ID The Tank
More on this tank on the next VM blog. For now, can you ID it?
A Few Notes
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec, is a Chinese oil and gas enterprise based in Beijing. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai. Sinopec Limited’s parent, Sinopec Group, is the world’s largest oil refining, gas, and petrochemical conglomerate, headquartered in Chaoyang District, Beijing.
I have business with Sinopec as far as the energy side of my consulting business goes. Dealing with the Chinese energy sector is challenging. If it was easy, everyone would do it. It’s not that the Chinese bureaucrats at Sinopec are trying to be difficult. That’s not the case. The system that they operate in is so highly moribund that you need to run an op to get anything done.
China has an oil supply problem. I don’t care what you read in the publications or watch on the news. The news, whether American. or Chinese is so ladened with propaganda that it’s very difficult to get at the truth unless you’re very close to the situation. A lot of problems that Sinopec faces have to do with thousands of layers of guanxi. The cultural burden that overlays even simple transactions creates an environment where nothing gets done. Even sending people to cut the proverbial Gordian knot is often not enough. And this situation applies to every single transaction. Sinopec Corp recorded a 6.9% decline in net income for 2022. It’s not surprising.
Then there are the teapot refineries and their political patrons…
I should be happy that things are f-ed up. If they weren’t, nobody would need me and pay the absurdly high rates that I charge.
China – Spicy or Mild?
Bullet Points:
** What about a glass of wine – or even a screwtop bottle or a box of the finest Costco vintage?
** Americans who make for than $200,000 per year have filed for unemployment benefits at a record pace in recent weeks. That could ultimately give employers more leverage over employees and lead to slower wage growth.
“An estimate of 113,793 unemployment claims were filed by Americans earning over $200,000. This is the highest level since the pandemic and the trend shows this is accelerating higher, with this week likely to be the crossover point where the unemployment claims of over $200,000 earners exceed unemployment claims of under $25,000 earners,” Fundstrat’s Tom Lee explained.
** As mentioned on Old NFOs blog – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s name will soon appear on a federal building in her hometown thanks to an item slipped into a massive must-pass spending bill that Congress is rushing to approve this week.
Tucked away on page 610 of the 1,455-page tome is a provision to rename the federal building located at 90 7th St in San Francisco, California, as “Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building” to honor the California Democrat who is stepping down from her longtime leadership post.
** The CBO report found that the debt limit plan would drastically cut the growth of spending between 2023 and 2033. The nonpartisan analysis agency found:
The bill’s cap on discretionary funding would result in savings of $3.194.5 trillion over ten years
Scrapping energy tax credits would save $569.5 billion
Reducing funding for the IRS would save $119.7 billion
Implementing work requirements [for] Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would save $120 billion
Rescinding funding for unspent coronavirus aid would save $29.5 billion
Requiring the Department of the Interior (DOI) to conduct oil and gas leases would save $3.4 billion
Swalwell
*
Your Thought of the Day
ID The Tank:
T-72
I was gonna say “50t Scrap Metal”
T-90A
So much for the vaunted T-90A’s ability to protect itself against incoming fire.
People all over the world seem to have forgotten that the same people who brought us Potemkin villages have been doing the same thing, whether under a Czar, a dictator or a president-for-life, which is lie, cheat, obfuscate, inflate and otherwise claim incredible abilities of their war-fighting equipment. When we (the US) list the top speed of our carriers as 35 knots and the speed of our submarines as 35 knots or so, when the actual top speed is classified but (wink, wink) we know they can go faster, Russia in all its forms (and the ChiComs) overclaim their weapon system abilities.
Like the ChiCom military parades, where you can see the skin of their ‘hypersonic’ missiles flex like posterboard as the transporter/launcher rolls past the camera. Yeah… flexes at school zone speed but will handle hypersonic speeds. Same with Mother Russia. You can look at the victory parades and May-Day parades and see things that will make you believe Hollyweird does a better job of faking it.
Wine- that was funny…and can’t disagree…altho we do like Hess.
The Nan’s own building…why am I not surprised. Graft rules to roost with these cretins.
Yes! on the last meme. People have gotten so used to commenting (ahem…uh…yeah…me included)..well…more accurately, commenting on complete stranger’s lives or actions. They have no clue how to leave people alone in public…in fact, they feel entitled to get in your face (which used to afford the opportunity to flatten them…verbally of course. So yeah, leave people alone, and if you can’t, then you might want to check your egocentric self at the door.
The only thing that surprises me in regard to the building named for Pelosi is that it took this long. Surely there must be a bridge or something with her moniker on it.
I agree on the tank; 50 tons of scrap.
Wait for the back story.
Oh, I’m sure it’s all above board. But don’t really care, voters deserve what they continue to elect.
Is it a waste water treatment plant?
EdC: LL’s “team” could open an in-country scrap metal business, under cut the Chinesium junk metal….lots of material to collect and we need more horseshoes over here.
I hit the recycling yards fairly often for sheet steel, rebar, all-thread, that sort of stuff. Save a significant amount of money that way. I welcome LL’s new business venture. Steel from a tank would probably be cheaper than name brand tractor weights. Shipping could be a problem but I am sure LL’s team has a viable solution ;-).
When the next Congress gets elected they should rename the building, then fund a national cemetery and name that for her instead.
Two thoughts on Fang Fang.
First, she ought to get some sort of medal for dedication from China. I know she was just doing her job, and sometimes you just gotta do who you gotta do, but Swalwell?
Second, I’d like to see a translation of what that says.
Tank is broke… :-) Yes, it’s nice to get paid for the work you do, it keeps you busy and out of trouble…LOL Re FangFang- She accomplished her goal, and Swalwell ‘bit’ on her bait.
Ewww……
I might have to violently disagree with wine man. Not on the marketing – that’s true. And the pretentiousness. However, corks are being replaced by screw caps, glass is odourless and flavourless and you don’t want bits of plastic in your drink and in France you can get a really great bottle of vino for a couple of Euros. A glass of wine contains anti oxidants- and like hot dogs, which are also carcinogenic, it tastes nice. Ask Jesus.
China definitely needs oil. So are they the ones who convinced the Russians they needed a naval base in Sudan? That’s certainly taking the long view. The ruskies could make nice change providing services to the Chinese naval task force that deploys to defend the tankers shipping oil from that “pariah” state (FJB’s term) to the middle kingdom. China can even pay with ammo rather than cash.
Sudan has massive proven natural gas that is accessible. It’s not been tapped. So there are motives for everyone to show up. Port Sudan needs modernization. The Russians were going to do it 2-3 years ago but backed out
I agree with Jules. I used to think “screw caps = inauthentic, low quality cheapskatery.” But no, some great wines come that way and the proof’s in the drinking. How the screw tops hold up over time is another matter again, so there is that.
“The news, whether American. or Chinese is so ladened with propaganda that it’s very difficult to get at the truth unless you’re very close to the situation.”
We live in a morass of lies.
That’s what happens when Satan and the other Demons rule and control. Sadly.
Hah. ChiCom petrochemical companies. Hah. The more they have issues the happier I am as that means they’ll fail and lie to their leaders and the whole house of cards will come crashing down spectacularly on Xi’s head at the worst possible time. Think Chinese Tires in the Ukraine Invasion, except worse. How well do the petroleum, diesel and gas supplies and stores are in Chyna? How much water contamination, how much bacteria growth, how much just plain water instead of fuel is there in their ‘reserves’ and ‘strategic supplies’?
Like with Russia, the ChiComs are very into believing their own propaganda and failing to inform the people in charge because nobody wants to end up with a bullet in the brain and their families sent to the camps (or end up as slaves to the powers-that-be, especially the good-looking girls that get ‘sold’ into sex slavery.)
Good on you, LL, for sucking money from those godless bastards.