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Chris Martenson

Image | Exclusive Arnie Gundersen Interview: The Dangers of Fukushima Are Worse and Longer-Lived Than We Think
Exclusive Arnie Gundersen Interview: The Dangers of Fukushima Are Worse and Longer-Lived Than We Think

"I have said it's worse than Chernobyl and I’ll stand by that. There was an enormous amount of radiation given out in the first two to three weeks of the event. And add the wind blowing in-land. It could very well have brought the nation of Japan to its knees. I mean, there is so much contamination that luckily wound up in the Pacific Ocean as compared to across the nation of Japan – it could have cut Japan in half. But now the winds have turned, so they are heading to the south toward Tokyo and now my concern and my advice to friends that if there is a severe aftershock and the Unit 4 building collapses, leave. We are well beyond where any science has ever gone at that point and nuclear fuel lying on the ground and getting hot is not a condition that anyone has ever analyzed."

So cautions Arnie Gundersen, widely-regarded to be the best nuclear analyst covering Japan's Fukushima disaster. The situation on the ground at the crippled reactors remains precarious and at a minimum it will be years before it can be hoped to be truly contained. In the near term, the reactors remain particularly vulnerable to sizable aftershocks, which still have decent probability of occuring. On top of this is a growing threat of 'hot particle' contamination risk to more populated areas as weather patterns shift with the typhoon season and groundwater seepage.

In Part 1 of this interview, Chris and Arnie recap the damage wrought to Fukushima's reactors by the tsunami, the steps TEPCO is taking to address it, and the biggest operational risks that remain at this time. In Part 2, they dive into the health risks still posed by the situation there and what individuals should do (including those on the US west coast) if it worsens.

Click the play button below to listen to Part 1 of Chris' interview with Arnie Gundersen (runtime 36m:31s):

[swf file="http://media.PeakProsperity.com/audio/arnie-gundersen-2011-06-03-part1.mp3"]

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Or start reading the transcript below:

Exclusive Arnie Gundersen Interview: The Dangers of Fukushima Are Worse and Longer-Lived Than We Think

"I have said it's worse than Chernobyl and I’ll stand by that. There was an enormous amount of radiation given out in the first two to three weeks of the event. And add the wind blowing in-land. It could very well have brought the nation of Japan to its knees. I mean, there is so much contamination that luckily wound up in the Pacific Ocean as compared to across the nation of Japan – it could have cut Japan in half. But now the winds have turned, so they are heading to the south toward Tokyo and now my concern and my advice to friends that if there is a severe aftershock and the Unit 4 building collapses, leave. We are well beyond where any science has ever gone at that point and nuclear fuel lying on the ground and getting hot is not a condition that anyone has ever analyzed."

So cautions Arnie Gundersen, widely-regarded to be the best nuclear analyst covering Japan's Fukushima disaster. The situation on the ground at the crippled reactors remains precarious and at a minimum it will be years before it can be hoped to be truly contained. In the near term, the reactors remain particularly vulnerable to sizable aftershocks, which still have decent probability of occuring. On top of this is a growing threat of 'hot particle' contamination risk to more populated areas as weather patterns shift with the typhoon season and groundwater seepage.

In Part 1 of this interview, Chris and Arnie recap the damage wrought to Fukushima's reactors by the tsunami, the steps TEPCO is taking to address it, and the biggest operational risks that remain at this time. In Part 2, they dive into the health risks still posed by the situation there and what individuals should do (including those on the US west coast) if it worsens.

Click the play button below to listen to Part 1 of Chris' interview with Arnie Gundersen (runtime 36m:31s):

[swf file="http://media.PeakProsperity.com/audio/arnie-gundersen-2011-06-03-part1.mp3"]

Download/Play the Podcast
Report a Problem Playing the Podcast

Or start reading the transcript below:

Image | Housing Tumbles (or, Why the US is Headed Towards a Bond Market Disaster)
Housing Tumbles (or, Why the US is Headed Towards a Bond Market Disaster)
 PREVIEW

There has never been an economic recovery without a rebound in housing. Of course, we don’t really have an economic recovery now; it’s more of a statistical mirage, thanks to trillions in thin-air money printing.  And we don’t have a recovery in housing.

I have written extensively on the housing topic over the years because a rebound in housing will be an important signpost that some sort of stable economic recovery is actually underway.  

In the Crash Course chapter on bubbles, I suggested that if the housing bubble behaved like other bubbles throughout history, then 2015 would be a reasonable place to begin looking for a rebound. The evidence is now beginning to support that rough guess.

We begin with home prices, which hit a new low in the post-bust era, effectively rolling prices back to those last seen in 2002:

Housing Tumbles (or, Why the US is Headed Towards a Bond Market Disaster)
 PREVIEW

There has never been an economic recovery without a rebound in housing. Of course, we don’t really have an economic recovery now; it’s more of a statistical mirage, thanks to trillions in thin-air money printing.  And we don’t have a recovery in housing.

I have written extensively on the housing topic over the years because a rebound in housing will be an important signpost that some sort of stable economic recovery is actually underway.  

In the Crash Course chapter on bubbles, I suggested that if the housing bubble behaved like other bubbles throughout history, then 2015 would be a reasonable place to begin looking for a rebound. The evidence is now beginning to support that rough guess.

We begin with home prices, which hit a new low in the post-bust era, effectively rolling prices back to those last seen in 2002:

Image | How To Position For The Next Oil Shock
How To Position For The Next Oil Shock
 PREVIEW

How To Position For The Next Oil Shock

Friday, May 27, 2011

Executive Summary

  • Saudi Arabia’s reserve capacity is a myth
  • World oil demand is increasingly overwhelming supply
  • Why exports matter more than total world production
  • What the next oil shock will do to stock, bonds, commodities, precious metals, and real estate
  • What you should do to prepare

Part I: Past Peak Oil – Why Time Is Now Short

If you have not yet read Part I, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

Part II: How To Position For The Next Oil Shock

Putting It All Together

Let’s review the situation in the KSA:

  1. Despite assurances of 12.5 mbd of total capacity, the KSA has not yet produced more than 9 mbd on a sustained basis in 2011.
  2. The IEA is begging the KSA to pump more.
  3. The KSA has turned to outside companies to help it begin to unlock heavy oil reserves that will take a lot of time, energy, and money to prosecute.
  4. The KSA has a vastly expanded rig count as they expand drilling operations to produce more oil (odd behavior for a nation with an alleged 3.5 mbd of spare capacity?).

The simplest and therefore most likely explanation for all of this is that the KSA does not actually have 12.5 mbd of total capacity, it is already at peak, and it’s now struggling to maintain even 9 mbd of total output on a limited basis.

Of course, there are other possibilities, but since those will not shake the world to its bones if they happen to be true, the safe course of action here is to go with the ‘KSA is at peak’ story.  Sooner or later it will be true, so there’s not a lot of harm in being early to it, while being late could be costly.

Now let’s move onto the last part of this puzzle: demand.

How To Position For The Next Oil Shock
 PREVIEW

How To Position For The Next Oil Shock

Friday, May 27, 2011

Executive Summary

  • Saudi Arabia’s reserve capacity is a myth
  • World oil demand is increasingly overwhelming supply
  • Why exports matter more than total world production
  • What the next oil shock will do to stock, bonds, commodities, precious metals, and real estate
  • What you should do to prepare

Part I: Past Peak Oil – Why Time Is Now Short

If you have not yet read Part I, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

Part II: How To Position For The Next Oil Shock

Putting It All Together

Let’s review the situation in the KSA:

  1. Despite assurances of 12.5 mbd of total capacity, the KSA has not yet produced more than 9 mbd on a sustained basis in 2011.
  2. The IEA is begging the KSA to pump more.
  3. The KSA has turned to outside companies to help it begin to unlock heavy oil reserves that will take a lot of time, energy, and money to prosecute.
  4. The KSA has a vastly expanded rig count as they expand drilling operations to produce more oil (odd behavior for a nation with an alleged 3.5 mbd of spare capacity?).

The simplest and therefore most likely explanation for all of this is that the KSA does not actually have 12.5 mbd of total capacity, it is already at peak, and it’s now struggling to maintain even 9 mbd of total output on a limited basis.

Of course, there are other possibilities, but since those will not shake the world to its bones if they happen to be true, the safe course of action here is to go with the ‘KSA is at peak’ story.  Sooner or later it will be true, so there’s not a lot of harm in being early to it, while being late could be costly.

Now let’s move onto the last part of this puzzle: demand.

Image | Past Peak Oil – Why Time Is Now Short
Past Peak Oil – Why Time Is Now Short

Note:  With so much going on with Europe's debt crisis, the continuing disaster and economic contraction in Japan, and the potential for a very hard landing in the Chinese growth miracle (which is in the running as my favorite "black swan candidate" for 2011), I am going to return our attention to oil in this report.  The next report will assess the developing and unfolding debt crisis that will drag down most of the developed economies at some point, and this report will provide essential context for understanding why this result is inevitable and when it will occur.

The Next Oil Shock

The only thing that could prevent another oil shock from happening before the end of 2012 would be another major economic contraction.  The emerging oil data continues to tell a tale of ever-tightening supplies that will soon be exceeded by rising global demand.  This time, we will not be able to blame speculators for the steep prices we experience; instead, we will have nothing to blame but geology.

 
Past Peak Oil – Why Time Is Now Short

Note:  With so much going on with Europe's debt crisis, the continuing disaster and economic contraction in Japan, and the potential for a very hard landing in the Chinese growth miracle (which is in the running as my favorite "black swan candidate" for 2011), I am going to return our attention to oil in this report.  The next report will assess the developing and unfolding debt crisis that will drag down most of the developed economies at some point, and this report will provide essential context for understanding why this result is inevitable and when it will occur.

The Next Oil Shock

The only thing that could prevent another oil shock from happening before the end of 2012 would be another major economic contraction.  The emerging oil data continues to tell a tale of ever-tightening supplies that will soon be exceeded by rising global demand.  This time, we will not be able to blame speculators for the steep prices we experience; instead, we will have nothing to blame but geology.

 
Image | Japan Teeters Over
Japan Teeters Over
 PREVIEW

The first-quarter economic results for Japan were grim, revealing an annualized rate of contraction of -3.7% over the first three months.  Note that the earthquake struck on March 11, so there really are only a couple of weeks of “earthquake impact” in that number.

The next quarter’s numbers will be even grimmer (that’s a prediction), and this will catapult the Japanese deficit and sovereign-debt readings into brand-new territory.
Japan Teeters Over
 PREVIEW

The first-quarter economic results for Japan were grim, revealing an annualized rate of contraction of -3.7% over the first three months.  Note that the earthquake struck on March 11, so there really are only a couple of weeks of “earthquake impact” in that number.

The next quarter’s numbers will be even grimmer (that’s a prediction), and this will catapult the Japanese deficit and sovereign-debt readings into brand-new territory.
Image | John Rubino: Get Ready for Accelerating Devaluation of All Fiat Currencies
John Rubino: Get Ready for Accelerating Devaluation of All Fiat Currencies

"We are exporting our inflation to the rest of the world. We are forcing countries like Brazil and China to endure the pain that we should be enduring. Brazil’s interest rates are like 12% right now. China is doing something new every couple of days to scale back bank lending and consumer spending. They are countries where a big part of the population makes just a few dollars a day. Rising food and energy prices are devastating for these guys. They do not really control the global price of energy and food, yet they have to endure the pain of slowing their economies down and throwing people out of work. Have them have to spend more and more of their money on food and energy so we can keep on borrowing and growing.

Clearly that is unsustainable. At some point these countries are going to say “No, we want our currencies to depreciate, too. We want to be able to continue to export to you.” So what we will end up with is sort of like what happened in the Depression. Everybody was trying to cut the value of their currencies at the same time. What that leads to, obviously, is global inflation, instead of just localized inflation where a few countries are debasing their currencies. You have got everybody doing it at once. That is because the US, with the world’s reserve currency, basically controls this process. We have chosen to decrease the value of the dollar dramatically over the next few years. That is going to force the rest of the world to do the same thing or endure an overvalued currency and recession. No elected politician can put up with that.

So what’s out there? Maybe after a mini-recession or some kind of correction in the next year or two is another round — an even bigger round — of global inflation. Basically all the fiat currencies of the world start decreasing in value at an accelerating rate. At some point, the whole concept of fiat currency, of governments in charge of their own monetary printing presses is going to be discredited."

So states John Rubino, proprietor of DollarCollapse.com. In his eyes, the demise of the dollar and other world fiat currencies via inflation is now a sure bet. There is simply too much debt that needs to be repaid, and our political leaders are not going to willingly choose the short-term pain of austerity and/or default. Of course, the resulting collapse of our monetary system will be much more painful and destructive in the long run.

Click the play button below to listen to Chris' interview with John Rubino (runtime 45m:22s):

[swf file="http://media.PeakProsperity.com/audio/john-rubino-2011-05-20.mp3"]

Download/Play the Podcast
Report a Problem Playing the Podcast

Or start reading the transcript below:

John Rubino: Get Ready for Accelerating Devaluation of All Fiat Currencies

"We are exporting our inflation to the rest of the world. We are forcing countries like Brazil and China to endure the pain that we should be enduring. Brazil’s interest rates are like 12% right now. China is doing something new every couple of days to scale back bank lending and consumer spending. They are countries where a big part of the population makes just a few dollars a day. Rising food and energy prices are devastating for these guys. They do not really control the global price of energy and food, yet they have to endure the pain of slowing their economies down and throwing people out of work. Have them have to spend more and more of their money on food and energy so we can keep on borrowing and growing.

Clearly that is unsustainable. At some point these countries are going to say “No, we want our currencies to depreciate, too. We want to be able to continue to export to you.” So what we will end up with is sort of like what happened in the Depression. Everybody was trying to cut the value of their currencies at the same time. What that leads to, obviously, is global inflation, instead of just localized inflation where a few countries are debasing their currencies. You have got everybody doing it at once. That is because the US, with the world’s reserve currency, basically controls this process. We have chosen to decrease the value of the dollar dramatically over the next few years. That is going to force the rest of the world to do the same thing or endure an overvalued currency and recession. No elected politician can put up with that.

So what’s out there? Maybe after a mini-recession or some kind of correction in the next year or two is another round — an even bigger round — of global inflation. Basically all the fiat currencies of the world start decreasing in value at an accelerating rate. At some point, the whole concept of fiat currency, of governments in charge of their own monetary printing presses is going to be discredited."

So states John Rubino, proprietor of DollarCollapse.com. In his eyes, the demise of the dollar and other world fiat currencies via inflation is now a sure bet. There is simply too much debt that needs to be repaid, and our political leaders are not going to willingly choose the short-term pain of austerity and/or default. Of course, the resulting collapse of our monetary system will be much more painful and destructive in the long run.

Click the play button below to listen to Chris' interview with John Rubino (runtime 45m:22s):

[swf file="http://media.PeakProsperity.com/audio/john-rubino-2011-05-20.mp3"]

Download/Play the Podcast
Report a Problem Playing the Podcast

Or start reading the transcript below:

Image | Gold & Silver
Gold & Silver
 PREVIEW

In response to the last piece, several of you asked me to clarify my views on gold and silver, especially regarding whether this is a good time to buy…or sell.  Here are my thoughts.

I’m going to preface the views that follow by saying that they utterly depend on QE II (quantitative easing) ending on schedule and as advertised. There are numerous ways that the Fed might short-circuit the proposed termination of QE, such as simply calling “additional money-printing” something else, asserting that it is being done for some other purpose, or other new sets of reasons. What we are looking for, very simply, is for the Fed’s balance sheet to stop expanding. Even here we have some difficulty. Although the Fed publishes the data at a high level, we cannot easily track whether or not it is playing games by revaluing the assets already on there, or even whether the Fed is being truthful. Without an audit, we’ll never really know.

Gold & Silver
 PREVIEW

In response to the last piece, several of you asked me to clarify my views on gold and silver, especially regarding whether this is a good time to buy…or sell.  Here are my thoughts.

I’m going to preface the views that follow by saying that they utterly depend on QE II (quantitative easing) ending on schedule and as advertised. There are numerous ways that the Fed might short-circuit the proposed termination of QE, such as simply calling “additional money-printing” something else, asserting that it is being done for some other purpose, or other new sets of reasons. What we are looking for, very simply, is for the Fed’s balance sheet to stop expanding. Even here we have some difficulty. Although the Fed publishes the data at a high level, we cannot easily track whether or not it is playing games by revaluing the assets already on there, or even whether the Fed is being truthful. Without an audit, we’ll never really know.

Image | Fukushima Update: A Very Bad Situation
Fukushima Update: A Very Bad Situation

width=Well, it now turns out that many of my worst fears about Fukushima have been confirmed with the news that TEPCO has finally admitted that Reactor #1 has experienced a meltdown event that may have breached the primary containment vessel. Further, truly alarming levels of radiation are now being reported in and around Tokyo.

The prospects for containing the situation at Reactor #1 are now much dimmer than previously admitted. A melted core is far more difficult to cool because the geometry of the slag heap at the bottom is not nearly as favorable as long thin tubes around which water can be relatively easily circulated.

Worse, if the slag has either melted through the primary containment vessel or somehow leaked out through a fitting that has failed, then the ability to circulate water is even more compromised.

Fukushima Update: A Very Bad Situation

width=Well, it now turns out that many of my worst fears about Fukushima have been confirmed with the news that TEPCO has finally admitted that Reactor #1 has experienced a meltdown event that may have breached the primary containment vessel. Further, truly alarming levels of radiation are now being reported in and around Tokyo.

The prospects for containing the situation at Reactor #1 are now much dimmer than previously admitted. A melted core is far more difficult to cool because the geometry of the slag heap at the bottom is not nearly as favorable as long thin tubes around which water can be relatively easily circulated.

Worse, if the slag has either melted through the primary containment vessel or somehow leaked out through a fitting that has failed, then the ability to circulate water is even more compromised.

Image | Why Growth is Dead
Why Growth is Dead

The end of the second round of quantitative easing (QE II) is going to be a complete disaster for the paper markets — specifically commodities, stocks, and then finally bonds, in that order, with losses of 20% to 50% by the end of October. The only thing that will arrest the plunge will be QE III, although we should remain alert to the likelihood that it will be named something else in an attempt to obscure what it really is. Perhaps it will be known as the “Muni Asset Trust Term Liquidity Facility” or the “American Prime Purchase Program,” but whatever it is called, it will involve hundreds of billions of thin-air dollars being printed and dumped into the financial system.  

A Premature Victory Lap

Bernanke recently stood at a lectern and announced to the assembled audience that the Fed’s recent policies could be credited with elevated stock prices and an improved employment statistic while somehow keeping inflation low. 

It was his own version of a ‘mission accomplished’ speech, just like the one G. W. Bush gave. Similarly, it does not mark the end of significant difficulties, but the probable beginning of a very long period of treacherous economic and financial disruption.

Why Growth is Dead

The end of the second round of quantitative easing (QE II) is going to be a complete disaster for the paper markets — specifically commodities, stocks, and then finally bonds, in that order, with losses of 20% to 50% by the end of October. The only thing that will arrest the plunge will be QE III, although we should remain alert to the likelihood that it will be named something else in an attempt to obscure what it really is. Perhaps it will be known as the “Muni Asset Trust Term Liquidity Facility” or the “American Prime Purchase Program,” but whatever it is called, it will involve hundreds of billions of thin-air dollars being printed and dumped into the financial system.  

A Premature Victory Lap

Bernanke recently stood at a lectern and announced to the assembled audience that the Fed’s recent policies could be credited with elevated stock prices and an improved employment statistic while somehow keeping inflation low. 

It was his own version of a ‘mission accomplished’ speech, just like the one G. W. Bush gave. Similarly, it does not mark the end of significant difficulties, but the probable beginning of a very long period of treacherous economic and financial disruption.

Image | Positioning For The Coming Rout
Positioning For The Coming Rout
 PREVIEW

Positioning For The Coming Rout

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Executive Summary

  • What private and public debt levels are telling us
  • Housing’s prospects for worsening the situation
  • Why endless compound growth is impossible
  • The crushing pain of a deflationary downdraft
  • Predictions and conclusions for the future

Part I – Why Growth Is Dead

If you have not yet read Part I, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

Part II – Positioning For The Coming Rout

Looking Deeper 

Okay, that’s the big picture. It is why I am convinced that the next twenty years are going to be completely unlike the last twenty years. For starters, we’re not going to be able to double credit this next decade, and that alone is a big shift with huge implications. But we’re also going to be facing higher energy costs, which will further impair the smooth operation of the economic machine, because energy is an input cost to literally everything else. 

But to have an idea of what is going to happen next (say, over the next year) so that we can make better personal and investment decisions, it’s important to dig a little deeper into the data. Here we want to lift the covers on total credit market debt and housing because these are the key elements of this story.

Total credit market debt is first broken into two main buckets: financial and non-financial sector debt. Financial sector debt belongs to commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions, life insurance companies, brokers, dealers, and government-sponsored agencies. Non-financial sector debt belongs to households, businesses, and governments.

At this level we already see where some of the trouble lurks.

Positioning For The Coming Rout
 PREVIEW

Positioning For The Coming Rout

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Executive Summary

  • What private and public debt levels are telling us
  • Housing’s prospects for worsening the situation
  • Why endless compound growth is impossible
  • The crushing pain of a deflationary downdraft
  • Predictions and conclusions for the future

Part I – Why Growth Is Dead

If you have not yet read Part I, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

Part II – Positioning For The Coming Rout

Looking Deeper 

Okay, that’s the big picture. It is why I am convinced that the next twenty years are going to be completely unlike the last twenty years. For starters, we’re not going to be able to double credit this next decade, and that alone is a big shift with huge implications. But we’re also going to be facing higher energy costs, which will further impair the smooth operation of the economic machine, because energy is an input cost to literally everything else. 

But to have an idea of what is going to happen next (say, over the next year) so that we can make better personal and investment decisions, it’s important to dig a little deeper into the data. Here we want to lift the covers on total credit market debt and housing because these are the key elements of this story.

Total credit market debt is first broken into two main buckets: financial and non-financial sector debt. Financial sector debt belongs to commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions, life insurance companies, brokers, dealers, and government-sponsored agencies. Non-financial sector debt belongs to households, businesses, and governments.

At this level we already see where some of the trouble lurks.

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