We Are All Killers..Until we stop flying
New fuel consumption figures for both fast passenger ships and ultra high-speed trains suggest that their carbon emissions are comparable to those of planes(22). What all this means is that if we want to stop the planet from cooking, we will simply have to stop travelling at the kind of speeds that planes permit.

Global credit ocean dries up
"There are several hundred billion dollars of positions in the carry trade that will be unwound as soon as they become unprofitable," said Stephen Lewis, an economist at Monument Securities. "When the Bank of Japan starts tightening we may see some spectacular effects. The world has never been through this before, so there is a high risk of mistakes."

Quick Overview

• The National Association of Realtors said resales of U.S. homes dropped 2.8% in January to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 6.56 million, the lowest in two years.
  
  

• The Conference Board said U.S. consumer confidence fell unexpectedly in February to 101.7 from a revised January 106.8.
  
  

• Chicago purchasing managers index fell to 54.9 in February from 58.5 in January.
  
  
  

• The U.S. Commerce Department said that U.S. GDP was up 1.6% in the fourth quarter, better than the previous estimate of 1.1%. For all of 2005, GDP increased 3.5%.
  
  

• Canada's GDP was up 0.6% in the fourth quarter and up 2.9% for 2005.
  

• YoY Consumer prices in the Euro zone were up 2.4% in January
  

• Industrial production in Japan was up 0.3% in January.
  
  

• YoY surface trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico rose 13.5% in December, the Department of Transport said.
  
  

• Argentina's jobless rate fell a full percentage point in the fourth quarter as the thriving economy continued to create new jobs.
  
  

• France Jan. Unemployment Rate rose to 9.6% vs. 9.5%.
  
  

• Australia Current Account Deficit for Q4 out at -14.4B AUD vs. -13.6B expected
  

• Newmont Mining (NEM) reported a drop in fourth quarter production despite high gold prices.
  
  

• Dow-Jones Newswires reported that Brazil is building 52 sugarcane mills to meet growing domestic and global demand for ethanol.
  

Neocons jump ship

Harper's Calls For Impeachment
“To take away the excuse,” he said, “that we didn't know.” So that two or four or ten years from now, if somebody should ask, “Where were you, Conyers, and where was the United States Congress?” when the Bush Administration declared the Constitution inoperative and revoked the license of parliamentary government, none of the company now present can plead ignorance or temporary insanity, can say that “somehow it escaped our notice” that the President was setting himself up as a supreme leader exempt from the rule of law.

Senator Feinstein's War-Profiteering
The Democrats aren’t just letting the Republicans get away with murder, however, some of them are also reaping the benefits of the Bush wars. We constantly hear about Dick Cheney’s ties to Halliburton and how his ex-company is making bundles off US contracts in Iraq. But what we don’t hear about is how Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein and her husband are also making tons of money off the “war on terror”.

Venezuela Cautions U.S. It May Curtail Oil Exports The minister, Rafael Ramírez, said Venezuela, which is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and supplies more than 10 percent of American oil imports, could act in the face of what he described as aggression by the Bush administration

America's younger workers losing ground on income
From 2001 to 2004, median income fell 8 percent for householders under 35, a survey shows.

Quick Overview

• A survey by the National Association for Business Economics increased its estimate of first quarter U.S. GDP growth from an annual rate of 3.4% to 4.5%.
  
  
  

• New home sales fell 5% in January to the lowest level in a year, the Commerce Department reported Monday. Sales fell for the fourth time in six months during a balmy January, while the number of homes on the market hit a record high (Ed. Note: Right now, the number of homes on the market in the United States is 528,000) - the largest supply of homes in nine years. Sales are down four times in six months. December home sales rose 3.8%. Sales fell 7.0% in November, rose 7.7% in October, sank 2.0% in September and fell 7.1% in August.
  
  
  
  

• China should reduce the dollar share of its foreign exchange reserves because of the risks posed by the instability of the U.S. currency, influential economics professor Xiao Zhuoji said in an interview published on Monday.
  
  

• Hawkish comments by Bank of Japan governor Toshihiko Fukui last week fueled expectations the central bank will end its ultraeasy monetary policy around April.
  
  

• Canada's exports were up C$6.1 billion because of higher energy prices. Imports were up C$2.1 billion.
  
  

• YoY Japan's exports of cars, trucks and buses jumped 17.3% in January, rising for the sixth straight month.
  

• Intel Corp announced plans Tuesday to build a $300-million chip assembly and testing factory in southern Vietnam

Free speech, even if it hurts
Today, you may be imprisoned or fined for dissenting from the accepted Holocaust history in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland.

Cancelled home orders: Latest bubble prick?
Home builders are growing concerned about an increasing number of cancelled new home orders, which experts say could be a sign of an underlying weakness in the recent run in home prices.

Verizon Faces New $20B Suit over NSA Spying Complicity
Upping the ante in what may be a high-stakes legal battle, an Upstate New York lawyer filed a $20 billion class-action lawsuit against Verizon last week, charging that the company violated customer confidentiality in aiding warrantless eavesdropping by a federal spy agency.

U.S. to Pay Big Employers Billions Not to End Their Retiree Health Plans

Mr. Reed Consults With Padre Kino

Quick Overview

• Durable goods orders dove 10.2% in January from the previous month for the biggest drop in six years, led by a decline in commercial aircraft, the Commerce Department said Friday. Excluding transport, orders were up 0.6% on the month.
  

• The U.S. economy can cope if the Federal Reserve makes a "mistake" (they usually do) and raises interest rates too high, one of its top policy-makers said on Friday, in remarks implying he did not fear delivering more rate hikes.
  
  

• Brazil's economy posted a tepid fourth-quarter recovery after a third-quarter slump, ending the year on a weak note that slowed full-year 2005 economic growth to 2.3 percent, less than half that of the year before.
  
  

• The USDA said there were 12.110 million head of cattle on feed on February 1st, up 6.8% YoY. Placements in January were up 16% YoY. Marketing’s were up 2%.
  

• The USDA estimated this week's beef production at 443.4 million pounds, up 2.8% from a year ago. The USDA estimates pork production at 395.9 million pounds, down 0.2% from YoY.
  
  

• The Florida Citrus Processors said there were 92.7 million gallons of frozen orange juice concentrate in inventory on February 18th, down 35% YoY.
  
  

• London copper inventories are at 109,225 tons.
  
  

India spreads its net for gas, any gas

Families' budget squeezed by rising costs
From an economic point of view, core inflation — for now — isn't overly worrisome but it is "generating some angst within the Fed," said Sherry Cooper,

Quick Overview

• U.S. Jobless claims were down 20,000 last week to 278,000, signaling a stronger economy than expected.
  
  

• The Bank of Japan on Thursday sent the strongest signal yet of an imminent end to its ultraloose monetary policy, saying it would move quickly when prices recover steadily -- a trend it said was already beginning.
  
  

• Germany's Ifo index, increased from 101.8 to 103.3 in February, the highest reading in 14 years.
  

• The unemployment rate in Brazil climbed from 8.3% to 9.2% in January.
  

• Cotton mill use rose from an annual rate of 5.51 to 6.24 million bales in January.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil supplies were up 1.1 million barrels to 326.7 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 100,000 barrels.
  Supplies of heating oil were up 400,000 barrels.
  Supplies of underground natural gas were down 123 billion cubic feet last week to 2.143 trillion cubic feet.
  
  

• The World Gold Council said gold demand totaled 3,754 tons in 2005, up 7% YoY. YoY mine production was up 1% at 2,494 tons. The largest increas in demand came from India, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and China.
  

Quick Overview

• Following two months of downturns, the U.S. consumer prices rose 0.7% in January the most in a year, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Excluding food and energy costs, prices were up just 0.2%.
  
  

• Turkey is surrounded by 75% of the world’s known reserves of oil and gas. Long-term strategies plus recent developments are turning the country into an energy hub for the region.
  
  

• Canada's consumer price index rose 0.5% in January and up 2.8% YoY.
  

• Factory orders in the U.K. increased from -28 to -18 in February, more than expected.
  

• ED&F Man predicted that world cocoa production will be down 3% in 2005-2006, resulting in a production deficit of 221,000 tons.
  

• U.S. refineries want to end their use of MTBE as a gasoline additive and switch to ethanol, however the Department of Energy warned there may not be enough ethanol around.
  

Segway creator unveils his next act
Inventor Dean Kamen wants to put entrepreneurs to work bringing water and electricity to the world's poor.