The sugary sap inside the plant's stalk can be turned into a "potent" biofuel, some experts say.

From the Associated Press:

Ethanol made from the stalk’s juice has four times the energy yield of the corn-based ethanol, which is already in the marketplace unlike sweet sorghum. Sweet sorghum produces about eight units of energy for every unit of energy used in its production. That’s about the same as sugarcane but four times as much as corn.

I think it can be a piece of the puzzle” as a biofuel crop, said Danielle Bellmer, executive secretary of the Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Association and an Oklahoma State University researcher studying ways to improve stalk pressing and fermentation methods. “The real issue is it’s just not a well-known crop.”

Currently about 10 million tons of grain from the tops of the plant’s stalks are harvested in the U.S., the world’s leading grower, but most of the sugar from the stalks goes to make syrup that people use to pour on biscuits, cook, and feed animals.

Sweet sorghum also spares the environment. Less fertilizer is needed than with corn and as a result there is less water contamination.

Sounds like a plan to me. Maybe if we back off corn for ethanol, we can see some relief on price pressures that are rippling through the economy.

But then, maybe the price of sugar will skyrocket...

Consumer prices rose 3.9 percent on an annualized basis in April.

Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.1 percent on-month and 2.3 percent on-year.

The dollar dropped immediately after the release, but has already recovered its losses.

At posting time, quotes are:

EUR/USD: 1.5435

GBP/USD: 1.9430

USD/JPY: 105.12

Bush: I Gave Up Golf for The Troops

Gee, thanks for that, Mr. President. How nice to know that you gave up dodging flies and sand traps in order to be in solidarity with our troops as they dodge roadside bombs. I'm sure history will celebrate your sacrifice--the present is already celebrating it, but probably not in the way you intended (this blog being just one case in point).

Apparently, one of the things 69% of Americans have sacrificed during the war is their faith in President Bush (although a good deal of us didn't have any of that to begin with). And yet, having the lowest approval rating in history isn't enough to stop Dubya from saying stupid shit. Which just suggests to me that he can't help saying stupid shit--he's just hard-wired for word vomit.

But just in case he isn't hard-wired to spew crap, I have a backup theory--

He's going for broke, people. 

He figures "Why just maybe be the president with the lowest approval rating in history? Let's just kick out that low-bar altogether and go for a zero approval rating. That way, no president can come along in the future and beat me, and my place in history will be secured. Heh, heh."

We'll see if my theory bears fruit if he announces something next week along the lines of how he's going to stop going to the Oval Office in solidarity with all of those Americans who can't afford the gas to drive to work--because "it's just not worth it anymore to do."

This company is building dozens of vacuum chambers that will be used to make silicon chips in China, for use in solar panels.

So for a steel company and for many steel companies, the economy is not an overwhelming problem.  The economy can be, for some, what they make of it.

It hasn't been easy. There was the E. coli outbreak in late 2006 that sickened 70 and closed dozens of restaurants. Then, the rat infestation at a New York City unit in 2007 that became an Internet must-see.

Even so, there's a little part of me that still cocks an insolent eyebrow when I read the papers. Allegedly, inflation is 'soaring' now it's jumped 0.5% in a month to 3%.

Now, I'm not saying it's not a worry. It is. It's the limit of what the Bank of England are allowed before they have to write letters to the Chancellor explaining why it's risen above 3%. However, it was only a couple of months ago it unexpectedly stayed the same for the past two months, and only rose in February when they changed the methodology, otherwise it too would have stayed the same.

However, not all things are included in the prefered measure of inflation, the CPI, which is running lower than the RPI, which includes house prices and so on (which are ironically coming down but anyway). So we're in an odd situation where food and fuel inflation are running much higher than the CPI, which remains low because of falling costs in luxury consumer goods such as furniture.

The reason I can't help but cock an eyebrow is simply because, at 3%, inflation simply cannot be said to be 'soaring', as the ever-exciteable George Osbourne said yesterday. I'll accept it's soaring if it rises by 0.5% a month every month for a year, or if it tops 6% and upward, but given that in the early 1990s, the last time we faced an economic crisis of this sort, inflation was into double figures, it seems to me that we'd all benefit from a little perspective when looking at these things.

I'm going to reiterate though, that's not to say people aren't beginning to struggle right now. They are. And it's going to get worse, inflation will keep rising (I just don't accept hyperbole that damages public confidence in their own situation for political gain) and fuel bills are also going to rise. But there is an element of talking ourselves into a recession. And with employment at record highs, unemployment at record lows, hundreds of thousands of jobs in the economy, inflation still relatively low (compared to the early 90s) and interest rates having dropped to 5% many of the fundamentals of the economy are still in rude health.

Newspapers are reporting and demanding things like more interest rate cuts to 'help homeowners' but the simple fact is that the cuts aren't being passed on the homeowners by the banks. What this means is that the banks profits go up when interest rates are cut, but the homeowners on variable rate mortgages still pay the same rate the bank sets. This is not necessarily a bad thing economically, though my grasp is not as in-depth as it could be, but basically the more money the bank has the more liquidity it has, so it can lend more, which is good for the economy and therefore good for the public.

But what annoys me is that the media call for rate cuts 'to help homeowners', feeding an impression that when the bank doesn't, it, and by extension the government, aren't on the side of homeowners, ie the public, and it generates bad feeling and clouds a thorny and incredibly complicated issue. The government then reacts by 'demanding' that banks pass on rate cuts, even though it knows economically there are sound reasons for banks not to do so.

Ultimately, things are bad, they are getting worse. But we're not in a recession and although I'm no economic expert I just don't see how we're going to end up in a recession either. We're going to go through a couple of lean years though (2009 will be worse or as bad according to what I've read) and it's going to be tough. But only relative to how easy we've had it for the past ten years. House prices might drop 30%, but they rose over 150% in ten years already. I guess, as usual, I'm calling for a little perspective!

So - how do we cope with rising costs of living?

Well one thing I noticed today was that supposedly the price of a load of bread is now averaging £1.12. Now, there is a discrepency between prices in the North and the South, for sure, and obviously paying for 'branded' bread is going to cost more than basic no brand bread. But it does annoy me slightly the way it's reported. What we clearly need to do it get a bit more savvy with our shopping. I buy Sainsburys own brand Organic bread every week and it's about 79p! On top of which, the price hasn't risen for ages. Why? The supermarkets are taking the bulk of the price rises, because if they pass on too many of the costs, the other supermarkets will realise this and keep their costs down. Result? Everyone shops at the other supermarket. So as much as they're vilified lately by the greenies, the supermarkets are playing a vital role in keeping costs down for consumers.

So my advice is start looking for good quality produce locally, at markets for instance, and 'own brand' stuff. Sure, the major brands will suffer for a bit but in times like this,  but if you're really struggling it may be an idea to just think about what you're buying and if they're other alternatives that won't taste much different but will cost a lot less. I know it probably sounds a tad patronising but you'll be surprised, when you go through your bill, how much you instinctively buy branded items and there are people out there who simply refuse to look at anything else.

For instance, when I met my girlfriend I was buying Sainsburys brand tins of beans. When we moved in together we looked through everything in our lives to try make savings and started buying basics beans, voila, 10p a can saving! The only down side to this is the lower quality of the food you buy when you go basic, such as higher salt and fat content. It makes you realise how hard it is when you can't afford high quality food, as you're starting off eating more fat and salt just from your basic diet.

As for fuel bills, if you're on any form of benefits or are over 65 I do believe you are entitled to free insulation through the government's Warm Front programme. Getting loft and cavity wall insulation will save you a pile on your heating bills and could really make the difference over winter.

Plus, you should check out www.uswitch.com and see if there are cheaper energy companies for you, as there probably will be.

When it comes to food and energy, those would be the best two things I think you could do. Though there are piles of little things you can do to save a bit of money (which all adds up) when it comes to energy, turning stuff off at the mains etc. I can't be bothered listing it here, it's all out there. Check out www.est.org.uk or something.

"Brazil, the country of the future and always will be"

I have heard this said a thousand times in the 20+ years I have lived here, but now I'm hearing "The future is here." It seems that pretty much everything has come together. Brazil has always been a big V8 that never ran well. Government after government would try to tweak the V8 to get it running on all 8, but it just never happened. Maybe now they have gotten it right and we will be humming alone to years of economic "order and progress".

LINKS:

> The Guardian: The country of the future has finally arrived. click here

Well, it is nice to see that some things never change. 

Kevin Trudeau (from the Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About), now has Debt Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About. 

I happened to have the TV on during a morning workout and could not believe some of the things he was saying. Am I really supposed to believe that that he is receiving “death threats” from banks because he is revealing how to pay off your bills? Do some people actually fall for it? Why on earth is the 2007 Playboy Playmate-of-the-Year doing some of the interview? (is she a financial expert as well?) 

Look, most of this stuff is available in your library, and you won’t pay over $40 to get it — not to mention the clever add-ons.

Full disclosure: Yes, I wrote a book; yes, it is financial. Go to the library; there it will be free.  It is called Winning the Cash Flow War (Wiley). I wrote it to help others, and it is doing just that. 

People really do need financial information but not at the expense of taking advantage of them. It should come from people that are in the know— not people that just sell something to make a buck and just recycle information they read somewhere else. 

I am almost sure Kevin’s next book will be Diet Cures “McDonalds” Doesn’t Want You to Know About. I understand weight loss is a big market. 

This is still just the tip of the iceberg.

The region is not as important an industrial centre as those on the east coast. Sichuan accounts for 3.9% of China’s GDP and 2.5% of its manufacturing output and Chongqing for 1.6% of GDP and 1% of manufacturing output. Nor is the region a big exporter. It accounts for no more than 1% of all exports.

There is processing of raw materials. The quake has disrupted power supplies to aluminum smelters and two chemical plants have collapsed. Most heavy industry has stopped anyway and will not resume until safety and damage checks have been completed. There is likely to be some spike in prices of metals and raw materials. Sichuan also supplies more than a quarter of the country's natural gas. How much damage there is to production and distribution will determine how damaging that proves to be to the country as a whole, but the gas fields are south of the quake's epicenter so should have escaped the worst.

A larger inflationary concern will be for the prices of two foods already suffering from rising prices, pork and rice. Sichuan is China's biggest pig farming province (it supplies 10% of the country's pork) and grows 7.3% of the country's rice. The interruption to supplies will be exacerbated for as long as transport links to the rest of China remain disrupted. That is likely to be a short term effect.

On the plus side the rebuilding of the region will provide a stimulus to local economic activity, especially the construction of earthquake proof buildings in Chongqing and Chengdu, which China is trying to build up into a local version of Silicon Valley. The Intel plant there is running on back up power and has sent its workforce home until midweek. Of the 29 listed Sichuan companies whose shares were suspended from trading on the Shanghai stock exchange on Monday, 23 have said  the disaster had no or limited impact on their operations. But attention on rebuilding and recovery will have to wait while rescue and search continues.

Athens News Agency: PM calls for front against profiteering, adulteration and fraud; Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT): The Greek Economy’s Objectives; Kathimerini daily: Inflation in sights of party leaders 

Fitch Ratings: Greece – “A” Positive Outlook

Fitch Ratings yesterday affirmed Greece's foreign and local currency "Issuer Default ratings" (IDR) at 'A' with Positive Outlook and the "Short-term foreign currency IDR" at 'F1'. The "Country Ceiling" is affirmed at 'AAA', reflecting Greek membership of the European Monetary union.

According to Fitch, the factors underpinning the Positive Outlook remain in place but more progress is needed on the public finances to translate this into an upgrade. The Positive Outlook reflects sustained and strong GDP growth, which is approximately double the euro area average in the last 10 years and is moving income per head towards EU15 levels. The economy is focused on services, especially shipping and tourism, and Greek business has successfully taken advantage of the rapid growth in southern Europe and the Balkans as well as the expansion of world trade. The banking system remains relatively strong. This is significantly better than the majority of its rated peers and in line with most developed countries and despite continuing rapid credit expansion. 

Greek News Agenda: The Greek Economy-Pointers

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate, in a direct challenge to President Bush, voted Tuesday to temporarily halt the shipment of thousands of barrels of oil a day into the government's emergency reserve. Both Democrats and Republicans said such shipments make no sense when oil is costing more than $120 a barrel and could better be used to add supplies to a tight market and possibly lower prices.
"We are buying the most expensive crude oil in the history of the world and storing it," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. "When American consumers are burning at the stake by high energy prices, the government ought not be carrying the wood."

Until both chambers of Congress pass the emergency reserve directive and Bush signs it—or Congress enacts it over a presidential veto—the legislation has no force of law. But the Senate's message to the president Tuesday was a strong one. More from BreitBart.com

This is a nice little election year ploy. The Democrat controlled House and Senate still refuse to open ANWR and increase domestic drilling. The final paragraph says it all:

Democratic Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, interrupting their presidential campaigns, voted to halt the oil reserve deliveries. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, was not present for the vote.

"u području pažnje i interpretacije sve što je uočljivo ima neku vrijednost... moguće je uspoređivati tako uočene cjeline prema procjeni njihovih vrijednosti... što su cjeline međusobno različitije to je proces usporedbe apstraktniji... nisam siguran da je produktivno svaku mogućnost apstraktnog uspoređivanja različitih uočenih cjelina nazvati ekonomijom...

mislim da bi neki minimum (za nazivanjemm čega ekonomskim) bio postojanje enginea koji relativno pouzdano i konzistentno mjeri vrijednost te ih izražava u nekim jedinicama (opći ekvivalent)...

tržište danas zahvaća određeni broj proizvoda i usluga i mjeri (u teoriji) njihovu vrijednost prema ponudi i potražnji...

neke uočene cjeline današnje tržište (kao engine) ne pokriva jer se one opiru algoritmu po kojem tržište mjeri... često su to stvari koje svoju proizvodnju zahvaljuju uronjenosti u neoskudne resurse.. to su npr. poklanjanje, posuđivanje, obavljanje različitih 'usluga' među ljubavnicima i prijateljima.. entuzijastična i strastvena proizvodnja u hobističkom i nabrijanom kontekstu poput wikipedije ili slobodnog softvera...

jalovi pokušaji da se sve vidi kroz ekonomsku prizmu idu iz nekoliko smjerova.. jedan je smjer isfrustriranog srednjeg sloja koji kroz takav diskurs traži opravdanje za svoje sebične i materijalističke ambicije.. tipiča izjava takvog buraza je: "buraz ti si naivan. sve se (danas) gleda kroz lovu. sve." drugi smjer su aktivisti proizvodnje lokalnih valuta i ekonomije mikrofinancija. njihov problem je da u pokušaju da glorificiraju vrijednost lokalne (mikro)razmjene svode neoskudne resurse prijateljstva i ljubavi u loše izmjerene transakcije opsesivnih luđaka...

volio bih u budućnosti vidjeti konkurenciju među engineima u kojoj korisnici mogu birati (i platiti za to naravno) koji će im engine procjeniti eventualnu transakciju...enginei bi se međusobno razlikovali prema nivou apstrakcije koje upošljavaju pri procjenama, području 'roba' koju procjenjuju, algoritmima, brzini, performansama i naravno pitanju vlasništva nad programskim kodom, infrastrukturom i ulaznim podacima.... 'user generated economy' na mesh networking mrežnoj infrastrukturi, p2p mrežnom protokolu, distribuiranom procesiranju  i pohrani podataka i naravno slobodnom softveru otvorenog koda algoritama koji se koriste.. e takvu ekonomiju bi volio vidjeti i u njoj razmjenjivati ;)"

In Defense of 'Big Oil'

According to government estimates, there is enough oil in areas accessible to America - 112 billion barrels - to power more than 60 million cars for 60 years. The Outer Continental Shelf alone contains an estimated 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Had President Clinton not vetoed exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in 1995, when oil was $19 a barrel, America would currently be receiving more than 1 million barrels a day domestically, all of it taken by better technology than existed more than 30 years ago. That was when the Alaskan pipeline was built despite protests from environmentalists who claimed it would destroy the caribou. It didn't, but the environmentalists are back with the same discredited arguments. Because most of the oil remains "off-limits," we are becoming more dependent on foreign oil.

Technorati Tags: big oil, gas prices, supply&demand

If you could change one thing the US is doing right now; such as our policies on Immigration, War in Iraq, Education, Homelessness, Healthcare, etc, etc. What would you change? 

The April 2008 nationwide survey shows that the number of Filipinos who said that their livelihood worsened grew significantly from 46.3% in January 2008 to 64.3% in April. Those who answered that their livelihood got better fell from 6.1% in January to 4.4% in the latest survey.

Asked if their family’s income is enough for their needs, 71% of the respondents said that it is not enough, an increase of almost 10 percentage points from January 2008.

The latest IBON survey was conducted across various sectors nationwide with 1,495 respondents from April 7 to 16. The survey used multi-stage probability sampling and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.

Acquiring majority control of Petron would allow government to increase its leverage in the market. At the minimum, it can control 51% of the oil firm with more solid control if it has 70%-80% of it. But retaking Petron must be done in the context of promoting state control in the oil industry.

The necessity for state control is highlighted if we compare the Philippine experience with that of Thailand, another major oil importer in the region. The Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) and Bangchak are public oil firms with significant influence on local oil prices. While the prices of Thai gasoline, diesel and LPG have tripled since 1996, this is still much less than the five-fold increases in the Philippines in the same period following the oil industry deregulation.

The research group also stressed the need to reverse oil deregulation to control the rapid increases of oil prices. In fact many Filipinos, battered by skyrocketing oil prices, favor the return of government regulation of the local oil industry and the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Act (RA 8479), according to the latest IBON nationwide survey.

At the same time, removing the reformed value-added tax (RVAT) on oil products, which has worsened the problem of high oil prices, is the single most effective measure that will give the quickest relief from rising oil prices to the greatest number of Filipinos. The reversal of oil industry deregulation can then be done progressively and effectively with a more socially responsible government.

Oil prices will remain excessively high and rising as long as the industry is deregulated and remains under the monopoly of foreign transnational corporations. The oil industry sector is too critical to the country’s strategic interests to be left in the hands of private profit-seeking interests.

But...

Labour are cutting taxes and simplifying the tax code. Interest rates are fairly low and predicted to go a little lower. Gordon seems to be acting according to his convictions. It started with casinos and now he's taking action on drugs.

Personally my mortgage has gone down, my taxes decreased and my child tax credit gone up.

Would everyone quit moaning!!

DON'T GIVE UP THE GOOD FIGHT GORDON! If you were running the Conservative party you'd guarantee my vote.

p.s. I'll admit this post isn't 100% serious.

Lereah learned how to lose money for people with his book "The Rules for Growing Rich: Making Money in the New Information Economy" published right around the time when the dot-com bubble burst.

The man has a midas touch for disaster.  OK, maybe it is alright to listen to Lereah's advice, as long as you listen to what he says then do the opposite.