Goldman Sachs — bigger than fossil fuel in the climate debate

We can’t blame Goldman Sachs. It’s just good business.

carbon credits, burning dollar note, fiat currency, carbon market.Goldman Sachs pours money into lefty causes and politicians of both stripes. The gifts to left-wing flagships like climate change and same-sex marriage buy protection from the anti-bank Occupy crowd. And climate propaganda is doubly useful — Goldman Sachs can invest and profit from government largess. And these are very big biccies – -in 2009 Goldman Sachs announced it would spend $150 billion on green energy by 2020.

The message to non-left causes is that if you want to get multimillion dollar philanthropic funds, mobilize people and march in the street. When Goldman is afraid of what you might do against their bonuses or profits they might get interested in your cause too.

But infamously and so much more importantly, Goldman donates to both sides of politics and their people are appointed to key positions in the Treasury and corridors of power. When Goldman crashes, it gets bailed out — and that has happened four times in the last 20 years. The TARP bailout for Sachs was as much as $10 billion, so a mere $675k in speaking fees for Hillary-nearly-Pres might be viewed as a decent investment at the time it was made. (How much is Hillary paid for the same speech now, I wonder?)

h/t To the Heartland Institute

The United States of Goldman Sachs

 Since it began facing increased scrutiny in the years following the financial crisis, the Goldman Sachs Foundation has not only greatly increased its charitable giving, but the company as a whole has also moved into hyper-drive to pour money into politically correct progressive nonprofits. It backed an Obama identity-politics agenda and same-sex marriage. The company has a long history of going all-in on climate change activism, seeking to profit from government policies that harm the larger economy.

Advocating such left-wing causes allows class-warfare-obsessed Democrats to have a clear conscience in backing a big corporation.

Bill Frezza, a fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, writes:

No, Goldman Sachs is not a law breaker. With all the former executives and cronies it has parachuted into the halls of government and all the money it showers on politicians running for office, it is actually a law maker.And that is the problem. Thanks to this last banking crisis, the lines between the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Executive branch, and Goldman Sachs have all but disappeared. Using the entirely legal means of calling in chits from both political parties in its hour of need, Goldman Sachs looted the Treasury to save it from a liquidity crisis, cover its speculative investment errors, and make good on winning gambling bets that would have been uncollectable had Uncle Sam not stepped in to bail out counterparties like AIG.”

Read the whole article at Capital Research, then read it all again. It finishes with a warning:

Crony capitalism is a larger problem than just this one firm. But Goldman Sachs holds a special place among firms that influence government, and glomming on to whatever the progressive, “social justice” cause du jour may be has become a convenient way for the company to maintain that grip. As CEI’s Bill Frezza warns, “At what point will players like Goldman Sachs have handed so much ammunition to left-wing radicals who cannot tell the difference between crony capitalism and the real thing that they succeed in blowing up Western civilization? If real market capitalists don’t step up and speak out against purveyors of cronyism and the politicians from both parties that enable them, it is just a matter of time before we all go down together.”

Tell me again how influential fossil fuels are?

9.8 out of 10 based on 88 ratings

143 comments to Goldman Sachs — bigger than fossil fuel in the climate debate

  • #
    Timo Soren

    Enron collapsed and we didn’t bail them out. But I believe it was 10billion we handed Goldman Sachs.

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      CharlesM

      Basically all the TARP money was paid back to the Treasury, not just by Goldman, but by almost every recipient. One problem is that the Treasury never retired the TARP debt, they just moved the money into the General Account, which the Obama regime spent.

      So TARP propped up crony capitalism more than once.

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      • #
        DavidH

        I work for, and did so at the time, one of the big US banks that took TARP “bailout” money. I believe Goldmans was in the same boat – totally solvent but strong-armed to accept TARP money so those banks that really needed it didn’t carry a stigma that some other banks didn’t. The TARP loan (at least for “my” bank) was paid back in full at the first moment they were politically allowed to.

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    • #
      Tim Hammond

      The money was paid back, with interest. The simple fact was that there was a full-blown financial crisis, and without the backing if government,

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      • #
        Tim Hammond

        Sorry, stupid fat finger! …the whole system could have crashed, with terrible consequences for just about everybody. Enron’s collapse did relatively little damage.

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  • #
    Yonniestone

    Goldman Sachs is one of many players in The Fabian Society network,

    The London School of Economics (LSE)
    Founded in 1895 by the Fabian Society and later funded by the Rockefellers. Operates in partnership with other Rockefeller-associated outfits like the Institute of Political Studies (IEP Paris) and the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University.
    The LSE is currently [2012] chaired by Peter Sutherland, who is also chairman of Goldman Sachs International (the London-based HQ of the U.S. investment banking group’s European operations), honorary chairman of the Trilateral Commission (Europe) and head of the U.N. Global Forum on Migration and Development. This clearly shows that the LSE interlocks with organisations representing the leading elements of international finance, as well as with the United Nations, an organisation the Fabian Society and its front organisation, the Labour Party, are promoting as a world government in the making.

    Modern History project link here.

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    • #
      Environment Skeptic

      It is really vastly more simple.

      Those who print the money out of thin air own the world, and everything on it…….Printing money out of thin air was first practiced in Holland using wind power covertly to run the first Dutch wind powered money printing presses to create money out of thin air ….Then it was discovered that by using this power, all the wind powered money printing press operators needed to do was loan this paper money and in so doing would eventually own everything in the world including all the gold and the largest corporations who are all in debt to money printed out of thin air….first practiced using the dutch wind powered printing presses. Voilà!!

      Simple !!

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      • #
        Environment Skeptic

        And furthermore….printing money out of thin air is a completely renewable resource with almost zero effect on the environment……unlike many other human activities, the banking industry with its power to create money out of thin air in a very efficient manner is almost unquestionably one of the greenest of all the industries on the globe and needs to be given credit where credit is due.

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        • #
          Geoff

          In the end its easy to print money as compared to invention and production. The tax system needs to encourage invention and production. It does not. Until tax policy changes bankers will dominate. A tax on transactions is the simplest method of penalizing the bank process. Tax relief on risk is the best way to encourage invention.

          There must be certainty in how a tax is collected. It CANNOT be at the whim of the tax office as it is now.

          Government must run a balanced budget. If a budget cannot be balanced there MUST be an election.

          Interest rates must be set at a fixed rate forever. There is no reason to have ANY economist or banker involved.

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            Environment Skeptic

            Even more startling is how money is destroyed without any CO2 being released into the atmosphere whatsoever 🙂 Which further strengthens my claim that banking is the greenest of all human endeavors. Ok….so maybe batteries need to be recycled to power the laptops that are used to print money these days…but other than a few electrons, money printing is almost environmentally completely benign ……having evolved considerably with the highest green credentials from those original Dutch wind powered printing presses..

            “How Money is Created and Destroyed “

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNehYxy77RI

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          • #
            sophocles

            A tax on transactions is the simplest method of penalizing the bank process.

            Another bad (inflationary) tax. Land Value Taxes are best, being counter inflationary (why the World Bank doesn’t like them). Most of the Thin Air money is spent on speculative land transactions.
            These are very profitable for all except the purchaser, and banks lend readily to enable them. The increase in those values affectes all rents and quickly flows over into inflation because rising rents are a rising cost across the whole economy.

            All other lending uses land as security. Reserve Banks around the world bind their own national banks to accept land titles as security for borrowing.

            See the loop?
            See the inflation?

            You can find many good web sites searching google for LVT.

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          John Michelmore

          Unfortunately the money created powers the consumer driven society,which in turn creates a lot of waste! Without money created from nothing the world would be much more frugal I suspect!

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      • #
        Rereke Whakaaro

        … all the wind powered money printing press operators needed to do was loan this paper money …

        … at interest.

        It is the interest, that creates money out of thin air, or rather deflates the value of whatever stands surety for that interest – usually the purchasing power of the currency itself.

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    • #
      Ted O'Brien

      Correct me if it’s wrong, but I heard/read 30 + years ago that both Hawke and Howard were members of the Fabian Society.

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      • #
        Dennis

        Yes, Bob Hawke, most Labor Party members are Australian Fabians, former PM John Howard most definitely is not, the name is not him.

        By the way, former PM Gillard once established the Socialist Forum as a faction of the Labor Party for far-left members, when she was about to become Deputy Leader she merged the Socialist Forum into the Australian Fabian Society.

        The ALP Constitution makes it clear the party is socialist too.

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        • #
          Dennis

          Julia Gillard’s mentor is or was a British Lord who is a communist, I forget his name. He apparently urged her to start the Socialist Forum in Australia.

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        • #
          Ted O'Brien.

          Thanks for that Dennis.

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          JWH brought in the Socialst dream of gun control…..he is socialist….he could have refused…

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          • #
            Dennis

            We are still permitted to own guns, obtain a gun licence and register each weapon.

            Only certain types of military style weapons are banned from public ownership.

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      • #
        tom0mason

        Tried replying twice but straight to the SPAM bin…

        Ho-humm

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  • #
    Oliver K. Manuel

    Thank you for reporting the disastrous effects on humanity of our own selfishness.

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    • #
      Oliver K. Manuel

      There will be a spiritual-scientific awakening to reality-truth-God if Trump can force the US NAS (National Academy of Sciences) to accept or deny, publicly, the obvious error that von Weizsäcker and Chadwick made in calculating nuclear energy in 1935.

      Thank you for allowing me to share with your readers the error that Paul Kazuo Kuroda, a nineteen-year old student, recognized on 13 June 1936 and reported on page 5 of the 1992 autobiography of P. K. KURODA.

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    • #
      Oliver K. Manuel

      The immediate proximity of a Higher Power that made and sustains every atom, life and planet in the solar system would likely enhance the value of moral principles in curbing natural selfishness induced by our survival instinct.

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      • #
        Eddie

        That’s nothing that 1200 laws can’t fix
        ” Legalism in ancient China was a philosophical belief that human beings are more inclined to do wrong than right because they are motivated entirely by self interest. “

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    • #
      Oliver K. Manuel

      Thanks to the editor of the “International Journal of Advanced Research”, the public election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, and investigative reporters like JoNova, Jon Rappoport, E. M. Smith, Tony Heller, Steven Milloy, etc., the purpose of the life of the late Professor Paul Kazuo Kuroda (1 April 1917 – 17 April 2001) may finally be revealed in a worldwide, spiritual-scientific awakening to reality/truth/God:

      https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/05/10/trump-fires-comey-spin-doctors-go-wild-in-the-swamp/#comment-224741

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    • #
      Tim Hammond

      So Adam Smith was wrong and Marx right? Personally I prefer Goldman to Stalin or Mao or the others purveyors if “non-selfish” economics.

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      • #
        tom0mason

        Humm…

        Either the cold dead hand of big government interference in the market, stifling trade dynamism and killing choice, or the semi-chaotic invisible hand of free markets with the fierce heat trading booms and busts.

        Why not an open hand of small government guiding the market chaos between meta-stable states with non-onerous and useful regulation? Allow market dynamism and cycles just have a some buffering against the worst excesses of the boom/bust cycles.
        Apparently such an idea is beyond the wit of men.

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  • #
    John Smith

    Two things I was not taught in school …
    the magical power of OPM (other peoples’ money)
    and the road to Hell may be paved with good intentions but those fracking things are made of solid gold

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    • #
      Eddie

      That OPiuM of the masses isn’t really other peoples because that’s what Government is for, relieving them of it for good causes such as mine.

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  • #
    TdeF

    Leftie causes? We just had a budget which left Labor gasping, far worse than anything Wayne Swann would dare bring and fully supported by the Greens. So I am surprised no one mentions that Malcolm Turnbull after owning his own bank was head of Goldmann Sachs Australia.

    Major donations to the Liberal party have stopped but no one seems to have a problem with PM Turnbull buying his job for $1.75Million, an amount which has not yet even appeared in Liberal party accounts, possibly because it was paid the day after. Still he declared it days before the accounts came out. No scandal. No one even commented. Rich people often buy influence but rarely their own job.

    The real scandal would be if that money was actually a loan and not a gift. It would mean he has bought Malcolm’s Liberals and the debt might just fall due if he was replaced. You need to see the fine print on a document which may exist.

    You would think the Australian Electoral Commission would have something to say about that but usually the law is against influence from outside, no the inside. So there is nothing to stop Goldmann Sachs funding themselves into power. All the principles of lower taxation, small government, conservative views on de jour causes like Global Warming have been tossed out. The people of Australia who vote conservative are being openly treated as irrelevant, ‘deluded conservatives’. Our lifelong Labor leader has gone left of Labor and the money is flowing out of the country in the billions.

    The question is whether the Liberals can afford to remove Goldmann Sachs CEO from the Prime Ministership of Australia. We have the modern phenomenon of Jeremy Corbyn and Malcolm Turnbull who can afford to dismiss their own part supporters as irrelevant, rusted on, deplorables, deluded, as long as they control the party.

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    • #
      TdeF

      No idea why the colours? What a turnup.

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    • #
      Alfred (Melbourne)

      Thank you for saying the obvious. The difference between Gillard etc. and Turnbull etc. is as great as that between Hollande and Macron.

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    • #

      Well put TdeF

      MT’s buying Australia’s Prime Ministership has always bothered me because of his relationship with Goldman Sachs. Did GS provide the $1.75 million as you suggest and if so is it a loan? It would be a cheap way for the Global elite to get control of Australia, via puppet MT, after his successful removal of the dangerous Tony Abbott.
      The more I think about this $1.75 million the more it sounds like Mafia funding for services to be rendered.

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    • #
      Leigh

      “So I am surprised no one mentions that Malcolm Turnbull after owning his own bank was head of Goldmann Sachs Australia”.
      I did a couple of years ago and was scolded for making “unfounded” insinuations against Turnbul. His thoughts and actions in relation to global warming are far from being in the countrys best interests and are more in reality his own. Goldman Sachs being the “inventor” of trading in that invisible commodity that is CO/2.Goes a long way to explaining Turnbuls obsession with a CO/2 tax. His first attempt in aligning the liberal party with Rudd and labors emissions trading scheme saw him removed from the liberal leadership.
      His second was far more successful.
      After removing Abbott. He immediately acted on a clause in the agreement that Abbott was forced to agree to, to cut funding to the global warming scam.
      He introduced on 1/7/2016 another CO/2 tax under the guise of an emissions trading scheme on our biggest “polluters”. Read power stations. Effectively putting back the price increase of approximately 8% (in my case) that Abbott removed!
      Turnbuls as has all politicians have a public registry they are obligated to maintain and update. It is here they have to declare personal and financial interests. Including share portfolio’s. While Turnbuls does NOT mention Goldman Sachs. I’d suggest those interested in our prime ministers “former” life as an investment banker look it up and as they say follow the bouncing ball……….

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Socialism / globull warming has always been for the benefit of the super rich elites.

    Free enterprise is what benefits the common person.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Incidentally, there is a very large number of Milton Friedman videos on YouTube if you are interested in this great economist.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Incidentally, there is a very large number of Milton Friedman videos on YouTube if you are interested in this great economist.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Australian debt clock. Watch it and weep.

    http://www.australiandebtclock.com.au/

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    • #
      Dennis

      It needs to be noted that public debt does not include government owned private companies such as NBNCo and state electricity businesses in NSW for example, half were sold by the last Labor Government for far less than the estimated market value. The sale was $5.9 billion and based on the lowest valuation the loss was $6.1 billion. In addition, when debts were retired all that was left was $800 million.

      The debts in NSW were ordered by Labor over 16-years in government and the companies paid extra dividends to the state government to improve their budget bottom line each year.

      So our national public debt overlooks many “hollow logs” of hidden off budget debts.

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    • #
      Angry

      Coalition and Labor.
      Dumb and Dumber.
      Both leftist vermin now.

      One Nation or Australian Conservatives are the only choices available to patriotic Australians.

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  • #
    Dennis

    THE HAGUE (AFP) – Dutch officials on Monday opened what is being billed as one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, with 150 turbines spinning in action far out in the North Sea.
    Over the next 15 years, the Gemini windpark, which lies some 85 kilometres (53 miles) off the northern coast of The Netherlands, will meet the energy needs of about 1.5 million people.

    At full winds the windpark has a generating capacity of some 600 megawatts, and will help supply some 785,000 Dutch households with renewable energy, the company said.

    “We are now officially in the operational stage,” the company’s managing director Matthias Haag told AFP, celebrating the completion of a project first conceived in 2010.

    The 2.8-billion-euro ($3 billion) project is a collaboration between the Canadian independent renewable energy company Northland Power, wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Wind Power, Dutch maritime contractor Van Oord and waste processing company HVC.

    It has been “quite a complex” undertaking, Haag said, “particularly as this windpark lies relatively far offshore… so it took quite a lot of logistics”.

    Gemini will contribute about 13 percent of the country’s total renewable energy supply, and about 25 percent of its wind power, he added.

    It will also help reduce emissions of carbon-dioxide emissions, among the so-called greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, by 1.25 million tons, the company says.

    The Netherlands remains dependant on fossil fuels which still make up about 95 percent of its energy supply, according to a 2016 report from the ministry of economics affairs.

    But the Dutch government has committed to ensuring that some 14 percent of its energy comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar power by 2020, and 16 percent by 2023, with the aim of being a carbon neutral by 2050.

    Gemini “is seen as a stepping stone” in The Netherlands, and has “shown that a very large project can be built on time, and in a very safe environment,” Haag added.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      $3 billion for 600 randomly generated low value dirty MW which will average 200MW at 30 percent capacity factor. $5,000 per kW or $15,000 per kW taking into account the low capacity factor.

      Compare that with a compact power generator (which admittedly is not designed to produce electricity) which is the GE90 engine which is used in the 777 which produces 82MW and costs $24 million, $293 per kW.

      Or compare it with a 2000MW Chinese HELE plant for US$950 million or $478 per kW.
      http://cornerstonemag.net/tag/high-efficiency-coal-in-china/

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      • #
        Willard

        That GE90 will consume $160 million of fuel every year producing that power, $3.2 billion over 20 years, best you factor that in David or your electricty producing venture is going to be a financial disaster.

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          David Maddison

          Well, you can compare that with the massive depreciation, interest costs and general management of the windmills to produce a fundamentally defective product from “free” wind.

          Incidentally, the linked Chinese HELE plant consumes around 273g of coal per kWh and with the exception of occasional maintenance will operate at maximum continuous power 24/7 for the next 50 odd years.

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          • #
            TdeF

            Yes. Free wind. I thought coal and oil and gas were free too but according to the wind worshippers, only the wind is free. The cost of harvesting though is not.

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            Graeme No.3

            Dave:
            1. That figure you quoted refers to a much less efficient plant. A HELE plant emits 700 kg. per MWh so required roughly 191gm. of coal per kWh. obviously the purity of the coal affects usage but less so in Australia. NOT that Willard would notice.
            OCGT have the advantage of rapid start, although they can’t quite match hydro (unless you are prepared for much higher maintenance costs). I used to think that OCGT cost about as much as turbines but in practice operators in SA are reluctant to start up before $250 per MWh or slightly more than double the cost of wind. NOT that Willard would realise because he has been brainwashed into believing that “wind is cheap”. So it is if you can lumber most of the cost on other generators.

            2. The claim that wind turbines reduce emissions is assumed by people like Willard. 25,000+ turbines in Germany have reduced emissions in electricity generation by 2.6% in 16 years. (Overall <1.6%) Bear in mind that EU rules allow fiddling with emissions because burning wood pellets or household rubbish qualifies as "emission free".

            Incidentally the UK Government Authority estimates the cost of on-shore wind power at $A145- 154 (depends on exchange rate) and that maintenance and operating costs take up 20% of that. In other words wind costs more to run than (unburdened) coal.

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            • #
              Willard

              Graeme no.3, no where have I mentioned wind is cheap, no where have I mentioned carbon emissions, I mentioned to Dave that a GE90 would consume thereabouts $160 million of fuel per year to produce the energy Dave projects, GE90 engines are brilliant products designed for large commercial jets not producing reasonable cost electricity on a large scale, Graeme if you want to appear credible learn to read and understand what is written in front of you, don’t make stuff up to suit your storyline.

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        • #
          Graeme No.3

          That’s why the installation of OCGT (those sorts of power plants) increases when unreliable wind farms are installed.

          And the maintenance costs for those off-shore turbines are likely to cost $5.4 bllion over 20 years, if they last that long.

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          • #
            David Maddison

            I wonder if there are any figures correlating the installation of windmills and OCGT plant?

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        • #
          David Maddison

          Willard, if your figures are correct it woukd still be 20c per kWh, far cheaper than the true cost of wind.

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          • #
            Willard

            My figures are conservative, brilliant engine for commercial jets, not so for cost effective electricity production, here’s a very useful short video on the GE90 beginnings and the reasons so much money was poured into its development.

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          • #

            Comparing a commercial jet aircraft engine with a Gas turbine used for a power plant (as shown at this link) is like comparing cars, and while similar, it is completely different.

            The one you see in that image can drive a 544MW generator, and when used for CCGT, the heat can make steam to drive a second and smaller generator for even more power from the plant.

            That one unit you see there can generate the equivalent power of around 200 wind towers, or when Capacity Factor is taken into account around 500 to 600wind towers, or when used for CCGT, even more towers again.

            Incidentally, at that page, see the upper menu line, hover your mouse over the Products tab, and if you wish, just click on steam turbines and generators and have a general look around.

            Do you seriously think that if coal fired power and other CO2 emitting technologies were, what’s the word, umm, dying, do you seriously think Humungous Companies like this would still be making things like them.

            And this is just one Company of quite a few of them, all of them doing very well thank you.

            Our politicians need to remove their blinkers I’m afraid.

            Tony.

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            • #

              Just as one example, see this Gigatop Generator, shown at this link. That’s 1550MW, with a 1750MW unit in construction, and why would they bother if coal and big nukes were dying.

              That generator you see there, currently operating at a French Nuke delivers the equivalent power of around 1600 wind towers about what there would be at around NINE large scale wind plants of 500MW each.

              Nine wind plants at around $2 Billion each, or this one generator.

              Soon to be able to run on coal fired power. So, a coal fired plant with two of these units or 18 wind plants, multiplied by $2 Billion, so $36 Billion for the wind plants. Plus twice the lifespan, so $72 Billion for the wind.

              Do not ever try to tell me that one HELE coal fired plant will cost $72 Billion.

              Tony.

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              • #

                Cost of coal at current price for 50 years comes in a $27 Billion, so the coal fired plant is still hugely cheaper, that’s if they buy the coal. Most Oz coal fired power plants are built at the site of the mine, and the plant operator also owns the coal mine, so they’re using their own coal, hence only the costs associated with mining it.

                As to maintenance, multiply the cost for the coal fired plant by many many hundreds, probably thousands really. One coal fired power plant with two units or 100,000 plus individual wind nacelles on top of poles.

                Wind power is not cheaper than NEW coal fired power. Don’t believe that hype.

                Tony.

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      • #
        TdeF

        Jet engines have much higher efficiency as they just produce high velocity hot air. 100%. Unless you use them for direct drive as in flying you cannot use this efficiency.

        Thermal plants have to convert that heat to electrical power. Thanks to Mr Carnot we know that this is totally dependent on the temperature difference of inlet to outlet, which is why the Chinese are pushing the limits of temperature and pressure. Car engines for example have improved from 4% efficiency in 1900 to 40% effiency, but the losses are still massive or we could not need cooling towers to reclaim the steam.

        That is why gas is so much better as a direct heating agent, not turned into electricity.

        It is almost outrageous that we in Melbourne burn our precious and limited natural gas to generate electrical power. If the conservationists were serious, gas would be used only for heating and electricity for motors and electronics, saving perhaps half our energy, but the Greens just want to shut everything down, not fix any problems.

        We also shut down our coal to town gas system in the 1960s, replacing it with the newfound ‘natural’ gas. I can see that system coming back in the decades to come. It has the added and substantial advantage of zero loss of energy in transmission and of course gas is easily put underground.

        No, the Greens are not even thinking energy conservation. It is all about their war on CO2 plus an incredibly naive idea that wind is free energy. Nothing is free and the cost of harvesting this ‘free’ energy is vastly higher than the other ‘free’ energy of gas and coal and oil. As for eternal, someone is pulling our legs. Wind towers and solar will not last 20 years, totally disposable power generation where in our coal plants could go on forever, like axes with new heads and handles.

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          Dennis

          As the recent Annual Report from Underwood? wind farm in Victoria (link posted here) reported to shareholders, due to unforeseen maintenance issues and not enough wind available to meet budget estimates there will be no dividend paid this year.

          I wonder how many disgruntled Australian shareholders there will be as this trend expands and later management advises that replacement of worn out turbines cost will exceed the profits generated over the previous 20 or so years. As wind farms overseas have already reported.

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      David Maddison

      Onshore windmills in Britain are wearing out after 12-15 years even though they were expected to last 25 years. Presumably offshore windmills won’t last as long as that.

      QUESTION: Who pays when they prematurely wear out and have to be replaced?

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254901/Wind-turbines-half-long-previously-thought-study-shows-signs-wearing-just-12-years.html

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        Dennis

        From the little reporting that I have read wind farm management are recommending that these businesses close down because the costs involved in replacing the wind turbines will exceed the return on investment shareholders have received.

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          Graeme No.3

          A few years ago in the UK it was profitable to ‘renovate’ your turbine, usually after 8-9 years. This involved installing a new controller and a ‘de-rating’ of output into a higher subsidy bracket. Not so lately.
          Alternatively you found a (Government owned) Green Bank to buy them before they reached 8 years life and left the repairs to the new owners.

          Speaking as someone with 25 years experience in the fibreglass industry I am always startled by those who assume that wind turbine blades will last undamaged and operating at full capacity for 20 years. Utter B.S.
          Nor has the claim that turbines will get much cheaper in the future much validity, as they now operate at 85-90% of the Betz limit (so operating efficiencies won’t rise much) and making them bigger means that more expensive materials would be needed for the blades and/or they be operated at slower rotational speeds hence lower efficiency (and less earnings).

          Unfortunately Green wishful thinking ignores reality.

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            tom0mason

            Graeme No.3,

            … the fibreglass industry I am always startled by those who assume that wind turbine blades will last undamaged and operating at full capacity for 20 years. Utter B.S.”

            Which inevitably leads to the question of — If these things are renewables, how many windfarms’ worth of energy is required to manufacture the glass, then fiberglass required for windfarm maintenance?

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        OriginalSteve

        From “Man of LaMancha”

        Don Quxiote tilts at windmills……

        “- Do you see him? – Who?

        The Great Enchanter!

        – Dost thou not see? – What?

        The monstrous giant of infamous repute!

        Whom I intend to encounter.

        – It’s a windmill. – A giant.

        A windmill.

        A giant! Canst thou not see…

        the four great arms a-whirling at his back?

        A giant?

        Exactly. How long since we sallied forth?

        About two minutes.

        So soon will I engage in brave, unequaled combat.

        Hold there, foul monster!

        Cease the knocking of thy craven knees…

        and prepare to do battle!

        I swear, Your Grace…

        by my wife’s little black mustache…

        – that is not… – Charge!

        Your Grace, wait!

        Surrender!

        Vile coward!

        Surrender!

        Surrender! Have at you!

        Surrender, coward!

        Vile creature, do not seek to bleat!

        Hold on!

        Hold on, Master!

        Yield! I’ll show thee no mercy!

        – Vile creature! – Hold on!

        Surrender, I tell thee!

        Fall to thy knees and beg mercy!

        Or I’ll rob thee of thy very life!

        Thou art vanquished!

        Vanquished!

        Vanquished!

        – Hold on, Master! – Surrender!

        Have at you!

        Surrender, vile creature!

        Surrender!

        Your Grace!

        Your Grace!

        Master!

        Didn’t I tell you?

        Didn’t I say, “Your Grace, it’s a windmill”?

        The work of mine enemy!

        The Enchanter?

        He transformed the giant into a windmill…

        to prevent me the honor of victory.

        You’d be wise to avoid him, Your Grace.

        One of these days, he’ll get you killed.

        Hell has not seen nor Heaven created…

        the one who can prevail against me.

        He’s doing very well.

        Come, Your Grace.

        We’ll find a place to get you repaired.

        A knight must not complain of his wounds…

        though his bowels be dropping out.

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        The problem is the weasel words “up to”. If the turbines work, intermittently due to the vagaries of weather, for mabe 10 years, the installer/operators can “honestly” claim that said turbines have performed as claimed as 10 years is certainly within 0 to 25 years.

        Similar scam was used by internet providers (certainly within the UK) until the regulations were tightened up due to public demand.

        Unfortunately too many (UK) politicians of all stripes are involved in milking the industry (as “non-executive directors” and “advisors”) for the public to have any real say in the matter.

        10

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    TdeF

    It is also amazing how outraged commentators are over the $6Billion tax on the banks, a ‘levy’. This is over 4 years, $1.5Billion a year. The RET is $6Billion a year on everyone with no tax rebate, a massive cost for every Australian and it does not get a mention.

    However Graham Lloyd, environment editor for the Australian on page 2 is amazed that $1.7Billion in cash goes overseas from the RET to foreign companies. Wow. Two months ago the IPA estimated that figure as $3Billion a year. To foreigners who now own our windmill farms and can charge what they like for electricity or not even sell it and still make fortunes. All down to invisible government ‘certificates’.

    Where is the outrage? Lloyd calls it a government ‘subsidy’. It is nothing of the sort. The money never goes near a government. It is a direct payment by us to foreigners for the right to use our own coal based power. If they build or buy more windmills, we have to pay them more.

    $6Billion a year for nothing, so foreigners can own our electricity system, bought with our own money. Even Lloyd is starting to see the size of the Goldmann Sachs carbon tax system. Our PM crossed the floor against his own party to support a carbon tax. Now his dreams have come true. 9c (wholesale) and 18c(retail) a kw/hr for absolutely nothing, not even a piece of paper. Even Lloyd has a concern. It is about time.

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      Ted O'Brien.

      It is a tax. And it is a subsidy. And it’s a lie to deny it.

      50

      • #
        TdeF

        Ted, it is not a tax. Taxes under our constitution must go into General Revenue and be collected by the Government. You can also pay for government services as at a hospital or for government electricity. This is a payment for ‘certificates’ which are government managed but you (and you are the government) never receive a cent.

        That is why I am writing to everyone. We are paying a ‘tax’ to third parties, not the government. We are buying windmills for foreigners and solar panels for rich Australians so they can have free electricity, at our expense. Then we have to pay a tax again when we are forced to buy their power. Then our State governments have been paying billions to foreigners like Mistui, Engie, Alcoa, Nystar(Port Pirie smelter) to keep them going with the world’s highest electricity. State governments like Tasmania are paying $11million a month to rent diesels because they forced gas generators to close.

        As it is not a tax, the government has no right to legislate this. Courts can order you to pay someone else. Governemnts have no such right.

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        Dennis

        And add the hidden costs from government imposed penalties against coal fired power station businesses forcing them to make “commercial decisions” to close their business’ asset down prematurely, and to not plan to construct new power stations?

        30

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        TdeF

        Ted, I did not mean to contradct at all. It is a tax certainly. The government orders that we pay and we do or we will be punished or rather the people sell electricity will be punished commercially. In that sense it is clearly a tax.
        However the people who pay do not pay the government, but have to pay cash to a third party, not the government. The government (that’s us) never receive a cent for what we (the people) pay. We receive no goods or services either. Nothing. Zilch. Zero.

        The idea of a tax is that we pool our resources for the ‘ordinary business of government’ and for the ‘common good’. From what I see and even Graham Lloyd in the Australian says, we are paying for nothing, sending billions overseas for nothing. That is a wrong tax.

        10

    • #
      Angry

      RET……….The hidden carbon DIOXIDE TAX

      Abolish it now !!

      10

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    el gordo

    It appears crony capitalism is the norm on this planet, nevertheless I agree Goldman sucks.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Transparency_international_2015.png

    10

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    Robber

    An interesting report on the economics of a second Tas/Vic interconector. By Dr John Tamblyn, who has an extensive background in the regulation of public utilities and in energy policy.
    Assessment of the economic feasibility of a 2IC has proven to be a difficult and uncertain task. It is challenging to forecast, with the requisite degree of confidence, future energy market conditions that will apply over a 2IC’s 40 year or more economic life.
    A 2IC would indefinitely defer between 450 and 600 megawatts (MW) of thermal generation investment in the NEM which would otherwise be required to maintain reliability in Victoria as its brown coal generation is retired.
    A 2IC would also generate variable cost savings in the NEM. These savings are primarily attributable to more efficient use of Tasmanian hydro storage and generation facilities. The additional capacity of a 2IC would allow increased exports of dispatchable renewable energy to Victoria during periods of high demand and value when higher-cost generation would otherwise have been required. It would also allow more imports of energy at low value times, maintaining dam levels for later high value use. Together a 2IC and Basslink would enhance the capability for Tasmania’s water storages and hydro facilities to be used much like a large battery.

    The capital and operating costs involved in constructing and operating an undersea interconnector are substantial compared to the cost of overhead interconnectors. The total capital cost of a 2IC (including network augmentation costs) has been estimated at up to $1.1 billion, with estimated ongoing operational and maintenance costs of $16.7 million per annum.
    Recommendation
    I therefore recommend that the Tasmanian Government develop a detailed business case for a second Tasmanian interconnector when ongoing monitoring establishes that one or more of the following preconditions has been met:
    1. The Australian Energy Market Operator, in consultation with Hydro Tasmania and TasNetworks, concludes in a future National Transmission Network Development Plan that a second interconnector would produce significant positive net market benefits under most plausible scenarios.
    2. Additional interconnection is approved for construction between South Australia and the eastern states.
    3. A material reduction occurs in Tasmanian electricity demand

    I couldn’t find any assumptions on future electricity prices. All studies continue to assume higher intermittent supplies and appear to ignore the key issue of affordable electricity.

    20

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    TdeF

    The huge meeting in New York to celebrate the battle of the Coral Sea was a great event. However our PM Turnbull refused to clap or stand with President Trump to celebrate Anthony Pratt’s announcement of billions in spending in the US, creating 5,000 new jobs.

    Pratt was one of the biggest donors to the former Liberal party, now Turnbull’s Liberals(tm) (He supposedly registered the trademark) for which he admits paying $1.75million, part of his winnings from Australia’s Goldman Sachs.

    You can only imagine what Pratt would have to say about this new party, to the Left of Labor, big taxation, punish the trading banks (not the merchant banks) and reviving Gonski, NSI and Stephen Conroy’s NBN to take over telephones and the internet. It’s Malcolm’s Party now and he will not stand for Anthony Pratt for any reason. The Turnbulls run the country now and the voters will be given no choice as Malcolm’s Liberals will buy all the votes they can with borrowing overseas, handled by Goldmann Sachs.

    40

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    pat

    11 May: Australian: Graham Lloyd: Foreign owners dominate Australian wind farm developments
    Foreign companies dominate ownership of Australia’s wind farm developments, taking an ­estimated $1.7 billion a year in ­renewable energy subsidies ­offshore.
    Sixty per cent of existing wind farms are owned by foreign firms.
    This will increase to 69 per cent when four projects now in development are complete.
    And it will rise further still when the nation’s biggest wind farm development, Stockyard Hill in Victoria, is built
    The sale by Origin Energy of the Stockyard Hill wind farm project to Chinese company Goldwind Energy this week has put the spotlight on the shift to foreign ownership in Australia’s biggest renewable energy industry…READ ALL
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/foreign-owners-dominate-australian-wind-farm-developments/news-story/1b3a83bde7868ef4a70efa9a8c04af81

    11

  • #
    Dennis

    The Member for Wentworth & Goldman Sachs

    10

  • #
    David Maddison

    Every day we are reminded of the scientific illiteracy of the politicians and eco-Marxists when we hear them refer to carbon dioxide as “carbon” and it being a pollutant.

    31

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    David Maddison

    There is a 1971 book written by Gary Allen called “None Dare Call it Conspiracy which is well worth a read.

    I was surprised to find the text online. I have a signed copy of the book.

    http://www.whale.to/b/allen_b1.html

    QUOTE FROM A REVIEWER
    NDCC is an admirable job of amassing information to prove that communism is socialism and socialism (a plot to enslave the world) is not a movement of the downtrodden but a scheme supported and directed by the wealthiest of people. If enough Americans read and act upon NDCC, they really can save the Republic from the conspirators-whose plans for the destruction of our country are galloping fast toward completion.

    21

  • #
    PeterS

    The likes of Goldman Sacks (and hence Turnbull as he came from them) don’t care about left versus right apart from taking advanatge of the Wizard of Oz politics entailed therein. They have no allegiance to any side – only to themselves at the expense of the public. It’s so obvious. Some say the Liberal Party is now Labor lite. It’s not that Turnbull has become a leftist – he’s neither left or right. He like Goldman Sachs does whatever is necessary to achieve the goal to get richer and more powerful, even if it means instigating extreme left or extreme right wing polices depending on the circumstances. The secret also is to do it slowly so no one really notices until it’s too late at which time the public wake up and look like a stunned mullet. The only remaining question is how far can they go before something even worse comes along and take complete control over our lives across the world. That’s what history teaches us, well at least some of us as we as a whole never learn. But don’t worry. After the crash and burn we will have a new start.

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      Dennis

      It was reported that he once said he would join any party that provided him with a pathway to The Lodge Canberra (the official residence).

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      OriginalSteve

      Correct. Turnbuill is a globalist.

      In Australia there is neither Left nor Right politics, just “the party” which is run by the globalists…

      The illusion of choice in voting is important, to stop the plebs rioting…..

      30

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    pat

    8 May: Reuters: Goldman Sachs to sell 2.1 pct of DONG Energy
    Goldman Sachs has launched an accelerated bookbuilt offering to institutional investors of 8.8 million existing shares in Danish utility and offshore wind farm developer Dong Energy, the U.S investment bank said on Monday.

    The shares are equivalent to 2.1 percent of the existing shares in Dong Energy and are owned by New Energy Investment, which is indirectly owned by Goldman Sachs.
    Goldman Sachs and Danske Bank are acting as joint global coordinators and reserve the right to close the books at any time. Dong will not receive any proceeds from the transaction.
    The state-controlled company became one of the biggest IPOs last year when a group of investors including the Danish state, Goldman Sachs and Danish pension funds sold shares on the Copenhagen stock exchange.
    http://www.reuters.com/article/dong-energy-stocks-idUSL8N1IA4VV

    10 May: MinneapolisStarTribune: Mike Hughlett: Ten K Solar ‘discontinuing’ current operation
    Solar panel manufacturer says it will reposition its business but offered few details
    The announcement comes less than a year after the company attracted its largest single equity investment — $25 million from a group led by Goldman Sachs. But Ten K Solar, which once employed 200 and reached at least $50 million in annual sales, said in a statement that the company has been caught in an industry downturn…

    In early 2016, Ten K Solar had more than 90 workers at its Bloomington headquarters and factory and about 110 more employees at a factory in Shanghai, China. The company has partly assembled solar panels in China, and finished them in Minnesota.

    Among the over 750 systems it has installed, Ten K supplied half of the large solar array atop the parking ramps at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Ten K focuses on solar arrays for commercial buildings…
    Still, it’s a small player in a global solar equipment business that’s led by Asian manufacturers…

    Ten K Solar hit an obstacle in 2015 when a component failed on about 100 of its solar arrays, mostly installed at Minnesota homes. The glitch curtailed solar arrays’ output in late summer, usually a time of high energy production.
    Many of those residential solar arrays had been purchased through Made in Minnesota, a subsidy program administered by the Minnesota Department of Commerce…
    http://www.startribune.com/ten-k-solar-discontinuing-current-operation/421917033/

    11

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    pat

    just posted:

    11 May: AFR: Macquarie group signs deal for NSW’s Endeavour Energy
    by Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald & Joyce Moullakis
    Macquarie Group’s infrastructure arm and its partners have signed a deal to acquire a controlling stake in NSW electricity distributor, Endeavour Energy.
    The deal was signed on Thursday morning.
    It is understood the bid valued Endeavour at more than 1.5-times its regulated asset base, which would imply an enterprise value for Endeavour of more than $9 billion.

    Macquarie’s Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets bought the stake in conjunction with its partners including AMP Capital, Qatar Investment Authority and Canada’s British Columbia Investment Management Corporation…
    http://www.afr.com/street-talk/macquarie-group-signs-deal-for-nsws-endeavour-energy-20170510-gw25cl

    8 May: Australian: Scott Murdoch: Macquarie Group hastens driveto renewable energy
    Macquarie Group plans to ramp up its global renewable energy investments to take advantage of the growing tide of positive sentiment from some governments, but has warned that Australia needs to catch up the rest of the world…

    The biggest deal recently was Macquarie’s decision to spend almost $4bn buying the Green Investment Bank from the British government.
    Macquarie Capital has built up an £8.5bn ($14.8bn) renewable energy portfolio over the past seven years, with nearly a quarter of that made in the past six months.
    Macquarie recently bought a 25 per cent stake in the £1.6bn 573 MW Race Bank offshore wind farm and has built up solar, tidal and waste and bioenergy assets.

    Macquarie Capital head Tim Bishop said Australia was starting to develop major renewable energy assets, which were becoming attractive investments, but the market remained well behind ­Europe.
    Nearly half Macquarie’s green energy portfolio is invested in Britain…
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/financial-services/macquarie-group-hastens-driveto-renewable-energy/news-story/44c990125b3720a5af97f34d0cac1f9f

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  • #
    Will Janoschka

    j. bielot,
    I agree! “It’s far past time for congress to fish or cut bait. Congress – You’re FIRED!”

    This might be the rally for 2018. No more re-elections! For any congressional seat, there are hundreds that could do no worse.

    House members “represent all” the members of just one district!
    Senate members “represent all” the members of just one state, and that one state government on spending issues. Time to proceed not to a ‘democracy’ but instead an actual ‘republic’! National political parties shall be declared, “TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS”
    All the best!-will

    10

  • #

    CO2 Can’t Cause the Warming Alarmists Claim it Does

    In conclusion, if you break the data down to isolate the impact of CO2 on atmospheric temperatures, there simply isn’t a strong case to be made that CO2 is the cause of the warming. Yes the oceans are warming, yes temperatures have been warming, but that doesn’t mean CO2 is the cause of that warming. If you isolate the impact of CO2 by removing the impact of the oceans, the urban heat island effect, and atmospheric water vapor, the result is that those areas show no warming what so ever. CO2 increased from 335 ppm to 405 ppm in Antarctica, and it had no impact at all, none, nada, zip.

    https://co2islife.wordpress.com/2017/05/10/co2-cant-cause-the-warming-alarmists-claim-it-does/

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    pat

    10 May: The Hill: Senate rejects repeal of Obama drilling rule
    By Timothy Cama and Devin Henry
    Three Republicans joined Senate Democrats on Wednesday to reject an effort to overturn an Obama administration rule limiting methane emissions from oil and natural gas drilling…
    Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Susan Collins (Maine) and John McCain (Ariz.) joined all 48 members of the Democratic caucus in rejecting the resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA)…

    …the defeat of the resolution is a victory for environmentalists, who in recent weeks put up a comprehensive fight to sway vulnerable and moderate senators against repeal…
    “This was a very duplicative, unnecessary act of government interference in an area where BLM had no authority,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said, telling reporters he would ask Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to withdraw the rule administratively instead…
    Democrats cheered the resolution’s failure, and seemed surprised that it happened…

    Repealing or rewriting it could take a year or more, and would be subject to litigation by environmentalists and other opponents.
    “The rule is expected to have real and harmful impacts on onshore energy development and could impact state and local jobs and revenue,” said MacGregor. “Small independent oil and gas producers in states like North Dakota, Colorado and New Mexico, which account for a substantial portion of our nation’s energy wealth, could be hit the hardest.
    http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/332721-senate-rejects-repeal-of-obama-drilling-rule

    10 May: DailyCaller: Michael Bastasch: ‘Green 20’ Attorneys General Sue Trump To Preserve Obama Climate Policies
    Four Democratic attorneys general sued the Trump administration for reversing a moratorium on issuing coal mining leases on federal lands.
    Three of the Democratic AGs — California, New York and Washington — come from states that do not produce coal. Only New Mexico AG Hector Balderas comes from a coal-producing state.

    All four Democratic AGs are part of the “Green 20” coalition of top state prosecutors working together to keep Obama administration environmental policies from being repealed and investigate “whether fossil fuel companies misled investors and the public on the impact of climate change on their businesses,” according to a release (LINK).
    New York AG Eric Schneiderman, the leader of the Green 20, has been one of Trump’s most vocal opponents…READ ON
    http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/10/green-20-attorneys-general-sue-trump-to-preserve-obama-climate-policies/

    01

  • #
    David Maddison

    What does Australia do?

    We don’t have a Trump who is able to form government and we have a choice between the Turnbull Party and Labor/Gangrenes.

    Both parties are committed to the destruction of Australia and Western Civilisation in general.

    The situation is truly hopeless.

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    • #
      Dennis

      Maybe not David, I understand that there are Liberal MPs who believe what PM Abbott said in 2015: “I will not stand for socialism masquerading as environmentalism”. And National Party MPs too. Add to them the minor party conservatives or like minded people and there we have the foundations for a movement against our flawed major parties as they stand now.

      Next we need voters to turn their backs on the Labor Liberal Party alliance.

      20

  • #
    STJOHNOFGRAFTON

    Crony CAPITALISM influencing the recent French elections? You betcha! Beware the GARCH of the oligarchs!

    20

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    pat

    no problem opening Daily Caller today UNTIL i tried to open this one. persistent “Security Alert” made reading it almost impossible:

    10 May: Daily Caller: Michael Bastasch: Obama Kicks Off First Foreign Speech With An Astonishingly False Statement On Global Warming
    Former President Barack Obama told those gathered at an agricultural conference that man-made global warming was already impacting agriculture on a global scale, shrinking crop yields and raising food prices
    “Our changing climate is already making it more difficult to produce food,” Obama said at the Seeds & Chips conference in Milan, Italy Tuesday, according to The New York Times (LINK).
    “We’ve already seen shrinking yields and rising food prices,” the former president said in his first speech outside the U.S. since leaving office in January…

    In fact, 2016 was a record year for crop yields, which have basically doubled since 2007…
    As for food prices, they’re well below recent highs hit in 2010. UN data shows the inflation-adjusted food index — the average of five commodity price indices — is just below where it was in 1965. the food price index peaked around 1975…
    http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/10/obama-kicks-off-first-foreign-speech-with-an-astonishingly-false-statement-on-global-warming/

    no doubt NYT corrected Obama! nah. instead, they told a few porkies of their own, & failed to mention Kass talked of preparing thousands of “steaks” for Obama when he was White House chef:

    9 May: NYT: Stephanie Strom: Obama Sees New Front in Climate Change Battle: Agriculture
    MILAN — Michelle Obama has long been one of the world’s best-known advocates for healthier food production and better eating, but it was her husband who showed up here on Tuesday to talk about climate change and the challenges it presented to feeding the world’s growing population…

    His brief speech was devoted to agriculture’s role in climate change, noting that after energy, agriculture is the second-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Now, he said, those emissions are starting to take their toll on food production itself…

    Mr. Obama observed that most people do not think of food as a source of pollution. “Because food is so close to us and is part of our family and is part of what we do every single day, people, I think, are more resistant to the idea of government or bureaucrats telling them what to eat, how to eat and how to grow,” he said.
    The powerful agriculture lobby in Washington, he said, can also hinder change…
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/dining/obama-climate-food-milan.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgenerate&_r=0

    food is pollution, & agriculture lobby won’t bow to CAGW policies! NYT eats up this stuff.

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      OriginalSteve

      The gloablists believe humans are parasites on their beloeved “Gaia” ( the earth goddess ) as such, humans eating food are a problem.

      The globalists are also currently trying to engineer a confrontation between civilisations, so each side will wipe the other out….job done….

      20

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      Angry

      Obummer is an EXCESS CARBON UNIT…..

      10

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    pat

    good TITANS – not a hint about Musk’s near $5 billion in subsidies, but mention of a single ***anti-Paris group CEI requires Koch Bros reference!

    10 May: Mashable: Maria Gallucci: Elon Musk and U.S. tech giants tell Trump not to ditch the Paris Climate Agreement
    Elon Musk and other ***titans of the U.S. tech sector are urging President Donald Trump not to pull the United States out of a landmark climate change accord.
    The Tesla and SpaceX CEO signed an open letter expressing “strong support” for keeping the U.S. in the Paris Climate Agreement. The letter, which ran as a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, lists 30 executives from some of the world’s biggest and most influential companies, including Virgin Group, General Electric, Walt Disney Co., and Coca-Cola…

    Musk’s participation is notable not only because he’s a billionaire tech executive but also because he sits on Trump’s business advisory council, a role that’s brought him a lot of flak in recent months.
    Two other signatories on Wednesday’s letter also sit on the advisory council: Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of Walt Disney.
    Tech giants like Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft also joined the conversation this week…

    Opponents of the Paris agreement chimed in with their own letter to Trump.
    More than 40 “free market” groups expressed their “enthusiastic support” for fully withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris treaty and stopping all U.S. taxpayer funding of United Nations-related global warming programs. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank ***with ties to the Koch Brothers, organized the effort…

    Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, told reporters that Trump will continue to hear from advisers on the pros and cons of the U.S. remaining in the global accord — including former Vice President Al Gore.
    Looks like we’re gonna need more ads this month
    http://mashable.com/2017/05/10/paris-climate-agreement-elon-musk-trump/#1HYQ_h20Fqqy

    Conservative Groups Pushing Trump To Exit Paris Climate Deal Have Taken Millions From Koch Brothers, Exxon
    DeSmog (blog) – ‎13 hours ago‎

    Al Gore, Trump discuss Paris climate deal by phone
    CNN-12 hours ago
    Washington (CNN) Former Vice President Al Gore spoke Tuesday with President Donald Trump, imploring him to not withdraw from the Paris Agreement

    World leaders get more time to sway Trump on climate pact
    Politico – ‎4 hours ago‎
    That’s in addition to a steady stream of domestic voices, including Al Gore and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who have spoken to the president about the benefits of

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      Angry

      I hate this parasite “Elon Musk”…….

      10

    • #

      I had the misfortune to watch some of Elon Musk’s shifty, stuttering address at the Paris conference. Really have to wonder if this odd man is what they say he is. He gives the impression that, like Gore and Suzuki, he needs to be shielded from any unscripted situations whatsoever. Even in the adoration and safety of Paris he seems so twitchy and inarticulate, like he’s explaining to his bookie why he can’t pay for last week’s bets. What gives?

      20

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    pat

    no so major MSM, but read all:

    9 May: CNSNews:Trump Should Fulfill Campaign Promise, Withdraw from Paris Climate Agreement
    By Nicolas Loris and Brett Schaefer
    The U.S. regulations alone would increase energy costs for U.S. families and businesses, causing an overall average shortfall of nearly 400,000 jobs and total income loss of more than $20,000 for a family of four by the year 2035.

    Compliance with the Paris Agreement will cost the global economy trillions of dollars over the next 80 years. Yet the results will be almost zero reduction in projected warming, even if every country met their respective carbon dioxide reduction targets as promised under the agreement…READ ALL
    http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/nicolas-loris/trump-should-fulfill-campaign-promise-withdraw-paris-climate-agreement

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      TdeF

      Despite being a Christian country, the US Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and freedom of worship in a secular state. So it should not matter if people want to join a religion but it should not be compulsory nor taxes introduced to support that religion.

      So the Church of Climate Scientology should not be part of any financial commitment between the people of America and former Vice President Al Gore. Let people worship Climate Scientology with their own money in their own time and with their own private windmills and solar panels.

      Certainly in Australia, if people want to worship Windmills, they can. We should not be paying 2x as much as they generate in cash so they can be enriched by their neighbours whose money they are wasting. (See David Maddison’s comment)

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        TdeF

        Put it here. From David’s comment on the Hepburn Wind Farm annual report

        FY2015
        Electricity sales $437,210
        Renewable Energy Certificate Sales $743,674 This is YOUR money from your electricity bill even though you probably did not buy wind power. It is not the Government’s money. This is why you are paying so much for electricity.

        So the income from selling certificates is twice that of selling wind power which is still twice the cost of coal power but
        it is the coal generators who are losing money and closing.

        Great business model. Our money for the right to buy coal power from someone else. It gets better

        EBITDA $793,923 clearly almost all from the compulsory purchase RET Certificates.

        Nett Profit $213,961.

        The business plan is very clear. Build windmills and cash in. However if the RET stops, they will lose money, so we will have to pay forever for these windmills and ensure the investors make a profit, just to save the planet from CO2.

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  • #
    Dennis

    John Howard – Looming energy crisis scandalous policy failure. former PM John Howard has described Australia’s looming energy crisis as a “scandalous policy failure of the first order”. and declared that the renewable energy target should never have been lifted about 2%. Speaking at a post budget breakfast in Perth, Mr Howard blamed the potential shortage of energy on the east coat on moves by some state government to restrict or prohibit gas exploration. “It will be a policy scandal of the first order if those sorts of restrictions and the absolutely overzealous growth of renewable energy targets….leads to massive increases in the cost of energy in different parts of the country” he said.

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      Dennis

      http://www.theaustralian.com.au/budget-2017/budget-2017-john-howard-pans-highly-political-document/news-story/cde54088c2deda0a846d9811a409bd02Cached
      18 hours ago … Former Prime Minister John Howard has delivered a lukewarm … Addressing a PwC post-budget briefing in Melbourne, the former PM took a …

      [there is a paywall]

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      PeterS

      Howard must be seeing the warning signs of the impending debt bomb blowing up in our faces given he was so paranoid about debt, and rightly so. There is no way we can pay all that debt back. In any case it’s still rising at unprecedented rate with no sign of it reversing. Anyone who takes seriously their long term forecasts of budget surpluses to start bringing down significantly the debt must have the brain power of a peanut. I suspect he dare not say what he really thinks as it would cause a huge storm in the party room. Still we must give credit to Turnbull and Morrison for making it look so slick and professional compared to how Wayne’s feeble attempt to convince the public his nonsense estimates were achievable. I suppose Turnbull put to use what he learned while at Goldman Sachs and helped Morrison. I wonder what their Plan B is. I bet it’s not nice.

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        Dennis

        When Labor’s debt creation reached $270 billion in 2011/12 financial year as I recall former Howard government Treasurer, Peter Costello, warned it would take 40-years to retire with interest.

        It took him 10-years 1996-2006 to retire the Keating Labor debt of $95.8 billion and interest amounting to a total of over $170 billion.

        He said 40-years assuming the terms of trade were no worse than during the Howard years, tax revenue etc.

        Last time I checked and debt is now higher the federal interest bill was over $1 billion every month. Imagine when the interest rate on government bonds rises sometime in the future.

        When Labor left office in September 2013 they had well exceeded their debt ceiling limit but did not raise their ceiling, and handed over a debt including what the Coalition had to borrow to fund several Labor budget items they failed to make provision to pay for was well over $400 billion, and Treasurer Hockey raised the debt ceiling to $500 billion with some provision in reserve in case tax revenue did not meet outgoings. And of course the hostile Senate blocked budget repair bills and proposed spending cuts. So now the debt is close to $500 billion plus accounted for off budget NBNCo debt.

        And that is federal debt excluding state, territories and local government debts and hidden off budget debts in government owned private companies like NBNCo.

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          PeterS

          The coming government bond crash may very well be the pin that will burst the debt bubble. Savvy investors (actually speculators) have been moving away from governments assets such as bonds to private ones such as real estate and shares. Watch what happens when it turns into a cascade. We may have an asset bubble the likes we haven’t seen since the Tulip mania. Good if you can get the timing right, which is almost impossible to do. Does this mean we can expect our debt to sail past a trillion or three before it’s over? I would not be surprised.

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      Angry

      It is a deliberate and treasonous destruction of our economy.

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    pat

    FakeNews the minute it uses the words “climate change” when they are arguing for manmade global warming. at least there is some debate in the comments:

    10 May: PBS Newshour: Climate change-denying booklets are landing in the mailboxes of thousands of teachers
    By Victoria Pasquantonio
    (Victoria Pasquantonio is education editor at PBS NewsHour. She taught middle and high school social studies and English for 13 years)
    Science teacher Matthew Fox approached the climate change materials he had received in his school mailbox in the same way he had taught his students to think like scientists — with an objective frame of mind.
    Fox was part of the first wave of 25,000 science teachers in March who received an unsolicited package from the Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank, which casts doubt on the role humans play in climate change…

    “None of my colleagues were fooled. I think we are all very aware of the limitations of what we know now, because it obviously is a relatively new subject,” said Fox, an oceanography and earth science teacher at Troy High School in Fullerton, California. “But what they are proposing in this is just ludicrous.”
    The booklet states that a scientific consensus–the often cited 97 percent of climate scientists who say humans are the primary cause of climate change–does not exist. It also cites multiple climate change studies pointing out their flaws…

    The National Center of Science Education and other science education groups have been vocal about the Heartland packet, saying it is inappropriate for the science classroom, since the information is not backed by scientific evidence.
    “It’s a nefarious act to try to slip this kind of politically motivated attack on science into the science classroom,” said Ann Reid, National Center of Science Education’s executive director. “It is the same old tired arguments suggesting that the climate science is unsettled that they’ve been pushing for a long time.”…
    http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/anti-climate-change-booklets-landing-mailboxes-thousands-teachers/

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  • #
    RoHa

    Of course we can blame Goldman Sachs. “Good Business” is not an excuse for unethical activity.

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      I struggle to put business and ethics in the same sentence and have them happily co-exist ….

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    Douglas

    There were many large outfits bailed out – check these.

    https:// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFTEZTuLRoM
    html

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  • #
    Neville

    Many more African countries plan to build over 100 new coal plants backed up by Chinese and Kenyan finance. Outside of Sth Africa this is an increase of at least 8 times the current capacity of those countries.

    http://www.thegwpf.com/african-nations-plan-more-than-100-new-coal-power-plants/

    And the WSJ also makes the case for Trump withdrawing from Paris COP 21.

    http://www.thegwpf.com/the-wall-street-journal-makes-the-case-for-pulling-out-of-obamas-paris-deal/
    “The Wall Street Journal Makes The Case For Pulling Out Of Obama’s Paris Deal

    Date: 10/05/17
    Editorial, The Wall Street Journal

    We Shouldn’t Always Have Paris

    “President Trump is expected as soon as next week to order the Environmental Protection Agency to rescind its Clean Power rule that is blocked by the courts. But the President faces another test of political fortitude on whether to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord.

    That’s suddenly uncertain. Mr. Trump promised to withdraw during the presidential campaign, correctly arguing that the accord gave “foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use.” His transition team even explored strategies for short-cutting the cumbersome, four-year process of getting out of the deal.

    But the President’s is now getting resistance from his daughter, Ivanka, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who are fretting about the diplomatic ramifications. No doubt many countries would object, and loudly, but this risk pales compared to the potential damage from staying in the accord.

    President Obama committed as part of Paris to cutting U.S. emissions by 26% compared with 2005 levels by 2025. Even Mr. Obama’s climate regulatory programs—all imposed without Congressional votes—would only achieve about half that commitment. Mr. Trump is killing those Obama programs, which means the U.S. may not reach that Paris promise. Why stay in an agreement that the Trump Administration has no interest or plan for honoring?

    Another risk is that the U.S. might at some point be coerced into compliance. Mr. Obama joined the accord without congressional assent and endorsed the lengthy withdrawal process precisely to bind future Administrations to his climate priorities. Since Mr. Trump’s election, the international climate lobbies have debated ways to muscle the new Administration to comply.

    These include imposing punitive tariffs on U.S. goods or requiring the U.S. to hit targets in return for other international cooperation. Mr. Tillerson might consider that Paris will be used as leverage against him in future international negotiations.

    Lawyers and domestic environmental groups are also exploring how to use lawsuits to enforce the deal. Greens are adept at finding judges to require environmental regulations that Congress never intended. Such sympathetic judges today pack the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and include Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who in 2007 joined four liberals to redefine the Clean Air Act to cover carbon as a pollutant.

    Remaining in the Paris pact will invite litigation to impose the Paris standards and direct the EPA to impose drastic carbon cuts that would hurt the economy. Energy companies are aware of this threat, and despite Exxon ’s recent pledge to pour $20 billion into Gulf Coast facilities, other companies remain wary of U.S. regulation. They will be warier if Mr. Trump looks like he’s waffling on his climate positions.

    Mr. Trump’s best bet is to exit the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which could be done in a year and would result in a simultaneous withdrawal from Paris. That would quickly end the litigation risk.

    Mr. Tillerson said at his confirmation hearing that he believes the U.S. should remain in the Paris pact to have a “seat at the table” for the climate debate. But the U.S. doesn’t need Paris to have a say in global energy policy.

    America has already done more to reduce CO2 emissions with its natural-gas fracking revolution than has most of the world. Many of the Paris signers want to use the pact to diminish any U.S. fossil-fuel production. Mr. Tillerson will also be on the back foot in Paris discussions as he tries to overcome his past as an oil company executive.

    The best U.S. insurance against the risks of climate change is to revive economic growth that will drive energy innovation and create the wealth to cope with any future damage—if that day arrives.

    Policy details aside, the worst part of Mr. Obama’s climate agenda was its lack of democratic consent. He failed to persuade either a Republican or Democratic Congress to pass his regulation and taxes. So he attempted to impose that agenda at home through the EPA and abroad via Paris to use international pressure against domestic political resistance.”

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      el gordo

      ‘….an increase of at least 8 times the current capacity of those countries.’

      Nothing short of an economic revolution.

      The Third Way will encourage other nations in the area to come on board, Africa will quickly develop a broad middle class.

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    Angry

    malcolm TURNCOAT turnbull, the Minister For Goldman Sachs and Carbon DIOXIDE Trading…………

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      TdeF

      Yes, his great uncle was head of the British Labor party and sided with Hitler. His house was a magnet for the likes of Neville Wran. Turnbull grew up breathing Labor and now we have Turnbull’s Labor party. As for Labor, fewer than 10% of people are in Unions so Malcolm’s Labor party will have no unions, a dream for some. In fact he wants to show them too, so it is Malcolm’s Greens.

      NBN, hit the Banks, increase taxes, Carbon Tax (RET), everything to the Merchant banks, especially his old friends at Goldmann Sachs where he was GM. Gay marriage, a Republic so no Governor General to fire him. All under the pretext that we need an Australian head of state when we have had one for fifty years. There is nothing to like about rich Malcolm but he doesn’t care. He has his own party now. He bought it and half the population has nowhere to go. Soon Labor will be in the pickle. He has stolen all their policies and he owns the ABC, the biggest media company in the country. Soon it will be just Malcolm and his Green Labor party. Turncoat? No, he never intended to be a Liberal. Nor his friends. Like Jeremy Corbyn, what the rank and file members think is irrelevant. So to the Australia electorate. He has found a way to seize control and he is enjoying his prize.

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        TdeF

        So at a guess.. he found that a preference swap with the Greens which would have handed him the last election on a platter did not happen. Stopped at the last minute, Shorten would have won easily except for rampant Daniel Andrews in Victoria where the coalition did not lost a single seat. Turnbull is PM by one seat, Tony Abbott’s seat for example but Tony has not crossed the floor as Turnbull did.

        Now he has a more cunning plan. Make Malcolm’s Liberals greener than Green and higher taxing than Labor. Win the Public Service over with the help of his ABC/SBS/CSIRO and all of Canberra, Adelaide and Hobart. That would be enough to beat Labor and the Greens and position Hanson as the enemy, not Labor. It is all about winning, not policies, ethics, loyalty, principles. Overboard with the lot. Crony Capitalism starts at the top. More windmills and ramp up that RET. It is delivering billions while Snowy II will never happen and make no difference if it did.

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          TdeF

          Plus a vast new airport for Sydney which is not needed. So what’s next? A very fast train? Even spruiker Nikka Savva is lost for words. This is not the small government, low taxing Liberals. It makes Labor look like wimps as the billions flow like a river out of the country.

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    pat

    11 May: Bloomberg: For Some, There’s Never Been a Better Time to Buy Oil
    by Angelina Rascouet, Grant Smith, and Rupert Rowling
    Despite last week’s selloff, the global oil market is rebalancing rapidly, said Jeffrey Currie, head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. If the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries extends its cuts into the second half — as the group has signaled — demand will significantly exceed production, according to the IEA’s Head of Oil Industry and Markets Neil Atkinson…

    “Do I want to be long oil? The answer is absolutely yes because we are going into a deficit market,” Currie said at the S&P Global Platts Global Crude Summit in London on Wednesday. “With demand continuing to surprise to the upside,” the global supply deficit may be as wide as 2 million barrels a day by July, he said…

    The decline in global fuel stockpiles will accelerate this quarter, Currie said. The volume of crude held in floating storage on tankers — often a key indicator of a supply surplus — is dropping like a brick, he said.
    The aim of OPEC’s supply deal was to shrink inventories, and by that measure it’s succeeding, said Bassam Fattouh, a director at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies…

    Goldman Sachs, which believes OPEC will extend and potentially deepen its cuts, sees West Texas Intermediate crude advancing to $55 and Brent climbing to $57 in the fourth quarter, said Currie…
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-10/goldman-to-iea-see-oil-bulls-back-on-top-as-cuts-dent-stockpiles

    lots of detail, worth a read:

    11 May: Bloomberg: China’s $246 Billion Foreign Buying Spree Is Unraveling
    by Jack Sidders and Vinicy Chan
    China’s biggest-ever foreign acquisition frenzy is ending almost as dramatically as it began.
    After stunning the world with a record $246 billion of announced outbound takeovers in 2016, Chinese dealmakers are now struggling to cope with tighter capital controls and increasingly wary counterparties. Cross-border purchases plunged 67 percent during the first four months of this year, the biggest drop for a comparable period since the depths of the global financial crisis in 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg…
    The drop-off in deals should help stem capital flight and stabilize China’s battered currency…
    Cooling off the buying frenzy has become a policy priority in Beijing…
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-10/china-s-246-billion-takeover-spree-is-crumbling-as-sellers-balk

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    pat

    Giles responds…you decide:

    11 May: RenewEconomy: The Australian takes another pot-shot at wind farms, and misses again
    By Giles Parkinson
    http://reneweconomy.com.au/the-australian-takes-another-pot-shot-at-wind-farms-and-misses-again-75887/

    11 May: RenewEconomy: South Australia energy security target may exclude battery storage
    By Giles Parkinson
    The South Australian government has outlined further details of its proposed energy security target and, contrary to expectations, it looks like it will exclude battery storage and make solar and wind farms paired with the technology ineligible to receive credits.

    The move could have serious implications for wind and solar farm developers and owners in the state, given the restrictions it is likely to impose on output as the state seeks to limit the amount of “non dispatchable” generation. It may also result in higher electricity prices, given that storage is considered by many to be cheaper than gas…READ ON
    http://reneweconomy.com.au/south-australia-energy-security-target-may-exclude-battery-storage-52389/

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    pat

    10 May: Paxton Record: Carol Thilmony: Residents near Kempton-area wind farm make complaints
    The residents said they have been in contact with San Diego-based EDF Renewable Energy for six months about their loss of antenna television reception since EDF started operating the wind farm in Rogers Township late last fall.

    Sandra Eshleman said she used to be able to draw in 46 channels out of the Chicago area and now can receive none. Eshleman said the company has offered her an $800 annual payment for 20 years, but she wants a “fair, legitimate” one-time damage payment that she won’t have to pay income tax on.

    Along with the payment, Eshleman said, the company wants her and anyone else who settles with the company to sign a waiver agreement that absolves the company of any responsibility for the problem — and that would include whoever owns her property in the future…

    Charles Deany told the board the company wants to pay the residents for 20 years but “the company is tying up the wind farm for 50 years.”
    “My attorney told me to not sign the waiver,” Deany said…READ ON
    http://www.paxtonrecord.net/news/politics-and-government/2017-05-10/residents-near-kempton-area-wind-farm-make-complaints.html

    10 May: ScottishDailyRecord: Debbie Hall: Complaints made over new West Lothian wind farm
    The application has been submitted by Fauch Hill Sustainable Energy for 12 turbines at Fauch Hill, West Calder, which is just outside Pentlands National Park.
    The company had asked for permission in 2012 for a wind farm comprising of 23 turbines but following a public inquiry a year later, the application was refused by Scottish Ministers.
    A new application was submitted last month for a reduced 12 turbines at 25 feet high which has attracted 100 objections…

    Ray Kew said the proposed development amounted to a “desecration” of the Pentland Hills.
    She continued: “The Pentland Hills are a precious remaining scenic landscape in West Lothian and an army of wind farms has already marched 20kms in an unbroken line through West Lothian…
    “Its scenic and heritage features are being replaced by an industrial landscape.”…
    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/complaints-made-over-new-west-10394519

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  • #

    Ode-ium to ode-ius
    supra-nationals.

    Distance,
    faceless
    bureaux,
    conn-volutes.
    Fer instance,
    ‘Who is Big Brother
    and how would yer
    vote him out?

    A serf.

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    RB

    Ignoring Godwin’s Law, its good to remember that while the Nazis were socialists it was the large companies jumping on the band wagon that made Nazi Germany a power house.

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    cedarhill

    Trump has lots of Goldman-Sachs folks advising him including his Treasury Secretary. It will be a true indication whether Trump stays in the Paris accords which would mean he’s rejecting his EPA Chief (Pruitt) and going with the corporatists and whatever you call his daughter and her husband.

    How would that effect his political future?
    No one really knows else Trump would have already made the call. It seems, to me, his business CEO past means he knows he has two opposing sides in his own camp and he’s trying to have peace in the family. Pruitt may even resign his post at EPA if Trump doesn’t ditch Paris since it would be a direct rebuke.

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  • #
    Amber

    Let’s see Goldman , Gore and Ivanka all ganging up on Mr. Trump . What’s a guy to do ?
    Tillerson singing the Exxon song . We are going to find out soon if Mr. Trump
    drains the swamp or drinks it ..
    Forgetting who brought you to the dance ends poorly .

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    truth

    Turnbull …his LW MSM & Australian big business IMO were all determined that …no matter the cost to Australia….Tony Abbott …mildly CAGW sceptic and hugely unacceptable to the Global Socialists who want to rejig the world… would not be allowed to stay in the PMship…despite his landslide win and most successful administration in such a short time in Australian history.

    It was forecast well ahead of time by Monckton…as was the demise of Canada’s like-minded PM…Steven Harper.

    So Turnbull whiteanted as he’d been doing for five years…big business played dead as the Senate went feral…and MT’s MSM groomed the Australian people to hate Tony Abbott….all knowing that in their frenzy to destroy Abbott they were also destroying the economy…the Liberal Party and Australia.

    Turnbull and his MSM’s feeding frenzy of course drove TA’s polls down and ensured the budget could not be repaired and the debt would only soar.

    The vulture’s attacks culminated in MT’s 2015 Coup …his knifing of Tony Abbott….and the beginning of Australia’s slide into decline.

    One of the few things MT’s ever done has been to talk up CAGW and its attached subsidies regime…giving the green light to the RE carpetbaggers on the promise that TPM would continue to flow.

    At this point Turnbull’s son Alex Turnbull fortuitously bought a very large holding in Infigen Energy…a moribund wind farm company that had been phoenixed out of the failed Babcock & Brown.

    https://stopthesethings.com/2017/03/13/born-lucky-stars-align-perfectly-for-pms-son-with-mammoth-bet-on-wind-power-outfit-infigen/

    That was soon followed by ratification of the Paris Agreement and Infigen’s share price doubled and its prospects soared.

    So the question is if the right thing to do for Australia was to end the RET and all subsidies for unreliable renewable energy …and instead give investors the signal that the Australian government intended to go with our competitive advantage in clean coal and the most modern ultra super-critical coal-fired power stations, as many countries are doing….would a PM with vested interests in RE…whose family members stood to lose a lot of money if the subsidies were canceled…choose to do what’s right for Australia…or what protects his family’s investment?

    This goes for all of the true believers and/or opportunists spruiking and making demands on the CAGW issue…we’re not given a clue about their own very strong personal vested interests [in the few cases we DO know like Turnbull’s-Garnaut-John Hewson] in keeping the TPM flowing for their very own self-enrichment at the expense of ordinary Australians.

    All policy-makers propagandists and opinion-makers MUST DISCLOSE…every time they speak on the issue…and policymakers must RECUSE themselves from deliberations…though how that would work I don’t know.

    If that doesn’t happen ordinary Australians will be paying a massive price to fill the family coffers of the Turnbulls, Garnaut, Hewson and who knows how many of the BIGBIZ ‘true believers’ who lecture us…making them infinitely richer than they already are…while our children’s future goes down the gurgler and Australia becomes the roadkill for the hoax of the millennium.

    00