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Elektrifisering av Nordsjøen tvinger frem innovative løsninger.

The US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) and its predecessor, the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, have made some progress in addressing economic issues in the bilateral relationship. China has agreed in principal to rebalance the sources of its economic growth away from exports and investment and toward domestic consumption demand and has made small but concrete commitments on more specific issues, for example, increased access by US firms to China’s financial services market.

Congressional Testimony from Nicholas R. Lardy.

The leaders of the Group of Eight world economies—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—are set to meet at the Camp David US presidential retreat in Maryland May 18–19. While African food security is slated to be at the top of their agenda, the Peterson Institute's C. Randall Henning says the euro area crisis is likely to dominate the group's discussions. "The non-Europeans at the G-8 should impress upon [Europe] the necessity of developing a growth agenda and moving toward a European-wide solution to the banking problems in a preemptive way," Henning says. The G-8 can also lay the groundwork for next month's G-20 summit in Mexico, Henning explains, by developing a consensus for "how the rest of the world will participate in the rescue packages for the euro area."

Interview with C. Randall Henning.

Edwin M. Truman says that for all its hardline talk, Europe will have to renegotiate at least some parts of the austerity package for Greece even if Greek voters decide to stay in the euro area.

WASHINGTON—Adam S. Posen, a widely respected economist who has been serving as an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England since 2009, has been chosen by the board of directors of the Peterson Institute for International Economics as its next President. Dr. Posen, deputy director of the Institute during 2007–09, will succeed C. Fred Bergsten, founding director of the Institute since its creation in 1981. The appointment will take effect January 1, 2013.

Dr. Posen was selected unanimously today by the Peterson Institute’s board of directors, following a recommendation by its executive committee. The executive committee functioned as the search committee under the leadership of its chairman, James W. Owens, former chairman and CEO of Caterpillar, Inc. The search began after Dr. Bergsten announced his intention to step down earlier this year. At the request of the Board, Dr. Bergsten will remain active at the Institute as a senior fellow and president emeritus.

Read full news release.

Download news release as a pdf.

Systemic fragility in the European banking sector predates the Greek fiscal crisis. It was revealed by the subprime/Lehman shock of 2007–08, and has never been properly addressed since then in spite of successive stress tests. In recent weeks, several senior policymakers have become more explicit on the need for a banking union—in other words, a federal framework for banking policy. Among them is Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who on April 17 said: “To break the feedback loop between sovereigns and banks, we need more risk-sharing across borders in the banking system. In the near term, a pan-euro area facility that has the capacity to take direct stakes in banks would help. Looking further ahead, monetary union needs to be supported by stronger financial integration, which our analysis suggests should be in the form of unified supervision, a single bank resolution authority with a common backstop, and a single deposit insurance fund.” The European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi, echoed these words at the European Parliament on April 25, 2012, declaring that he saw “financial stability clearly as a common responsibility in a monetary union” and that “ensuring a well-functioning Economic and Monetary Union implies strengthening banking supervision and resolution at European level.”

RealTime post by Nicolas Véron.

Jean-Claude Trichet delivered the eleventh Stavros Niarchos Foundation Lecture at the Peterson Institute on May 17, 2012. Trichet, who recently stepped down as President of the European Central Bank, discussed the current euro crisis in the context of the evolution of Europe and particularly its future prospects.

The United States faces a serious medium-term budget deficit problem—realistic forecasts show a rising trajectory for US government debt over the next two decades. The primary drivers of the large increase in public debt over the past decade were the George W. Bush–era tax cuts, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Medicare Part D, and the financial crisis that began in the fall of 2008. This is the sixth surge in national debt in US history; the previous five surges were all caused by war. The current nature of the US financial sector generates system risk that has negative macroeconomic implications in the United States, including for its public finances. Looking forward, as society ages the United States faces increasing pressures on social security, Medicare, and other forms of basic social insurance. Healthcare spending—not just the government paid part of health care—needs to be brought under control. In this context and over the coming decades, the United States needs to make a longer-term fiscal adjustment. Part of that should include additional tax revenues, phased in over the next two decades. Raising taxes is never easy or pleasant, but not extending the Bush-era tax cuts is the best way to strengthen revenue and sustainably fund the federal government.

Congressional Testimony by Simon Johnson.

Jacob Funk Kirkegaard and Arvind Subramanian debate whether a Greek exit from the euro area will be an incentive for Spain, Portugal, or other countries to stay--or to follow the Greeks.

Jacob Funk Kirkegaard says an exit by Greece from the euro area will be disastrous, but Arvind Subramanian argues that in the medium term Greece will be better off.

Greek politicians have once again let their country down and we are now headed for new Greek elections by mid-June. A highly volatile couple of weeks are in store, since the elections are sure to serve as a referendum on Greek membership of the euro. On one side will be the euro area and the two traditional mainstream parties in Greece, the Socialists (PASOK) and New Democracy, advocating that Greece stick with the austerity program imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the euro area leaders, warning that failure to adhere will force a euro area exit. On the other side, the populist parties led by Alexis Tsipras and Syriza will argue—fallaciously—that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) austerity can be avoided even as Greece remains inside the euro.

RealTime post by Jacob Funk Kirkegaard.

Taeho Bark, Trade Minister of Korea, delivered a speech entitled "The KORUS FTA, Korea’s FTA Policy, and the Dynamics of East Asian Economic Integration" at the Peterson Institute on May 16, 2012.  Korea has conducted an effective trade policy over the last decade, negotiating FTAs with its partners from all parts of the world. The Korean initiatives thus offer a potential bridge between the "Asia track" of Asia-only agreements and the "Pacific track" characterized by the Trans Pacific Partnership, a key issue for the future trade (and political) architecture of the region and indeed the world economy.

Gore touts science groups' governing board statements to prove man-made global warming -- Science groups turn to advocacy as $6 million NAS study used to lobby for climate bill

'While Cap and Trade is being sold as the first step towards reversing global warming, NBC Bay Area's Investigative Unit discovered some critics who point to the very law and say there are loopholes built into it that allow the program to be 'gamed' to make some companies millions of dollars without significant benefits to the environment or significant reductions in greenhouse gases'

'The report revealed that from fiscal years 2008 through 2012 the federal government spent $68.4 billion to combat climate change. The Department of Defense also spent $4 billion of its budget, the report adds, on climate change and energy efficiency activities in that same time period'

'Is There a Bigger Environmental Issue Than Climate Change? Scientists Say Yes. What's the issue? Loss of biodiversity, also known as extinction. And ignoring it to focus on climate change can have dire consequences'

Flashback 2010: Time for next eco-scare already?! As Global Warming Movement Collapses, Activists Already 'Test-Marketing' the Next Eco-Fear!

Van Jones: 'When the [Gulf] oil spill had happened in spring of 2010, there was another moment to say, 'Hold on a second, let's relook at energy policy in America...We didn't do it. You've never seen the environmental movement more quiet during an oil spill. I guarantee you, if John McCain had been Pres., with that oil spill, or George Bush had been Pres. with that oil spill, I'd have been out there with a sign protesting. I didn't, because of who the President was'

Rebuttal to Tomkiewicz: 'Tomkiewicz understands what the term denier means; he knows it is a code-word for evil. But even knowing all this, and living the life he as lived, he cannot stop himself from using this word to describe people who do not fret as much as he does about climate change...To call a skeptic a 'denier' is rank abuse..To compare 'climate genocide' 'deniers' with those who—what exactly? Supported Hitler? Enabled the man?'

'As somebody whose grandfather risked his life and caught a bullet fighting the Nazis in World War II, that is one of the most offensive, disgusting, incendiary attacks a person can make'

WWF report - endorsed by no less a body than the European Space Agency - has stated that economic growth should be abandoned...all the human race's energy should be produced as renewable electricity within 38 years from now...the green hardliners demand that the enormous numbers of wind farms, tidal barriers and solar powerplants required under their plans should somehow be built while at the same time severely rationing supplies of concrete, steel, copper and glass'

'Gore effect': 'Hurricane drought days at an all time high – Katrina Karma ? 'Since Al Gore used hurricane Katrina as a false example of AGW driven severe weather, there has been a drought of major landfalling U.S. Hurricanes, which can only be a good thing'

Morano: 'But Heartland does an edgy billboard accurately reflecting the views of those featured in it and the media acts as though they are offended? Here are a very few examples of this week's Holocaust denier comparisons and other nasty stuff by warmists – just this week! Please show some balance!'

'Hansen uses apocalyptic predictions to justify increased government regulation, higher taxes and redistribution of wealth. His latest polemic is no different and would result in major economic impacts on Canadian and American citizens,more government bureaucrats to restrict and regulate fossil fuel production,and reduced living standards'

'The scientists behind the study propose the construction of 'corridors' past e.g. shopping malls to be used by slow moving creatures: As climate change transforms their habitat, some animals are already on the move. But a new analysis from the University of Washington warns that many species won't be able to run fast enough to survive a warming world'

'So far, their reproductive and survival rates have not been affected Surprisingly, the birds have managed to make up for the warming of surface waters in the Greenland Sea by altering their diet and extending the duration of their foraging trips at sea'

'The amazing persistence of CO2 in the air has allowed billions of our small emissions, like those from the Enola Gay, to amass into an ever growing threat to civilization...NASA's Hansen says current increase in global warming is: '...equivalent to exploding 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs per day 365 days per year...That's 278 atomic bombs worth of energy every minute – more than four per second -- non-stop'

'Many of Obama's fellow Democrats are following his lead and shunting climate into the shadows, still smarting from the ignominious death of climate legislation in 2010'

Dogs? Flashback 2009: 'Your Pet Is a Global Warming Machine': 'A single dog can have a bigger ecological footprint than an SUV'

Finds global summer avg. sunshine [solar short-wave radiation that reaches Earth's surface] dimmed during period 1958-1983 [prompting an ice age scare], but markedly increased from 1985-2010. The increase in summer avg. sunshine between those two periods is 6 Watts per square meter, which dwarfs alleged effects of CO2 by more than 5 times...Study states increase in sunshine reaching Earth's surface is due to a decrease in aerosols including clouds'

Finds global summer avg. sunshine [solar short-wave radiation that reaches Earth's surface] dimmed during period 1958-1983 [prompting an ice age scare], but markedly increased from 1985-2010. The increase in summer avg. sunshine between those two periods is 6 Watts per square meter, which dwarfs alleged effects of CO2 by more than 5 times...Study states increase in sunshine reaching Earth's surface is due to a decrease in aerosols including clouds'

Response: 'Between all the 'Pal Review, the attempts to suborn editors and corrupt the peer review process, loss of data, 'Irreproducible Results', agenda driven science, grants being given to only one point of view, & Peter Gleick and mail fraud /computer fraud; there's a lot of 'ethical issues' in the way 'climate science' is being done. And Hansen both testifying that it's OK to commit crimes & damage private property if your cause is just'

'A paper published today in the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics finds that sunspot numbers and the assumption of natural climate cycles 'accurately reproduces' the patterns of rainfall in Fortaleza, Brasil 'over the entire 160 years of observations.'

Finds 'that GCMs [climate models] fail to reproduce major decadal & multidecadal oscillations found in global surface temp record from 1850 to 2011. On the contrary, the proposed harmonic model [based on solar system planetary motions] is found to well reconstructobserved climate oscillations from 1850 to 2011, and it is shown to be able to forecast climate oscillations from 1950 to 2011 using the data covering the period 1850–1950, and vice versa'

'...and a 'large spread' 'with both large positive and negative anomalies' in projections of future Australian tropical climate. Furthermore, the authors conclude that since model projections are all over the map, that indicates there is 'large internal or natural variability in tropical Australian precipitation relative to the climate change signal' [of alleged AGW]'

'McKibben is President and Co-Founder of 350.org. He's in charge. Presidents of nonprofits usually know who funds them. He doesn't seem to want to say...What is with these environmental organizations (Center for American Progress is another one) who expect transparency from their foes but won't provide it themselves?'

Lies, Data Tampering, Corruption: NASA's Hansen forgot to mention his article 'was co-written by an investor who stands to make or lose millions of dollars depending on how effective Hansen is at scaring people'