China to Put 3 Million Americans Back to Work
The “Currency Manipulator” That’s About to Put 3 Million Americans Back to Work
By Martin Hutchinson, Global Investing Strategist, Money MorningWell, boy has the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) got news for you.
The United States’ No. 1 strategic consultancy’s latest study shows 2 million to 3 million manufacturing jobs and about $100 billion in output can be expected to return to the United States from China by 2020.
That’s right. China, so often the scapegoat for U.S. joblessness – and an alleged “currency manipulator” – actually is becoming our best ally in the fight against high unemployment.
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China: Continued Boom or Bursting Bubble?
By James Quinn, Casey Research
In a recent article, How China Ate America’s Lunch, Clif Carothers described what China has accomplished in the last thirty years:
In thirty short years, China was able to accelerate her GDP from $216 billion to $6 trillion. She amassed reserve capital of $3 trillion. She reversed America’s fortunes from the greatest creditor nation to the greatest debtor nation. She gutted America’s factories while creating the world’s largest manufacturing base in her own country. A measure of output that highly correlates to GDP is energy consumption. In June of this year, 2011, China surpassed the United States as the largest consumer of energy on the planet. While the US consumes 19% of the world’s energy, China consumes 20.3%.
While China was growing their economy by a phenomenal 2,800%, the US GDP grew from $2.3 trillion to $15 trillion – a mere 650% increase, of which 420% was due to inflation. There is no question that China’s progress has been remarkable. The question is whether that growth is sustainable and built upon a solid foundation. Continue reading
Natural Gas Trends
It seems that everywhere we look these days- from U.S. shale to massive Turkmenistan reserves- natural gas seems to be the energy source of the future.
Back in 2006 Turkmenistan claimed to have found a field of up to 24 Trillion Cubic Meters of natural gas. At the time BP was saying that the reserves were probably less than 1/10th the amount. Since then the Chinese have been nailing down reserves left and right and it appears that these reserves may be twice as large as originally thought. Unfortunately, the U.S. has been woefully slow to catch on to the Chinese game.
But recently Hillary Clinton got around to sending an envoy to Turkmenistan trying to catch up with the Chinese. See the full report by Dr. Daly from OilPrice.com.
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New Energy Trend in Japan?
Trends in Energy–
In the wake of the massive nuclear tragedy in Japan the unthinkable has happened in a nation known for their efficiency of design. This is causing the entire nation and possibly the world to re-evaluate their energy choices. Is this a mega-shift in trends? Could this usher in a period of turning to safer alternatives?
Just this past week General Electric’s (GE) GE Energy division debuted its Electric Vehicle Solar Carport. This carport has solar panels built into its roof and can feed the electricity it produces into GE’s new Smart EV Charging Stations opening the door for Solar powered cars. Each EV Solar Carport Project produces enough energy to power nearly 20 homes per year. And is targeted toward parking lots so cars can be parked in the shade and get charged up as well. There are millions of acres of parking lots around the country just ripe for producing solar energy (and shading cars). I would think many people would pay for the priviledge of parking in the shade even if they didn’t want to charge up their car. The excess energy could be fed back into the grid supplying energy during peak usage times (daytime) or used to charge the cars parked in them.
Perhaps as Dr. Daly suggests in this article the key components of alternative energy are coming together not only with G.E. but throughout the world.
Tim McMahon, editor
The Fukushima debacle has finally bared the industry’s darkest secret, its inability to manage its nuclear waste. The six reactor TEPCO Daichi Fukushima stored all its waste onsite, and the spent fuel rods and their lack of cooling have been a major contributor to the high radiation levels observed around the facility. Worse for nuclear power proponents has been the reluctant admission by TECPO that three of the complex’s six reactors apparently did in fact suffer a meltdown. So, what’s next?
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The Silver Sleuth
By Jeff Clark, Senior Editor, BIG GOLD
We once had an ongoing series in BIG GOLD called, “1001 Reasons to Own Gold.” The idea was that there were so many valid reasons to own the metal that I wanted to track and report on them. If you’ve been invested in the precious metals arena, you know there have been a myriad of bullish indicators for silver this year as well.
Here’s a couple new reasons to own silver that a lot of mainstream investors probably aren’t aware of…
Due to increased demand from industry and investors, silver exports from China are expected to drop about 40% this year. And that’s actually an improvement; customs data show exports plunged almost 60% through the first eight months. China exported about 3,500 metric tons of silver in 2009, but has exported only 970 tons through August of this year.
What a lot of Westerners don’t know is that China ended export “rebates” two years ago to stem the shipment of natural resources leaving the country. As a result of the regulation, silver exports decreased in 2009 but are nothing like what they’re experiencing this year. In other words, the large drop in exports is a direct result of a huge increase in demand within China itself. According to one Chinese banker, the spike in demand is coming from all areas – jewelry, investment, and industrial. In his words, it’s led to a “physical market shortage in the Far East.”
China: Gaga for Gaming
By Doug Hornig, Editor, Casey’s Extraordinary Technology
Developing nations are playing technological leapfrog.
In the developed world, when we think of technology, the roots of much of what we do today were born decades, or even a century, ago. While the evolution has been fast paced, the progression from there through today is a straight line from the technologies that preceded them. A television program is still a television program. A phone call is still a phone call. The devices might look different and certainly do more, but the lineage is obvious.
But what happens when your starting point isn’t the invention of the phone or the first personal desktop computer? What happens when you start from today?
In many parts of the world, most of the people still have never had a telephone conversation. Phones are coming, inevitably, as cheap technology leads to more widespread access and as global prosperity increases. But in these places, utilities don’t bother to string wire from poles to every single home on a block. It simply isn’t cost effective given today’s technology. Instead, they’re putting up wireless towers. The first and only phones their citizens will ever have are cells. Essentially, they’ve just vaulted over all the intervening technology, and their idea of what a phone call is doesn’t involve party lines, rotary dialing, or switchboard operators. Continue reading
China and India: Still Hungry for Coal
By Marin Katusa, Chief Energy Strategist, Casey Research
One can only hope that the “Don’t shoot the messenger” adage is still popular in the international community.
UK-based consultants M&C Energy Group have become the latest to join the chorus of voices asking the international community to increase the pressure on China and India to switch to cleaner energy sources.
As far as energy analyst David Hunter is concerned, it is the Western businesses that are carrying the financial burden of reducing carbon emissions. China and India, on the other hand, are benefitting from much cheaper energy, and their companies don’t have to bear the costs of reversing the effects of global warming.
Mr Hunter, however, should steel himself for disappointing news. Industry experts are expecting anything but a cut in coal demand for the foreseeable future.
By their analysis, global coal demand – already at a record high – will remain strong even as the recession cuts down on oil and gas use. And the numbers are certainly matching up to these expectations. Continue reading
