Here and there -- 26/05/09

Here and there 26/05/09

1. Well, never say never

From a Obama-Biden campaign position paper:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden's cap-and-trade system will require all pollution credits to be auctioned. A 100 percent auction ensures that all large corporate polluters pay for every ton of emissions they release, rather than giving these emission rights away for free to coal and oil companies.

From today's newspaper:

Under the House bill, only 15% of the emission permits will be auctioned initially. The rest of the permits will be given away -- 2% to oil refiners, 5% to free-standing "merchant" coal plants, 9% to regulated natural-gas distributors, and so on.

So, Mr President, the bill now being considered in Congress is in direct contradiction to your campaign pledge. Will you now please stand up for principle and issue a veto threat?

2.  Internet Usage Comparison between China and US

While the number of Internet users in China has surpassed US, let's look at an interesting comparison between their usages. Please check Chart 1.

3. Chart on US PCE and the spot oil price.

The nose dive of oil price in the past year has been quite in time and actually helpful to the budget of US household, what about now? On Chart 2.

4. FDIC Bailed Banks, interesting charts.

Chart 3. Number of failed banks since the establishment of FDIC, from 1934;

Chart 4. Number of failed banks since 1921, without FDIC before 34 of course.

Chart 5. Asset and Deposits of those failed banks.