Tuesday, November 2, 2021

COP26: China and Russia No Shows

The UN’s COP26 conference is in full swing, but China and Russian leaders have chosen not to attend. Unthinkable, given that Russia is the worlds largest country (by area) and China has the biggest population. But, I’m not surprised… why? See the charts below.



China Is The Biggest Polluter, By Far


China Is The Largest Coal Producer, By Very Far


Russia Is #2 Oil Producer



Russia Is #2 Natural Gas Producer


From the same charts we can deduce that if Trump was still President the US would be a no show too.
But it really does not matter who attends if they do not confront the major issue: Malthus was right!  Or, in my lingo, Permagrowth is the direct cause of climate change, habitat destruction and species extinction - including our own.

Since this is a (mostly) financial blog, the most obvious manifestation of Permagrowth is the explosion of debt/money at exactly the same time as environmental destruction - see chart below. The money/debt/assets bubble may not be the direct cause, but it is the direct facilitator.




This Is An Old Chart - Global Debt Now At $300 Trillion !!




11 comments:

  1. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/opinion/sunday/science-climate-change.html

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  2. Would be interesting to superimpose climate degree change onto that debt chart. But yes, early 80's with the start of the neoliberal period is when so many things began to blow up, in the bad sense.

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    1. you got that one right.... the problems today seem to have their roots in the 80's... not sure it is neo-liberal ideology, but something changed at that time... unfortunately, I have no personal memory from that period ...

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    2. Early 80's Ronald Reagan ushered in the neoliberal period which is the root cause of many crises we're experiencing today... The debt bubble, massive wealth inequality, CEO pay chasms, accelerating climate change, among others.

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    3. btw, I thought Regan was neo-con, not neo-liberal

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    4. I'd say Bush Jr. is the neo-con.

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  3. Talking about blow ups, did you see today's Avis ($CAR) stock? Really, it is a clown show...

    https://twitter.com/NorthmanTrader/status/1455554931797200912?t=sfSoYoZE4GYEavDQXP1GQA&s=19

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    1. I did, and at first I thought it was a computer mistake. I have now changed my mind about this market; it is no longer a casino market, it is a video game market. I think the younger participants/speculators are using the market like a PlayStation.

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  4. while we are on it,

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/02/business/zillow-q3-earnings-home-flipping-ibuying.html

    it seems strange to see a property company losing money in a bubble.

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