I read this on A&A's Economic Digest...
Who exactly has the most to gain... from rising oil prices... and inflation???
GOVERNMENTS on taxes!
'OIL
Britain was once the sixth-biggest producer of oil and gas but her share of the North Sea is now in decline. Production peaked in 1999 at 4.4-million barrels a day and has since fallen to 3-million and a target to maintain this level until 2010 looks certain to be missed. Presently, the industry supports 400,000 jobs and the oil and gas industry is now the biggest corporate contributors to the treasury, paying three-quarters of the US$26-billion paid in corporate taxes last year.
TECHNOLOGY
When the United Nations imposed a ban on trade in Liberia's logs in 2003, Liberia was synonymous with uncontrolled and environmentally devastating logging. Now a system has been set up to track all of Liberia's timber. Future lumber concessionaires will be required to attach a barcode to each tree they fell and to the stumps they come from. A corresponding entry in a database will record the origin, species, size and destination of each log. In theory this should make it much harder to forge paperwork and easy to catch those who misrepresent the amount of wood they have harvested.
EXPENSIVE
A recent survey by economists lists Oslo, London and Copenhagen as the three most costly cities in Europe and Dublin is now in fourth place. In Asia, Tokyo is the most expensive, followed by Seoul, Singapore and Hong Kong. By contrast, cities in the U.S. have become cheaper because of the weaker dollar.
VALUE
The share price of two shipping companies in Hong Kong have increased fivefold in the last two years. Meanwhile staggering sums have been made in private transactions. Ships generally fall in value as they age yet an iron-ore carrier built for $31-million in 2001 was sold for $150-million in 2007. It was immediately leased out on a long-term contract, making a vast profit for the buyer, even after that made by the seller. An oil tanker built for $142-million and still under construction was recently sold for $168-million.
INVENTIONS
Japanese scientists recently unveiled an invention, code named Smart Goggle, which not only records what the wearer of a pair of glasses is seeing, but recognizes it. The glasses can playback footage of when the wearer last saw an object, a remote or car keys for example. Initially, the user has to tell the glasses the name of everything that he or she looks at and the glasses will remember. They can then locate the last time the object was seen if it is misplaced.'
http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=138
Who exactly has the most to gain... from rising oil prices... and inflation???
GOVERNMENTS on taxes!
'OIL
Britain was once the sixth-biggest producer of oil and gas but her share of the North Sea is now in decline. Production peaked in 1999 at 4.4-million barrels a day and has since fallen to 3-million and a target to maintain this level until 2010 looks certain to be missed. Presently, the industry supports 400,000 jobs and the oil and gas industry is now the biggest corporate contributors to the treasury, paying three-quarters of the US$26-billion paid in corporate taxes last year.
TECHNOLOGY
When the United Nations imposed a ban on trade in Liberia's logs in 2003, Liberia was synonymous with uncontrolled and environmentally devastating logging. Now a system has been set up to track all of Liberia's timber. Future lumber concessionaires will be required to attach a barcode to each tree they fell and to the stumps they come from. A corresponding entry in a database will record the origin, species, size and destination of each log. In theory this should make it much harder to forge paperwork and easy to catch those who misrepresent the amount of wood they have harvested.
EXPENSIVE
A recent survey by economists lists Oslo, London and Copenhagen as the three most costly cities in Europe and Dublin is now in fourth place. In Asia, Tokyo is the most expensive, followed by Seoul, Singapore and Hong Kong. By contrast, cities in the U.S. have become cheaper because of the weaker dollar.
VALUE
The share price of two shipping companies in Hong Kong have increased fivefold in the last two years. Meanwhile staggering sums have been made in private transactions. Ships generally fall in value as they age yet an iron-ore carrier built for $31-million in 2001 was sold for $150-million in 2007. It was immediately leased out on a long-term contract, making a vast profit for the buyer, even after that made by the seller. An oil tanker built for $142-million and still under construction was recently sold for $168-million.
INVENTIONS
Japanese scientists recently unveiled an invention, code named Smart Goggle, which not only records what the wearer of a pair of glasses is seeing, but recognizes it. The glasses can playback footage of when the wearer last saw an object, a remote or car keys for example. Initially, the user has to tell the glasses the name of everything that he or she looks at and the glasses will remember. They can then locate the last time the object was seen if it is misplaced.'
http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=138
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