[Ache]

The Carioca oilfield "discovery" off the coast of Brazil, in light of media disinformation and stock speculation

[Homesteader]

Excellent read.

[zoidberg]

Ha! I thought it would be about Obama.

[sameu]

lol

[mos6507]

Well, demographers, sociologists and economists see declining populations as a serious threat, because it means humans will not be able to sustain modernity, which is based on a stable population pyramid (enough kids, a bulge of adults, and a small group of old people).

This is kind of like a rich wife going through a divorce saying she needs x amount of money in alimony because that's the lifestyle she's become accustomed to. To her, I say "get a f*cking job!" You just can't have a one-way population curve going upwards and justify it by saying disturbances to the demographic mix threaten "modernity". It's just not as bad as the FUD would indicate. In the end I'd take carrying capacity over "modernity" anyway.

[VMarcHart]

...demographers, sociologists and economists see declining populations as a serious threat because...

Since you're neither ... I rest my case.

[StuckInPhilly]

Well, demographers, sociologists and economists see declining populations as a serious threat, because it means humans will not be able to sustain modernity, which is based on a stable population pyramid (enough kids, a bulge of adults, and a small group of old people).
If we lose our capacity to sustain modernity, we lose our ability to do what we were made to do, that is, gain knowledge, practise science, invent technologies, - so we can leave this earth and explore the cosmos.

I can't imagine who these people are since an modern lifestyles (what I assume you mean by mordernity) have no connection to a growing population. A decreasing population is actually much, much better for an economy. Larger populations hold no promise for increased knowledge, technology or science. More people does not equal more Einsteins.

[mos6507]

Larger populations hold no promise for increased knowledge, technology or science. More people does not equal more Einsteins.

Partly because the dummies do most of the reproducing (the idiocracy phenomenon).

[lorenzo]

This is kind of like a rich wife going through a divorce saying she needs x amount of money in alimony because that's the lifestyle she's become accustomed to. To her, I say "get a f*cking job!" You just can't have a one-way population curve going upwards and justify it by saying disturbances to the demographic mix threaten "modernity". It's just not as bad as the FUD would indicate. In the end I'd take carrying capacity over "modernity" anyway.

I understand what you're trying to say, but the fact is that Modernity is the best way to manage both high population levels and stresses on natural resources, while at the same time evolving to societies that discover the secrets of nature.
Modernity is efficient and hands us the tools to reduce our impact on the environment, while at the same time developing the technologies and knowledge needed to leave Earth.
Pre-modernity is less of a burden on the environment, but it does not contribute to the kind of science and technology we need to fulfil our destiny.

[mos6507]

Pre-modernity is less of a burden on the environment, but it does not contribute to the kind of science and technology we need to fulfill our destiny.

It's not a good approach to push headlong towards a population bomb with the excuse being that our sheer numbers will provide enough geniuses to bail us out before the bomb explodes. I don't want to see my toys go away anymore than you do, but I don't see why we can't maintain enough modernity with 1/10th or less our current population. I don't see how having computers and other modern conveniences are dependent on a global population of 7+ billion people.

[VMarcHart]

Pre-modernity is less of a burden on the environment, but it does not contribute to the kind of science and technology we need to fulfill our destiny.

And what would that destiny be?

[Devin]

Man, imagine my shock when I read this thread -- I didn't even realize I had a destiny, let alone that lorenzo would be the one to enlighten me.

I do expect Brazil's population will be declining long before 2035, however.

[Ludi]

Now, Devin, didn't you know your destiny is to conquer the stars and achieve godlike powers?

[VMarcHart]

...didn't you know your destiny is to conquer the stars and achieve godlike powers?

I have a lot of prep to do then.

[Devin]

Man, do I really have to conquer the stars? This destiny sucks, I want a refund.

[Ludi]

Personally, I'm way too lazy to live up to a destiny like that...

[Ache]

http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/10243/1/

[JustaGirl]

Interesting article. It probably won't pan out & is mostly BS, but I thought this was an interesting quote..

"We do not want European countries to dismantle their agricultural structure in order to plant sugarcane. We want them to invest in biofuel production in impoverished countries that have land available, such as the African countries,"

Seems like a lot of countries can't wait to get their dibs on Africa, China now Brazil. We want to use impoverished countries to countinue the party in 1st world countries?

[eXpat]

Petrobras run out of little change:
Petrobras Cash Shortage Led to Tax Loan

Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA was forced to borrow 2 billion reais ($881 million) from Brazilian state-owned discount bank Caixa Economica Federal as it faced “momentary difficulty” paying taxes, Energy Minister Edison Lobao said.

Petrobras, as the state-controlled oil company is known, said record profit in the third quarter resulted in a 11.4 billion-real tax bill in October, about 5 percent more than the 10.8 billion reais of cash it had on hand at the end of September, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in a note on the Brazilian security regulator’s Web site.

“There were taxes that Petrobras had to pay that they really shouldn’t have had to pay because they weren’t generated by operating profit but by the strengthening of the dollar,” Lobao told reporters in Brasilia. “The company had to take money out of its cash holding to pay the taxes.”

Petrobras, which has spent more than 20 billion reais on investment so far this year and paid $6.2 billion in dividends, may also have had to borrow money from state-controlled Banco do Brasil SA to meet its obligations, Senator Tasso Jereissati said in a telephone interview.

Jereissati, a member of the opposition Social Democracy Party, plans to call hearings on how the company has “working- capital problems.” As recently as August, Petrobras said it would likely increase a $112 billion 2008-2012 expansion plan

Break Limit

The Caixa loan may have caused the company to break a 13.6 billion real domestic borrowing limit imposed as part of government controls on spending by state-owned and state- controlled companies, Jereissati said. That forced Brazil’s national monetary council to lift the limit on Petrobras yesterday.

“If they broke the limit then they were dealing with an emergency,” Jereissati said.

The cash-flow problems may also have forced Petrobras to delay payments to suppliers over the last 30 days, Jereissati said. Petrobras officials weren’t immediately available to respond to Jereissati’s comments.

Bloomberg

[Sixstrings]

The global credit crunch is slowing Brazil's roaring agricultural sector -- at a time when more food, not less, is needed around the world.

Unlike in the U.S., where farmers depend on loans from private banks and the government, Brazilian farmers get as much as 40% of their financing from agriculture companies. That could drop to as low as 25% this year, according to M.V. Pratini de Moraes, a former Brazil agriculture secretary.

"Every company is trying to secure as much cash as it can [to withstand] the longer-term effects of the credit crisis," says Stefano Rettore, general manager at CHS Brazil, a major grain-trading company. "That's leaving less cash available to finance Brazilian agriculture."

The squeeze is expected to contribute to a 2% drop in Brazilian soybean production for the 2008-2009 crop year, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Farm-equipment maker Deere & Co., of Moline, Ill., forecast Wednesday that farm-equipment sales in South America will fall as much as 20% next year, partly due to "the difficult credit situation in Brazil," said Susan Karlix, Deere's manager of investor communications, on an investor call. link

Hello, higher prices and shortages on sugar..