Agmates

Have you been watching the US elections. Sarah Palin swept to the publics attention worldwide when she became John McCain’s vice president running mate.

I’ve been dying to comment on her appointment. This Video comment by Keith Olbermann from 3 days ago, I think says most of the things I’ve been thinking.

It is unbelievable that anyone could ever think that this ‘moose-hunting, soccer mum’ could be elected as vice president considering that Mccain if elected would be the oldest president elect ever.

If elected Palin would be just a 72 year old heart beat from the United States Presidency …… sssshhhhheeesh

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World finance makets are in melt down today. But here are some great numbers for Australias farmers, as at lunch time today:

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• The Aussie dollar was trading around 72 US cents, just 9 weeks ago it was 98cents. This will represent a massive boost for farm incomes.
• Oil was under $US89 a barrel, just 10 weeks ago it was $147 a barrel. Thats a 40% drop with no high dollar to distort the price. This should mean we will see fuel that was $1.70 a litre 10 weeks ago now back under a dollar a litre.
• The Reserve bank is expected to cut interest rates by half a percent today with more cuts expected to follow. It was just 12 weeks ago as variable rates edged up toward 10% that the Reserve was talking up more rate rises.

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The four major farm inputs are interest on debt, fuel, fertilizer & chemical (chemical & fertilizer prices are driven by oil prices). The cost all four major inputs has fallen dramatically. The dramatic fall in the dollar will drive export commodity prices up.

The Emissions Trading Scheme is dead and buried, or at least delayed indefinitely. Imposing an ETS on an economy is the perogative of only wealthy Western Countries.

The Government will have its hands full securing our economy in the face of a resources slow down that will follow a Western World recession, as surely as night follows day. It can ill afford to saddle the ecomony with the fiscal pressure of a go-it-alone carbon tax in industry and jobs.

The chances of the major emitting nations of the USA, China, Russia and India agreeing to restrict their economies will now be Slim to none, and Slim just let the building.

At last farmers had something to smile about. Its not all bad news. Unless of course farmers had borrowed up big to buy Shares or Urban Real Estate. Thats not likely.

Two British Comedians talking about the sub - prime market, and the Financial crisis - 12 months ago.

News is just out that the US Congess has approved the US $700m Wall Street Bail out.

I saw this video about March this year and thought it was very funny. What I realise now is how chillingly accurate their satirical predictions are.

This is hilarious - scary - how can two British comedians see and predict the unfolding crisis with such clarrity yet none of the powerbrokers, politician could?

(thanks to Agmate Leonard)

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This is an excellent video / audio of the Worlds Greatest Investor talking about his $3 billion investment in GE and the Wall Street Bail Out.

I consider Warren Buffet (the Oracle of Omaha ) to be one of the wisest people in the world and he has some great advise in these times of financial turmoil.

Hope you get something out of this. Click on the image to watch.

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While Australia is seriously contemplating national psychotic self harm - in the form of an Emissions Trade Scheme, the Brazilians are tearing down the Amazon forest at a frantic pace.

Amazon destruction jumped 228 per cent in August compared with the same month a year ago, according to a report from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research.

About 760sq km of the Amazon was destroyed last month, compared with 230sq km in August 2007.

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A recent report showed that Tropical deforestation in Latin America, Asia and Africa accounted for 15% of global CO2 emissions last year, with deforestation in Latin America accounting for 6% or 600 million tonnes. Australia accounts for 1.3% of global emissions.

So we’ll just keep kidding ourselves that by reducing our livestock numbers by 7 million Cattle and 35 million sheep and changing our diet to eating Skippy the national icon we will save the world.

Meanwhile its business as usual for Countries like Brazil, China, USA, Russia, India.

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Britain has not built a new coal fired power station in years. Power bills have jumped 40% so far this year.

Britains major power supply companies are warning that consumers can expect blackouts during the winter as their aging power station struggle to keep up with demand.

They are warning that power bills will go up another 15% this winter.

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“At the start of the year, the average dual fuel bill was £912 (AUD$2,025), but this has climbed twice so far this year to hit £1,303 (AUD$2,894). A 15 per cent increase in the New Year would cause prices to hit £1,500 (AUD$3,331).”

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Britain’s Environment minister Lord Smith has come out and stated publically that no new coal-fired power station can be built unless they are fitted with full “carbon capture and storage”.

On of the UK’s leading Journalists Christopher Booker writes in the UK Telegraph that carbon ‘carbon capture and storage’ is just a “green dream”.

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According to a McKinsey report given last week to the European Commission, the capital cost of a coal-fired power station fitted with “carbon capture” will be two or three times that of a conventional coal-fired plant.

Its operating costs could then also be double, not least because they will need to burn up to 60 per cent more coal to generate the same electricity.

At present, to generate 35 per cent of our power, we burn 52 million tons of coal, 22 million tons of which we have to import from Russia. To fit our power stations with “carbon capture” we would need to build at least four more large coal-fired plants just to make up the power diverted into disposing of CO2.

And to do that we would have to become even more dependent on imports from such unreliable sources as Russia, at a time when coal prices are already soaring.

Now, for yet another wholly unproven “green dream”, we are being asked to more than double the cost of coal-fired electricity yet again. ……… we will soon have to choose between these fantasies and our survival as a nation.

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Meanwhile Australia is going to spend $100m of tax payers money a year on a clean coal institute to pander to environmentalist fantasies, to produce what? Produce power at double the cost from coal-fired power stations.

Thats a good idea when a recent survey said that 53% of Australians would support action on Climate Change as long as their power bills did not go up by more than $10 a month.

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The $700 Billion dollars rescue package for Wall Street is meeting fierce opposition from thousands of ordinary Americans as the slog “Jail them don’t bail them” catches on with the American public.

A report today on News.com details the staggering riches paid to the CEO’s of the firms that presided over the coporate greed that has plunged the worlds finacial markets into chaos.

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“The five biggest - Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Merrill, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns paid their 185,687 employees $US66 billion in 2007, as problems with subprime mortgages mounted, including about $US39 billion in bonuses.”

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In what was the largest US brokerage house Merril Lynch paid its CEO Stanley O’Neal a total of $US172 million from 2003-2007.

Bears Stern CEO James Cayne was paid $US161 million before it collapse and was sold to JP Morgan Chase in June.

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Americans are sickened at watching the titans of finance walk away from Wall Street disasters not only unscathed, but enriched.

“The wealthiest people, those … in the best position to pay, are being asked for no sacrifice at all,” read a petition to Mr Paulson, which by yesterday, after three days, had 32,600 signatures.

Mr Paulson, the former Goldman Sachs Group chief executive officer, who received about $US111 million between 2003 and 2006, said in testimony to Congress this week that he would accept such limits as part of the plan, after initially opposing them.

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We are watching the collapse of unregulated “free market” capitalism.

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Make a note in your diary or I’d suggest if you don’t have one - start one or a scrap book or something. We are currently living through a momentous time in history. What we are currently seeing is a seismic shift in world power.

The worlds “centre of democratic capitalism” the USA economy is failing. I don’t know if the shift in global power will be to China, Russia or the European Union but its happening.

Here is the full 12 minute and 56 second “Economic Crisis” speech delivered to the US people by President George Bush on Wednesday the 24th of September 2008. Not since the great depression of 1930’s have we heard a US Presidential address like this.

Today Friday the 26th the US congress has still not approved the Presidents “rescue plan” which involves using $700 billion Tax payer dollars to take “toxic debt” off banks and financial institutions books.

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We have not heard from our great mate Joel Gill in the USA for a while. That’s understandable as he on the campaign trail for the upcoming November US elections. Joel is standing as the Democratic Nominee for Mississippi.

In an Email Joel writes:

G’ Day Mate, I know it has been a while, but my plate has been pretty full as Nov. 4 approaches.

Thought you might like to see some of the devastation in Texas from Hurricane Ike. Regards, Joel Gill

Thanks Joel and and all the best in the upcoming poll from your friends in the Agmates community.

“In its brief lifespan of only 13 days, Hurricane Ike wreaked great deal of havoc. Affecting several countries including Cuba, Haiti, and the United States, Ike is blamed for approximately 114 deaths (74 in Haiti alone), and damages that are still being tallied, with estimates topping $10 billion. Many shoreline communities of Galveston, Texas were wiped from the map by the winds, storm surge and the walls of debris pushed along by Ike - though Galveston was spared the level of disaster it suffered in 1900.

(Click here to see 28 photos total like the one below)

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Trade Liberalization and now an Emissions Trading scheme is leading to Corporate Agriculture at the expense of the family farm in Australia and New Zealand. Its a dangerous trend.

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“A SECOND baby has died from drinking contaminated milk powder in China, after one fatality was confirmed earlier.

the baby formula ended up with dangerous levels of melamine, a chemical used to make plastic and glues.”

The number of babies sickened after drinking contaminated milk powder has risen to about 580, state media reported, citing a senior official.

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The milk processing company Sanlu Group is 43% owned by the giant New Zealand Dairy company Fonterra who first raised concerns about the baby Milk formula in August.

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“Fonterra, which has said it knew of the problem since August, had pressed for a full public recall of all affected products, but had been blocked.”

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ABC’s 4 Corners program in its show “The Price we Pay” covered the dangers of large corporates controlling the food chains.

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STEPHEN LONG: For now though the power is with the giant retailers. Once they control the product, supermarkets can tender out the work to the lowest bidder.

GEOFF CUTLER, RETAIL CONSULTANT: With the home brand business growing, the brand is owned by the retailer so all you’re doing is contract manufacturing and that contract manufacturing could be supplied from anywhere around the world.

REG CLAIRS, WOOLWORTHS CEO 1993-98: And in, who knows, in 10 or 15 years’ time there may be a handful of global manufacturers that win back that power base.

And that’s a frightening thought, that if that occurs in 10 years from now.”

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As home brand grows we have no idea which country and under what conditions the food was grown or processed in.

Baby Formula is an incredibly easy product to ship around the globe.

The idea of big profit hungry multi national corporations controlling our food chain is as Reg Clarris puts it “a frightening thought”.

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What do you think - Have your say!

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