Now and Then - Some interesting economic statistics for the past five years

I would love to see what some of these statistics are for Israel, but I thought I would share with you some economic statistics comparing the end of 2010 to the end of 2015 that I received from one of my work colleagues.

Labels: economy, world economy

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:09 PM 0 comments

What if Saudi Arabia became irrelevant to the world economy?

An oil discovery in a remote area of Australia threatens to make Saudi Arabia irrelevant to the world's oil markets and economy.

It is 6 times larger than the Bakken, 17 times the size of the Marcellus formation, and 80 times larger than the Eagle Ford shale.

All told the recent discovery outside a sleepy Australian town contains more black gold than in all of Iran, Iraq, Canada, or Venezuela.

The current estimates of 233 billion barrels are just 30 billion barrels shy of the estimated reserves in all of Saudi Arabia.

Now, one renowned international energy expert predicts the proven reserves will be much bigger.

"The find may land at 300 or 400 billion barrels, making it one of the greatest unconventional oil discoveries any of us will see in our lifetimes," says Dr. Kent Moors and advisor to six of the top 10 oil producers and active consultant to 20 world governments.

"It represents a bona-fide redrawing of the global energy map as we know it," Moors says, "and the mainstream media is completely ignoring it."

...

Labels: Australia, oil and gas exploration, Saudi Arabia, world economy

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:11 AM 7 comments

After November 17, how will you collect fees from the US?

Are you an Israeli? Do you earn money from the US and have it wired to you? If you do, you probably receive that wire from JP Morgan Chase Bank. As of November 17, Chase says that it's getting out of the international wire transfer business. 'To better serve our customers,' of course. You don't think all that over-regulation from the Obama administration has anything to do with it, do you?

This is the letter that we received directly from Chase. This is not secondhand information.

The letter clearly states that beginning November 17:

• All international wire transfers will be disallowed.

• All cash activity, including cash withdrawals and deposits, will be halted at "$50,000 per statement cycle." How are businesses who deal with a lot of cash (such as restaurants) supposed to function under such restrictions?

Chase Bank representatives told Natural News "everything is fine"

We called and spoke with Chase Bank to ask why these capital controls were being implemented on November 17th.

Their response was that these changes were being implemented "to better serve our customers." They did not explain how blocking all international wire transfers would "better serve" their customers, however.

Chase Bank specifically denied any knowledge of problems with cash on hand, or government debt or any such issue. They basically downplayed the entire issue and had no answers for why capital controls were suddenly being put into place.

The article goes on to claim that this is the first step in a massive US government default. In effect, the article claims, Chase is admitting that your money is not safe. Read the whole thing.

From my perspective, a large chunk of my income comes via wire transfers made through JP Morgan Chase, which is the correspondent bank for most Israeli banks.

But Forbes says it's not so. 

JPM says that’s not what’s happening here.

First, a quick visit to the bank’s business banking website shows that international transfers are still available–you just have to pay up for them.

The bank’s basic business account, Chase Total Business Checking, does not allow outgoing international wire transfers (it does allow them to come in) and cash activity is indeed limited to $50,000 per month. Cash activity means withdrawals and deposits. The account has a $10 monthly fee which is waived with a $1,500 minimum daily balance.

Need to withdraw or deposit more than $50k? You can but you’ll have to pay more in monthly fees to do so.

Upgrade to Chase’s Performance Business Checking and there’s no cash activity limit. Plus, you get two domestic wires transfers per month at no charge and international wires are available for an additional fee. Of course, there’s a $20 monthly fee that’s waived if you can maintain $50,000 balance.

Upgrade even higher to the Chase Platinum Business Checking and get four outgoing wires per month at no charge and reduced pricing on additional wires. Again, no cash activity limit here but the Premium account has a whopping $95 monthly fee that is waived if deposit balances are $100,000 or more.

But let’s get back to that basic business account. Chase says you can still exceed the $50,000 cash activity limit but do it four times in a rolling calendar year and you’ll get automatically upgraded to the next level account.

So, no, there is no cash activity limit in the Performance Business and Platinum level accounts but you’ll have to maintain higher balances to avoid the larger monthly fees.

Sounds a lot like my Israeli bank, which just raised fees on my small business account.... But then, Israel is the only country in the world whose banks  make the bulk of their income from household checking accounts.

Labels: Israeli banks, personal stuff, US economy, world economy

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:42 AM 0 comments

#Tomorrow13 The World Order: Facing Tomorrow's Challenges

This is a liveblog of #Tomorrow13's The World Order: Facing Tomorrow's Challenges. I had to leave to go to a meeting for a couple of hours and now I'm back at the conference. Miri Eisen is moderating. The first speaker is Stuart Eizenstat. By the way, this is the only panel in which all the panelists have come here from abroad.

Eizenstat says that the world is now multi-polar. The old G-7 has been superseded by the G-20. Israel needs to adapt and is beginning to do so by deepening its relations with other countries. Israel has $10 billion in trade with China, a country that has no history of anti-Semitism.  The US is no longer a rising power, but it will remain a power to be reckoned with for a long time. Only country that project air, sea and land power everywhere. Defense spending still more than the next 15 countries combined. Within five years - if not less - US will be largest producer of natural gas and by 2020 will produce more crude oil than Saudi Arabia, which will lower energy prices and make US more competitive.

China has its own problems.

Globalization is a major force, powered by the internet and the digital revolution. This is a net positive for Israel because Israel is adaptable.

How to manage the struggle for the hearts and minds of 1.6 billion Muslims. Eizenstat says that we shouldn't view this as a battle between the West and Muslims - rather it's a battle within the Muslim world itself. Arab revolution has aggravated this by bringing political Islam to power. Has had dramatic influences on alliances that US created over six decades. Those alliances are now shattered.

US and Israel have opportunities from this crisis, and need to grab them. Israel has important indirect role. Has to reach a rapprochement with Turkey. For sure Turkey started this in Davos when Erdogan walked out on Peres. The Mavi Marmara could have been resolved two years ago, and the agreement still has not been implemented because of a dispute over money.

If Israel can demonstrate that it can be proactive on 'peace process' it will help moderate Arab states. He admits that 'Palestinians' may not be able to make compromises now but should not stop Israel from demonstrating that it can make compromises. Advocates 2002 Saudi plan and says that we should dismantle outposts and allow only 'natural growth' in 'settlements.' (Sound familiar? See the previous post).

Eizenstat says that the delegitimization issue has added an economic element because Europe is our number one export market and what we're seeing is European multinationals refuse to invest anywhere in Israel because of Arab boycott. As we speak, 14 foreign ministers are calling on European Commission to impose labeling requirement on 'West Bank,' which is an incentive not to invest anywhere in Israel.

Cites Richard Falk saying HP, Elbit and others should be boycotted. (Does anyone listen to Falk?).

Because Israel is not alone, for almost all the issues he mentioned Israel has the same interests as other countries in the region.

Josef Joffe up next.  Threats today not as bad in many ways as threats of previous generations. But Russia is back and that means that the 19th century is back. Russia gives great stuff to teach International Politics.

Other not good news from Obama's America - proposing to contain and neutralize itself. Leading from behind in Libya and not leading at all in Syria. No great power has ever done this to itself before, and what we may now be facing is creeping anarchy. For the first time since World War II, the US is involved in nation building at home. Putin and Khameni have reached the conclusion that opportunity beckons from Obama's America.

Antony Leong next. He's actually from Hong Kong. Chinese have great admiration for Jewish people. Why does China have so many fewer Nobel prize winners than Israel? Lots to learn.

China will grow 7% per annum for the next decade if not longer. China has to increase domestic consumption. Urbanization will bring lots of room for growth. Urbanized consumers consumer more. Only 50% of Chinese urbanized - typical western country is 75-85% urbanized. Seek similarities to other countries, but allow differences to coexist. Whenever there's a problem, US thinks of law, logic and relationship. China is reversed.

Five factors young people are seeing in tomorrow: Globalization, new technology taking away jobs, huge debt burden in most western countries (especially where there's one person one vote), inflation, aging population.  In the last ten years in the US, 1% of population has captured 40% of wealth created.

Leong says we have to think about what kind of education we provide our young people, what jobs we find for them, and changing from a wealth creation bias to a wealth distribution bias.

Professor Dominique Moisi is next. 21st century will not be Asian or Chinese century. This is the first time a company has come to prominence without a universal message, only concerned about itself. And China won't do it: If China doesn't fight corruption, it's doomed, but if it does defeat corruption, the party is doomed. But three key words give hope in the continuation of Chinese growth. Decadence, fear. (Sorry - I missed the first one).

No American century. Europe being fragmented. But too early to bury Europe.

(Sorry but I am really wiped out...).

Ambassador Terje Rød-Larsen is next. Population growth, technology and identity are mega trends that are changing the world. He believes that the Middle East will maintain its centrality in geopolitics but what defines everything has changed. Israeli-Arab conflict no longer defines every conflict in the region.

The key to Iran is not the nuclear issue but that Iran's aim is to dominate the region. Iran's nuclear program is just a tool. But if they get nuclear weapons, the NPT will collapse and everyone else will seek nuclear weapons. Note that no one really worries about Israel's nuclear weapons because everyone knows that Israel doesn't want to dominate the region (as you read that, keep in mind who this guy is).

Moderator asking questions. Larsen says that the UN is losing its legitimacy and that's unlikely to change because Security Council permanent members unlikely to give up their status. Eizenstat says we've created an interdependent world where the seven countries that make cell phones cannot go to war. There are two great threats to US leadership to which it must step up by the end of this year: The Iranian nuclear threat (cannot let negotiations drag out while centrifuges spin; military solution better than nuclear Iran) and Syria (where if Hezbullah and Iran are seen as victors, it will have drastic consequences for the rest of the world).

Labels: Arab spring, China, President's Conference, Tomorrow Conference, world economy

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:27 PM 0 comments

Kerry's solution to world and US economic problems: Throw another $4 billion down the 'Palestinian' stinkhole

If all the money the Obama administration threw at unrealistic energy projects is called green slush, can we call this brown mud?

US Secretary of State John FN Kerry has now declared himself an economist. He has decided that the solution to the world's, the United States' and especially to Jordan's and Israel's (ironically, Israel has a stronger economy right now than either the US or Europe) economic problems is to throw another $4 billion down the 'Palestinian' stinkhole.

“The plan for the Palestinian economy is bigger and bolder and more ambitious than anything proposed since Oslo more than 20 years ago,” said Kerry as he spoke at the closing session of the World Economic Forum by the Dead Sea in Jordan.

President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also addressed the final session and sat next to each other in the first row of the large auditorium as Kerry spoke.

This economic plan is achievable and has the support of Abbas and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Kerry said.

Quartet special envoy Tony Blair will head the initiative, with the help of the international business community.

According to Kerry, it will focus on developing the Palestinian private economy, a key ingredient for economic independence.

If actualized, he said, it could increase the Palestinian GDP by 50 percent over three years and cut unemployment by two-thirds, to 8% down from 21%. It would also benefit the economies of Israel and Jordan, Kerry said.

The effects could echo throughout the region and could be used as an international model for applying investment to make change, he said.

Investment in business, as well as in peace, could totally change life on the ground for this area, Kerry said.

“This will help build the future. Is this a fantasy? I do not think so,” he said.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Abu Mazen, Israeli economy, John Kerry, Palestinian economy, Shimon Peres, US economy, world economy

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:45 PM 2 comments

Erekat says Peres has to convince Netanyahu to make peace, Steinitz says Peres doesn't speak for the government

With all of the problems with the world economy, it seems that the only issue of interest at the World Economic Forum in Jordan is Israel and the 'Palestinians.' Shimon Peres, who has never won a national election in this country, has become the star of the show, with many so-called 'leaders' deciding that Peres represents Israeli aspirations rather than our elected government.

This is from the first link.

"What holds back the renewal of the peace negotiation are some gaps in the bridge between the beginning and the conclusion. Knowing very well the nature of the missing link, I am convinced that this gap can be bridged," Peres said calling on leaders of both sides to advance peace initiatives.

Peres called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a partner of Israel's and praised recent US efforts to contribute to completing the peace process and the the Arab Peace Initiative as a strategic opportunity for approaching peace.

"We must depart from the skepticism that claims that war is inevitable. War is not inevitable. Peace is inevitable." he said.

"Despite the many hurdles on the way to peace, we must never lose sight of the positive developments in our region," Peres said citing peace agreements that have been fostered between Egypt and Israel and Jordan and Israel.

Abu Bluff gave us his vision of peace, which ought to be enough to ensure that there will never be an agreement.

Just peace must include the right of return to Palestinian refugees and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said.

The PA president also called on Israelis to read the Arab Peace Initiative, withdraw to the pre-1967 lines, and allow Jerusalem to be the capital of both states.

For most Israelis the 'right of return' (a code word for democratically destroying the Jewish state by overwhelming it demographically) and the 'pre-1967 lines' (the 1949 armistice lines) are non-starters. You can read more about Abu Bluff's speech at the link, but I want to skip ahead to 'Palestinian' chief negotiator bottle washer Saeb Erekat (and yes, I know he promised to resign, but he lied), who gave an incredible interview to Army Radio on Monday morning.

Speaking in an interview with Army Radio, Erekat welcomed President Shimon Peres's call for an immediate resumption of peace talks in his speech to the World Economic Forum in Jordan on Sunday, however, he stated that the reactions of several ministers to Peres's speech was troubling.

Erekat said that after hearing Peres's speech, he woke up Monday morning and saw in the Israeli newspapers Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz saying Peres was not a government spokesman and Tourism Minister Uzi Landau referring to the pre-1967 lines as "Auschwitz borders."

"I know you are a democracy, but usually a coalition has a program," Erekat said in response to the different opinions being voiced by Israeli politicians.

The PA negotiator said that "everyone on Earth is convinced that a state on the 67 borders is the answer, but the one person we must convince is [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu.

Erekat stated that the PA's insistence that talks not resume until Netanyahu accepts a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 lines does not constitute a pre-condition, but rather is an Israeli obligation to conform to UN resolutions as set out in the Oslo Accords.

Bill Clinton and Barack Obama could not have done a better job than Saeb of explaining why a precondition is not a precondition, but Steinitz and Landau aren't the only government ministers who didn't find Saeb amusing.

Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) accused Erekat of "chutzpa," pointing out differing opinions among Israeli politicians while the PA holds reconciliation talks with Hamas, which rejects a two-state solution.

Erdan said that Netanyahu has made clear that he supports a two-state solution.

I think we ought to ask Saeb to point out where in the Oslo Accords or in UN resolutions 242 or 338 it says that Israel will or ought to return to the 1949 armistice lines. The answer is, it doesn't.

Other responses to Peres are here.

Labels: 1949 armistice lines, Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Gilad Erdan, John Kerry, Oslo accords, Saeb Erekat, Shimon Peres, world economy, Yuval Steinitz

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:46 AM 0 comments

Priorities: As world economy collapses, Obama worries about having to exercise a UN veto

Priorities, priorities.

As the World economy collapses, with the Dow falling over 500 points on Thursday (Hat Tip: Memeorandum), President Obama has his real priorities straight. He is going to spend a good chunk of next week meeting with chief 'Palestinian' negotiator bottle washer Saeb Erekat, and Erekat's colleague Nabil Abu Rudeineh, to convince them to drop the 'Palestinians' unilateral bid for 'statehood' at the UN in September so that Obama won't have to exercise an American veto in the Security Council.

PA sources said that Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat and Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, will travel to Washington shortly for talks with US government officials on the statehood plan.

The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper quoted a PA official as saying that the US Administration was searching for a formula that would allow the two sides to resume the peace negotiations so that the Palestinians could abandon their statehood plan.

The US has so far failed to come up with such a formula, the official said.

What's worse is that Prime Minister Netanyahu is apparently playing along with this game.

Israeli officials said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has indicated that he would agree to a formula based on entering the negotiations using the 1967 lines, with mutual agreed swaps, as the baseline, as long as the Palestinians would agree in turn to spelling out that the goal of the negotiations would be two states: a Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state of Israel.

The officials said that intensive discussions on this matter have been held involving Israeli, Palestinian, US, EU and Russian officials. So far the Palestinians have given no sign of a willingness to accept a formula that recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, the officials said.

So is Netanyahu bluffing the 'Palestinians' because he knows that they will never agree that Israel is a Jewish state? Or is he really dumb enough to enter 'negotiations' where the default position is that we go back to the 1967 lines 1949 armistice lines unless the 'Palestinians' agree otherwise?

What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, Saeb Erekat, unilateral concessions, unilateral declaration of statehood, US economy, world economy

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:59 AM 1 comments