13 Burst results for "Department Department Of Of Energy Energy"
The Eric Metaxas Show
"department energy" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Green fraud. Why the green new deal is even worse than you think. So what are you know. Leftists socialists like proposing another words seriously proposing these things and we have a fake president. I don't want to insult the fake president. He's legitimately phony and the point is that he is in the white house when he's not at his home in delaware and he has been sucked in to advocating for some of these harmful socialist policies. It seems that way. You were alluding to us a figurehead. I mean biden is just sort of even again he. He ceded his entire administration over to these youth climate activists to bernie sanders to to write his climate agenda. He's now made every climate agency a every administration agency administration a climate agency and that includes the pentagon state department energy. You name an interior. Climate is first and foremost at their mission. So this is what they're doing. What the green new deal wants to do is essentially reset build back. They wanna use the covert lockdowns. Now they're going after our diets they're going after beef. They're going after any animal products. They're actively pushing for an end modern farming so much bill gates is not a largest landowner farms in america. Now don't believe me. This isn't some right wing conspiracy. I have nbc news. Go to climate depot nbc news the whole thing. I'm bill gates being the world's america's largest farm and loner he's now competing and taking away family farms from farmers you can compete with the likes of bill gates and what's their agenda bill. Gates's pushing process fake meat vegetable burgers. Which even a cnn nutritionist said. These aren't any good. It's twenty six different ingredient in the you know what i recommend nothing tastier than a polar bear steak That'd be right back. Shot don't eat plays yours day. Welcome back we're talking to the author of green fraud. Why the green new deal is even worse than you think. Mark marrano is the author bestselling author of the politically incorrect guide to climate change the forwards by mark stein mark. You've been around this world for a while. Most americans you know. They're trying to live their lives. They care about the environment you we we all we all care about these things. What is it that that has made folks like just speed off the cliff because some of the things that there's adjusting everyone knows it's crazy so who's buying into this. How is it. That biden is buying into this well. Let's become a mantra of a progressive democratic party. You have to be all in on the climate agenda. It's there's no. There's no way any major democratic candidate for president and senator congressman could ever descend on. This is in the old days the thirty years ago. You had the pro-life democrats on this. There's no there's no big tent on climate or energy on the democratic party so they're all in lockstep in the most devastating thing about this during trump's Two thousand nine hundred ninety second third year second year of trump's presidency with his policies we achieve for the first time since one thousand nine hundred ninety two in harriet. Sooner was president. American energy dominance more energy exports than imports more energy less energy consumption and production were producing more. We were the world's largest oil and gas producer. We were booming. No more need for endless wars in the middle east no more need for oil from venezuela the middle east. No not rely on. Russia don't have to rely on it now because degree new deal solar panel windmills and electric car batteries. We're going to be relying on chinese rare earth mining using slave labor in china and also Human rights violations of chinese own minds in africa. It's a lose lose. Lose all the way across america which makes it a love. Love love for the progressive agenda because it harms america. And this is what. The lockdown was nothing but a government enforced recession depression. And this is where they want to go forward with the climate. They actually call for planned recessions. The fight global warming planned recession to keep them keep emissions down. Yes this is. I mean look ever if if we ever wanted a picture of fundamentally anti american government and others were talking about not we the people. But we're talking about a coterie of globalist oligarchs determining policy for everyone. How is this even possible that we could care about. What's going on at davos or in the minds of some of these out of touch zillionaires or greta thune. Bor god bless her. I feel sorry for that young woman. She's being used by by her elders. How how does it happen. I guess that we don't have more robust pushback from conservatives in the united states senate and congress that's a sore subject just last month in may august two months ago now may of twenty twenty one. The republican leadership in the house led by kevin mccarthy. These are these are the people standing between fascism and socialism and marxism being posed. What their message on climate was eric. Climate change is a problem and we need solution but the greek basically the green new deal has gone too far. We're going to be supporting carbon capture. And we're going to plant trees and we're all this mutually molly green new deal light nonsense. This is who we have on capital hill fighting the greatest threat to our liberty today. Next to cova kevin mccarthy he's gonna get thrown out on his hopes out. Oh my god listen. The idea that some of these folks are theoretically our leaders. Ostensibly technically our leaders. They need to be thrown out. We need people willing to speak the truth. Who really care about the little guy We don't have them in washington. I mean we've got a handful of them. But when i hear about people like kevin mccarthy and these others they really The i would say ultimately they're responsible. I can't play mayo. See she's courteously Courtesy what calls her all out crazy. I can hardly blame her. She's a kid she. I don't know what she's doing. High blame any republicans. Who don't stand up to this with everything that's in them. They are the ones that should be targeted They should be primaried..
The Eric Metaxas Show
"department energy" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"About how they're not endangered. Old tour guides talked about it. I mean it's incredible. It's now almost universally accepted. But you know how they get you. This is how the climate action action activist work. When current reality fails to alarm or scare you they make scarier and scarier predictions of the future and so they can claim it's more dire than ever for the polar bears. You're like how there's more than ever we'll say prediction now of the year. Twenty-seven is much worse than it was just a few years ago. So that's how they do it. It's a misdirection using these climate models which don't account for half the variability in nature and they can basically does it matter what's actually happening in the system. As long as they make a scary prediction they get funded. They get attention. They get scared reports and they get lobbying efforts for their solutions like the green new deal while the book is green fraud. Why the green new deal is even worse than you think. So what are you know leftists socialists like afc proposing another words seriously proposing these things and we have a fake president. I don't want to insult the fake president. He's legitimately phony and the point is that he is in the white house when he's not at his home in delaware and he has been sucked in to advocating for some of these harmful socialist policies. I mean it seems that way you were alluding to it. A figurehead having biden. Just he doesn't even again he. He ceded his entire administration. Over to these youth climate activists bernie sanders to to write his climate agenda. He's now made every climate agency a every administration agency administration a climate agency and that includes the pentagon state department energy to you name. Interior climate is first and foremost at their mission. So this is what they're doing but what the green new deal wants to do is essentially reset bill back there. They wanna use the covert lockdowns. Now they're going after our diets they're going after beef. They're going after any animal products. They're actively pushing for an end. The modern farming so much. The bill gates is not a largest landowner farms in america. Now don't believe me. This isn't some right wing conspiracy. I have nbc news. Go to climate depot nbc news at a whole thing. I'm bill gates. Being the world's america's largest farm loner he's now competing and taking away family farms from farmers who can't compete with the likes of bill gates and what's their agenda. Bill gates is pushing processed fake meat vegetable burgers. Which cnn nutritionist said. These aren't any good at twenty six different ingredient. In the you know what. I recommend nothing tastier than a polar bear steak That'd be right back cher. Don't even place your stay. Welcome back we're talking to the author of green fraud. Y the green. New deal is even worse than you think. Mark moreno is the author bestselling author of the politically incorrect guide to climate. Change the forwards by mark stein mark. You've been around this World for a while most americans. You know they're trying to live their lives. They care about the environment. You know we all we all care about these things. What is it that that has made folks like just speed off of the cliff because some of the things that there's adjusting. Everyone knows it's crazy. So who's buying into this. How is it. That biden is buying into this well. Let's become a mantra of a progressive democratic party. You have to be all in on the climate agenda. It's there's no. There's no way any major democratic candidate for president and senator congressman could ever descend on. This is in the old days the thirty years ago. You had the pro-life democrats on this. There's no there's no big tent on climate or energy on the democratic party so they're all in lockstep in the most devastating thing about this during trump's Two thousand nine hundred ninety second third year second year of trump's presidency with his policies we achieve for the first time since nineteen fifty two and harriet. Sooner was president. American energy dominance more energy exports than imports more energy less energy consumption and production. We were producing more. We were the world's largest oil and gas producer. We were booming. No more need for endless wars in the middle east no more need for oil from venezuela the middle east noah noah to rely on russia. Don't have to rely on it now because degree new deal solar panel windmills and electric car batteries. We're going to be relying on chinese rare earth mining using slave labor in china and also Human rights violations of chinese own minds in africa. It's lose lose. Lose all the way across america which makes it a love. Love love for the progressive agenda because it harms america. And this is what. The lockdown was nothing but a government enforced recession depression. And this is where they want to go forward with the climate. They actually call for planned recessions. The fight global warming planned recession to keep they keep emissions down. Yes this is i mean. Look the vote ever if if we ever wanted a picture of fundamentally anti american government and others we're talking about not we the people but we're talking about a coterie of globalist oligarchs determining policy for everyone. How is this even possible that we could care about what's going on davos Or in the minds of some of these out of touch zillionaires or greenwich thune. Bor god bless her. I feel sorry for that young woman. She's being used by by her elders. How how does it happen. I guess that we don't have more robust pushback from conservatives in the united states senate and congress that's a sore subject just last month in may august two months ago now may of two thousand twenty one. The republican leadership in the house led by kevin. Mccarthy these are these are the people standing between fascism and socialism and marxism being opposed. What their message on climate was eric. Climate change is a problem and we need to solution but degree. Basically the green new deal has gone too far. We're going to be supporting carbon capture. And we're gonna plant trees and we're all this mealy molly green new deal light nonsense. This is who we have on capital hill fighting the greatest threat to our liberty today..
The Energy Gang
"department energy" Discussed on The Energy Gang
"So let's talk further about what this all means for. The people starting are running companies. I wanna touch on the the the powerhouse focus in what it says about the differentiation between hardware focus in a software focus. There's been this in the post. Twenty eleven investment world this consensus that like investing in hardware is really difficult and doesn't bring great returns and i saw this tweet from craig. Lawrence of energy transition ventures showing some of the recent hardware or deep tech investments in the cleantech space tesla tesla's were six hundred and fifty billion n phase worth twenty five billion solar edges worth. Fourteen billion charged point is worth nine billion nest exited for three billion All vc funded climate tech hardware unicorns. And he says. Remind me again. Why you don't like hardware but there's this perception that a lot of people don't like hardware. I do think that's changing. I wanna talk about that a bit but you've powerhouse. Ventures specifically focuses on software. Why why is that your focus. Yep we we like both so. It's not that we don't like hardware And we need both so while our fund exclusively invest in software. Our innovation firm. Which is the company. The original powerhouse started in two thousand thirteen powerhouse. The company has a database of thousands of startups which we use in our work with corporate clients which is evenly split between hardware and software. Because we know we need both in because our clients are interested in both. So it's very much. It's not an either or i am reminded of a long standing debate between your former third co host. Jigger shaw who has also been on the what. It takes podcast Between him bill gates and it was this constant argument between deployment versus breakthrough deep. Hard tech. and again. I don't think it's either or but generally speaking. If i had to choose a side. I would side with jaeger in the deployment camp meaning so much of the technology that we need to address. The climate crisis already exists. It's bendy risked. It's a question of scale and how to get these technologies like wind and solar and electric vehicles to scale as quickly as possible. And that's where we come in. So oftentimes were backing. Startups that are building software and financial technology to enable that financing and deployment and part of the reason we do that is because of the timescale that we're working on to address the climate crisis you know. Yes we need the breakthrough technologies and in the meantime we need to be scaling dot which we have already spent decades working on and perfecting getting not to scale In the time that we have and in addition software does have significantly faster paths to commercialization lower capex an ability to scale rapidly. And all of that means that the deployment of existing technology. That works can can happen. More quickly catherine you talk to a bunch of abc's in preparation for the show. Did any of them make this distinction between hardware versus software high capex versus low cap ex high risk versus lower risk yet so nancy fund did say that there's plenty of appetite for late stage more commodity type products charging infrastructure. But there's still a lot of room for early stage investments. I did reach out to dave danielson. Who's with breakthrough energy ventures To talk about what they do because they do this. Like kinda tough tech that you know something. Like the mit engine would start with and they. They're all there as slow growth. Very patient investor your twenty year funds that they have for their companies and you know his attitude is certainly look that the investments that we made early on and photovoltaics when batteries led's Decades ago at the department of energy have you know really panned out now in to you. Very high yield and very low cost products. And they're looking at. What are the mega trends. What are we. If if in twenty-fifty we've solve the problem which you better hope we have. What did it mean and using his view is we have to do a lot of different things. We have to look at as i as we said before. Food waste mining methane looking at is sectors. that are really difficult to To mitigate industrial sectors. And that's kind of what they're looking at but it didn't sound like anybody. I spoke with thought that it was an either or situation. It was something in a nancy. Fund mentioned demand response aggregation in the same breath that she talked about for a street. So i think there's plenty of room for everybody. There's so much of our ecosystem is impacted and impacts climate. And we have to try everything. Yeah and what's different today that you do have these funds. Some of which you mentioned that are set up for more patient longer term investment the engine prime impact fund breakthrough energy ventures congruent. They're doing much earlier. Stage deals and have much much longer. Investment horizons and. That's very different from it. What from where it was a decade ago. So there's just more places to get money from with different risk appetites and investment theses. Another thing i would mention the richard kaufman talked about was project finance. So the department of energy has typically and you'll see this with investors as well but it's often in government funds where you'll have a pilot project built and then nothing happens and you get the pilot. You're gonna another pilot. Maybe it's death by pilot. Every single pilot project is bespoke. And you have to start over with each one. And and it's never going to be cost effective and skill in that way and i've recent conversations with folks the department energy have said look we and including jigger have said we don't wanna build the the one we wanna build the next ten the next one hundred. We wanna know that there's a pathway to scale and i think that's really important and also shows that in addition to early stage investment. You have to look at all of the different valleys of death including where you really need project finance to scale emily. What's interesting to you right now. Like wh- you're obviously making the bets in the investments that you're making are an indication of where you and your team thinks the market is headed. So where do you think things are headed. So there's three primary categories that powerhouse ventures invests in across across both energy and mobility. And so those three are software and deployment so any any software that enables the financing and deployment of renewable assets storage smart grid technology on the.
KQED Radio
"department energy" Discussed on KQED Radio
"Morning cloudiness tomorrow, then clearing eyes upper sixties to the eighties Friday from NPR and W. B, U R and Peter O'Dowd and I'm Tanya. Mostly it's here and now along the southeast, the Colonial pipeline is back up and running. Company was hit with a ransomware attack last Friday that shut down operation for days. President Biden has now signed an executive order to boost cybersecurity for federal networks. But experts warn that this hack reveals how pipelines Cyber security, which falls under the Transportation Security Administration, has virtually no regulation. Let's bring in Robert Can AKI He's an expert on cyber security at the Council on Foreign Relations and the former director for cyber security policy at the National Security Council. He's calling for the T s A to impose regulations immediately, and Robert Welcome to the show. Happy to be here. You're basically saying that the T s a is the weak link here For the last few years, it's taken a voluntary approach to regulating pipeline cybersecurity what warnings have gone ignored over the past two decades. There's been a host of warnings if you go back, beginning with some incidents between 2000 and 2010, where pipelines were quietly disrupted by adversary actors. On then, and the last few years we've had warnings not only in the form of an actual incident that occurred that the Department of Homeland Security reported on a gas by a blind but also the director of national intelligence has come out and warned in 2019 that China did, in fact, have the ability to cause a localized disruption. At least To our pipeline infrastructure. So this has been a problem for quite some time. Does President Biden's executive order actually address the colonial pipeline hack this executive order really is a response to the solar winds pack that impacted federal agencies hire a security And private sector enterprise security, So it's really not explicitly focused on pipelines or critical infrastructure. It's really about that other side of the equation, the business systems that keep our government running and our our business was running. Okay. This was a ransomware attack. Hackers trying to make a quick buck by holding systems hostage, and they managed to shut down a pipeline that carries almost half of the East Coast. Fuel how vulnerable our pipelines more generally. What could future hacks mean? Besides just gas shortages and higher prices? Well, what's scary about this is as this ransomware operator made really clear in a block post they had no intention of shutting down. Pipeline operations. They were targeting business systems. They were trying to make money, but they weren't acting as an adversary like China or Russia might in a geopolitical conflict with the United States. Unlike in other sectors, unlike and the nuclear sector or the power sector. We don't have any regulations for pipeline cybersecurity because they don't have that government forcing function saying, Hey, you need to invest in this. This isn't an area Where you can cut cost. This is in an area where you have to take into account the fact that you are going to be targeted by our nation's adversaries for disruption, and you've got a plan for that well. Congress has already responded to the concerns with plans for hearings. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is expected to testify next week about this pipeline attack in front of the House Energy and Commerce Energy subcommittee. You're calling for the T s a toe exercise their regulatory power immediately. What does that look like? The Department of Homeland Security and the T s a administration have had the authority to regulate since 2001. And yet he has a has never regulated. What I'm arguing is that it's time simply to use Tessa's regulatory authority. It's not something where you necessarily want to start debating in Congress should. Yes, they have this authority. Should the department energy have this authority? We've got the authority. Let's start using it. Can you parse out a little bit more? What? What regulation would look like e think One of the things that we want to see first would be an investigation of this incident. So T s a is going to come in. They're going to investigate the incident. They're gonna understand why it happened. And they will use that as the basis for making recommendations to other pipeline companies to secure themselves. Then I would like them to audit all the major vibe lines in the United States. For security to understand where they are. Maybe you'd find some that are in great shape that conserves the basis for how other pipelines should secure themselves and could serve as the basis. For building those regulations. And then the final thing is we've got to have reporting on incidents at pipelines. We need to know when a pipeline has been impacted by a cyber incident. The only reason we found out about this incident is because there was actually a disruption to supply so we don't even really have a sense of how bad the cybersecurity is or how often incidents like this are occurring. At the nation's pipelines. That's Robert Can AKI and expert on cyber security at the Council on Foreign Relations and the former director for Cyber security policy at the National Security Council, Robert Thank you, thank you. And we reached out to the T s a for comment, and a spokesperson says T s a will work to close in close coordination with government and pipeline partners to evaluate the key factors from the cyber incident and determined opportunities opportunities to reduce and mitigate risk. Well. This past Mother's Day weekend was nothing to celebrate. For many people around the country. There were shootings in Colorado Springs in New York's Times Square, Chicago, Phoenix, Baltimore and, of course, many other cities. Gun violence surged last year in the pandemic, and those trends are continuing now..
NewsRadio KFBK
"department energy" Discussed on NewsRadio KFBK
"You live in Buffalo, New York, you're 11% walls and windows can matter. That matter in Northern California, if you fix the attic, so we come out and inspect the attic and we give you a free bed at no cost, and we just focus on again. What department energy calls the Big Three insulation first ventilation second. Airflow third. And once you do those things, you instantly feel 10 to 12 degrees core in the summer warm in the winter. You say 44% off utility bill because you're not kicked in your height here anymore. And you're also breathing better cleaner air one of the big issues that's pretty prevalent right now. In the age of Cove in His air quality. So ah, Lot of people don't know this your average air conditioning, heating duct average and keep in mind appear in this sacramental basin. We don't live in an average climate. We're going to run our air here more than we will Walnut Creek, right. But in an average climate, the average duct Leaks 28% just after 10 years of use, and it's pretty simple to know if you dust your home and a day or two or three later, you see a filament of dust again. That's 100% your air condition. He ducks, So imagine a vacuum cleaner. You turned it on. You put your hand next to it. It sucks in your hand. Well, you're running airflow through your ducks. You're pulling all the dust and dirt from the agriculture that's filtering down and now you're getting the dry skin Sinus allergy, respiratory issues. So by s deep cleaning, purifying, rapping and singing those ducks. You double your airflow. You're not wasting your breathing cleaner air, So that's what we do all day long. You know, that's important. I can tell you this. I got a new heating and air conditioning system and we still have a lot of allergy issues and so forth. And ah lot of dust. But you've got to come out. Take a look at my crappy old ducks and helped me out once again If you want to take advantage of.
Bloomberg Radio New York
"department energy" Discussed on Bloomberg Radio New York
"In a race against the mutating coronavirus. Economic justice is a big priority for the Biden administration and the oil and gas industry comes to terms with aggressive new climate policies. From New York. Welcome to the second hour of Bloomberg balance of power. I'm David Weston. President Biden made climate a priority from the first executive orders that he signed and it potentially goes well beyond the Keystone XL pipeline. Mike Somers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, has stayed with us from the first our balance of power. So thanks for staying with this, Mike. We talked about Keystone XL. It's in some detail on the first hour bounce power. Let's expand it out. Now it strikes me that you are in an industry that is tied to fossil fuels. And you now have Have an administration that seems really committed to trying to reduce your industry. How do you handle that? Look, David, It's great to be with you. And you know what I'll say is that you know, we think there's actually a lot of room for common ground with this administration. You know we worked with. You know, President Biden when he was vice president when he was senator. He's always been a moderately minded individual that's cared about. You know the United States and American energy independence, So we feel that there are ways that we can come to compromise on some of these big issues. One example of that is we know that he wants to further regulate methane emissions. This industry a P I. My member companies are all committed to that. And we want to work with this administration on reducing methane emissions, which would include regulation at the federal level, So that's one area where we think that we can find common ground. But there are others as well. Nothing is strike me as something that might be an area where actually you can make fossil fuels Mork consistent with the climate. Is that the idea? Basically, there are other areas like that. Yeah, you know, let me give you one other example the issue of trade. You know, President Biden has always been someone that has been a free trader wanting to open up markets overseas. One way that we think that we can reduce, uh, the risks of climate change worldwide. Is to export us liquefied natural gas. Let me give you a couple of examples of where that would be really helpful China, for example. Currently they get two thirds of their power from coal if we can switch their their energy mix from coal to natural gas, which is what has happened in the United States, primarily and that has led to a decline in emissions. There would be a significant decline in emissions from China, helping reducing to reduce the risks of climate change. The same is true in India, they get they get three quarters of their power from coal. If we can use American natural gas to improve their environmental footprint. That's something that we think should unite Republicans Democrats on everyone who's interested in expanding American energy. One of those first executive orders that was signed by President Biden was toe put America back into the Paris climate accord. Where are you on that? So a P I on our member companies have long supported the ambitions of the Paris agreement. The ambition of the Paris agreement is the lower emissions worldwide, but also to provide four sustainable development and to reduce poverty. Those air goals. I think that all of us can get behind. So we're looking forward to working with the by the administration on developing politics policies that get us more in line with Paris. So some of your members I believe some of the oil companies have started to really migrate over to sustainable eyes. Is there an inconsistency? Is there a schizoid quality to their position because they actually do want to move over to renewables at the same time, they remain in fossil fuels. Well, let's let's be clear. You know, one of the things that all of our my members understand is that oil and gas is going to play a very significant role in our energy future for many, many years to come. So, for example, The International Energy Agency actually makes these projections and even if every country met their Paris related commitments, the world would still be consuming. Ah lot of oil and gas. In fact, according to the IAEA, 40% to 46% of our energy mix. Would be oil and gas in the year 2040 even if every country met their Paris commitments, So we know that the world's going to continue to demand a lot of these products because, well, populations going up and energy demand is going up. And oil and gas continues to provide the best way for the world to get the energy that they need. So the question I think that the American people in the world have to answer is whether or not they want to get that power from the United States where they want to get it from, you know other regimes that are hostile to the United States. And those are the kind of things that were going to be presented to lawmakers as they make these key decisions on our energy future For those of us who don't know your business the way you know your business, we might think of your position with respect to buy demonstration would be on defense. Are there areas of offense that is, say other things that you might want to go to this administration? They look, here's a good idea that actually help our business. And it would help you achieve your goals. Yeah, So I mentioned two of them. First of all methane regulations. Second one being trade, But there's a really important third one, and that is investment in carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies that something that was actually in the Biden's campaign plan, where they talked about how you can mitigate the risks of climate change. By using carbon capture. That is something that our industry invest Maurin than any other industry in the world. There's a tax credit in the tax cold code referred to us 45 Q. Which incentivizes? Those kinds of investments. But the Biden administration we understand even wants to go further than that, And that's an area where it be good for the climate would be good for of course, our industry, but we think that there's a place there where there could be common ground for those kinds of investments. Is that technology there now? Or does that require affirmative investment from, for example, department energy and technology? I think there would there still needs to be a lot more investment and technology growth to get there. But we know that we can't reduce the risk of climate change without CC us on Where will work with the administration on that? Um, but you know, we obviously David, There are a lot of concerns about some of the policies that are being put forward. You know, there's one policy that is being discussed to be premiered. Tomorrow is is a ban on unleashes.
Newsradio 700 WLW
"department energy" Discussed on Newsradio 700 WLW
"I love his voice. I just take a space left 7 46 time to talk to our tech guru. And the Internet of things World in which we live. This is the guy. To give you Admonitions, warnings and things to look for. He's rarely on 55 KRC on Friday mornings at 6 35, and hopefully we can kind of make this a semi regular thing. He's on the nightcap quite often. By nighttime show that appears with some regularity on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights here on 700 wlw needs with us this morning, Dave Hatter. How are you? I'm good, Jeff. How you doing? I'm tuned. Pretty good. I mean, considering there's only five days left of the country, But other than that, I'm great. Uh, So you were talking about this solar winds thing that I had not even heard of. So first explains what solar winds is and where there's danger. Yes, The solar winds is a company that makes software that other companies used to manage their environments. So, for example, you're a company you have Computers, servers, etcetera that you want to manage. So you use the solar winds. Orion software. So you're administrators your nerves to manage this network, right? So Very powerful software. It's designed for administrators to use to manage other systems, and that's part of the issue with this. So thousands of companies tens of thousands of companies have solar winds of Ryan products installed in their networks that their ministers is using to manage your network. And unfortunately, um around October of 2019. Perhaps earlier. There's some speculation about this. Someone. It appears to be Russian hackers, although you know it's really hard to attribute this stuff. And what you often find with these hacking stories is Whatever you think happened when it first started is not what really happened, But it appears Russian hackers were able to like the Wuhan virus. Yeah, it's always hard to attribute this stuff, you know, and again, this story is still sort of breaking so The hackers have broken into solar winds. They modified the solar wind software so that when the customers of solar winds download updates to the software, the hackers now have access to these networks. A to least 18,000 Cos. Got the downloads with the bad software. Um there's a least 250 federal agencies and businesses that have been identified so far. That have been hacked through that bad software. It includes the department. Treasury includes department Justice, the State Department, the Commerce Department Energy Department. And literally. Hundreds of private businesses, including Microsoft. Microsoft a couple weeks ago, came out and said, it looks like these guys were able to access. Our software doesn't appear that they changed anything. But you always find out where these hacks of the scope that It takes a while to figure out exactly what happened. But the real the real big problem with this is so another cyber security company told solar winds they've been hacked solar winds put out a patch to fix it so that an update But here's the problem. Even if you install that patch, you don't know how long the bad guys were in your network. You don't know what else they might have done to give themselves back doors to get into your network again. So I mean, this is At least 250 companies have been identified. I predict it will be much more than that. At least 18,000 of their customers got this bad software so and it's more stories come out, you're starting to find again like with the Department of Energy. Okay. The Department of Energy has an elaborate plan called Black Start if the grid ever went down in the United States, black start is a detailed plan for how to bring it back up. If you were an enemy of the United States, and you wanted to knock out the grid, and you had the plan for how they were going to bring it back up. How we were going to bring it back up again. I should say that would be fairly bad news, you know? So yeah. This is it's called a software supply chain attack because again the bad guys modified software from a vendor that other companies are using fan, you know. Sadly, I think we'll see more of this kind of thing. It's it's very tedious and, frankly, pretty ingenious for the bad guys. But it's bad news for anyone that we use in the software and then frankly, bad news for society simply because so many companies are using this stuff. I have a have a question from Ray from the village grocery and I know we didn't talk about this prior to There are our conversation on the air Dave, but he wants to know about Proton encrypted email. Do you have any information on that? Yeah. Proton Mail is a email provider like a female or yahoo Hotmail there in Switzerland. It's it's encrypted, and my advice would be if you're looking. I use it personally. If you're looking for a free email platform, right low cost, you can pay a subscription fee and get some additional features and so forth. It's a good platform to use now, you know? You gotta understand that anything you put in digital form is theoretically. Never going to be private, but versus someone like Google and Gmail, where they scan all of your email on and use it to send you ads and so forth because folks have to remember. Google. Their entire model is built upon your data. Yeah, you're you you are. The product of your data is how they make most of their money. S Oh, yeah. Proton male. I'm a fan. I would recommend folks check it out if they're looking for an alternative to something like female or Yahoo or Hotmail or other Well known email platforms, All right, and tell me real quickly about WhatsApp. WhatsApp is a messaging and it started out as a private company. Facebook bought it in 2014. For something around 2 $19 billion. I think. And you know Facebook again like Google. That common pattern here. You they make their money from your data. You are the products, not the customer and the Morey of your data. They can capture the more money they can potentially make from itself. Facebook and WhatsApp. They announced. They're changing their privacy policy and it since it boils down to this, if you have, what if you use what that for messaging, think, texting sort of stuff. If you use what's that, and you don't agree to their new privacy policy. Which says that they're going to collect things like this is a list device model operating system. Actors and browser information. Mobile Network phone number, language in Time zone I P. Address device operations information. Facebook identifiers battery level on signal strength, simply everything. Everything they can get about you. Then.
Bloomberg Radio New York
"department energy" Discussed on Bloomberg Radio New York
"Said President elect Joe Biden is indeed the nation's next leader. I'm Matt Matt and said I'm Annabelle Drollas in Hong Kong here, this hour's top business stories and the markets Bitcoin, striding near the $34,000 market touched the weekend. The crypto currency only hit 20,000. For the first time in the middle of December. Crypto alternative ether is also trading in a record is now supposed $1000. China's biggest oil companies, their risk of being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Three Chinese telecom giants already slated for removal, Bloomberg Intelligence says offshore oil producers seen Oak is most at risk Petro China and sign a pecker also under threat. Stocks of the three oil firms are lower in Monday trading manufacturing activity in China East in December, the private pier My rating fell to 53 last month, missing economist estimates. It was 54.9 in November. Meanwhile, in Japan, manufacturing activity stabilized in December. The private PM I survey hit 50 for the first time since April. 2019 Singapore's economy grew more than expected in the fourth quarter GDP rose 2.1% versus estimates for a rise of 1.3% on a four year basis, the economy shrank nearly 6%. It's the first annual contraction since 2001 MGM Resorts has reportedly raised its off of online betting partner Entertain, which owns brands, including Ladbrokes. MGM formed a joint venture with entertaining, 2018 sources tells MGM is willing to pay more than $10 billion for full ownership of the venture. That's higher than the all cash bid. MGM is said to have made for entertainer of the end of 2020. Markets and we're seeing stocks in Asia start the new at a record high. South Korea is leading the advance up 2.3% the new case alone market in the red at the off half a percent dollar weakness is sending currencies in the region higher, particularly the Chinese yuan at levels not seen since June. 2018 Global news 24 hours a day on it and Don't Bloomberg, quick, take Out by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries in Hong Kong and animal Drollas, This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Wall Street Week with David Westin from Bloomberg Radio. This is Wall Street Week. I'm David Weston. The pandemic hit worldwide demand for oil hard, leaving OPEC plus scrambling throughout the year to figure out how to respond to that fall in demand. And your gun of ih s market kept us abreast of all of those changes, but also put it in the larger context of how we're shifting the way we get our energy and use our energy, all of which is covered in his new book. The new map. I think it's an evolution that's going on that was recently with a bunch of gay leaders of the electric power industry. They do look to be net zero carbon by 2035 or 2040, many of them and moving that direction other parts of it. I think it evolves over time, their 280 million cars and United States about 279 million of running gassing, and I don't think people gonna throw away their cars, so I think it's this is the longer evolution and it is what happens in the U. S. But the U. S remembers only 15%. CEO. Two emissions. China's twice that India. Other emerging markets are looking towards commercial energy to get away from burning wood and waste and people's houses with the health consequences. So I think this is something that unfolds time directionally where it's going, That's clear, directionally. The timing really matters and the bets can be rather substantial. In your book. You point out how many jobs Yes, I think there's 10 million are tied to the energy industry. We also have trillions of dollars globally. Who's putting bets on which side of this and we saw a report today. That Exxon between internal documents leaked suggest that Exxon is not moving as quickly as maybe some others away from fossil fuel emissions. China's certainly might benefit you point out in your book Russia. Maybe. Now who's betting on which side of this? Well, let me say, I think the ex something, Of course, that's a still unfolding story. But I think what's happened is all major companies now are looking at their at their at their emissions and say, what are they going to be? And then the question becomes, How do you mitigate them? And in the new map, you know, there's this whole chapter called Breakthrough to Take. Technologies based upon the work that early monies and former energy secretary and I did for lead for Bill Gates Foundation and Breakthrough Energy coalition about the technologies we need, and one of them. That's really very major is what's called carbon capture carbon medication simply when you look at the numbers, and I think that's where you know we're going to see increased investment going in terms of research on that to meet it in terms of countries. China's their significant winner here because it is unlike the U. S and import 75% of its oil and regards that is a major strategic problem, particularly in the geopolitical issues that are not developing, and it has a dominant position in many of my call if they call the new energies, for instance, about 70% of the solar panels in the world are made in China, another 10% by Chinese companies, and it's Chinese manufacturing. That's partly responsible for this revolution of solar costs, which have come way down. You know, there would be a big beneficiary of this one of the things that I was surprised I learned from your book is the department energy under President Trump is investing an awful lot of money and research, science and research. So which actually has to go toe renewable. Right $6.5 billion in in basic science research, and that's the foundation. Really, The true foundation have been energy transition, and that's been pretty consistent. That has been one area of bipartisan cooperation in seeing the importance of maintaining that commitment. And this is where the U. S strength really comes from, which is we have this incredible ecosystem that goes from 70 national labs that kind of expenditure Universities Cos. Startups. No other country has that advantage in new technologies take wind and solar there those air 50 year old industries, but it's only in the last 10 years that they've really become so competitive. So it takes time. And so the investment you make now really pays off, But it could take 10 or 20 years from now. And draw one other contrast that again I got from your book. The new map on that is between Russia, which is very dependent on fossil fuels. Goodness knows, and Saudi Arabia, which is also very effective, but they have that vision 2030 campaign going on..
Bloomberg Radio New York
"department energy" Discussed on Bloomberg Radio New York
"Showers, although it is short compared to others, and this year it wraps up tonight. The latest. I missed the tuna. And I'm Susanna Palmer in the Bloomberg newsroom Bitcoins rally has extended into the new year. The crypto currency, touching above $34,000 this afternoon in Singapore. OPEC plus meets on Monday The alliance of Oil producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia must decide whether it can continue to restore crude supplies without crushing the price recovery producer spent most of 2020 working to achieve Nymex crude last quoted at 48 52 a barrel with New York's test positivity rate, edging higher There's more concern about keeping schools open. We get more about that from Bloomberg's Dinis Pellegrini, New York City teachers are worried about the safety of students and staff as city schools remain open, even amid these rising covered 19 rates. Citywide. The positive rate on a seven day average rose to 9.39% yesterday. But the post reports no. The mayor sees no reason to shut down completely again. And the mayor told NBC New Year's Eve that based on what he knows and on the conversations with healthcare leaders in the city, there's general agreement that schools should stay open throughout the remainder of the school year. These Pellegrini Bloomberg radio When markets open up in New York on Monday, investors will react to Tesla's news this weekend that it delivered nearly half a million cars in 2020. That's a big number, but it is short of what Tesla said It would deliver by just about 50 cars, Tesla's said yesterday. The number could vary a bit and maybe slightly conservative. Where will stocks go in 2021? A vaccine for the coronavirus? Maybe a green light for gains even after last year's 16% advance for the S and P 500 index. Fact, Mira is head of investment at Commercial Bank of Dubai. We've entered the last eight of those four. I don't think that it's too much of a concern of the stage as far as markets are concerned that for us We're concerned in locating our client assets into equities into risk ourselves. Global News 24 hours a day on air and on Bloomberg Quick take powered by more than 2700, journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. I'm Susanna Palmer, This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Wall Street Week with David Westin from Bloomberg Radio. This is Wall Street Week. I'm David Weston. The pandemic hit worldwide demand for oil hard, leaving OPEC plus scrambling throughout the year to figure out how to respond to that fall in demand. And your gun of I just mark. It kept us abreast of all of those changes, but also put it in the larger context of how we're shifting the way we get our energy and use our energy, all of which is covered in his new book. The new map. I think it's an evolution that's going on that was recently with a bunch of the leaders of the electric power industry. They do look to be net zero carbon by 2035 or 2040, many of them and moving that direction, other parts of it. I think it evolves over time, their 280 million cars in the United States about 279 million of running gasoline, and I don't think people gonna throw away their cars. So I think this is the longer evolution and I think there's what's happens in the U. S. But the U. S remembers only 15% of Sio two emissions. China's twice that India. Other emerging markets are looking towards commercial energy to get away from burning wood and waste in people's houses with the health consequences. So I think this is something that unfolds time directionally where it's going, That's clear. Directionally. The timing really matters and the bets can be rather substantial. In your book. You point out how many jobs you know they think that 10 million are tied to the energy industry. We also have trillions of dollars globally. Who's putting bets on which side of this? And we saw a report today that Exxon between internal documents leaked suggest that Exxon is not moving as quickly as maybe some others away from fossil fuel emissions. China's certainly might benefit you point out in your book Russia. Maybe not. Who's better on which side of this? Well, let me say, I think the ex something, Of course, that's still unfolding story. But I think what's happened is all major companies now are looking at their at their at their emissions and saying, What are they going to be? And then the question becomes, How do you mitigate them? And in the in the new map, you know, there's this whole chapter called Breakthrough Technologies based upon the work that early monies and former energy secretary and I did for lead for Bill Gates Foundation and Through energy coalition about the technologies we need, and one of them. That's really very major is what's called carbon capture carbon medication simply when you look at the numbers, and I think that's where you know we're going to see increased investment going in terms of research on that to meet it in terms of countries. China's a significant winner here because it is unlike the U. S, and import 75% of its oil and regards that is a major strategic problem, particularly in the geopolitical issues. We're not developing, and it has a dominant position in many of my call if they call the new energies, for instance, about 70% of the solar panels of the world are made in China, another 10% by Chinese companies, and it's Chinese manufacturing. That's partly responsible for this revolution of solar costs, which have come way down. So you know there would be a big beneficiary of this. One of the things that I was surprised I learned from your book is the department energy under President Trump is investing an awful lot of money in research, science and research, so which actually has to go toe renewable. Right, $6.5 billion in basic science research, and that's the foundation really the true foundation of an energy transition, and that's been pretty consistent. That has been one area of bipartisan cooperation in in seeing the importance of maintaining that commitment, and this is where the U. S strength really comes from, which is we have this incredible ecosystem that goes from 70 national labs that kind of expenditure Universities Cos. Startups. No other country has that advantage in new technologies take wind and solar there those air 50 year old industries, but it's only in the last 10 years that they really become so competitive. So it takes time. And so the investment you make now really pays off. But it could take 10 or 20 years from now. Dan Draw one other contrast that again I got from your book, The new map. And that is between Russia, which is very dependent on fossil fuels. Goodness knows, and Saudi Arabia, which is also very minute, but they have that vision 2030 campaign going on..
Bloomberg Radio New York
"department energy" Discussed on Bloomberg Radio New York
"They do look to be net zero carbon by 2035 or 2040, many of them and moving that direction other parts of it. I think it evolves over time, their 280 million cars in the United States about 279 million of running gasoline, and I don't think people gonna throw away their cars. So I think this is the longer evolution and I think there's what's happens in the U. S. But the U. S remembers only 15% of Sio two emissions. China's twice that India. Other merchant markets are looking towards commercial energy to get away from burning wood and waste in people's houses with the health consequences. So I think this is something that unfolds time directionally where it's going, That's clear, directionally. The timing really matters and the bets can be rather substantial. In your book. You point out how many jobs you know, they think there's 10 million are tied to the energy industry. We also have trillions of dollars globally. Who's putting bets on which side of this? And we saw a report today that Exxon between two Little documents leaked suggest that Exxon is not moving as quickly as maybe some others away from fossil fuel emissions. China's certainly might benefit you point out in your book Russia. Maybe not. Who's betting on which side of this? Well, let me say the ex something. Of course, that's a still unfolding story. But I think what's happened is all major companies now are looking at their at their at their emissions and saying, What are they gonna be? And then the question becomes, How do you mitigate them? And in the in the new map, you know, there's this whole chapter called Breakthrough Technologies based What kind of work that early monies and former energy secretary and I did for lead for Bill Gates Foundation and Breakthrough Energy Coalition about the technologies we need, and one of them. That's really very major is what's called carbon capture carbon mitigation simply when you look at the numbers, and I think that's where you know we're going to see increased investment going in terms of research on that meat it in terms of countries. China's air significant winner here, because, unlike the U, S, and import 75% of its oil and regards that is a major strategic problem, particularly in the geopolitical issues that are not developing, and it has a dominant position in many of my call if they call the new energies, for instance, about 70% of the solar panels of the world are made in China, another 10% by Chinese companies, and it's Chinese manufacturing. That's partly responsible for this revolution of solar costs, which have come way down. So you know, there would be a big beneficiary of this one of the things that I was surprised I learned from your book is the department energy under President Trump is investing an awful lot of money in research, science and research, so which actually has to go toe renewables? Right, $6.5 billion in in basic science research, and that's the foundation really the true foundation of an energy transition, and that's been pretty consistent. That has been one area of bipartisan cooperation in seeing the importance of maintaining that commitment, And this is where the U. S strength really comes from, which is we have this incredible ecosystem that goes from 70 national labs. That kind of expenditure. Universities, companies start ups. No other country has that advantage in new technologies take wind and solar there those air 50 year old industries, but it's only in the last 10 years that they really become so competitive. So it takes time. And so the investment you make now really pays off, But it could take 10 or 20 years from now. And draw one other contrast that again I got from your book. The new math on that is between Russia, which is very dependent on fossil fuels. Goodness knows, and Saudi Arabia, which is also very effective, but they have that vision 2030 campaign going on. Does Russia have anything similar that about what comes after fossil fuels? No, I don't think so. I mean, Vladimir Putin said. It's great. Our budget is only now 30% oil instead of being 40% oil that money coming from it, But I think Russia's been talking about diversification for, uh, for 20 years since Putin kick the power, and it's really not happening. In fact, I was at a conference where I asked Putin that question he and Chancellor Merkel or on the platform about diversification..
Bloomberg Radio New York
"department energy" Discussed on Bloomberg Radio New York
"Government forecasters expect dry conditions to linger across much of the U. S. The climate prediction centers monthly outlook says Drought improvement or even removal could be seen in January in parts of the Pacific northwest in southern Plains. I'm Brian shut And I'm to these Pellegrini in the Bloomberg News Room. Have you been calling in sick a lot lately? Will workers called out sick in record numbers last year? Bloomberg's Karen Moscow, has the details whether it's because they have cove in 19 themselves, or are worried about getting it or taking care of someone who already has it. The number of workers who miss days on the job has doubled in the pandemic. What's more, unlike a jobless rate, which is steadily declined from its April peak, the rate of absenteeism as it's called by economist has remained stubbornly high. Almost 1.8 million workers were absent in November because of illness, nearly matching the record two million set back in April. According to the Labor Department. Record. Low mortgage rates were supposed to make it easier for Homebuyers. Instead, they've pushed affordability toe a 12 year low. Buyers last quarter needed to spend almost 30% of the average wage to afford a typical house. That's the most since 2000 and eight, according to Adam Data Solutions. Mortgage rates are below 3% for a 30 year fixed and that's fed the buying frenzy, driving up prices across the country. Tribune Publishing shares jumped 7.1% in the last trading day of the year after hedge fund Alden Global Capital said it made a nonbinding proposal this month to buy the rest of the newspaper publisher at evaluation of $520 Million, and Investors read that as a positive, according to Bloomberg's Charlie Pellet. Holden already owns 32% of Tribune in a filing. It said it inquired about an acquisition of 14 25 a share. And a letter sent to Tribune's board. December 14th Tribune is the publisher of the Namesake, Chicago Tribune, The New York Daily News and other big city papers. It's been a tough period for newspaper companies, they face the sharp and decline with rise of online marketing. Digital subscription revenue has increased but hasn't kept pace. Global News 24 hours a day on Erin on Bloomberg, quick, Take Powered by more than 2700, journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. I'm Denise Pellegrini. This is Bloomberg. This'll is Bloomberg Wall Street Week with David Westin from Bloomberg Radio. This is Wall Street Week. I'm David Weston. The pandemic hit worldwide demand for oil hard, leaving OPEC plus scrambling throughout the year to figure out how to respond to that fall and demand. And your gun of ih s market kept us abreast of all of those changes, but also put it in the larger context of how we're shifting the way we get our energy and use our energy, all of which is covered in his new book. The new map. I think it's an evolution that's going on that was recently with a bunch of gay leaders of the electric power industry. They do look to be net zero carbon by 2035 or 2040, many of them and moving that direction, other parts of it. I think it evolves over time, their 280 million cars and United States about 279 million of running gassing, and I don't think people gonna throw away their cars. So I think it's this is the longer evolution and I think is what happens in the U. S. But the U. S remembers only 15% of Sio two emissions. China's twice that India. Other emerging markets are looking towards commercial energy to get away from burning wood and waste in people's houses with the health consequences. So I think this is something that unfolds time directionally where it's going, That's clear. Directionally. The timing really matters and the bets can be rather substantial. In your book. You point out how many jobs Yes, I think 10 million are tied to the energy industry. We also have trillions of dollars globally. Who's putting bets on which side of this? And we saw a report today that Exxon basically, internal documents leaked suggest that Exxon is not moving as quickly as maybe some others away from fossil fuel emissions. China's certainly might benefit you point out in your book Russia. Maybe not. Who's betting on which side of this? Well, let me say, I think the ex something, Of course, that's still unfolding story. But I think what's happened is all major companies now are looking at their at their at their emissions and saying, What are they going to be? And then the question becomes, How do you mitigate them? And in the in the new map, you know, there's this whole chapter called Breakthrough Technologies based upon the work that early movies and former energy secretary and I did for lead for Bill Gates Foundation and Through energy coalition about the technologies we need, and one of them. That's really very major is what's called carbon capture carbon mitigation simply when you look at the numbers, and I think that's where you know we're going to see increased investment going in terms of research on that to meet it in terms of countries, China's a significant winner here because, unlike the U, S, and import 75% of its oil and regards that is a major strategic problem, particularly in the geopolitical issues. We're not developing, and it has a dominant position in many of my call if they call the new energies, for instance, about 70% of the solar panels of the world are made in China, another 10% by Chinese companies, and it's Chinese manufacturing. That's partly responsible for this revolution of solar costs, which have come way down. So you know there would be a big beneficiary of this. One of the things that I was surprised I learned from your book is the department energy under President Trump is investing an awful lot of money in research, science and research, so which actually has to go toe renewables? Right, $6.5 billion in in basic science research, and that's the foundation really the true foundation of an energy transition, and that's been pretty consistent. That has been one area of bipartisan cooperation in in seeing the importance of maintaining that commitment, and this is where the U. S strength really comes from, which is we have this incredible ecosystem that goes from 70 national labs. That kind of extended to universities, Companies start ups. No other country has that advantage in new technologies take wind and solar there those air 50 year old industries, but it's only in the last 10 years that they've really become so competitive. So it takes time to the investment you make now really pays off, but it could take 10 or 20 years from now. And draw one other contrast that again I got from your book. The new map on that is between Russia, which is very dependent on fossil fuels. Goodness knows, and Saudi Arabia, which is also very effective, but they have that vision 2030 campaign going on. Does Russia have anything similar that about what comes after fossil fuels? No, I don't think so. I mean, Vladimir Putin said. It's great. Our budget is only now 30% oil instead of being 40% oil that money coming from it, But I think Russia's been talking about diversification for, uh, for 20 years since Putin kick the power, and it's really not happening. In fact, I was at a conference where I asked Putin that question he and Chancellor Merkel or on the platform about diversification. But we got sidetracked as I mentioned shale, and he really doesn't like us shale, so he He gave me his his opinions on that which were pretty strong, So I think Saudi Arabia is trying to do it. But you know, it's hard to shift an economy that is so dependent upon oil. It was hard before covert. It's more difficult right now. And I think one of things the Saudis, it's clear to them in order. Diversify away from oil, you actually need some oil revenues. That was Dan Jurgen, vice chairman of I just market and author of the new map Coming up. We End this special edition of Wall Street Week with Larry Summers and his book picks for the year..
The Book Review
From the Archive: Michael Lewis and Tana French
"Michael thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. So you've covered very exciting topics before. Wall Street is exciting. Sports is exciting. The Department of Agriculture is not generally considered exciting. How did you decide to to turn to this? So it wouldn't have been exciting before trump. I think trump electrified all the material. So what happened. Several things at once happened. I just finished a book about Danny. Common name is diversity to Israeli psychologist who Study the way people Miss Miss Value. Risk price risk and one of their insights. Was that if you take a catastrophic risks. I mean it's like a one in a million chance of happening and and make it a one in ten thousand still very remote increase the likelihood one hundred times people don't feel it and I had this sense. When trump was elected in the way he was approaching governing that he was he was doing that across a big portfolio of risks that. I thought that the one way to think of the federal government is a manager of giant portfolio of risks many of them catastrophic and that people weren't feeling it exactly. I was doing on this in about how to write about it when he made Rick Perry the Secretary of Energy of Course Rick. Perry had said that he thought the Department of you should be eliminated when he was on stage in a debate but he couldn't remember even the name of the place and once he collided with it he realised. Oh maybe it shouldn't be eliminated because the departmental has nuclear weapons in inside of it and I thought well maybe this is the this is the way maybe actually kind of want follow it follow ric currency what it means for. Rick Perry to be running this place and then somewhere in all this. I learned that the Obama Administration partly because they're required to by law partly because Obama was a responsible person had essentially Had BEEN AT WORK. For a year to create these briefings for the whoever was gonNA roll into the federal government and run it and there was a there have been thousand thousand people across across the government who had spent the better part of a year creating these briefing books thinking about how to present the government to someone who didn't know anything about it and these briefings were supposed to happen the day after the election. I mean they're gonNa roll and that's what happened. When Obama rolled in to replace Bush and the trump people hadn't shown up at all so then I had a hook but now I do too in the hook was I'm GonNa go get the briefings. Briefings and trump people never bothered to get and kind of learn about this portfolio of risk and try to get a sense of what we should be worried about why that was the start and then you ended up covering not just the Department of Energy but also the Department of Commerce and the Department of Agriculture. You know I had a selection problem that reminded me a bit of the selection problem. I had with the big short and the big short there was a pool of kind of fifteen Wall Street guys who had seen the crisis coming or thought they'd seen it coming and made a fortune betting on the collapse of either Wall Street or the housing market and I wandered around a long time on a casting. Search figure out which ones were the best to tell the story through. Who are the other contenders? There were a lot of them. I mean they were. They were hundreds of them but they were fifteen of them and and all were willing to let me write about him. It was just who could kind of teach the reader the most important things what was the best way to dramatize this. And in this case I had actually fifteen cabinet level positions fifteen departments to choose from and I had a narrow down. I couldn't do the federal government. I wasn't gonNA keep the reader for more than a couple of hundred pages. I knew right away it was going to be three or four and I thought I had some criteria I thought one. It's gotta be something that I suspect. Most readers have no idea what it does and I just. I would just market test this. I'd be at a dinner party and say they might tell me what the Department of Commerce does and nobody had any idea that half the budget went to weather collecting weather data. You know or in the department energy most people didn't like Rick. Perry as opposed to the Treasury Department of the State Department of people have some vague idea. What does it? I wanted to be out of the public eye because I thought among other things I think. The risks are greater when public not watching the trump administration and finally. I thought they started to be very important so the Department of Education. I mean it's nothing's not important in the federal government but some of it's more important than than others so i. I spent time in most of the departments. I mean are talked to people from most departments and eliminated things along the way and then figured these are the three I wanted to do. Having said that I mourn not having written about the State Department and more not having read about the Department of the Interior. I think you could drop a writer into any one of these places and he would come away with a really. There's a wonderful stories to tell I mean. The Department of Education Is One. That's been written about a lot because of that. The high profile of the appointee to a lesser extent repairing sort of when he came in there was a flurry of attention and then kind of died away. So what is Rick Perry doing at the Department of Energy and what the Department of Energy supposed to be doing? It's a really good question what he is doing what. I dipped out of this story. I mean the last time I interviewed someone at the department injuries. Maybe six months ago and what I'm told. Is he set himself up as a kind of cheerleader ceremonial head of with the. Who isn't all that interested in the place? So you seem tweet a lot about it but we never got the briefings presumably. I know more about it than he does. Because I sat down with people had them walk me through the whole department. Maybe by now. He's accumulated some information. But what does it do? It's a vast science project what it is and part of the science project is tending to testing assembling nuclear weapons. That that's a big part of the budget. Another big part of the budget is cleaning up nuclear. Waste their sites in this country. And you wouldn't believe it. It's sort of like green type. Post-apocalyptic PLACES PAN for Washington. The Department of Defense three billion dollars a year trying to clean up the remains of the plutonium factories that that generated the atom bombs for World War. Two you ask the people in the department energy to give you an honest estimate how long it's GonNa take to to clean the place up hundred years one hundred billion dollars. I mean that's not trivial. And and what is at stake is there is a giant plume underground of of nuclear waste. That's slowly drifting towards the Columbia River which is not that far away said up on the Columbia River because they need the water to cool the it was there for a reason but if it leaches into the Columbia River. It's a catastrophe the for the Pacific northwest and it's managed in a very short term way. Things happen there. That are very alarming but does that predate trump or is it always been managed in a short term way although trump was the trigger for my story and trump is by far the most negligent manager of the federal government. We've had my lifetime Fisher probably forever. I never thought of his story. Just about trump. I thought of it. A story about the narrative we have created has poisoned or at Lea- screwed up the relationship between the society and government. That that this whole notion that the government is filled with lazy stupid. Bureaucrats who were kind of dead weight on society is a really dumb story. It's not true story. Department energy actually illustrates this. There is within the Department of Energy and his science project a seventy billion dollar loan portfolio and a few hundred million dollar venture capital fund. That is responsible for the entire. Solar power industry is responsible for Tesla. The first that were given to Tesla it is. It's it's the only place where dollars will be allocated to long term innovation. Industry doesn't do this if you she track back. Where the the innovations that led to the current American economy came from almost always it started with a government some government investment the Internet. The iphone wouldn't wouldn't exist without govern investment. When I think about the government I think of it as this. This exquisitely important exquisitely complicated machine that. We've let rust for decades telling ourselves a story that we need to basically just kick it every now and then it keep it from being too lazy and this guys come along and got sledgehammer. Trump has come along and he's getting this is getting you. He's going to do really mortal damage to it all right. So here's a short term thinking way of looking at this if you have things like nuclear cleanup. That are one hundred year. One hundred billion dollar projects is this potentially four year maybe eight year term of neglect. Kind of benign neglect. Because it's just GonNa it's all moving so slowly anyway or is he actively doing something in these departments. That is making it far worse. We have to worry. I think we have to worry a lot in. That's not me saying there's there are people who were kind of professional watchers of the federal government who are independent reps of the situation and then they're terrified for a few reasons. One is just the people who were in the federal government in the first year. The trump administration twenty percent of the top six thousand managers in the government civil service senior executive types left Biz. A hollowing out of the talent. And there's real talent there. These are not trivial. People people who were there in a lot of people federal government could be being paid a lot more money in the private sector and they've been drawn to some mission whether it's school nutrition or tending the nuclear arsenal or the weather service. They're there because they love the mission in because they know how important job is and we've mistreated those people for a long time. But now the level of mistreatment got very high and the dispersion of those people is a problem but then there are lots of things that are not so long term. I mean the trump budgets zeroed out both the loan program and the investments in the Department Energy Department of Agriculture Department. Agriculture has a three billion dollar research. Budget typically always overseen by a scientist and agricultural scientist. And if you talk to the woman who previously occupied the place Kathy Woteki a re a one a distinguished agricultural scientists who've been in government. Thirty years really knows what she's doing. She's all of his budget right. Now is one way or another being directed to research tied to climate. Change that we're to feed ourselves we're GONNA have to think differently. Be where how and where we grey sheep and cows and grow wheat and the climate change and have a big effect on the food supply trump appointed to this job right wing talk show radio host from Iowa who happened to support who knew who has no science background whatsoever named Sam Clovis now he has recently been removed from consideration. And there's nobody on his anybody in the job right now but the neglect of investment right now in the government will have consequences down the road. The bright spot is make it so bad and this is the point of the book. It make it so bad that people may wake up and we'll have a different narrative about our government.
NPR's Business Story of the Day
As Oil Prices Drop And Money Dries Up, Is The U.S. Shale Boom Going Bust?
"All right the S. and P. Five hundred hit another record high. This week it's up almost twenty five percent for the year but but the SMP's index of oil and gas stocks. This is down more than twenty percent. It's a sign of trouble for this country's oil industry Darius Roffe on has the story some of the most successful companies in the oil business business are household names thing Exxon Mobil or Chevron but the boom in shale drilling that has helped turn the US into the world's largest oil producer that that has been driven by smaller independent operators companies that have pushed the limits of drilling technology and taking big risks on unproven oilfields today day shale accounts for about two-thirds of US oil production and nearly all of the industry's growth but many of the companies that made that growth possible are now struggling to stay stay afloat. David Dacko bomb analyst at Investment Bank. Callan says that has a lot to do with the business model of US shale. This isn't industry. The you know for every dollar that they brought in they would spend two for years. Operators focused on drilling lots of new wells very fast prioritizing explosive growth over profitability. And until now now they've been able to rely on deep pocket. Investors who are willing to pour fresh capital into the industry despite years of lackluster returns. It's a story that may be familiar to anyone. He's been following the tech industry in recent years. Dekel bomb compares it to a kind of prospector mentality. There's a lot of romance I think. Because there's always this idea of this this brand's new play. That's going to have billions of barrels of upside. And if you know you can just get in early than it will pay off in the long run. Of course oil has always been a boom and bust I industry in two thousand fourteen for instance a catastrophic price crash left the industry reeling but even then billions in new investment flowed into US shale today today shrinking global demand for oil is driving the price down once again. What's different this time around? Investors no longer seem willing to write the industry a blank check. I think now. Oh you've seen a lot of pressure of we want you to be a real business. Your cost structure is too high. You have too much that I'm not funding. You're drilling anymore with external capital. You have to live within your means without access to fresh cash. Many producers are pulling back on new exploration. The number of rigs drilling for new oil is at its lowest point in two years. That's bad news is for people like Ron Fountain who works on a drilling rig. In the Balkan Shale of North Dakota. He thinks back to a few years ago when the price of oil was over. One hundred dollars a barrel and companies. These were drilling with abandon. That's when we were still booming. There was rigs coming out every month. We couldn't keep up. There were so many so much work going on today. Though with more and more rigs sitting idle life has become uncertain for fountain and his fellow. Drillers we went from having you know three year contracts to well to well contracts which means you drill one hole and if you did a good job then they'll give you another one or may drop you and we gotta figure it out from there and he's not the only one feeling. The Pinch Halliburton one of the biggest players in. US shale drilling has laid off nearly three thousand workers in the Permian Basin. The country's trees most prolific oilfield employment has almost completely stalled out. That's after going more than eleven percent last year. Meanwhile many of the smaller producers who loaded up on debt are struggling to pay it back leading to a wave of bankruptcies more than three dozen so far this year all of this adding up to slower oil output data from the department energy shows that production was flat in the first half of twenty nineteen after growing more than twenty percent last year in theory as production slows and supply shrinks. The price royal should go back up which could provide a much-needed boost. The question. Says Ron Fountain is how many companies will be able to survive. Until then I think as an industry we're we're GONNA be okay but I think there's a lot of people That are kind of holding their breath.