Baltic Dry Index. 1201 -23 Brent Crude
47.21
Eurasian Snow cover. (How bad will
winter be?)
I think the big problem this
country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many
people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to
be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either.
Donald Trump
Our world is changing, moving away from
the Liberal Elitist left, moving towards social conservatism, less state
interference in life, rolling back socialist projects. From Brexit, to
Trumpmania, to France yesterday, voters have turned away from entrenched
mainstream media political correctness. Will Italy and Austria be next with next
weekend’s referendum in Italy and a rerun presidential election in Austria?
Whatever the outcome next weekend, the
failed policies of the Clintons, Blairs, Bushs’, Obamas, and Hollande-Merkel-Juncker’s
of Europe, plus the massed ranks of ex-Goldmanite central banksters, has
generated the counter revolution underway. Where it all ends no one can say,
but 2016-2017 is shaping up to begin a new era. Stay long fully paid up
physical gold and silver as insurance.
The present weak recovery from the Great
Recession of 2008-2009 is already long in the tooth. Whether the global economy
gets a recession next year, or the return of inflation under Trumpmania seems a
50:50 bet at present. What is certain is that 2017 onwards won’t be a repeat of
the Greenspan-Bernanke-Yellen casino capitalism era.
Fillon Wins French Republicans’ 2017 Presidential Nomination
November 27, 2016 — 8:39 PM GMT Updated on November 27, 2016 — 10:21 PM
GMT
Former Prime Minister Francois Fillon was nominated as the French Republicans’
candidate for next year’s presidential election, as voters on the right picked
a figure promising tough economic reforms and unabashedly embracing traditional
values to lead their party back to power.
With about half the vote counted and Fillon leading by almost 40
percentage points, his rival Alain Juppe conceded and called on his supporters
to rally behind the winner. Fillon led by 67 percent to 33 percent with almost
all the polling stations having reported.
The result marks the end of months of campaigning in the Republicans’
first-ever primary contest and completes the opening phase of a presidential
race that will end next May. Fillon was running a distant third for most of the
contest until his upset first-place finish against six other candidates one
week ago. He will now become the main rival for Marine Le Pen’s
anti-immigration, anti-euro platform in next spring’s election.
“My campaign has been understood: France will not stand for its
decline,” Fillon said. “My ambition is to lift up the nation to be the best
version of itself.”
Whoever wins office next May will take over a country where growth and
employment lag European averages and where terrorists have killed more than 200
people in less than two years, stoking religious tension and triggering
soul-searching about France’s national identity. Concern about the national
debt, which stands at about 97 percent of economic output, was the top
motivation behind those supporting Fillon, according to Jean-Daniel Levy, a
pollster at Harris Interactive in Paris.
Fillon,
one of the rare French politicians who proclaims his admiration for Margaret
Thatcher, wants to lengthen the work week to 39 hours from 35, to increase the
retirement age to 65 and add immigration quotas. He has vowed to eliminate half
a million public-sector jobs and cut spending by 100 billion euros ($106
billion) over five years in office. He’s also proposing a 40 billion-euro
tax-cut for companies and a constitutional ban on planned budget deficits.
More
Renzi faces pressure to stay in office as Italy referendum defeat looms
When a handful of European leaders met Barack Obama in Berlin this month
to say their goodbyes, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi informed the group
that he may well lose power before the U.S. president.
While Obama leaves office on Jan. 20, Renzi has promised to resign if he
does not win a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reform, opening the way for
renewed political instability in the eurozone's third largest economy.
"I have no desire to hang around if I lose," Renzi told the
gathering, according to a diplomatic source who was at the low-key Nov. 18
meeting.
Opinion polls now predict Renzi's defeat, in what would be the third big
anti-establishment revolt by voters this year in a major Western country,
following Britain's unexpected vote to leave the European Union and the U.S.
election of Donald Trump.
Pressure is mounting on Renzi to drop his threat and instead agree to
remain in power to deal with the fallout from a 'No' vote, including the risk
of a fullblown banking crisis.
Obama himself said in October that Renzi should "hang around for a
while no matter what" and a number of businessmen and senior government
officials contacted by Reuters said they feared the worst if the prime minister
abandoned his post.
MoreU.K. Lawmakers Demand Pre-Brexit Deal With EU on Resident Rights
November 27, 2016 — 9:07 PM GMT
A group of 81 British lawmakers have
written to European Union President Donald Tusk to demand an agreement is
reached on rights for Britons living in the EU and for Europeans in the U.K.
before Brexit talks are formally opened.
The letter asks Tusk to add reciprocal rights for citizens to the agenda
for a European leaders meeting on Dec. 15 and claims there is agreement across
most EU states on the issue. Michel Barnier, who will lead negotiations for the
EU, infuriated the group when he insisted talks cannot start on any aspect of
Brexit until triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which formally starts
the process of exiting the bloc. “No negotiation without notification,” Barnier
tweeted on Nov. 21.
“Michel Barnier’s intransigence is inhumane. It is only compounded by
the petulance of his recent tweet,” Steve Baker, a Conservative lawmaker and
one of the letter’s signatories, said in an e-mailed statement. “He should
apologize and immediately agree in principle the continuation of reciprocal
rights for resident U.K. and EU citizens.”
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she wants to invoke Article 50
by the end of March, which will start two years of talks on Britain’s divorce
from the EU, and says the rights of residents is an issue she will seek to
agree early in the process. Other leaders have made it clear that formal talks
cannot begin until after the article is triggered.
----The signatories to the letter, who include hardline Brexiteers, such as former cabinet ministers Michael Gove, Iain Duncan Smith and John Whittingdale, say citizens should not be used as “bargaining chips” or “cards to be traded tit for tat in a political playground.”
Conservative lawmaker Michael Tomlinson, who signed the letter on behalf
of the group, called on Tusk to allow May to negotiate a deal on rights of
residents before formal talks begin.
More
Brexit dealmaker Verhofstadt backs paid EU membership for Britons
The European Parliament's top Brexit negotiator backed the idea of
individual European Union memberships for Britons who want to stay in the bloc
in an interview published on Saturday.
Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, a European federalist and
arch-foe of eurosceptics said there were legal obstacles - but in principle he
supported individual EU memberships for Britons, paid by annual fee.
"Many say 'we don't want to cut our links'. I like the idea that
people who are European citizens and saying they want to keep it have the
possibility of doing so," he told the Times.
Andrew Bridgen, a pro-Brexit British member of parliament, said
Verhofstadt's comments were designed to divide Britons and undermine June's
vote to leave the EU.
"The truth is that Brussels will try every trick in the book to
stop us leaving," he told the Times.
The European Parliament will have a limited role in the detailed
negotiations with British Prime Minister Theresa May, once she formally
launches the process triggered by the June 23 referendum vote to leave the
bloc.
More
In other news, it’s OPEC decision time yet
again, while GB gets a Brexit vote of confidence by Jaguar Land Rover.
OPEC Seeks Oil Deal as Saudis Open Door for No Output Cut
OPEC is embarking on a last-ditch diplomatic push to reach a production
cut, with ministers flying to Russia for talks, as Saudi Arabia for the first
time suggested the oil-club doesn’t necessarily need to curb output.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet on Wednesday
in Vienna to try finalize the terms of its first production decrease in eight
years. Yet the group remains divided about how to share the
curbs internally and Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi oil minister, has opened
the door to leave the group’s production unchanged.
“We expect demand to recover in 2017, then prices will stabilize, and
this will happen without an intervention from OPEC,” Al-Falih said in Dhahran,
eastern Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, according to the Saudi newspaper Asharq
al-Awsat. “We don’t have a single path which is to cut production at the OPEC meeting,
we can also depend on recovery in consumption, especially from the U.S.”
Brent crude fell 0.1 percent to $47.19 a barrel by 5:08 a.m. in London
amid skepticism OPEC will reach an agreement to cut production.
Al-Falih’s comments came two days after Saudi Arabia decided not to
attend a meeting with non-OPEC producers, including Russia, scheduled for
Monday because of internal divisions within the group. The meeting was later
canceled and instead OPEC officials will meet in Vienna to bridge their differences
ahead of the ministerial gathering on Wednesday.
More
Jaguar Land Rover wants to build electric cars in Britain
Britain's biggest carmarker Jaguar Land Rover said it wants to build
electric cars in Britain in what would be a further boost to the UK automotive
sector after the Brexit vote.
The Indian-owned carmaker built just under a third of Britain's 1.6
million cars last year and showcased its first electric car earlier this month,
which will be built in Austria.
But Chief Executive Ralf Speth suggested that the Indian-owned
automaker, which operates three car plants in central and northern England,
could bring further production to Britain.
"We want to build our EVs (electric vehicles) in the West Midlands,
in the home of our design and engineering," Speth told an industry meeting
on Thursday evening according to a spokeswoman.
Speth told Reuters in September it made sense to build electric
batteries and cars in its home market if the conditions, including pilot
testing and support from science, were right.
Britain announced an extra 390 million pounds ($485 million) of funding
to support autonomous and green technologies earlier this week, following on
from a raft of proposals designed to promote the country as a hub for
innovation over recent years.
Jaguar Land Rover said it would not comment on when electric cars would
be built in Britain or on potential job creation.
Any new production would be seen as a further boost to the automotive
sector after Japanese carmaker Nissan said it would build two new models at the
country's biggest car plant following a promise of government support.
More
Political language... is
designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an
appearance of solidity to pure wind.
George Orwell
At the Comex silver depositories Friday
final figures were: Registered 30.91 Moz, Eligible 147.93 Moz,
Total 178.84 Moz.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally
doubled over.
While America’s President-elect wants to undo the
America plus rest of the world – Iran nuclear deal, the rest of the world is
gearing up to do business with Iran. From London it doesn’t look likely to me,
that many in the rest of the world will follow “The Donald’s” lead. But will
America really self-exclude its firms from Iran, gifting all the business to their
competitors? Next year we are about to find out.
Germany’s KfW Agrees on 1.2 Billion-Euro Iran Rail Loan
November 27, 2016 — 5:20 AM GMT
Germany agreed to provide Iran with a 1.2 billion euro ($1.27 billion)
credit line to help finance a rail project , according to an official at the
Central Bank of Iran.
The facility -- through state-run lender KfW IPEX -- will help fund
the development of the Tehran to Mashhad railway, the official said, asking not
to be identified. German banks have also agreed to help fund power stations in
the country, he said.
Iran has struggled to raise foreign financing for tens of billions of
dollars worth of infrastructure projects it hoped it could get started after
sanctions were eased 10 months ago. Large European banks have mostly kept their
distance, worried that they could fall afoul of remaining U.S. sanctions,
Iranian officials have said.
KfW IPEX, in an e-mailed statement, said it could “neither confirm any
loan, credit line or similar transaction within Iran nor are we -- due to
banking secrecy -- in position to comment on potential business or transactions
under negotiation.”
The funding has been agreed in principle and is close to being finalized,
Michael Tockuss, chairman of the Germany-Iran Chamber of Commerce, said in an
interview in London, adding it would be the biggest credit line Iran has
secured from foreign sources since the easing of sanctions in January.
“The idea is to choose projects that change the day to day reality for
the average Iranian citizen, to make them feel that it makes sense to make
international agreements,” Tockuss said. “It’s a frustration from our ministry
of economy that the bigger banks aren’t stepping in.”
Siemens AG has signed several agreements with Iran to develop its
railway network, including the electrification of the Tehran to Mashhad line,
the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported in January.
The political lesson of
Watergate is this: Never again must America allow an arrogant, elite guard of
political adolescents to by-pass the regular party organization and dictate the
terms of a national election.
Gerald R. Ford
Solar & Related Update.
With events
happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this
section. Updates as they get reported. Is converting sunlight to usable cheap
AC or DC energy mankind’s future from the 21st century onwards? DC?
A quantum computer next?
Spray printed crystals to move forward organic electronic applications
Date: November 22, 2016
Source: University of Surrey
Summary: New technology could revolutionize printed electronics by
enabling high quality semiconducting molecular crystals to be directly
spray-deposited on any surface.
New technology could revolutionize printed electronics by enabling high
quality semiconducting molecular crystals to be directly spray-deposited on any
surface.
University of Surrey and National Physical Laboratory's research allows
to convert organic semiconducting inks into isolated crystals through a
scalable process, suitable for a wide range of molecules.
The research has a direct impact on printed electronic applications for
flexible circuits, advanced photodetector arrays, chemical and biological
sensors, robotic skin tensile sensors, x-ray medical detectors, light emitting
transistors and diodes, and miniature lasers.
Has the time come to replace traditionally used silicon with printable
organic semiconductor inks? University of Surrey scientists believe so,
especially for future electronics that need to be flexible, lightweight,
wearable and low-cost.
Single crystal semiconductors, such as silicon, have been at the
forefront of scientific interest for more than 70 years, serving as the backbone
of electronic devices. Inorganic single crystals are typically grown from a
melt at very high temperatures, in special chambers filled with inert gas,
using time-consuming and energy intensive processes. A new class of crystalline
materials, called organic semiconductors, can also be grown as single crystals,
but in a very different way, using solution-based methods at room temperature
in air, opening up the possibility of large-scale production of inexpensive
electronics, targeting numerous applications ranging from field effect
transistors and light emitting diodes to medical x-ray detectors and miniature
lasers.
New research, published today in Nature Communications, conducted
by a team of researchers from the University of Surrey and National Physical
Laboratory, demonstrates for the first time a low-cost, scalable spray-printing
process to fabricate high-quality isolated organic single crystals. The method
is suitable for a wide variety of semiconducting small molecules, which can be
dissolved in solvents to make semiconducting inks, and then be deposited on
virtually any substrate. The key aspect is in combining the advantages of
antisolvent crystallization and solution shearing. The crystals' size, shape
and orientation are then controlled by the spay angle and distance to the
substrate, which govern the spray droplets' impact onto the antisolvent's
surface. These crystals are high quality structures, as confirmed by a
combination of characterisation techniques, including polarised optical and scanning
electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, polarised Raman spectroscopy and
field-effect transistor tests.
"This method is a powerful, new approach for manufacturing organic
semiconductor single crystals and controlling their shape and dimensions,"
said Dr Maxim Shkunov from the Advanced Technology Institute at the University
of Surrey.
MoreThe monthly Coppock Indicators finished October
DJIA: 18142
+32 Up NASDAQ: 5189 +31 Up. SP500: 2126 +46 Up.
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