Thank you to all our visitors – both voluble and silent – for making this small corner of the free blogoverse a forum both informative and influential.
I just checked last month’s Climate Conversation web traffic figures out of cPanel and I’m mightily pleased. All metrics show record high figures. This is only for the CC sub-domain of WordShine (I really must shift it to climateconversation.org.nz, huh?). Here is the cPanel graph with October highlighted:
The release of the judge’s decision and the recently-filed costs arguments are obvious sources of increased interest. But there have been some notable threads of conversation on climate science which have pitted determined warmists against equally tenacious sceptics.
That interest has been notably magnified by Tall Bloke’s exposure of the court case and the analysis he posted.
It’s also clear from these figures that there are many, many silent observers visiting us regularly and they, ladies and gentlemen, are our most important audience.
Please notice there are no guarantees of our future freedom to discuss here whatever we wish to discuss, in fact there is already evidence of actual hatred of our freedom to do this. Let’s enjoy it while we may.
Views: 383
Congratulations on the traffic and keeping the conversation polite, which is more than you can say about this potty mouthed rant from Grist
http://grist.org/list/doug-lamalfa-is-the-archetypal-climate-denying-idio/
And more from the utter drivel MSM department. Doesn’t get much better than this
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/temperatures-may-rise-6c-by-2100-says-study-8281272.html
I’ve seen CCG comments in respect to temperature series linked at other blogs (e.g. WUWT, not talking about HT) by people that don’t actually comment here so they are reading comments under the posts (even as off-topic as they get).
Speaking of off-topic, quoting Indy:-
“The world is destined for dangerous climate change this century – with global temperatures possibly rising by as much as 6C – because of the failure of governments to find alternatives to fossil fuels, a report by a group of economists has concluded.”
Meanwhile, a group of reinsurers (Munich Re) has concluded that reinsurers should take into account “the fact” that climate change has boosted natural catastrophes [bunkum of course] when they price weather disaster insurance.
This reminds me of the story of Joe Kennedy exiting the stockmarket prior to the ’29 crash after everyone became an expert on stocks:-
“Taxi drivers told you what to buy. The shoeshine boy could give you a summary of the day’s financial news as he worked with rag and polish. An old beggar who regularly patrolled the street in front of my office now gave me tips and, I suppose, spent the money I and others gave him in the market. My cook had a brokerage account and followed the ticker closely. Her paper profits were quickly blown away in the gale of 1929.”
The hype and hyperbole of certain factions of climate science followed by extravagant claims by economists and reinsurers amongst pundits touting grossly overblown future scenarios, parallels boom-bust financial events. The “dangerous change” (Indy) this century will not be climate but debt-to-GDP ratios “because of the failure of governments” (Indy) to address the problem e.g. for US “Bank Money” depicted in this Fed Reserve graph from a David Evans’ article at JN:-
http://goldnerds.s3.amazonaws.com/gdp/gdp-fed-reserve.png
David Evans:-
“The critical debt-to-GDP ratio is normally around 150%. There have been two significant excursions above this value. The first was in the 1920′s, where it reached 196% in 1929 at the onset of the Great Depression (the GDP crashed harder than the money supply, sending the ratio even higher for a while). The other is since 1982, where it reached 230% by 1987 when we also had a stock market crash. Rather than do nothing like the central banks in 1929, the central banks in 1987 made cheap loans widely available, so there was no shortage of money. The bubble powered on, assisted by changes in banking rules to make money manufacture ever easier, and had soared to 375% in the US in 2008 when the GFC hit. It is now around 350% in the US – in Europe it’s even worse, around 450%. It’s global, so there is no unaffected party with which to trade our way out.”
http://joannenova.com.au/2012/10/buy-gold-while-its-in-the-ground-plus-david-and-jo-will-be-in-sydney-at-the-gold-symposium-monday/
Evans:-
“This is the end-game of the world’s deepest and broadest bubble ever, which began in 1982.”
The world is currently in the process of de-leveraging that debt and more and more attention is being directed to the old hard currencies – gold and silver – competitors to the banks paper promissory notes and absent since Nixon closed the gold window in 1971 only 41 years ago.
Evans:-
“Today, globally, there is around 210 trillion USD of debt, but only 150 trillion USD of assets. The banking crisis won’t end until that asset figure climbs above the debts, which gives the central banks another huge incentive to print. The value of all the gold ever mined is just under 10 trillion USD, so obviously if gold ever re-enters the money system in any meaningful way its value has to climb prodigiously.”
In the unemployed, financially crippled sectors of Europe right now and in the US presidential elections, climate is a non-issue but debt de-leveraging, austerity and the governmental environment required for job growth takes top billing. Obama’s policy has been “quantitative easing” QE i.e. borrowing for wasteful federal stimulus schemes (including renewables) but the US has reached its credit limit under his presidency.
Lately I’ve been looking at how silver fits into the store-of-wealth/currency picture even to the the extent of checking out the linkages, fixes and equivalences of land-silver, barley-silver, mercenaries-silver, gold-silver etc from antiquity. There’s not much difference to today’s ratios for non-leveraged commodities such as barley e.g. a homer (220 litres dry) of barley seed (620 gms/litre) was valued at fifty shekels of silver (about 25 oz) in OT times or 5.5 kgs barley/oz silver. At Countdown supermarket 500 gms of pearl barley costs $1.49 ($3/kg). At today’s silver spot price NZ$37.7/oz that’s 12.6 kgs barley/oz silver. Therefore, today’s barley is less than half the price of OT barley in silver currency terms (today’s silver coins being up to 99.99% pure e.g. Canadian Silver Maple Leaf) but after 4000 years (just my made up number) that barley price hasn’t changed much. But today’s leveraged land prices are far higher. Here’s an example of land bought for development in OT times:-
1 Kings 16:24
And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria.
An OT talent was 34 kg of silver and 68000g = 2398.6oz so the un-leveraged price of OT bare land at today’s silver spot price NZ$37.7/oz works out at just over NZ$90,000 (US$74,350) for a “hill” on which was built a small town (“city”, say 10 hectares). 10 hectares of bare land in central Israel today sells for US$6,000,000 or 193361oz silver at US$31.03/oz:-
http://www.israellandfund.com/en-us/investing-opportunities/investing-opportunity.htm?id=36
By silver standards, the land is very roughly 80 times more expensive after 4000 years (or whatever the timespan actually is). After a scenario of global debt de-leveraging to realistic levels and appreciation of silver as a result, that 193361oz land price could very possibly be much closer to the OT 2397oz price, maybe a multiple of 30 or 40 say rather than 80.
See: Updating the Silver Price Review & Forecast by Hubert Moolman (South Africa) August 23, 2012:-
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/2012/08/23/updating-the-silver-price-review-forecast
Quoting page 1/2:-
“If we were to consider a move down, then a first target of $15 and one lower at $5 would come into play, based on the patterns. A price of $5 (and even $15) does not make any economic sense, given the amounts of fiat money currently available.
However, there is a real threat of deflation, currently, and the effect of this has to be considered when looking at the future silver price. In my opinion, we do have a perfect setup for a massive deflation which will destroy a lot of debt-based value.
Stock market values have been driven for years by this debt-based value, and will, therefore, be very badly devalued. Many believe that such a fall in stock market values will take down the silver price. I do not agree, and have given many reasons why.
Here, I would just like to point out that the current threat of deflation is due to the massive debt levels, and the inability to service those debt commitments. You can just look at the example of Spain or Greece.
Silver is a real store of value and that is its most significant function. The current crisis will cause a massive rush to that which can store value that will not be destroyed by the debt-collapse. Silver is just about the opposite of debt.”
# # #
Have a look at the Gold/Silver Ratio chart on page 6 and the historical Gold/Silver Ratio charts here:-
http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/gold-prices/
Quoting Moolman:-
Gold/Silver Ratio
An additional factor affecting silver next year is a historic one.
The gold/silver ratio has throughout much of history been at around 16. That is, the price of gold has been 16 times higher than the price of silver.
Today this ratio is about 54. This means, based on the long-term historical ratio, silver “should” be over $100 an ounce.
Of course, most of the history of this ratio occurred when silver was considered money and not demonetized as it is today.
But the key here for investors to keep in mind is that during periods of monetary crisis, such as the 1970s, the price of silver tends to increase much more than the price of gold.
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/2012/11/01/why-silver-prices-in-2013-will-continue-to-perform?page=2
Silver is still legal tender in Utah USA.
The Western Australia state government has AAA rating thanks to the gold and silver deposits at its Perth Mint. Not so the New Zealand Government’s AA foreign currency and AA+ local currency credit ratings or Kiwi Bank’s A+ with a stable outlook from AA-.
Government debt-to-GDP is less than total credit: NZ 37%, UK 87%, US 103%, Ireland 123%. Greece 158%, Japan 233%:-
Comparing Debt Ratios
Track Standard & Poor’s credit rating and outlook among advanced economies and emerging economies, as well each nation’s [govt] debt-to-GDP ratio, starting in 2006 and projected through 2016.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703789104576272891515344726.html
Dealing with debt [Reserve Bank New Zealand]
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/speeches/4886900.html
NZ’s public+private credit is 160 – 170% of GDP (Figure 6 Public and private sector credit). That’s just a little over the historical 150% level Evans stated. Farm and housing mortgage debt % of GDP is now less than the 1920s but much more than 1980 (Figure 2). NZ is is good shape compared to some of the other cripples.
In wake of election, fiscal cliff emerges as No. 1 risk
7:51PM EST November 6. 2012 – NEW YORK — Now that the 2012 U.S. election is over, removing one of the major sources of uncertainty for financial markets, the focus on Wall Street will quickly shift to the other big uncertainty hanging over markets: the nation’s still-unresolved fiscal crisis.
Now that investors know who the president will be the next four years and the makeup of Congress, the main post-election market mover will center around the so-called fiscal cliff. This term describes the more than $600 billion in fiscal drag on the economy due to tax increases and government spending cuts slated to kick in on Jan. 1 unless U.S. lawmakers act to avert it.
Democrats and Republicans, who have starkly different approaches to reducing the nation’s ballooning deficit and jump-starting economic growth, must forge a compromise to limit the potential economic fallout, analysts say.
“It doesn’t matter who’s (in charge), both sides (of the political aisle) will have to deal with the cliff,” says Linda Duessel, equity market strategist at Federated Investors.
Wall Street’s message to President Obama and the new Congress is simple: Act now to get the USA’s financial house in order.
“Tackling the fiscal cliff will be the first order of business,” says Craig Johnson, a market strategist at Piper Jaffray. “If we can get any sort of sign that the cliff will be avoided or minimized, it would lift another piece of uncertainty from the investment landscape.” It would also give the stock market a much-needed booster shot of clarity, he adds, and put stocks back on track to make new all-time highs.
The stakes are high. If squabbling lawmakers can’t agree on a fix, the economy will fall back into recession early next year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
And a recession spells doom for corporate earnings, stock prices and investor confidence, warns Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer at Hugh Johnson Advisors.
“The economy and market performance,” he says, “hinges on the resolution of the fiscal cliff.”
The lack of clarity related to tax policy, bank regulations and health care costs have basically put businesses and Wall Street investors in wait-and-see mode. And an economy on hold, in which hiring decisions and expansion plans are frozen, is holding back the economy, adds Johnson.
“We have to remove the fiscal cliff uncertainty,” he says.
Fiscal crunch looming
If Congress doesn’t act before Jan. 1, the economy could face a fiscal headwind of more than $600 billion due to tax increases and government spending cuts. Potential fiscal drags:
Tax increases: $399 billion
Spending cuts: $102 billion
Other: $106 billion
Total: $607 billion
Source: Congressional Budget Office
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2012/11/06/post-election-investors-focus-on-fiscal-cliff/1687021/
# # #
This will be interesting……
Listened to the victory speech. Recognition of the fiscal/debt problem (inescapable) but a big nod to the climate change cult (after the election) and some Sandy spin:-
“The destructive power of a warming planet”
Good luck USA – you’ll need it.
Obama: “We want our children to live in a world without the destructive power of a warming planet.”
Damn right we do!
In case you hadn’t noticed, the erstwhile Denier-in-Chief had his butt handed to him on a plate by the “minorities” who stood in line for up to 9 hours to defeat sleazy Repug vote-suppression games.
“We want our children to live in a world without the destructive power of a warming planet.”
They are now and they will be in the future for a generation or so. What that generation will have to live in will be a planet cooling while the sun’s in a funk.
But we’ve moved on to here Brandoch:-
https://www.climateconversation.org.nz/2012/11/will-obama-trigger-insanely-ambitious-agenda-from-epa/
Some inconvenient reality ahead and its not a warming planet.
Great to see the traffic figures rocketing up on Climate Conversation!
Andy, I liked the Indy when I first went to the UK, but eventually rejected it as not being worth the bother of reading due to their toeing the CAGW line brazenly and brainlessly.
Doesn’t Ken usually pop up and explain why these traffic stats are wrong?
Are you watching Michael Mann in court?
Don’t miss this PSI update!
What an extraordinarily silly site this PSI is… I bet they predicted a Romney landslide as well.
But wait, here’s the REALLY good news!
http://whitepeoplemourningromney.tumblr.com
American politics aren’t really important. What is important is that New Zealand are pulling out of the Kyoto protocol at the end of the year, and it looks like the scheme is going to collapse:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/02/newzealand-carbon-idUSL3E8LP1E220121102
It won’t be long before the ETS will be thrown on the scrapheap as well. Those that invested in forestry because they thought they could make some money on the backs of the taxpayer are about to lose some money big time. I’m sure the socialists will be dancing in the streets when the ‘rich pricks’ lose their money.
‘Unlimited imports of the offsets have driven the price of NZUs to NZ$2.50 ($2.06) a tonne, down from NZ$20 18 months ago.’
The ETS is dead, it’s time to chuck out the Nats and get ourselves a proper Carbon Tax.
My kids are worth it. What about yours?
>”….get ourselves a proper Carbon Tax”
ANOTHER tax? Why? What for?
The ETS is dead because AGW theory is dead. Why tax people for a theory that empirical evidence from multiple sources has proven a failure? That’s just dumb, unless of course there is some evidence for AGW.
Magoo, there are none so blind as those who refuse to see…. you and your absurd faith are first to be pitied, then rendered irrelevant.
>”…your absurd faith”
The absurd faith is entirely a warmist trait since planetary temperatures went into hiatus Brando, The doctrine of warmism is the dogma of man-made climate change cultism. Those denying the doctrine are the heretics who must be expunged if the faith-based but deluded cult is to continue unopposed.
Unfortunately for the warmists, entire countries are abandoning dogma, doctrine and dues. New Zealand looks to be moving in that direction thankfully.
I have to laugh. Faith? Now that’s rich coming from someone with no evidence to back their claims. Well if it’s faith then you must have some evidence to the contrary Brandoch. What is that evidence again Brandoch?
I have measurements from 2 satellites, over 30,000,000 radiosondes, and temperature records that confirm these findings, all peer-reivewed – what do you have? Surely your evidence must exist as it’s supposed to be ‘overwhelming’, maybe you can educate us with this evidence. I keep asking but nobody ever seems to know where it is. Maybe you know where it is Brandoch – be a buddy and help us all out, for the sake of the AGW cause at least. Maybe it’s a polar bear, or a melting Himalayan glacier, or maybe a storm, or some rain, or some wind, or a bit of dust.
If you don’t have evidence then what do you have – faith. Where is the evidence Brandoch? Hot spot? Positive water vapour feedback? No? Like you said, there are none so blind as those who will not see. Now, where’s this evidence showing your 20/20 vision Brandoch? Hmmm? In order to see there must be something to see – help us all out and show us Brandoch, since your vision is so clear.
Regrettably for the global warming religion, its predictions have started to appear shaky, and the converts, many of whom have lost their jobs and much of their wealth, are losing faith. Worse, heretic scientists have been giving the lie to many of the prophecies described in the IPCC bible. They could not be silenced. Believers in man-made global warming are declining. It will require an extraordinary crusade presaging even direr climate consequences for defying the warmist faith, before defectors even contemplate rejoining the religion. If that fails it may be time to burn sceptics at the stake. But then that would increase CO2 emissions. A dilemma, to be sure. –Maurice Newman, The Australian, 5 November 2012
Off topic, but weapon grade stuff from university of Canterbury
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/7940386/Carbon-footprint-study-examines-solo-mums
>”By contrast, free-spending, time-rich Dinky couples (double income, no kids yet), are the most likely to be able to lessen their footprints.”
They do this by strapping mountain bikes to the back of their eco-friendly low-emission SUV (not excluding VW V12 Toureg diesels or Porsche Cayennes of course).
This provides the environmental immunity necessary when venturing beyond the urban fringe while demonstrating environmental awareness and concern for the planet. Not your average Japanese import 4×4 clunker for them, no siree.