Crise energética chinesa!?!?!

Menor crescimento da produção interna de carvão (4,4%)

    [causa medio prazo]

          (em relação ao crescimento do consumo de energia (14%) e [em do PIB],  

     [causa de curto prazo]

        menor importação (Austrália, agravado pelo AUKUS),

     [longo prazo, que o texto não fala, devido a mudança de base industrial, para indústria 4.0].

[médio prazo - China projeta cortes, no plano plurianual, em investimentos em projetos de mineração na África e América Latina, por exemplo)

Maior uso De energias renováveis 

[ indústrias eólicas e solares sao mais tecnologicamente avançadas e com cadeias de produção mais qualificadas - Se o carvão correspondeu a 4,4, de aumento da oferta, devido a 14% de aumento no consumo de energia, quanto do aumento da produção de energia foi derivado de fontes renováveis],

Diminuição de exportação de defensivos agrícolas [ ou pesticidas e fertilizantes] (para atender demanda interna - maior produtor, maior exportador, maior consumidor)

Redução de compra de minérios [problemas com fornecedores [ AUKUS, outros membros do falecido BRICS], 

Reduzir importação de gás natural e petróleo ( e também amônia, uréia [furacão IDA), por aumento de custo internacional 

"Crise" [ou melhor, alteração] do mercado imobiliário e construção civil (Evergrande) [ incentivo a construção para uso e desincentivo a construção para especulação, 

Ou 

[Mudança de matriz energética, para reduzir poluição, mitigar aquecimento global e aumentar autonomia energética?!?!?]

 [As reduções de importação e da emissao de gases estão relacionadas a alterações no plano plurianual, portanto, podem se relacionar não tanto a problemas derivados de causas imediatas, mas principalmente por tentativa de focar em questões básicas e de longo prazo, como dar conta do aumento das demandas internas, bem  como e se tornar mais autônomo e ou autarquico reduzir dependência externa]

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=33092

 

UK is in need of about 90,000 HGV drivers

Trade association Logistics UK estimates that the UK is in need of about 90,000 HGV drivers - with existing shortages made worse by a number of factors, including the
pandemic,
Brexit, an
ageing workforce, and
low wages and
poor working conditions.

This isn't a particularly popular idea with many cabinet ministers.

That's because the new immigration system that came in after Brexit was all about saying to companies: "You can't rely on cheap foreign labour any more, you've got to focus on the workforce in this country, you've got to train them, you've got to pay them better wages."

Relaxing those immigration rules now undermines that message. It could lead to other sectors saying they want special treatment too.

 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58687026

About Panic buying

Panic buying is a natural reaction to a stressful experience. In particular, it's a response to uncertainty. When people feel things are uncertain, they tend to focus on something that gives them a sense of certainty and makes them feel in control.

Of course, most people can't recruit new lorry drivers or mobilize the army to help with the delivery—but they can stock up on fuel. In taking this action, they feel as if they are doing something proactive, and taking charge of the situation.

COVID-19 has exacerbated uncertainty around what the future may hold and increased anxiety for many people, which is notable given we know existing anxiety is a precursor for panic buying. So when people heard there were concerns about petrol supply, it's not altogether surprising they began queuing up with extra Jerry cans. People may be more susceptible to this behavior than usual given the pandemic.

,,,

 

Precise and thoughtful communication is key to alleviating concerns, and therefore deterring people from panic buying. In this case, the public needs reassurance that there is not going to be a petrol shortage, as well as information about solutions—but it needs to be convincing. For example, announcing that 5,000 HGV drivers will be able to get temporary work visas without stating how they will be recruited may not be seen as entirely credible.

The way language is used can also affect people's perception of a situation. It's encouraging to see reports indicating the government has advised councils not to use the terms "panic" or "panic buying" in this discussion. Indeed, widespread use of the word "panic" means we perceive others as panicking. And thinking back to the principles of herd behavior, we tend to assume others know what they're doing—and we become more likely to follow suit.

So it's important that the government, local authorities and the media be careful with the language they use during this time.

Things you can do

If you are in the UK and currently affected by the crisis, ask yourself whether you really need to buy petrol. If you decide you don't really need to—perhaps you can leave your car at home and take public transport—even this basic thought process is a way of taking charge and reducing anxiety levels.

If you're concerned about the possibility of not being able to drive your car, it's a good idea to come up with a plan B. What specifically would you do if you found yourself with an empty tank? Could you perhaps travel to work with a neighbor who still has petrol in their car? Check bus and train routes and travel times to see whether that may be a solution.

By having a specific plan, you will feel as if you are in charge—albeit in a different way—and this might make you feel less inclined to urgently seek petrol.

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-petrol-toilet-paper-ways-crisis.html

 

Who benefits from the massive surge of migrants crossing our southern boarder?

 Obviously, more is involved than just compassion for millions of poor Guatemalans and their children. And while adding future Democratic voters is clearly the long-term aim of those tolerating the invasion, there is one group of immediate beneficiaries whose needs have garnered scant attention: affluent Americans whose comfort depends on armies low-wage, happy-to-please foreign-born workers. The awkward truth is that millions of upscale Americans risk transforming the US into a banana republic in pursuit of creature comforts. Like those wretched masses wading across the Rio Grande, they, too, want a better life.

 

Employers prefer these new arrivals for the simple reason that that they are superior workers. They are more
reliable,
punctual,
dutiful and
anxious to please, and
their salaries reflects economic reality, not a wage dictated by government bureaucrats untroubled by economic reality. Employers are not scraping the bottom of the barrel vis-à-vis home-grown workers. That the newcomers often help support their families back home via remittances further encourages them to be well-behaved employees.

https://www.unz.com/article/open-borders-and-affluent-americans/ 

Ron Unz:

Although those immigration benefits to affluent Americans obviously contribute, I think the biggest current factor is just the enormous ideological and political momentum in support of immigration among Democrats, not least because their arch-fiend Donald Trump had made opposition to immigration one of his biggest political issues.

However, I think over the last couple of decades there was an entirely different hidden factor, namely demographic issues in America’s most influential urban centers:

https://www.unz.com/runz/race-and-crime-in-america/#the-hidden-motive-for-heavy-immigration

 “Can the System Save Itself Again?” [Vulgar Marxism]. “From the point of view of the Democratic Party, Biden’s domestic agenda is critical to its

short-term electoral fortunes,
the medium-term stability of the political system that empowers it, and
the long-term health of the biosphere in which the capitalist mode of production is possible.

So how can it be that this party, both as a self-interested actor and the superego of American capital, may fail to pass it?… But it turns out capital remains as shortsighted as ever, and has mobilized to tank Biden’s agenda.

 

Throughout its history, critics and admirers alike have understood that if improperly managed, capitalism will destroy a society’s capacity for social reproduction, and with it the conditions that sustain its own existence. For this reason, much of the political class in the Global North came to recognize the need for their states to ensure a more stable balance between the productive needs of capital and the human needs of labor - for their own citizens anyway. Though capital fiercely resisted this renegotiation of the social contract, it was disciplined through the power of organized labor and a political class willing to accept and enforce a compromise. 

...

 

 

nationwide collapse in social trust and faith in institutions 

 Donald Trump’s victory in 2016 was the result of northern non-college whites realigning their politics to match non-college whites in the rest of the country. The high-wire act that saw this cohort defy demographic gravity for sixty years was sustained by a unionized industrial sector loyal to the Democratic Party, an arrangement that has disintegrated. Economic stagnation has also led to a nationwide collapse in social trust and faith in institutions that is fueling disturbing pathologies in our culture and politics.

https://vulgarmarxism.substack.com/p/can-the-system-save-itself-again