Inventories was also most of that. Means less production in future quarters.

Goal of the sanctions was to fund US oil/lng extortion profits so that they could fund GOP and climate denial. PPP GDP is not really boosted by currency devaluation. Even if costs are stable in Rubles, the GDP is in USD, and Russia has had high inflation due to high military pay, and labour needing high wages as alternative to joining military.

Peter Retarddo's claim: Big imports ahead of tariffs beat down GDP, and he praised large investment growth.

The investment growth was largely inventories. Most of the imports go first to inventories, but a lot of the imports are in a bonded state, waiting for someone to pay the tariffs on them, or decide to ship them back. Generally, imports get subtracted from GDP, but are cancelled by inventories and eventual sales. Inventory growth is usually negative for future production/jobs.

Consumption did grow 1.8%, and it is a good estimate for stable growth. Except, in this case, consumption pulled forward from tariffs means lower levels next quarters, and bigger inflation adjustments downward.

https://www.bea.gov/news/2025/gross-domestic-product-1st-quarter-2025-advance-estimate

US has very corrupt GDP measurements, where high interest rates boost GDP calculation through the most corrupt component of Owner's equivalent Rent (about 14% of GDP). This is a made up non-transaction amount. Amazingly, US also adds "free financial services" as though a fair cost was charged into GDP.

Seems like they setup an empty shell corporation. It is ready for contributions. Unclear that Ukraine got anything, or US gave anything yet. Though maybe future mineral/resource licences get paid into this fund and US gets 50% of it even without giving anything.

Restriction against Russia is no good for limiting Ukraine's future under reaonable/peace governance, and Zelensky's constitutional authority to sign anything is expired.

Most voters are going to spend a couple of hours watching CBC, or at best, look at a summary of party platforms, and be told only about leader/party politics. No one is out teaching people how to vote under our system. Low information is a problem for democracy.

I don't know for sure, but under PR, 4 or 5 "presincts" around Kitchener would be amalgamated to select 4 or 5 members of parliament from the pool. I'm not positive if Greens would need 20-25% of vote for 1 seat across all of Kitchener, but it would be the Green that got the most votes that would get the seat. Someone around here knows more than me, but I don't know if there is a risk of party infighting if "the best they can hope for is x seats"

Even if you love PR more, there has to be some blame on the "idealists" for derailing RCV.

On Nov 20th, Goldman Sachs expected 2025 growth to be 2.5%, and had just a 15% chance of recession. Now recession is likely, and the most optimistic forecasts for the year are 1.1%-1.2%.

synergy between multiple, simultaneous ecological, energy and economic crises – what’s now fashionably called the ‘polycrisis’ – would, without systemic transformation, drive processes of state-militarisation and a shift to authoritarian control as incumbents seek to shore-up power and profits against the forces of disruption and destabilisation

This is the key to collapse. Incumbents is euphemism for oligarchy. Militarism and oil oligarchy/media always wins at democracy. When every other oligarch sides with them, then fascism is certain. Biden was most zionist neocon warmongering democrat chosen to replace the disaster of Trump 45. Biden's very slight pushback against the rich, was enough to get the rabid anti trans/immigrant fan base to go dedicated oligarchy, and money+media BSing people into Trump being better for economy. The Ukraine war is what lost it for Harris/Biden. Israel genocide was just more proof that US empire is complete piece of shit and not worth saving, but oil enrichment from Ukraine war, and extreme pushback they could fund against any human sustainability, combined with left being all in on war on Russia, for the mosts oil oligarchy enrichment, and inflation complaints, DNC all in on most zionist candidate, and the end was sealed.

That all human and national sustainability can never be prioritized over war means democracy can never achieve it. Pillaging the country into collapse always has a profit model. Human and national sustainability as a Maslow's hierarchy relevant concern, must be derailed if it means avoiding any constraints on US oligarchy, or for US empire colonies, constraints on US empire sycophancy.

There is never a possibility of a good outcome from democracy. Either things get worse, or progress threatens all of the oligarchy to make sure things feel worse so that worst candidate gets elected. Trump falling out of a window, or being put in military jail waiting trials would have been better for progress and dare I say democracy itself. Nationalizing major oil companies with 0 compensation to shareholders would have put oligarchy in check, and eliminate their lobbying power. SCOTUS saying that money is speech means that money is terrorism and traitrous disinformation advancing money's interests.

While non CIA devoted democracies and other nations that have been collectively called authoritarian have done better than US colonies economically over the last 15 years, with leadership from Russia, China, and India, that doesn't mean it is the perfect governance to aspire to.

Liquid democracy is oligarchy proof. Freedom dividends/UBI disempowers the state while achieving high growth in prosperity. Corruption of information/media, and the interests of evil make people who can't understand what is BS, fall for it, and vote for collapse, and accept game being rigged for it.

To get $2/kg 300 bar H2, $500/kw electrolyzer capital costs, and 2c/kwh electricity input costs are needed. China is pushing down to $300/kw on electrolyzer costs. Just as seasonal negative prices happen in some locations, stabilizing to 2c/kwh is the path H2 enables. $2/kg H2 means 6c/kwh CHP power cost from Fuel Cell, and 10c/kwh electric only power output. Competitive with electric utility service, and fast charging vehicle stations. It's competitive at $4/kg in many jurisdictions, in fact.

Factories already operate mostly daytime. Solar output is seasonal with more variability the further from equator you go. Having solar cover 100% of summer cloudy day generation at low AC use, can result in 2c/kwh or less prices on sunny days, and in Spring and fall where there is no HVAC demand. Running FF electricity just in winter/backup is path to significantly lower emissions, and lower cost of FF energy from less use. Factories with long shifts running half on solar is still low overall energy input costs, if they can sell what they make.

H2 storage is a solved problem. Lined pipe and pressure vessels. If factories are ever automated to the point where labour cost is nearly irrelevant compared to energy costs, then they too can become variable loads. H2 electrolysis and desalination and battery charging are all highly automated processes that benefit from those conditions today.

The forever advantage of green H2 production is that it is containerizable. Can be transported seasonally to where renewable surpluses will occur. I guess self mobile robots could do the same, though.

home units are still restricted

LFP batteries are the right home solution (Sodium Ion soon enough). US is tariff/capacity/policy restricted. Utility monopoly restricted if you want to export to grid, or use your EV as V2G. Utilities are also protected from off grid choices, and are changing their pricing with extortive fixed portions of utility bills. Biodiesel is not a sustainable (worse than ethanol if produced intentionally) solution.

PP gone forever? Or is CPC somehow going to give him another seat so he can stay leader?

AFAIU, it doesn't change the PH neutrality.

I understand that they self combine/react again? But is that reaction still water?

report that Trump called Bezos, and Amazon has backed down. Dictator scaring everyone.

Amazon should show the tariff price component, so that consumers can choose the awesome US made alternative instead of the Chinese one even they are the same price. It informs consumers that want to buy American

H2O is neutral PH, and so answer is no. But then water tends to have a bunch of shit disolved in it. So answer is yes.

A self-contradicting proposition based on ambiguity of definition of water, of all things. This statement can be used to make HAL explode.

provisionally useful in the same way as a standby generator (though the generator is going to be far more eco friendly than the batteries over their respective lifetimes)

A generator can provide backup power for unlimited time if fuel is available, but it is highest cost power in the world. Batteries can be charged/discharged every day, displacing dirty energy. A generator is either rarely used or eco destructive.

You can’t store all that energy in summer because you got fuck all to do with it.

Main value of H2 electrolysis is solving (more economic return from renewables than just curtailing) this problem. Also provides exportable energy to cover winter clean power/heat needs.

I don't like using the term capitalism because it is too vague. Political corruption protecting oligarchy/big corporations is the problem.

Inflation resulting from start of full war on Russia and resulting oil/diesel price spike forced the wrong policy of higher interest rates. The theory in the past is that increasing austerity on consumers reduce their driving, and preventing business investment also reduces expanded demand for scarce FFs.

In the dynamics of energy disruption, high interest rates are the biggest cost obstacle for renewables and less new renewables is more oil/FF extortion power. At 2000 sun hours/year, $1/watt solar installation, could get a 16 year payback = 100% overall profit at 3c/kwh price. 2c/kwh at 3000 sun hours/year. Every 2% in interest costs, increases required price by 1c/kwh.

Protection of existing assets/supply scarcity is not affected by higher interest rates. New oil wells do have a big upfront cost, but they also have a huge power and maintenance requirement that is paid for with the product taken out of the ground, with ROI protections if renewables can be suppressed, including with high interest rates.

Political corruption favouring scarcity over abundance is the problem. Cheap energy or steel is a huge competitive and life quality advantage. Use cheap inputs for more productivity and happier life with cheaper cost.

A big flaw in German energy policy that has done a great job in expanding renewables, includes not giving its industry variable rates, that lets them invest in batteries, and schedule production more seasonally, or if they have reduced demand due to high product prices from high energy costs, just have work on the good days.

Using EVs as grid balancers can be an extra profit center for EV owners with or without home solar. Ultra cheap retail daytime rates is the best path to demand shifting. Home solar best path to removing transmission bottlenecks for other customers. Containerized batteries and hydrogen electrolysis as a service is a tariff exempt path at moving storage/surplus management throughout the world for seasonal variations, but significantly expanding renewables capacity without risking negative pricing, and making evening/night energy cheaper to boot.

Lee Zeldin and other officials whom the president tasked in January with undoing the finding could raise questions about whether a sector — or even the whole country — contributes enough climate pollution globally to warrant regulation.

This is pretty ridiculous. A fairly big hole in the global rowboat could be smaller than all of the other holes in the boat, and we have a right to force the boat to sink. The counter argument can still lead to less "itemized regulation". Each ton of emissions has a specific cost, letting industry figure out how to minimize taxes based on emissions, and applying it globally. Paying carbon tax revenue as dividend to citizen residents lets them afford the same stuff produced the same with carbon tax added, even if untaxed product is either more attractive to consumer or more profitable to producer.

the administration may take aim at the cost increases that regulations have on energy and other pillars of Americans’ lives

On another administration evil craziness, USDA will stop inspecting chicken for salmonela and avian flu. The cost of regulations is salaries for more local jobs for inspection and compliance. Where a regulation is useful, it boosts GDP in a useful manner. Just as death and illness from chicken poisoning has "misery costs and some productivity costs", global warming has far higher costs that impact property values and national wealth. High insurance rates are a big tax on property values that directly reduce them. High financialization rates, the ease of getting relatively cheap mortgages, is the main reason that western property values are high, and ease of insurance is key to economic financialization levels.

While doubling down to protect dead ender energy oligarchs to help extort Americans/world on higher cost energy, protects their assets for a few extra months/years, its yet another socialization of costs for private extortion gains. Where (unlike bank bailouts) the social costs are orders of magnitude higher than the private gains. Energy disruption is also job gains. Higher insurance rates or Banks declining more mortgages is not job gains. Rebuilding a house every few years is equivalent to digging a hole and refilling it instead of doing something useful to society.