Cyprus picks Eni, Total, ExxonMobil for drilling talks

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus government negotiators will sit down with three oil and gas giants including a consortium made up of ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum to sort out the terms of licenses to drill off the east Mediterranean island’s southern coast, the country’s energy minister said Wednesday.
Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said Italy’s Eni will negotiate license terms for one offshore area, or block. A partnership between Eni and France’s Total and the ExxonMobil-Qatar Petroleum consortium will negotiate for one block each.
Block 10, the area that the ExxonMobil-Qatar Petroleum consortium is negotiating for, lies above an Egyptian gas field that its discoverer Eni has hailed as the largest ever gas find in the Mediterranean sea.

“The fact that we had very interesting technical and economic proposals for the specific block leaves us optimistic about its prospects,” said Lakkotrypis.

Eight companies or consortiums had vied for the three blocks as part of a third licensing round.

The energy minister said talks are expected to conclude by the end of January or early February next year. Licenses will be valid for seven years.

Historically, no government has ever totally reneged on social security.

I would project that the US will not either.
The US will monetize its obligations, causing the US Dollar to drop and inflation in prices to occur.

There will probably be means-testing for all benefits.

The consequences will be that the standard of living in the US will drop drastically…..
Third-world here we come.

We have been stealing from the future for decades. It is our descendants that get the bill.

Loved your speech in the last few minutes Al.

I am not religious but I agree with your sentiment. A mental of attitude focused on finding solutions with good people is the way out of any mess.

Al: I’m wondering if these friends you and Rick talk about listen to this show. They probably won’t like the fact you made an example of them on the subject of pensions. No matter, both examples are much worse than I’ve read about and truly sicken me when I think about it. How in the hell did we ever get to the point where we thought those levels of pensions could be sustained? If that were me, I’d be ashamed to tell anyone of my income……….just sayin’

One further thing. Trump’s win has injected Incentive into the US and here in Australia.
Incentive = Energy. Energy = Creativity. Creativity generates wealth.

Something these miserable socialists do not understand.

How long can that go on?

Rick, it can go on a lot longer. One way or another the politicians will take it out of the hide of th taxpayers. They will bleed the taxpayers white.

Where I live 2 bond measures overwhelmingly passed which will raise the property tax starting next year. The bureaucrats and politicians told the public these tax increases were absolutely necessary for the local infrastructure which is falling apart.

The public bought it hook,line and sinker. They passed the measures in excess of 70%.

The public was never told that the infrastructure is in such bad shape because the money that should have gone for infrastructure is going for pensions and raises.

Even with these tax increases the pensions will still remain woefully underfunded. All the tax increases have done is kick the can a little further down the road.

Mark my word, in a couple of years the politicians here will be back with yet more tax increases and the idiot voters where I live will overwhelmingly approve them like they did this election.

Here is a figure of where the US stands in the world with regard to corporate tax’

https://s.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/q_vwAnbXEUW_Of4_NEYgLg–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7c209MTt3PTc0NDtoPTYwOA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/549a017e23186e9814ccbafed2cf07a5

We are already seeing the unfolding of what Rick shared, e.g., the Teamster Central States pension fund cuts.

The public pension plans of Chicago Teacher’s union and the state as a whole are also woefully underfunded, as those who follow Mish’s site know well (mishtalk.com). Who is paying the price (right now)? The vendors who do business with the state who have had to take IOU’s for the goods and services provided.

So, it seems like a game of musical chairs will be played for as long as possible, with the robbing of Peter to pay Paul until something breaks and municipalities, states and finally the federal government will have to pay the piper, make the appropriate cuts and/or induce inflation to rob us of the purchasing power of the money provided (or both).

We will probably see “problems” with direct deposits along the way and difficulties resolving payment issues, and other “cracks” develop in the system as strains and stresses cause failures in the system.

Our government(s) at every level will become increasingly resourceful in getting its hands on available resources, with one particularly juicy target being the retirement funds of those who WERE prudent enough to plan (perhaps requiring a percentage of funds going into “safe” 30 year treasuries or some such thing). At the local level, more and more “ordinances” will be found to be violated and fines and other “alternative tax revenue” sources will be found (they are already well on their way in this regard).

Meanwhile, the standard of living for the average person (i.e., the “99%, or actually “99.9% of population) will continue to degrade. These are the people with compassion for their neighbors, though, and they will share their meager resources with those in need, as Al has said, and it should be enough.

Meanwhile, the top .1% will continue to try to increase their wealth and share precious little of it, so I wouldn’t count on any help from them (or from the politicians that they have purchased to do their bidding).

Doomsayers of deflation, who point to ‘unfunded liabilities’ may be unaware that they might be committing a transparent sophistry, that a liability is unfunded, therefore becomes a liability. The fact of the matter is that deflation takes a back seat.

Moreover, the boomer generation may be better funded overall than solely creating liabilities against minimum wage millenials.

Mr. Big Al Korelin,

Very good advice about maintaining a positive attitude. I plan to re-listen to that part because I am not even a half glass full person by nature as if I see a full glass the first thing I think of is that someone’s going to tip it over!

What other tips do you have for maintaining a positive attitude during trying times?

A long read but worth while.
http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/crashing-sovereign-debt-markets-83679

Interesting, somber discussion for the winter solstice. How long until we reach the global debt event horizon? Nobody knows. But a 4th Turning Day of Reckoning seems inevitable.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kIbEj1CIpuU

“Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.” – Ecclesiastes 11:2

Love Rick and Big Al. Even us agnostics believe in helping your fellow man.

Google Martin Armstrong. He has a solutions DVD. Comments?