[Ghog]

I wonder if they would mind paying off my bills. When you are spending 17 trillion, what's a little more. I'm going to need to be out of debt, since they will inevitably pass the costs of their infrastructure 'improvements' on to the consumer. Can we say $5/gal?

[thylacine]

The first three points indicate that buckets of money are going to be thrown at maintaining our reliance on oil for as long as possible - which is fine, up to a point. However, sooner or later we're going to run out of oil and shouldn't we be starting to channel some serious money i.e. not just a few million here and there, but billions/trillions into energy sources and ways of organising our economies that are sustainable for centuries, rather than a few decades.

When you're in a hole, stop digging. At the moment we're in a large hole. Throwing trillions at chasing a dwindling oil resource sounds like frantic, poorly thought out digging.

[GreyZone]

Can you provide a link?

The information provided came from a draft document discussed by the G8 in March and which is supposed to be finalized in July in St. Petersburg. The document is a working document so far and there is more than just those 5 points but on most points there seems to be some disconnect with the actual data now accruing with regards to current oil production versus new oil being found via exploration.

The draft document (PDF format!) can be found here.

A summary of the document can be found at Energy Bulletin.

[spear]

Maybe they are looking at how much profit they will make on their 17trillion investment.
You dont seriously believe they are thinking about the people.

[erb]

not one mention of renewables??

what the hell

i am filled with more and more loathing for the elite every day, after day, after day....

[Mesuge]

Well, the recent moronic statement by the EU Commissioner from the DG of Energy that, "peak oil is just a theory" seals their plans quite accurately..

In the meantime, one of my sources in the EU parliament confirmed the recent story from TOD or this forum about a bloc of MPs trying to get different audits than the faked ones from the IEA.. Some people are starting to smell this scam. The global megacapital cabal just needs a few more years before getting its act together for this huge social shift ahead of us before they go forward and finally announcing publicly, "Ladies and gentleman, we have peaked!"...

[erb]

any have a location for news on the G8?
i saw a few snippets and 1 article on the protests but nothing significant

[Graeme]

G8: Too Much Power?

The G8 meets again, for June 6-8, 2007 it is in Heiligendamm, Germany.

This web page has the following sub-sections:

Reasons to be hopeful

Reasons to be skeptical

Issues

Debt Relief?

Rich country farm subsidies?

Top developing countries will be present

Climate Change
US Attempting to Water Down Climate Action, Again?
Diverting Attention—and Blame—to India and China, Again?
Developing Countries Already Doing A Lot

More Information

[Cobra_Strike]

Well....Pouty Poot seems to be interested in rekindling the flame of the cold war.

Cold War II might get marginally hot.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/ ... 82478.html

[FreakOil]

Ahead of the G8 meeting, the Russian Industry and Energy Ministry basically came out of left field and said that exponential growth was impossible in a world of finite resources. It was amazing to read such a challenge to the status quo from a government ministry. I started up a forum with a link to the article, but no one here was interested. I wonder if anyone will bring up the issue of resource depletion - and how it threatens the exponential growth paradigm - at the meeting itself? Probably not.

[KevO]

This at the moment is the main world news header

The US and the four largest economies in Asia are to voice "serious concerns" over "unprecedented" oil prices, a day after a record one-day jump.

well that's good of them. Imagine the news when they do something!

In a statement to be issued after G8 talks, the five countries will say prices pose a great burden, especially on developing countries, AFP reported.

what do they get paid for this job?

The statement, to be signed by energy ministers from the US, Japan, China and South Korea and a senior Indian official, is expected to say that price rises are "against the interest of both consuming and producing countries".

who are they sending it to? God? Well she ain't listening as oil is the blood of Satan.

It will also say that "phased and gradual" withdrawal of price subsidies - blamed by some for fuelling demand in emerging economies - is "desirable", AFP reported.

erm, doesn't that mean the pump prices go up considerably?

Both the Indian and Malaysian governments have raised fuel prices in order to cut the subsidies they provide.

so it does

"It's a shock, but if you look at the rate of oil production globally, it has been 85 million barrels a day for three years in a row," Mr Bodman said ahead of the G8 talks.

"We know demand is increasing because a lot of nations are still subsidising oil, which ought to stop," he said.

oh oh


The Full BS here

[mattduke]

How is W's Paraguay ranch coming along?

[bodigami]

(...)
The Full BS here

police/law makers, aka politicians are SO clueless.

[DantesPeak]

Korea significantly increased subsidies for oil products today.

Individuals states in India are reducing energy taxes today also.
I expect individual US states to also reduce energy taxes this summer, and it also possible federal taxes could be reduced too.

Everything possible is being done to maintain and even increase demand.

The hope, and that is only a hope, is that some oil producer has some extra oil somewhere.

[cube]

Korea significantly increased subsidies for oil products today.

A subsidy makes a product cheaper but --> it costs taxes --> taxes reduce society's disposable income --> economic contraction

Individuals states in India are reducing energy taxes today also. I expect individual US states to also reduce energy taxes this summer, and it also possible federal taxes could be reduced too.

Reducing taxes --> increase society's disposable income --> but loss tax revenue == budget deficits --> increase inflation --> reduce society's ability to buy --> economic contraction

Everything possible is being done to maintain and even increase demand.

Government is impotent. It does not matter whether option 1 or option 2 is taken --> end result is --> economic contraction

Am I the only one who looks at the world this way?

[Sys1]

Government which are supposed to be the elite of mankind make poor decisions. No, they make the worst decision.

Imagine you are in the family car with no brake, rolling at 60mph on a long slope that ends on a brick wall a few miles later. This car trip should have been so cool, as Daddy said yesterday... It's already memories.

On the sideway, there's a strong tree. Anyone a little bit intelligent would eat the tree, hoping that he won't end as dead.
But, but, no chance, you are not the driver. You are the children on the backsit screaming at Dad ''Stop the car now!'' while Mommy and your sister are screaming so much that no one can ear you.

Dad, who is so proud of his car (think about it, a so beautifull machine, what a pity to crash it!) is afraid, so afraid to make a scratch on the nice painting of his toy that he can't even consider crashing it. You see him avoiding the tree. Well, it's not fair to say "avoiding the tree". Dad is a good driver. He would stay on road whatever happens. He's too old to think another way. So dad didn't avoid the tree. He simply drives on the road because his car teacher learned him that way. Actually, Dad can't see the tree. He's just too busy worrying about the brick wall...

30 seconds later, Dad is rolling at 120mph. You are still on the backsit. One second before the crash, Dad suddenly decides to press the warning button (he remembers it's usefull in case of danger). Exhausted by this brillant initiative, he then hides is eyes with his hands while your screaming mommy put his feet on the windshield.
On your left, you notice your sister forgot to tight her belt. She looks at you in silence, already dead.

[Petrodollar]

This candid Bloomberg article from last week really summarizes the dollar/ energy /commodities pricing/ inflation connundrum...and IMO, outlines how the G.W. Bush administration has done more damage to the US dollar's role as the world's reserve currency than any president on the post-WWII era. The contrast between the 2001 G8 meeting vs. the 2008 G8 meeting is staggering.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... 0_cYGS8Avc

Bush's Dollar Drop Maps Loss of U.S. Clout at Final G-8 Summit

July 3 (Bloomberg) -- When President George W. Bush went to his first Group of Eight summit in 2001, a dominant issue was the dollar -- the strong dollar, that is. The U.S. currency was on a record-setting streak, and the free-marketeering president wasn't going to stand in the way. {what a contrast after 7 years of Reagan/Bush II voodoo economics...}

On the eve of Bush's last G-8 appearance, the dollar's gyrations are again in the crossfire. This time, it is a weak currency, upended by slumping growth, a housing recession and record gas prices, that is gnawing away at the world economy.

The dollar's 41 percent drop against the euro during Bush's term writes the economic epitaph of an administration that set out to restore American preeminence. Instead, Bush heads to Japan next week for his final international summit with diminished leverage as Russian and Chinese influence grows.

...and speaking of commodities and oil pricing in the dollar...

Price Surge
G-8 finance ministers last month identified surging commodities prices as a bigger threat than the credit squeeze to the world economy. Prices for 19 commodities in the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index rose 29 percent in the first half, the most since 1973. Rice, corn and wheat futures have all touched records this year.

Sagging faith in the dollar -- it now makes up 63 percent of global currency reserves, down from 71 percent when Bush took office -- complicates efforts to tame commodity prices because they are primarily denominated in the U.S. currency.

America's dependence on imported capital to finance a $9.5 trillion debt -- up from $5.7 trillion when Bush took office -- has driven down the currency. The decline was accelerated by the subprime crisis that plunged the U.S. into an economic tailspin.

...and here are the closing remarks:

``If Bush could get others at the G-8 summit to demand a stronger dollar he'd have done a final good after a lot of negatives over the years,'' said Uwe von Parpart, chief Asia strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald LP in Hong Kong. ``Dollar strengthening appears to be the only thing capable of containing or pushing back oil prices.''

Speaking at the White House yesterday, Bush tried to give the markets a nudge: ``We're strong dollar people in this administration and have always been for the strong dollar.''

..."We're strong dollar people..." Is he serious? What kind of silly Orwellian nonsense is that? These kind of comments are idiotic. Their ideologically driven 2001 & 2003 tax cuts wrecked the dollar's valuation relative to almost every major currency - esp the euro. Oh, I forgot, this administration has absolute disdain for the reality based community.

Bottomline: The current adminsitration has effectivley sealed the fate of the dollar - it will cease to remain the world's primary reserve currency by the middle of the next decade....and much sooner if they launch another war of aggression, but this time against Iran.

[MadScientist]

Perhaps the American policy makers have a vision of the near future as grim as many of us do.

Perhaps they agree that we have become massively overpopulated as a planet because of cheap abundant energy.

Perhaps they've abandoned any notion of maintaining the world as we have known it.


So many people fault our leadership because they arent trying to solve an unsolvable problem.

Look beyond your wish that someone can fix the mess we're in and observe the actions that are being taken by America:

-invasion and attempt to control world's key oil reserve region

-military buildup

-disregard for established economic and financial systems.

-disregard for the american population's preparation for coming changes.

Pretty clear to me they arent planning for the future we'd like to see.

There are powerful government entities full of the BRIGHTEST minds in America. These people have the best of modern technology and unlimited resources at their disposal. It's by no means George Bush, or whoever lands in the oval office next, running the world.

[Denny]

This is truly an absurdity from Dubya's mouth:

"Speaking at the White House yesterday, Bush tried to give the markets a nudge: ``We're strong dollar people in this administration and have always been for the strong dollar.''

This is the same guy who advocated spending at every opportunity, tax cuts for every season and referred to America as an "ownership" society, when folks put zero down on homes.

[jbrovont]

What? Who's fault is this? No way.