[Rooters] Unstoppable, because even with aggressive reductions in carbon - and the resulting slowing or dropping of average temperatures - the ... [drum roll] warming sea water expands, and as it mixes with the cooler water, it keeps expanding!
"Though sea-level rise cannot be stopped for at least the next several hundred years, with aggressive mitigation it can be slowed down, and this would buy time for adaptation measures to be adopted," the scientists added. Or buy your funeral plot on high ground. Adaptation occurs quickly. We can move people out of the Maldives in a year -- send them all to Pakistan. Or Somalia. Or Yemen. They might prefer to take their chances staying on the islands.
Low-lying areas can be evacuated and repurposed much more quickly than the oceans will rise.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/06/2012 13:28 ||
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#1
Just think, by the time we need worry, the Oceans will Boil over, NOT a problem.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/06/2012 13:42 Comments ||
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#2
OUR WEAPONS ARE USELESS AGAINST IT!!!
SEND MORE GRANT MONEY!!!
#3
Can't be stopped? Pish! A good ice age will drop sea levels 300 meters in the (geologically relative) blink of an eye. What do you think the sea levels have been rising from?
#5
Well, someone sure stopped them. There hasn't been any global sea level rise in over a year and if you go back before a jump in 2009, they were pretty much steady from 2005 to 2009.
Oh, sure! Drag facts and data into it. Once you do that, you have to admit there hasn't been any warming for a decade, except in the fevered imagination and cooked data of alleged scientists. Stuff like that will get you kicked out of the Enviro-Alarmist Movement.
The United Nations on Thursday called for a tax on billionaires to help raise more than $400 billion a year for poor countries. Because they know how to handle money so well. $400 billion from billionaires? They won't be billionaires much longer. Perhaps that is the point...
An annual lump sum payment by the super-rich is one of a host of measures including a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, currency exchanges or financial transactions proposed in a UN report that accuses wealthy nations of breaking promises to step up aid for the less fortunate. Could someone remind the UN what is the original purpose of the UN was?
The annual World Economic and Social Survey says it is critical to find new ways to help the world's poor as pledged cash fails to flow. Critical my a$$.
The report estimates that the number of people around the globe worth at least $1 billion rose to 1,226 in 2012. Personally, I think the UN ought to cut its expenses by 3/4 and donate that to needy countries instead.
There are an estimated 425 billionaires in the United States, 315 in the Asia-Pacific region, 310 in Europe, 90 in other North and South American countries and 86 in Africa and the Middle East. Let's start with Soros.
Together they own an estimated $4.6 trillion so a one percent tax on their wealth would raise more than $46 billion, according to the report.
"Would this hurt them?" it questioned. Seems to me the US income tax started as less than one percent, too.
"The 'average' billionaire would own $3.7 billion after paying the tax. If that billionaire spent $1,000 per day, it would take him or her over 10,000 years to spend all his or her wealth," the report says. And it would take the fat cats in these countries only a year to spend it.
It says that the wealth of billionaires grew at an average rate of four percent a year in the two decades before the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
"If that rate of growth returned with no wealth tax, the average billionaire's wealth would double in less than 18 years."
The idea could appeal to the likes of Warren Buffett, the US tycoon who has complained that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. France's new Socialist government has caused consternation by vowing a 75 percent tax on salaries above one million euros ($1.24 million). Warren can fund it then.
But the UN acknowledged that the idea is unlikely to get widespread support from the target group, saying that for now its tax on the unimaginably wealthy remains "an intriguing possibility." Gee. How to manipulate the social and educational systems to make it an attractive possibility in another 40 years ....
"It has not been regarded as a means of raising revenues for international cooperation," the report says. There's a reason. Billionaires will be coming after you if you keep talking like that.
The document gives other ideas for international taxes, including:
-- a tax of $25 per tonne on carbon dioxide emissions would raise about $250 billion. It could be collected by national governments, but allocated to international cooperation.
-- a tax of 0.005 percent on all currency transactions in the dollar, yen, euro and pound sterling could raise $40 billion a year.
-- taking a portion of a proposed European Union tax on financial transactions for international cooperation. The tax is expected to raise more than $70 billion a year.
It also suggests expanding a levy on air tickets that a number of nations already impose to raise money for drugs for poor states through UNITAID, a UN initiative.
The report says more than $1 billion has been handed over to UNITAID since the levy started in 2006.
France has a one euro tax for a domestic flight in economy and six euros for international flights -- with 10 euros for business class on domestic flights and 40 euros on international tickets. The air industry fiercely opposes any extension of the tax, arguing that it already pays heavily in taxes and levies.
However, because of budget cuts, aid and development assistance to poor countries fell $167 billion short of promised levels in 2011, according to Rob Vos, the report's lead author.
The UN expert said the taxes make "economic sense" as they stimulate the green economy and "mitigate financial market instability." How do hopelessly poor countries contribute to financial market instability?
"In short, such new financing mechanisms will help donor countries overcome their record of broken promises," he added. Why were the promises broken in the first place?
Without commenting on any of the individual taxes proposed, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that if the new "innovative financing" is to become viable, "strong international agreement is needed." Innovative financing? Like a gerbil worming or other equally BS tax?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/06/2012 16:46 Comments ||
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#11
Since the bulk of the worlds poor were caused by bad government...
Rjswartz hits the target in #2. Countries are not poor because they lack money, as contrary as that might sound. They are poor because they are running a faulty operating system.
The gap between the haves and the have-nots (the Great Divergence) that has grown up since the 1700s is not due to colonialism, imperialism or any of the traditional whines. If you installed certain applications - like Property Rights, Rule of Law, Scientific Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Modern Medicine, Competition, some flavor of Market Economics - you did well. If you did not, you either fell behind or worse, stagnated.
If the UN actually wanted to do something other than wet its beak, it would actively work to overthrow roughly half of its member countries.
A 30-year-old woman and her two children had their heads chopped off in Afghanistan's eastern Ghazni province on Tuesday, but no arrests have yet been made, local officials said.
The brutal murder of Setara and her eight-year-old son and nine-year old daughter took place in the capital of Ghazni province on Tuesday night, head of Ghazni's Department of Women's Affairs Shukria Wali said.
Initial investigations and reports suggested the killer was Setara's ex-husband - the children's father - but no arrests or charges have been made.
"The case of the murder is unknown yet, but it seems to be that she was beheaded by her husband," Wali said.
Setara had divorced her husband Mohammad Arif, 38, a year ago after almost a decade of domestic abuse.
Her case was registered with Ghazni's Department of Woman's Affairs, Wali said, who added that Arif was also a drug addict.
Local police said that they were still investigating the case and no one was yet tossed in the clink ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... over the murders.
The authorities in Kazakhstan have charged prominent opposition activists with plotting to overthrow the government, media have reported.
Vladimir Kozlov, head of the banned Alga! party, was the most high-profile opposition activist charged, according to press reports, although there has not yet been any official confirmation. Police detained Mr Kozlov in January, in the aftermath of an anti-government riot that killed 15 people, and accused him of inciting unrest. The new charges represent a significant increase in the severity of the accusations levied against him.
The AP news agency quoted Mikhail Sizov, an Alga! party representative, as saying that Mr Kozlov could spend up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. Mr Sizov also said that he expected Mr Kozlov's trial to begin either in July or August.
Alongside Mr Kozlov, the Kazakh authorities have also charged at least one other member of Kazakhstan's disparate opposition with plotting a revolution, local media reported.
Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have previously called for the release of Mr Kozlov and other opposition activists, and described them as prisoners of conscience.
Kazakhstan has countered that the opposition activists are a threat to national security and to the stability of the country.
The riot on Dec 16 in the scruffy oil town of Zhanaozen in the west of the country posed the biggest threat to stability in Kazakhstan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Since the riot, the security forces have cracked down on political activists and journalists linked to the opposition.
This month a court in Aktau, the largest town near Zhanaozen, jailed 13 people for instigating the riot. Another court also jailed five policemen in May for the death of the protesters.
The security services link Mr Kozlov to fugitive billionaire Mukhtar Ablyazov who has openly funded Kazakh opposition. Ablyazov fled a British court earlier this year where he had been standing trial for perjury. In March, the security services accused Ablyazov of plotting to plant bombs in Almaty in order to incite social disorder and revolution.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2012 00:00 ||
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Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is proposing joint disaster exercises between militaries in the Asia-Pacific region in an apparent signal that Jakarta will lower its rhetoric on a potential United States drone base and troop deployments to Australia. Indonesian officials initially said that the deployment would create tension and mistrust.
During his two-day visit to Darwin, Yudhoyono made no mention of the deployment, while suggesting that nations in the region, including China, might join the US in planning disaster relief operations.
Australia has promoted the US Marines' presence and Darwin's proximity to Indonesia as useful for emergency relief operations in case of future disasters or emergencies. Beijing, however, has been wary of Washington's intentions in the Asia-Pacific region, with hawkish voices in the Chinese military saying that the US has been intent on encircling China and frustrating its rise.
Indonesia previously participated in a multi-nation military disaster relief exercise, hosting an event in Manado, North Sulawesi, involving 20 countries in 2011.
#2
I'll use Googles web page because its free. I won't buy a product from them. And if I discover another search engine worth a damned I'll abandon their free search as well. Bunch of a$$hats if you ask me.
Employers in the U.S. hired fewer workers than forecast in June, showing the labor market is making scant progress toward reducing joblessness.
Payrolls rose 80,000 last month after a 77,000 increase in May, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists projected a 100,000 gain, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The unemployment rate held at 8.2 percent. Private employment, which excludes government agencies, increased 84,000 in June, the weakest in 10 months.
Stock-index futures extended losses as the figures indicated hiring has shifted into a lower gear, restricting consumers' ability to boost spending as concern mounts about a global slowdown. Elevated joblessness underscores concern by some Federal Reserve policy makers that the economy isn't expanding enough.
"The job market is soft as is the overall the economy," said David Resler, chief economic adviser at Nomura Securities International Inc., who correctly forecast the jobs gain. "I'd characterize our reaction as much the same way the Fed will react -- not surprised but disappointed. It's just not the kind of growth we need to see at this stage in the business cycle."
The contract on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index expiring in September fell 0.4 percent to 1,367.58 at 8:53 a.m. in New York. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped to 1.55 percent from 1.60 percent late yesterday.
Economists' Estimates
Estimates for total payrolls from the 84 economists surveyed ranged from increases of 35,000 to 165,000 after a previously reported 69,000 gain in May.
Revisions to prior reports subtracted a total of 1,000 jobs to payrolls in the prior two months.
Private payrolls, which exclude government agencies, climbed after a revised gain of 105,000 that was larger than initially reported. They were projected to advance by 106,000 in June, the survey showed.
June concluded the worst quarter for corporate hiring since the first three months of 2010. Last month's change in private payrolls reflected a 2,000 increase in education and health services that was the smallest in almost two years.
June is when colleges graduates start their careers. This is not a good sign.
Jobless Rate
The unemployment rate, derived from a separate survey of households, was forecast to hold at 8.2 percent, according to the Bloomberg survey median. Estimates ranged from 8 percent to 8.3 percent. Joblessness has exceeded 8 percent since February 2009, the longest such stretch since monthly records began in 1948.
Factory payrolls increased by 11,000, more than the survey forecast of a 7,000 increase and following a 9,000 increase in the previous month.
Employment at service-providers added 67,000 workers after 98,000. Construction companies added 2,000 workers and retailers cut 5,400 jobs.
Government payrolls decreased by 4,000.
Average hourly earnings rose to $23.50 from $23.44 in the prior month, today's report showed.
#7
Ummm, i'm disabled, stroke followed by partial blindness and weak left arm and leg, also got CRS (Can't Remember Shit).
And Yes I get disability, it's enough, but I miss working and using my brain to solve problems.
Mostly I sit, seems like heaven, but it's NOT.
PS, I'm a Machinist. Or was.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/06/2012 13:34 Comments ||
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#8
CRS (Remember) I'm also trained as a Master Mechanic, as well.
I can fix my car, but mostly tell the friendly Garage what's wrong, and they fix it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/06/2012 13:40 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2012 14:40 Comments ||
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#10
Need to stop listing unemployment numbers [as they're just rigged beyond redemption] and look at labor force participation [which hasn't been as manipulated - yet].
#11
the payroll number is a better number than the labor force participation number
they are both estimates but the former is from a larger more robust data base and furthermore is adjusted the next two months
a separate issue is that the +80k number isn't even as 'good as it looks' because the average work week declined
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/06/2012 17:19 Comments ||
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#12
Hmm. Is anyone else getting the quite loverly script in TW's inline, or is that just my workstation?
Oh Ptah, you noticed! :-). As part of the latest upgrade, Fred started playing with fonts. I haven't decided yet if I,m to keep it, or maybe get something a little simpler. What do y'all think?
#13
Wouldn't have thought that Germany would reach a lower unemployment rate than the U.S.
Btw in my home city it's 3.9%
Posted by: European Conservative ||
07/06/2012 18:56 Comments ||
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#14
I'm concerned the new fonts are too hard to read. Frilly is nice, but with fonts readability is paramount. Frilly fonts should be used for titles and other one-time uses. They're hard on the eyes for extended reading. Readers tend to tune out. Learned this running my magazine for 3 years.
[Ma'an] Past the Israeli sentry towers blackened by Molotov cocktails and the entrance to a refugee camp emblazoned with posters of rifle-clenching krazed killers, downtown Ramallah sparkles.
The scars of an intractable conflict and occupation melt away: cafes bustle with smartly dressed patrons, water-pipe smoke perfumes the air and basslines from trendy clubs shake the night. New model BMWs ply leafy avenues beneath villas and tall apartment blocks sprout from the West Bank hills.
But it's more mirage than miracle.
"Thank God for loans," said Ibrahim el-Far, owner of the newly-opened branch of the upscale Italian cafe chain Segafredo Zanetti in Ramallah, the Paleostinians' commercial capital and headquarters of their government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Growth in the West Bank is concentrated in Ramallah and in real estate and services even as many sectors like agriculture and construction languish.
Government spending and living on credit at all levels of Paleostinian society is rampant and, as the euro zone crisis has shown, may prove to be the economy's undoing.
Bank lending for personal consumption in the Paleostinian territories has risen five-fold in the last two years to $417 million. Total credit for cars alone accounts for a further $119 million, according to the Paleostinian Monetary Authority.
"If you're immersed in troubles, why not try to live well, have night life and good coffee? If we've been slapped once by occupation, the slap from the credit bill won't hurt as much," El-Far said.
Aid for the donor-dependent Paleostinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank under interim peace deals with Israel, has slowed to a trickle.
Salaries for a swollen public sector again cannot be paid in full this month. The productive base for the economy is shriveling while unemployment climbs along with poverty.
An economic crisis has deepened -- growth is down from a peak of 9 percent in 2010 after the lows of the intifada to 5.4 percent in the first quarter of 2012 from the same 2011 period.
The Paleostinian Authority accounts for almost a third of the $3.5 billion in credit given by banks in the Paleostinian territories but, with donor aid flagging and revenues down, it is not clear how much longer that can last.
A request for a $1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund was turned down, officials said this week. And foreign aid is waning partly because of global economic conditions and partly in a backlash to the Paleostinians' abortive bid for statehood at the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... last fall.
Peace and coveted statehood remain elusive. Negotiations with Israel have been frozen since 2010 over Israel's refusal to extend a freeze on Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Unstoppable, because even with aggressive reductions in carbon - and the resulting slowing or dropping of average temperatures - the ... [drum roll] warming sea water expands, and as it mixes with the cooler water, it keeps expanding!
The United Nations on Thursday called for a tax on billionaires to help raise more than $400 billion a year for poor countries.
The authorities in Kazakhstan have charged prominent opposition activists with plotting to overthrow the government, media have reported.
