June 21, 2022

• While it is "International Yoga day" (do not tell me if you celebrate such a thing), more importantly it is National Indigenous Peoples Day here in Canada and the summer solstice.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Indigenous_Peoples_Day
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_solstice

• Germany, Austria and the Netherlands are restarting coal-fueled power plants. This is to do with Russia, but only if you ignore the shutdown of their nuclear plants.

Germany’s three remaining active nuclear power plants have a capacity of 4Gw and are scheduled to go off the grid by the end of this year.

Last year gas-fired power plants accounted for 15 per cent of German electricity generation. By the end of May, Germany had 31.4Gw of coal-fired plants and 27.9Gw of gas-fired plants on the grid, according to regulatory data.

The 10Gw of mothballed coal capacity which will be put back on the grid account for just under 5 per cent of total German production capacity.

• The USA is looking to ban certain fossil fuels to try to drive prices down. This is from the left of the Democratic Party, but will not work. Desperate times, however. The USA is currently exporting huge amounts of climate destroying ammo to deal with their sanctions on Russian oil and gas.

• The USA (and Europe) are dealing with the consequences of their own policies limiting the expansion of clean energy technology around the world. The geopolitical aim of the USA is to keep oil and gas as the main fuel for everyone else until it isn't the main fuel for USA capital.
• Africa needs $25bn a year to achieve universal energy access by 2030, says IEA chief. But, most of that was supposed to be private investment which has completely dried-up.

• Inflation has turned EVs into luxury items, threatening broader electric shift. Tesla, Rivian and Ford have hiked sticker prices for their battery-powered models. So, the market is not only not going to save us. No shock there.

Add it all up and an electric car now costs $61,000 on average, according to researcher Edmunds.com. That’s a lot of money when the average new-vehicle price — across all cars — has inflated to $46,000.

• China's carbon market's prices for allowances is less than $10 per tonne, a small fraction of the price the World Bank says is needed to meaningfully curb emissions.

Financial markets (including crypto) had a slight upward bounce yesterday, but things are not looking good. So, don't "buy the dip".

• In all, $2 trillion in market value vanished from the S&P 500 since the beginning of the downturn.
• Crypto scams continue their knock-on effects: South Korean workers at crypto operator Terraform put on no-fly list because state investigations into that company.
• And, there is more to be mopped-up.

… recession talk is capturing attention. Goldman said there's now a 30% chance of one in the next year, up from a previous 15%. It also cut its outlook for US growth over the next three quarters. Morgan Stanley flagged higher recession odds, too, and said the S&P needs to drop another 15% to 20% to fully reflect the scale of contraction.

• Things that were safe bets are no longer any good:

The method of allocating 60% to equities and 40% to fixed income has plunged about 14% so far this quarter, putting it on course for a worse showing than in the depths of the financial crisis.

US pension funds are among those feeling the pain after investing heavily over the past decade.

• Food prices in Asia ex-Japan rose 5.9% annually in May, from 2.7% in December, Nomura said in a report Monday.

• Trades Union Congress warned that workers in other industries would also be balloted for “pay justice”.

Pay Justice

‘The RMT has no choice but to defend our members,“ said Mick Lynch, the head of the rail union.

Lynch blamed the government for “shackling” the rail industry’s pay offers and using Covid as an excuse to impose “transport austerity”, including closing all ticket offices.

RMT bosses rejected a Network Rail offer of a 3 per cent pay rise, with scope for this to move a little higher in exchange for modernising working practices, one industry executive said.

• Employers are losing it:

Grant Shapps, transport secretary, accused union leaders of “dragging the country back to the 70s.”

• 7-8 per cent pay rise is what workers want.
• The Bank of England forecasts inflation will top 11 per cent by October. Averaged over 2years, it is only about a 1% real wage loss per year. About standard for the sector that enforces profit subsidy through wage theft via legislation.

• The government is all in on limiting worker power:

Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary, plans this week to scrap a legal ban on the use of temporary workers to replace striking staff.