Economy
Warren Buffett Called Bitcoin ‘Rat Poison’ — Now It’s Closing In On Berkshire Hathaway’s Valuation (adam)
Buffett once said bitcoin is “probably rat poison squared.”
“In terms of cryptocurrencies, generally, I can say with almost certainty that they will come to a bad ending. If I could buy a five-year put on every one of the cryptocurrencies, I’d be glad to do it but I would never short a dime’s worth,” Buffett told CNBC in 2018.
U.S.’s First Case of U.K. Mutation Sparks Search for Source
A 20-something man from Colorado is the first American known to be infected with a new variant of coronavirus that emerged this fall in the U.K., raising concern that a more transmissible strain could spread widely across the country.
The Colorado State Laboratory confirmed the patient had the mutated form of the virus, known as B.1.1.7, and informed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Colorado Governor Jared Polis said in a statement Tuesday.
Covid: Trump signs relief and spending package into law
US President Donald Trump has belatedly signed into law a coronavirus relief and spending package bill, averting a partial government shutdown.
Mr Trump had previously refused to sign the bill, criticising “wasteful spending” and calling for higher payouts to people hit by the pandemic. The delay meant that millions temporarily lost unemployment benefits. The relief package worth $900bn (£665bn) was approved by Congress after months of negotiation.
Tucked into Congress’s massive stimulus bill: Tens of billions in special-interest tax giveaways
Congress on Monday unveiled a 5,593-page spending bill and then voted on it several hours later, with lawmakers claiming urgent action was needed to rescue an ailing economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
But tucked in the bill was over $110 billion in tax breaks that strayed far from the way the bill was marketed to many Americans. These giveaways include big tax cuts for liquor producers, the motorsports entertainment sector and manufacturers of electric motorcycles.
Energy
The batteries that could make fossil fuels obsolete
The twin smokestacks of the Moss Landing Power Plant tower over Monterey Bay. Visible for miles along this picturesque stretch of the north Californian coast, the 500-foot-tall (150m) pillars crown what was once California’s largest electric power station – a behemoth natural gas-fired generator. Today, as California steadily moves to decarbonise its economy, those stacks are idle and the plant is largely mothballed. Instead, the site is about to begin a new life as the world’s largest battery, storing excess energy when solar panels and wind farms are producing electricity and feeding it back into the grid when they’re not.
Inside a cavernous turbine building, a 300-megawatt lithium-ion battery is currently being readied for operation, with another 100-megawatt battery to come online in 2021.
Environment
Exxon Knows Its Carbon Future And Keeps the Data From View
It was February 2019, and Exxon Mobil Corp. was ready to make one of the largest-ever investments in a U.S. hub for overseas shipments of liquefied natural gas. The $10 billion project was going to be built on the Texas coast under an auspicious name: Golden Pass.
The federal government sent its highest-ranking energy official, then-Secretary Rick Perry, to celebrate the new terminal as a gift of “clean energy” to “our friends around the world.” Exxon Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods promised to showcase the “environmental benefits of natural gas.” There was no mention of the planet-warming emissions that would be released once Golden Pass starts operating, nor had forecasts of climate pollution been shared with Exxon’s investors.
Siberia’s enormous hole in the ground is getting bigger (video)
A large crater in Siberia is getting bigger due to the way permafrost interacts with the environment. It is helping scientists understand more about past climates and how the permafrost is reacting to a warming world.
Biden has massive climate plans. Where will he find the money to fund them?
Until now, any lawmaker who asked for $2 trillion in federal funding without offsetting savings would have been laughed out of politics. But then came the Green New Deal. And then the coronavirus pandemic. And then another bout of rock-bottom interest rates.
Suddenly, a couple of trillion dollars doesn’t sound like as much money as it used to. And that’s good news for President-elect Joe Biden, who is planning to pursue a costly package of climate change policies aimed at transforming the country’s economy, including the way farmers plant crops and the way automakers design engines.
Gold & Silver
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The post Daily Digest 12/29 – U.S.’s First Case of U.K. Mutation Sparks Search for Source, Warren Buffett Called Bitcoin ‘Rat Poison’ appeared first on Peak Prosperity.
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