Deep-sea mud in the Pacific Ocean as a potential resource for rare-earth elements
The rare elements theme has been quite hot in the recent months. It now seems that deep-sea mud in the Pacific Ocean has lots of them. I wonder what the extraction costs would be.
[url]http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1185.html[/url]
2007/2011-- an interesting analysis
When and if the market turns and breaks the 200 DMA, I wonder where and when the Robot will indicate a prime point to enter/jump on.
In the meantime, one might enjoy[URL="http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-how-equity-market-prices-recession-0"] this simple comparison of 2011 and 2007[/URL].
backtesting and politics and noise
Billy,
I'm very impressed with the analytical minds and training of some of the people here, including Pascal, Paul and you. The complexity is typical of engineers. And it is precisely this type of thinking that makes HGSI and Pascal's book difficult for me. This is not to say I have not taken my math and advanced logic classes and aced the crucial tests. I have. Given a choice, however, I'll see the world as a specialist in qualitative methods.
All my qualitative methods are set against the background of history and geopolitics (probably one reason I like Zero Hedge). As I noted to EB in a seperate exchange, I don't talk politics, culture or religion since I became a speculator. This makes it a little difficult to express my judgments because they can be so easily misconstrued.
That said, I'll make a bold and ugly political statement: the market and the entire edifice on which it stands depends heavily on American military power and its projection. Conservatives know this at least implicitly. And so-called liberals are embarassed by it but must accept it. President Obama understands this point, as did Clinton and every other president in recent memory. There have been no doves in the White House.
From the conquering of the American West to the non war in Lybia, there has not been a time when the USA is not at war somewhere defending its [I]national interests[/I]. This fact may not be taught in American high school history books, but, trust me, people in Asia-- especially China-- know it well. Power comes at the end of a gun, as Mao put it. And every Chinese knows this, too.
So what is my point? [URL="http://www.zerohedge.com/article/cvn-77-ghw-bush-enters-persian-gulf-cia-veteran-robert-baer-predicts-september-israel-iran-w"]Consider this fact[/URL], courtesy of ZH (but ultimately from [URL="http://www.stratfor.com/?utm_source=General_Analysis&utm_campaign=none&utm_medium=email"]Stratfor[/URL], a subscription service to which I subscribe):
[I]Stratfor demonstrates, the CVN 77 G.H.W. Bush has just entered the Persian Gulf, the first time a US aircraft carrier has passed through the Straits of Hormuz in months. What is also notable is that the LHD 5 Bataan amphibious warfare ship has just weighed anchor right next to Libya: this is odd since the coast of Tripoli had been left unattended for many weeks by US attack ships. And topping it all off is that a third aircraft carrier, the CVN 73, is sailing west from the South China seas, potentially with a target next to CVN 76 Ronald Reagan which is the second carrier in the Straits of Hormuz area[/I]
Whoever controls oil, controls the global economy. Can anyone really disagree with this? (I bet some can, and I dread escalations of political aruments). In any case, a lot of power is lined up in that part of the world. By doing so, the president and the military are tacitly supporting a strong American economy and stock market. They know the biggest drag on GDP comes via high oil prices. Moreover, leaders in the USA know that Americans depend on a rising stock market for the retirement and that a poorly performing market will also prove a dead weight on American GDP growth. To me these facts are almost self evident. They are the background against which all current movements must be considered.
In other words, while all the noise inside the market and inside the media is sending confusing signals, the basic message remains: America and its allies are in control. As long as that is the case, the bias of the markets will be sideways to up.
In the meantime, we bit players will continue to make our meal money on volatility and trends, which will occur within ranges. If a carrier ever gets taken out, then all bets are off.
The latest skinny, as of Monday evening.
[url]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-18/reid-mcconnell-push-revised-debt-measure-as-obama-seeks-to-avoid-default.html[/url]
