Europe has 25% tariffs. China has a virtual lockout. If the U.S. machine then also has higher real wages for U.S. workers they can afford the tariffs. I mean, what’s their counterargument? If it’s better to not have steel and aluminum, perhaps we should shut down the few remaining foundries and have NO materials? I mean, if a little is bad, surely none is way better.

Mish for example thinks this way: if China is willing to give us cheap, under-market steel we should take it. No, not if you want to have a country, you don’t. Isn’t it a matter of national security to be able to make tanks, ships, railroads, and artillery? There’s more to the world than money.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

Let The Trade Wars Begin: Trump Says He Will Impose Steel, Aluminum Tariffs Next Week

March 1, 2018

Let The Trade Wars Begin: Trump Says He Will Impose Steel, Aluminum Tariffs Next Week

Update III: After the White House said earlier that today’s meeting would be a “listening” meeting, President Trump has taken investors by surprise by announcing that he will impose the long-rumored aluminum and steel sanctions next week.

As expected, Trump said he would impose a 25% tariff on steel imports, and a 10% tariff for aluminum. Meanwhile, here are the initial details as they trickle in:

  • TRUMP: STEEL, ALUMINUM WORKERS HAVEN’T BEEN REPRESENTED
  • U.S. STEEL’S BURRITT TELLS TRUMP COS. NEED LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
  • TRUMP SAYS WILL REBUILD U.S. STEEL AND ALUMINUM INDUSTRIES: RTRS
  • TRUMP, IN MEETING W/ STEEL COS., PRAISES SOLAR TARIFFS HE DID
  • TRUMP SAYS U.S. WILL INSTITUTE TARIFFS NEXT WEEK
  • TRUMP AT STEEL MEETING SAYS NEXT WEEK WILL SIGN SOMETHING
  • TRUMP SAYS 25% TARIFFS FOR STEEL
  • TRUMP SAYS 10% TARIFF FOR ALUMINUM

“Some time next week we’ll be signing it,” Trump said during meeting with steel and aluminum executives at White House. “And you’re going to have protection for the first time in a long time”

Before making the announcement, Trump praised his recent tariffs on solar cells and washing machines, and said they were an example of how tariffs can lead to additional U.S. investment in sectors

Metals stocks such as AK Steel, U.S. Steel, Commercial Metals and Century Aluminum rose to new session highs after Trump’s midday comments. At the same time, the Canadian dollar fell to a fresh 2018 low at 1.2879 before paring its decline slightly; steel and aluminum tariffs remind of the trade tensions between the two countries amid Nafta negotiations.

And the market is not happy…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Mineral depletion need not be always a problem: the case of aluminum

December 17, 2017

Mineral depletion need not be always a problem: the case of aluminum

In my book “Extracted” (2014) I make the case that mineral depletion is one of the main problems the industrial system faces today. Slowly degrading ore grades make the production of mineral commodities more expensive and this worsens the performance of the whole system. This is especially true for fossil fuels, although in this field it is not customary to speak in terms of “ore grades” but in terms of EROI (energy returned on energy.invested). But the depletion issue for a specific mineral commodity has to be considered in view of the whole production process, not just the extractive phase, and some commodities are much less affected than others. This is the case of aluminum, where the main production cost is not extraction but by far it is electrochemical smelting. There follows that if we can have energy that doesn’t come from depletable resources – that is, renewable energy –  we won’t face depletion problems for aluminum for the foreseeable future, quite possibly never if we use care in recycling it. In the following post, Sgouris Sgouridis examines the current situation of aluminum smelting and the perspectives of transitioning the production system to renewable energy. (UB)

Steering the Aluminum Industry in the face of the Energy Transition

By Sgouris Sgouridis

The post below was inspired by my participation at the ARABAL 2017 conference in Muscat, Oman to discuss the options for renewable energy integration in the aluminum industry. It addresses a seeming reluctance I encountered during the discussion to adopt RE with some initial considerations on how the industry can be transformed away from utilizing fossil inputs. It provides an overview of the industry’s products, scale and impacts, before discussing transition opportunities.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Skyception – Chapter Two | Two Ice Floes

December 15, 2014

Skyception – Chapter Two | Two Ice Floes.

Before an analysis can be done of the most common explanations given for the aerosol program, we must first look at the various explanations through the clarifying lens of Psychological Operations (psyops) to circumvent deliberate attempts to mislead and deceive us as previously described in Chapter One. The background found there will assist us in this second installment as we examine each rationale presented to us by both the mainstream and alternative media. As stated in the previous chapter, some of the reasons and justifications offered are intentional disinformation while others are simply speculation based solely upon limited and unconnected information, quite often promoted by sincere individuals just trying to learn ‘the truth’.

What are missing from most analyses of this subject are two things – the issue of intent and the muddling of facts. As more and more people delve into the aerosol issue, they can clearly see something is happening over their heads. And they are beginning to realize what they see in the sky is not normal, with persistent aerosols formed into grid patterns or aerosol lines which slowly disperse to turn the entire visible sky a milky white. There are other strange anomalies all adding up to one thing, visual evidence that can be captured on (digital) film making it difficult to dispute. Unfortunately this phenomenon is often described using the psyops captured and subverted term ‘chemtrails’ by those who are waking up to the issue. This is precisely why the terms ‘persistent trails’ or ‘persistent aerosol trails’ are used throughout this series of three essays.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Olduvai IV: Courage
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Olduvai II: Exodus
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