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Recent Posts
- Rare Earth updates: recent research on why complex & intelligent life are rare in the Universe
- Book review of “Chip War” and the Fragility of microchips
- The tremendous material and energy toll of the digital economy
- Nuclear attack on U.S. could kill 90% of Americans
- What percent of Americans are rational?
- Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath
- Off-Road vehicles & equipment need diesel fuel
- Book review of “Prime Movers of Globalization: the History & Impact of Diesel Engines & Gas Turbines”
- Mental Health. Coping with the future: notes from Jackson & Jensen’s “An Inconvenient Apocalypse”
- Tesla Semi trucks hauling corn chips
- What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months?
- Where to be? Links to Superfund, hazardous waste and other toxic sites in U.S.
- Why methanol cannot replace petroleum in shipping
- Why is everyone afraid of AI taking over? It makes stuff up!
- Do you want to eat, drink, or fly?
Category Archives: Debt
The staggering level of corruption & kleptocracy in the world
Preface. This is a book review of Frank Vogl’s 2021 book “The Enablers: How the West Supports Kleptocrats and Corruption – Endangering Our Democracy” (well, mostly kindle notes). They couldn’t get away with it if there weren’t so many places … Continue reading
Posted in Banking, Bond Market, Corporate Welfare, Corruption, Crime, Gangs, Corrupt police, Private security, Debt, No Jail for Bankers & Wall St execs, Politics, Scams
Tagged autocrat, corruption, democracy, kleptocracy, kleptocrat
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Peak Oil is Here! World oil production peaked in 2018
Preface. Peak oil is here! Well, OK, we need to officially wait 5 years. But it’s been true for four years, as you can see from the U.S. Energy Information Administration in late 2018 (EIA 2022). It is also likely … Continue reading
Toxic Loans Around the World Weigh on Global Growth
Preface. Obviously endless growth on a finite planet is impossible. Clearly the main “benefit” of debt is being able to rape and pillage the planet immediately. The accumulating debt can never be paid off, because energy is required to grow … Continue reading
One of the biggest risks to the world’s financial system is the $3 trillion of debt owed by oil and gas firms
[ Yet another “crash coming soon” post, if it hasn’t happened already (I scheduled this article and others to appear a year or more later, since crashes always take longer to happen than you expect. Alice Friedemann www.energyskeptic.com author of … Continue reading
Posted in Bond Market, Crash Coming Soon, Debt, Oil & Gas Fracked
Tagged crash coming soon, debt, oil and gas
1 Comment
Pensions face bankruptcy in the future
2016-4-10. US faces disastrous $3.4 trillion pension funding hole. Collective deficit of retirement plans is three times larger than official figures. Financial Times. The US public pension system has developed a $3.4 trillion funding hole that will pile pressure on … Continue reading
Posted in Debt, Ponzi Schemes
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Tilting at Windmills, Spain’s disastrous attempt to replace fossil fuels with Solar PV, Part 1
Book review by Alice Friedemann at energyskeptic of “Spain’s Photovoltaic Revolution. The Energy Return on Investment”, by Pedro Prieto and Charles A.S. Hall. 2013. Springer. Conclusion: the EROI of solar photovoltaic is only 2.45, very low despite Spain’s ideal sunny … Continue reading
Would Tesla, SolarCity or SpaceX exist without $4.9 billion in government subsidies?
[ Tesla has made no new battery breakthroughs. Batteries aren’t much better today than they were 200 years ago. All Tesla did was build a better battery management system (BMS) by stringing tiny batteries together — thousands of them. But … Continue reading
Posted in Debt, Lithium-ion, Photovoltaic Solar, Subsidies
Tagged altnerative energy, debt, renewables, subsidies, tesla
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Gail Tverberg The oil glut and low prices reflect an affordability problem
Tverberg, G. March 9, 2015. The oil glut and low prices reflect an affordability problem. ourfiniteworld.com For a long time, there has been a belief that the decline in oil supply will come by way of high oil prices. Demand … Continue reading
Posted in By People, Debt, Gail Tverberg, Inflation or Deflation
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Signs of Peakiness, oil companies are running out of cash
Andrew Nikiforuk, August 29, 2014. A big summer story you missed: Soaring oil debt. The Tyee. Over 100 of the world’s largest energy companies are running out of cash. Photo of Keystone pipeline in Nebraska by Shannon Ramos. Creative Commons … Continue reading
Posted in Debt, Energy Markets, Peak Oil
1 Comment
Student loan crisis widens gap between rich and the rest
Student loan crisis widens gap between rich and the rest. Bill Zimmerman. February 21, 2014. San Francisco Chronicle. Growing concern about wealth and income inequality overlooks a principal cause: the student loan crisis, which is much deeper than the $1.1 … Continue reading
Posted in Debt
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