Subsidies

In global trade talks, farm subsidies in the developed world remains a thorny issue having derailed the finalization of global trade rules under the World Trade Organization (WTO) since the Seattle debacle a few years back, may again stall this time  with the same subject.

EU may send farm subsidies to third world Uzbekistan News.NetSaturday 21st June, 2008 A senior European Union official has suggested taxpayers help finance struggling farmers in developing countries. The official has put forward the proposition that up to one billion euros be doled out in unused agricultural subsidies. EU may send farm subsidies to third world Similar Posts:CAP Some Letters The [

Hassan Marican appeared on National Television willingly to bare all about Petronas. Unfortunately, the only answer he should have gave last night to those stupid panels (and moderator) was “Bloddy hell, what a stupid question! Go and **PAKLAH** yourself la!” but he remained calm though.Most probably the instruction was to grill him as though the increase of fuel prices is all Petronas faults.

This week's post is an article that I wrote for The Oil Drum. Also, several new links on the side column this week. Starting next week, I hope to move away from discussing oil for a few weeks and turn to discussion of rhizome as an open source platform for developing personal and community self-sufficiency, something of a "rhizome toolkit."____________________________Cheap gas and diesel due to

There’s a loophole in the biofuel legislation that allows for a $1.00 per gallon subsidy to be collected by private industry for blending biodiesel in with regular fuel.  Once a minimum amount of diesel is added to the mix, the newly-formulated fuel is shipped off to Europe and sold for below-market rates. www.foxnews.com Tags: biofuel, dust, fuel, [...]

Oil Price keep increasing day by day. It was believed, it's going to turn out into AS$250 per barrel on 2009. So that's make sense oil going to crush double price on what we had now..Erk..that's creepy. Upon the petrol price hikes, government had announce it's subsidies for all cars below 2000cc.The rally keep heating up here Anti-fuel hike roadshows begin on Saturday. And what we can do now is

ISLAMABAD, June 11 (Reuters) - Pakistan will slash fuel, food and fertiliser subsidies to tackle its fiscal and current account deficits, CNBC Pakistan news channel reported on Wednesday, hours before the government was due to unveil its 2008/2009 budget.The total outlay of the budget is estimated at 2,010 billion rupees with 550 billion rupees targetted for development spending, CNBC said, quotin

The WSJ reported yesterday the differences in John McCain's and Barack Obama's approaches to energy policy, noting McCain's strong resistance to government support for clean and renewable energies (subscription may be required): For example, while Sen. McCain says he favors an effort to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, his voting record shows a reluctance to support mandates, tax credits and

Malaysia now almost pays market price for gasoline, but why do they have to pay incredibly high taxes on the cars that use gasoline? What ever happens with that money? And why do they have to pay enormous taxes to import foreign cars with little gasoline consumption compared to the local cars that really consume a [...]

MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today announced price hikes for petrol, diesel and electricity. He said the new price for petrol is RM2.70 a litre, effective midnight tonight. The price goes up by 78 sen from the current RM1.92, an increase of 40%. Abdullah also announced that the price of diesel [...]

Asian currencies fell, led by the Philippine peso on speculation additional government spending may widen the nation's budget deficit. The peso slid for a second day after the government said it will subsidize some power bills because of rising fuel costs. The Philippines will spend 2 billion pesos ($46 million) to subsidize the power bills of four million families, Philippine Daily Inquirer

The HCM City’s Department of Transport and Public Works has asked city administration for an additional VND68 billions (US$4.2 million) in bus service subsidies. If the proposal is approved, the subsidies would reach a total of VND640 billion ($40 million). For the first five months of 2008, the Department of Transport and Public Works asked for more funds to give raises to bus drivers . The

Malaysia plans to reduce fuel subsidies within two months, Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop said yesterday. The risk to the ringgit and other regional currencies is the spike in inflation from the withdrawal of fuel subsidies. The ringgit traded at 3.2175 per dollar in Kuala Lumpur for a 0.5 percent gain on the week, according to Bloomberg data, ending a four-week slump.Man, when will th

My last post on agriculture subsidies got me wondering, particularly in combination with my support of judicial "activism" in the sense of overturning laws. The question I was wondering about is this: Has there ever been an attempt to overturn pork barrel spending through a lawsuit where the basis for the suit was the spending's non-budgetary consequences? The last part of this question is the i

Publius at Obsidian Wings hits on something that I've been meaning to post on for a couple of weeks:Instead, farm bill opponents should have spent more time arguing that it’s a substantively bad bill — more precisely, it’s a bill that jeopardizes health andincreases hunger. For one, the subsidies of corn, sugar, and meat play a hugerole in our nation’s obesity problem (not to mention in th

In a few days the Congress is going to vote on the $300 billion Farm Bill. Its passage is pretty much assured, however, there is still hope that president Bush would veto it, as he should.The bill contains a significant number of provisions, all of them either wasteful, harmful or downright scandalous. Yes, scandalous! How else can you call a provision, added by the Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mc

GENEVA (AP) - The World Trade Organization has opened an investigation into whether the United States is violating international commerce rules that limit subsidies to American farmers, officials said Monday, three days after the U.S. Senate approved a new $286 billion farm bill. The WTO said it set up a panel to rule in the dispute [...]

An Indonesian government minister warned Thursday that fuel subsidies could exceed 200 trillion rupiah ($21.74 billion) in 2008 if oil prices remain at current high levels and consumption is not reined in. Purnomo Yusgiantoro, minister for energy and mineral resources, told reporters the amount of subsidized fuel consumption could rise to 41 million kiloliters, or 15.5 percent higher than the government's budgeted forecast. About 60 percent of the fuel consumed in Indonesia is subsidized by the government. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government was facing a challenge in controlling consumption of subsidized fuel after actual consumption reached 9.6 million kiloliters in the first quarter. The government has earmarked 126.8 trillion rupiah for fuel s

Baltimore — (TFN): I spent the Easter vacation back in the Old Country. I landed in Frankfurt, under sniper fire, and spend a few days meandering through Hesse and Bavaria to get to Berlin. Despite Germany’s state sponsored religion of climate apocalypse, I had no opportunity to show off my global warming fashions. Shorts, polo shirts, [...]

Baltimore — (TFN): Solar stocks may currently be in a slump. But if the European example is any indication, solar manufacturers will be sitting pretty for years… especially those located in China. If this is good for domestic solar technology manufacturers in countries with high labor cost is another question: We wouldn’t bet the farm [...]

JOHOR BARU: The subsidy on petrol may be revised with the bulk going to the regular type so that prices will be kept down for the average motorists. Under the plan, the existing classes of petrol at the pump — Octane 92 and Octane 97, commonly referred to as RON 92 and RON 97 — [...]

In addition to the prescription drug program, George Bush’s Medicare Plan provided for extra payments to private insurance companies to cover Medicare patients. Under these Medicare Advantage plans it now costs about twelve percent more to cover Medicare patients than under the government program, even though the private companies often cherry pick the healthiest patients. The extra payments also provide incentive for fraud. In light of the problems which have been identified with these plan, The New York Times has an editorial today calling for an elimination of the subsidies: Heavily subsidized private Medicare plans are continuing to prey on elderly Americans despite state, federal and industry efforts to stop them. It is yet another reason to rein in these operations by eliminating their unjustified subsidies. These plans are a financial drag on Medicare as the government pays them about 12 percent more, on average, than the same services would cost in the traditional Medicar

China will give subsidies to oil refiners to help offset the gap between high international crude oil prices and controlled domestic fuel prices, state media reported on Thursday. The companies will receive rebates and will be exempt from paying oil import duties, the official Xinhua News Agency... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

China will give subsidies to oil refiners to help offset the gap between high international crude oil prices and controlled domestic fuel prices, state media reported on Thursday.The companies will receive rebates and will be exempt from paying oil import duties, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).The report gave no dollar figure for the subsidies, which are intended to help entice state-owned refiners into raising output.Last month, the government raised retail prices for gasoline and diesel by almost 10 per cent. It also ordered the country's two biggest refiners, PetroChina and rival China Petro-leum & Chemical Co., or Sinopec, to produce more fuel.But oil companies are still facing huge operating losses in their refining businesses, while some of the smaller, independent refiners have stopped or reduced production, said the NDRC, China's main economic planning agency.Widespread shortages that led to filling s

Pakistan has released nearly 3,500 of the people detained since emergency rule was introduced, though another 2,000 remain jailed. A historic UN-backed tribunal is underway in Phnom Phen, Cambodia, where the first of several surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime is facing charges for crimes against humanity. The EU is cutting farm subsidies — one of many reforms of the Union’s increasingly unpopular, but original “pillars,” the Common Agricultural Policy. “But when the Bush administration came to power and the ‘war on terror’ began, he quickly came to realize that the scale of fraud spawned in its wake was of a different order of magnitude. More and more would-be plaintiffs began to contact his firm after hearing about it on the informal whistle-blowers’ grapevine.” For a more encouraging morning coffee — a fascinating Vanity Fair piece on employees of US government contractors in Iraq who are outraged at the fraud they

As the 2007 farm bill takes final shape in Congress, an unprecedented wave of Bay Area activism aimed at forcing substantial change finds itself washing up on the shores of political reality. "I think we had a chance to make it a really great farm bill, and it turned out to be the same old pork-belly politics," said Ann Cooper, director of nutrition services for the Berkeley Unified School District. Sources: San Francisco Chronicle November 1, 2007Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

The Economist blog Free Exchange continues to defend free trade, referencing the argument made by Robert Lawrence that trade in the US has not increased inequality:Mr Lawrence's story is basically this. There are two classes of imports: things Americans still make and things they don't make any more. The things Americans still do make are generally produced by well-paid, highly skilled workers. While global competition in their sector may put downward pressure on these workers' wages, this doesn't exacerbate inequality. (Indeed, if they were paid highly enough, competitive wage pressures could reduce domestic inequality.) The declining cost of things Americans don't make any more is pure benefit to consumers, but doesn't exert downward pressure on American wages, since Americans don't earn wages making that stuff any more. If wage inequality is growing, trade isn't the reason.Foreign Policy also comments on the benefits of free trade and the need for major free trade agreements

Libertarians love pointing out unintended consequences. Earlier this month, I found an unintended solution. Ending a government program would not only solve a root problem, but it would actually solve a problem that seems to be unrelated. The government program I am talking about is farm subsidies. In an attempt to save the family farmer, the federal government gives $25 billions a year to

The abiding protectionism of the US electorate continues to astound economists, who are seeking ways to reduce this irrational prejudice and introduce the electorate to the benefits of free trade. The Adam Smith Institute Blog reports on a suggested New Deal for Globalisation:In this month's Foreign Affairs Kenneth Scheve and Matthew Slaughter argue that the only way to overcome the tide of protectionism in the US is for the government to introduce a massive redisitribution program to bring the fruit of open markets to the doorstep of those earning below the median wage.The authors have clearly been studying their public choice theory by suggesting that voters should be bribed into supporting 'good' policies instead of being convinced. The Adam Smith Institute Blog is understandably skeptical, concluding:Large-scale redistribution under the banner of a "New Deal for Globalisation" would disincentivize low skilled workers from actually working, while encouraging them to be bought off

A group of American steel associations say China steelmakers get tax breaks, loans and all manner of government subsidies that make for unfair competition. The group published a report aimed to sway import-duty hearings held by the International Trade Commission, which is deciding whether to continue leveling extra charges on hot-rolled steel from several countries, including China. Read Original Post Here

DOMESTIC A new kind of political center? Schwarzenegger and Bloomberg lash out at America’s partisan politics. Meanwhile, the House narrowly overturns a ban on aid to foreign family planning groups which offer abortions. New Orleans is safer but still at risk of flooding. Speculation begins that Guantanamo may close soon. INTERNATIONAL Talks break down between the US, the EU, Brazil and India over the bitter issue of agricultural subsidies. Blair to become the “Quartet” envoy to the Middle East? Seems like everyone is speculating about what job the PM will take next. In Africa, “flood season starts, but not where it should.” Iraqi President Jalal Talabani visits China. BLOGS A short but to the point post from The Agonist touches on why the Democratic base is unhappy with the party. What do you want to know about Iran? The View from Iran starts to answer questions for those who are curious. A post from The Carpetbagger Report raises some interesting issues

WASHINGTON, June 13 — The House education committee voted Wednesday to cut subsidies to student lenders and to halve the interest rates on a key student loan program over the next five years.The bill, approved in a 30-to-16 vote that included many Republicans on the yes side, underscored the vastly changed landscape facing the student loan industry, which is facing major challenges this year, including investigations of its marketing and underwriting practices. The Senate education committee is taking up its own bill next week, expected to include even deeper cuts in subsidies to lenders than the $19 billion in the House bill, and President Bush also proposed cuts in payments to lenders.This from the New York Times.

The Ministry of Industry (MoI) has submitted to the Prime Minister the national energy strategy by 2020 with the vision until 2050, which identifies the removal of monopoly and subsidisation as the key solution to the energy balance in the future. Minister of Industry Hoang Trung Hai talked more about the strategy. What has Vietnam been doing to ensure energy balance in current conditions?

The countries of the G-33 group of developing nations reaffirmed their unity and stance within the context of the Doha Agenda- the need to rapidly remove trade distortions and barriers - as they concluded their two-day meeting in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Wednesday. A breakthrough in the the Doha World Trade Organisation (WTO) agricultural negotiations depended on developed countries offering to cut agricultural subsidies, they stressed.The G-33's members include Indonesia and other Asian countries such as India and Pakistan, as well as Turkey, several African states and Latin American countries such as Venezuela.

The new Democrat controlled House of Representatives has rolled back tax breaks to big oil and boosted boosted royalties to the tune of $14 billion dollars in their first 100 hours in office. The bill was passed 264-163, including 62 yes votes from Republicans, and applies over the next 10 years.Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has also created a new Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, much to the chagrin of some Republican legislators.Pelosi said the committee would be designed to "raise the visibility" of energy and climate change issues, and that it would not have legislative jurisdiction. Many lawmakers saw it as a way to diminish the influence of veteran lawmakers, such as Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), who in the past has guarded the interests of the big U.S. automakers from his state by opposing higher fuel efficiency standards.You go girl! Bring on the next 100 hours!

Inspired by a great conversation on another post, here are some facts about the role federal subsidies play in tilting the market away from renewable energy technologies.  Â» original news  (via the hugg.com)

KTF ignited Korea's second round of handset subsidies* and SKT followed yesterday. Consumers don't quite understand the sophisticated grids proposed by the operators but the message is clear : you'll get more if you're a loyal big spender.For example, at SK Telecom, you're still offered 70,000 wons if you joined the company during the last three years and if you spend less than 30,000 wons per month... but if you've been a client for over 8 years and spend over 90,000 wons per month, subsidies reach 240,000 wons and that's a 26% increase since March the 27th.People who joined the back-then-not-yet-broad-bandwagon in '96 and spend about 80 euros per month are either business users or deep pocket early adopters (if not both) : core targets for such expensive next gen devices as DMB handsets. The thing is SKT badly need to boost subscriptions to TU media and its business flavor TU media Corp **. End of March, almost all SKT consumers had WAP enabled (99.5%) and color

Better late than sorry. The MIC eventually allowed cellcos to subsidize handsets. Korea Inc can now boost DMB, WiBro and W-CDMA technologies at home. Bad news for SK Telecom 's competitors*, good news for Samsung , LG & Co, who would have preferred this help much earlier for their international competitiveness**. Yet, note that debitel 's DMB trials in Germany*** have just been confirmed, along with a nationwide coverage in 2007 (8 cities for the World Cup, 12 by the end of 2006).The MIC set a few rules for subsidies (only 62% of subscribers can enjoy them now, and 18 to 24 month will be required between each favor)... with the notable exception of next gen handsets (DMB, W-CDMA, WiBro...). To avoid a loss of face, the Government intends to monitor the process even more closely than it does with real estate, thanks to a weird kind of reverse auction. This Monday morning, March the 27th, each MNO will give its subsidy grid to the regulator and no change will be allowed until

Korea's MIC will reopen a door to hanset subsidies. Household consumption may be up, consumers cannot afford next gen devices and that's a blow to Korean industries : how to sell S-DMB abroad when only early adopters can buy it (see " handle with e-care - China-aware pro gaming ") ? how could Korea join leading countries on the W-CDMA / HSDPA tracks (not to mention EV-DO Revision A and B for LG Telecom) and push Wibro standard at the same time ?But the problem at the root of the law forbidding such subsidies remains. So the MIC decided to restrict subsidies to long time subscribers (3 years or more with the same MNO) : the acquisition war won't be reignited and leading operators will focus on loyalty. One can easily imagine SKT telling his customers : you know you have a right to churn, but think first about what you're about to lose.Besides, LG the manufacturer can sacrifice LG Telecom the mobile network operator for the sake of Daehan Minguk. The "can do" times are over ; Korea

House politicians burning the midnight oil have passed a $16b bill designed to reduce our dependence on imported energy. While the bill must be reconciled with the Senate version and the President is already threatening a veto (as expected), its provisions clearly indicate which way the wind [farm] is blowing. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the bill repeals tax breaks to the oil and gas industry, to the tune of $16b. On the automotive front, it provides $4k tax breaks for hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars, hands out loan guarantees and "other assistance" for advanced diesel and hybrid battery technology, and mandates $3.5b in tax credits for E-85 pump installation. The hotly-debated proposal to raise the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards didn't get a look in. The champion of the hike, Massachusetts Democrat Representative Edward Markey, put his hands in the air like he just didn't care. "This is the historic break with the fossil-fuel

Ah, the politics of American sugar. I once read that Caribbean cane growers protected their power by lobbying the English parliament to prevent America's colonists from achieving political representation. Nice. Flash forward two hundred fifty years or so and The New York Times reports that a "little-noticed provision in the new farm bill would oblige the Agriculture Department to buy surplus domestic sugar caused by the expected influx of Mexican sugar next year. Then the government would sell it, most likely at a steep discount, to ethanol producers to add to their fermentation tanks." Note the word "surplus." in other words, the feds would be legally obliged to buy U.S. sugar at a price determined by the U.S. sugar industry, to provide the somewhat-less-than impoverished, already heavily subsidized industry an "insurance policy" against the impact of cheap NAFTA-enabled imports. It gets worse. The ethanol industry doesn't event want the sugar; they

"As Congress makes final decisions on the energy bill, one of the most important decisions to be made is whether or not to implement a more aggressive national renewable fuels standard (RFS). This is a no-brainer... Opponents of the RFS-- and we all know who they are-- have decided that the best way to avoid one is to smear corn ethanol... This clever campaign is loaded with half-truths and red herrings. Along with misleading claims that ethanol contributes to global warming, or relies too heavily on public subsidies-- subsidies which are a rounding error compared to government subsidization of the oil industry-- it is often said that ethanol is not produced in a renewable manner or that it increases food prices... The fact that fossil fuels are required to produce ethanol from these renewable feedstocks is a given, because the production of any source of energy requires energy, and the U.S. energy sector is fossil-fuel based. But ethanol producers are increasingly efficient, and s

Filed under: CellphonesLooks as if Nokia's going to be using a portion of that gigantic profit it raked in during Q4 to appease NRW.Bank -- unless a meeting it hopes to establish within the next few days changes matters, that is. Apparently, a German state has "asked" the handset maker ...

Filed under: CellphonesLooks as if Nokia's going to be using a portion of that gigantic profit it raked in during Q4 to appease NRW.Bank -- unless a meeting it hopes to establish within the next few days changes matters, that is. Apparently, a German state has "asked" the handset maker ...

{mosgoogle right}TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota says it got no Japanese government money to develop the Prius gas-electric hybrid vehicle. Chrysler says it did -- or at least got a lot of support.Japanese government officials said Thursday that Toyota Motor Corp. received support only in government rebates for Prius buyers, but zero funding for developing the popular model.The trans-Pacific controversy started with a March 24 Business Week report that quoted Jim Press, vice chairm [...]

Are you a Cornhusker State resident working in the ethanol industry-- and who doesn't?-- but don't know how to get your piece of the taxpayer pie? Well come on down to Nebraska's E85 Direct Marketing Workshops! Domestic Fuel reports/shills that "The aim of the workshops is to promote direct marketing relationships between ethanol producers and fuel retailers and reduce costs for all parties involved. Ethanol plants, petroleum equipment suppliers, petroleum marketers and auto dealers are encouraged to attend these free workshops. Presentations will address E85 handling and storage, regulations and safety procedures, applying for the ethanol blender tax credit, and direct marketing of E85 from ethanol plant to retailer." The workshops are sponsored-- sorry, "pr

Paul Eisenstein of The Car Connection's Industry Insider blog thinks that China's going to cut the fuel subsidies that have insulated the Middle Kingdom from rising gas prices. Prices for gas have risen only nine percent since January 2007, compared to the nearly 80 percent jump suffered by American drivers in the same period. With the Chinese paying about $2.60 per gallon of unleaded