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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 8bits who wrote (190862)	8/12/2022 7:30:36 PM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 217716

Re <<Wonder for how long?>> Seems carbon energy still important, and not just in like-minded Japan which-european-countries-are-most-vulnerable-to-surging-energy-prices Which European countries are most vulnerable to surging energy prices? It’s better to be a consumer in Sweden than Britain Aug 11th 2022 Europe is facing an enormous energy-price shock. But not all Europeans are set to see the same hit to their living standards. According to estimates by the imf, the burden for the average family in Finland will be equivalent to an additional 4% of household spending. The picture is considerably grimmer a two-hour ferry ride across the Baltic Sea. In Estonia households face a hit of around 20%. Between these two countries lie most of the continent’s economies (see chart). On average, Europeans spend a tenth of their incomes on energy. Richer families tend to have bigger houses and cars, but the increase in energy costs that results from this is generally not as big as the difference in incomes. That leaves poorer households spending more of their budgets on energy. The same pattern holds between countries as within them. Europe’s poorer former-communist east is more vulnerable to higher prices than its rich Nordic north. Dependence on natural gas is another important factor in assessing vulnerability. Wholesale prices have doubled since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Coal prices are also up, but by a slightly more manageable 60%. Meanwhile, the price of renewables is unchanged. Thanks to a mostly unified market for natural gas European countries face similar wholesale prices: power generators that use gas in Bulgaria, on the continent’s eastern flank, pay roughly the same as those in Ireland, on its western one. Yet countries differ in their dependence on the stuff. Less than 3% of Sweden’s energy comes from natural gas, with hydroelectricity, wind and nuclear providing the bulk of it. Swedish homes are heated using communal systems, often fuelled by wood chips, or through heat pumps attached to the electricity grid. That puts the average increase in household spending at around 5% of budgets, compared with 10% in Britain, which depends on natural gas. The pass-through from wholesale to retail prices also differs. In many countries, utilities buy gas on long-term contracts and hedge their exposure to wholesale price increases. Different market structures then mean prices pass to consumers at different frequencies. In Spain, for instance, consumer tariffs are typically updated every month (though it has capped gas costs for power generators). In Poland they are adjusted only twice a year. Elsewhere, governments have frozen costs. In France, where Électricité de France (edf), a state-owned utility, dominates the market, the government has capped price rises at 4%. Most of the country’s electricity usually comes from nuclear power, but long-delayed maintenance means it is now being imported from neighbours, where it is often generated by burning gas. The government absorbs the costs through its ownership of edf. Capping price rises reduces the incentive for households to cut their energy use. It also disproportionately helps the rich. A far better option is to target support at the neediest. Yet, according to calculations by the European Central Bank, only 12% of eu states’ spending on measures to limit the impact of higher energy prices has been targeted in such a manner. An unevenly distributed energy shock requires more redistribution in response. ¦

To: 8bits who wrote (190862)	8/15/2022 5:53:01 AM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217716

Re <<Wonder for how long?>> One of many problems of sanctions is that, as in the case of medicine, their efficacy decreases to zero beyond a certain point, and the sanctioned become sanction-proof. Take herebelow vector as an example, neither Russia nor N Korea care much about USA sanction, which then complicates issues to do with … Iran, S Korea, Japan, Pakistan, … Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, … PRC China, India, Lithuania, ROC China… Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, … etc etc … lots of scenarios might play. bloomberg.com Putin Vows to Expand Partnership With North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Putin ready to expand relations with Pyongyang, KCNA says The move may complicate Biden’s push to isolate North Korea Jeong-Ho Lee August 14, 2022, 11:08 PM EDT Vladimir Putin with Kim Jong Un in April 2019. Photographer: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AFP/Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to expand relations with North Korea, reaching out to his neighbor as the Kremlin scours the globe for weapons for its war in Ukraine. Putin sent a congratulatory message to North Korea for its Liberation Day holiday on Monday marking the end of Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula. Although Putin regularly sends messages on the anniversary, this is the first one to be reported in North Korea’s state media since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. The message said the two countries “would continue to expand the comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported. In last year’s message, Putin highlighted World War II cooperation between the Soviet Union and Korean fighters, using similar language to say cooperation would contribute to security. North Korea, which has a rail link with Russia, has backed Putin’s invasion. It’s one of the few countries to have recognized the independence of the Kremlin-controlled people’s republics Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. North Korea also has been stockpiling artillery for decades, leading some analysts to speculate that it could be a source of armaments for Putin. Russia Is Scouring the Globe for Weapons to Use in Ukraine Russia’s ambassador to Pyongyang said North Korea may be willing to send its workers to the two Russian-controlled breakaway areas in Ukraine, NK News reported last month. North Korea for years has sent its workers to Russia and China, where they earn hard currency desperately needed by Pyongyang. The US push to isolate Russia over Putin’s war in Ukraine, coupled with increasing animosity toward China, has allowed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to strengthen his nuclear deterrent without fear of facing more sanctions at the UN Security Council. There’s almost no chance Russia or China, which have veto power at the council, would support any measures against North Korea as they did in 2017 following a series of weapons tests that prompted former President Donald Trump to warn of “fire and fury.” China and Russia in late May vetoed a UN Security Council resolution drafted by the US to ratchet up sanctions on North Korea for its ballistic missile tests this year. — With assistance by Heesu Lee Sent from my iPad