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“Argentina’s fight to prevent its problematic currency from a total meltdown is leaving the central bank, by some estimates, broke.
The South American nation has already spent all of its liquid international reserves, plus another estimated $1 billion, according to Buenos Aires-based consulting firm 1816 Economia & Estrategia — raising the stakes as the nation contends with a historic drought and impending recession.
Without easy-to-spend cash on hand, questions are swirling about how much longer the government can continue to defend the peso from an all-out collapse. At risk is a currency devaluation that stands to fan 104% inflation and exacerbate high levels of social unrest ahead of October’s presidential elections.
‘Fewer reserves leads to more pressure on the exchange rate, which in turn leads to more pressure on inflation,’ said Fernando Losada, a managing director at Oppenheimer & Co. ‘I see no possible scenario under which inflation goes below three digits this year.’”
“The Transportation Security Administration is upgrading its surveillance tools to a whole new level. The agency has signed a $128 million contract to enhance airport security nationwide using biometric technology.
Airports and government buildings already use Idemia’s Credential Authentication Technology (CAT), which confirms the identity and flight information of travelers using enhanced fraudulent ID detection capabilities. However, the new funds will be used over seven years to upgrade CAT to the second-generation system, a self-service model that requires users to position their faces in front of a camera for a biometric scan.
The scan captures biographic data to face match one’s live image to their government-issued photo ID.
‘The second generation CAT-2 systems allow for automated identity verification with an integrated camera for biometric and self-service capabilities. This new contract with Idemia will enable TSA to test, manufacture, procure, and deploy over 1,500 new CAT-2 systems to airport security checkpoints nationwide,’ TSA reported in a press release.”
“The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday released its much-anticipated proposal to cut emissions for fossil fuel power plants – which if finalized would result in almost all U.S. coal plants having to cut or capture nearly all their carbon dioxide emissions by 2038 or be shuttered.
The proposal, if made final, would also apply to large, frequently used gas-fired power plants and would require such power plants to capture smokestack emissions using a technology that has long been promised but is not in widespread use in the country, according to the Associated Press.
Greenhouse gas emissions from such plants is the country's second-largest contributor to climate change, the wire service also reports.
‘This administration is committed to meeting the urgency of the climate crisis and taking the necessary actions required,’ EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in announcing the proposal, in a speech at the University of Maryland.
If the rule is finalized, it would mark the first time the federal government has restricted carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, which generate about 25% of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution, the wire service also reports.
President Biden has been vocal about his goal for a zero-emissions electric grid by 2035.
Energy advocacy group Power The Future called the proposal an ‘extreme decree" that is bound to "cut power and raise costs.’"
You need to be prepared… there’s just too much crazy stuff happening.
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“Circling The Wagons Thursday,” Ripped From The Headlines. Things To Ponder:
“Let’s Go Broke To Stop The Collapse!”
Desperate times call for desperate measures, don’t they?
In recent history, Argentina has been a harbinger… giving us a peek into the future…
Things have now gotten to the point in Argentina where you’re going to die no matter what, it’s just a matter of whether you want the firing squad to do it, or you’d prefer to be suffocated with a plastic bag.
Is it even possible to go broke and stop an economic collapse at the same time?
If you are blessed to have means, start thinking about what you, your family, and your community are going to need, and how commerce will happen in a super local economy.
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