Cold Cancun
Research for Online Investors

by John Dalt

12/14/10

The U.N. Climate Change Conference in Cancun has wrapped up.  Just like the confab in Copenhagen last year, this conference was intended to get commitments from “developed” nations to give money to “developing” nations.  The reason they need money is to fight global warming.  There you have it.  Money is needed whatever the pretense.

Cancun, Mexico hosted the conference because the attendees wanted a warm climate so they could dramatize the effects of climate change.  Mother Nature didn’t read their press releases, Cancun had a cold snap.  Not just any cold snap, the coldest spell for over 100 years.  Temperatures dipped to 54 degrees.  Former NASA scientist Roy Spencer blamed it on the "Gore Effect."  Wherever Al Gore goes, the temperature drops.

The conference brought out the crazies.  From the Sierra Club activist dressed like a Polar Bear.

To activists from Via Campensina sporting an old school bus.

Via Campensina is an international movement of peasants that protest for the poor wherever, and whenever they get a chance. This bus reminds me of some trips I enjoyed with my fraternity brothers in college. Of course, we never protested for money from other governments, just more beer and a coed to protest with. I wonder; how do the poor peasants have enough money to go to Cancun and protest? The U.N. probably funds them.

I checked out their website, yes they have one.  All of their directors are wearing suits and appear well fed.  They publish their site in three languages, and brag they are a “socialist” movement.  Well, good for them.

Greenpeace showed up with inflatable world landmarks to play in the water.  According to the U.N. weather agency 2010 is “almost certain” to rank among the three hottest years on record.  Experts told the conference that they should remember that glaciers in South America and Alaska are losing mass faster than glaciers elsewhere in the world.

Of course the attendees had to ignore the cold weather outside. This young man decided to brave the cold for his protest.   He is the poster child for why they don't call it "global warming" anymore.

He believes we should not raise cattle or eat meat.  His goose bumps highlight the pallor from his diet.  Conference attendees agreed to create a Green Climate Fund to help “vulnerable countries.” According to the New York Times, the fund will initially be $30 billion dollars from industrialized countries.  The Green Climate Fund will grow to $100 billion a year by 2020 to assist “vulnerable countries.”  Developed countries also committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.N. grows bigger; the U.S. borrows more from China.

Markets today were buoyed by good economic reports.  Retail sales were up more than expected and business inventories grew less than expected.  The Fed kept interest rates unchanged and language to keep “interest rates low for an extended period.”

There was no signal of a turn from quantitative easing.  We told our SwingTrader subscribers this morning that all the good news seems to be factored into the market.  The market wants to move higher, but any bad news could give traders and investors a reason to protect their profits before the end of the year.

Quote:
I do not know which makes a man more conservative-to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past. ---John Maynard Keynes, 1926

Editor's note:  We will try to cover both.

The information presented in this newsletter is based on generally available news releases, corporate filings, current events, interviews and the editor’s opinions.  It may contain errors and you should not make investment decisions based solely on what you believe you have read here.  Do your own research, it is your money.  If you lose it, it is your responsibility, not ours or your grandmothers!  The editor may or may not have a position in any securities discussed.  The editor may have held a position in a security earlier, or in the future.

MarketToday Archive

Back to Top