And stock and money markets are happy with that.
Despite upbeat and downbeat economic messages on the same day
Monday June 8,2020 - We are officially in a recession. The National
Bureau of Economic Research has made it official - The crash stemming from
the pandemic with millions becoming unemployed worldwide,ended the longest
economic expansion in U.S. history.
Mon, Jun 8, 2020 - The Stock Market Recovery Continues.
Investors continue betting on the economic recovery.
I'm puzzled, but pleased, that jobs could be created quickly,
particularly for the younger generation, whose career
opportunities have been delayed, even sacrificed in many people's
opinion, by lockdown.
But governments know that breakthrough technologies to quickly transform
economies may be close.
Inventions are imminent that will spawn thousands of new start ups and
jobs.
Stimulating growth, similar to the discovery of electricity,
which opened a door to the internet revealing thousands more doors
to opportunity. And will continue to do so.
With 5G for example. Many dismiss it as just 4G updated. But it
is much much more than that.
It will further revolutionise industries and create countless new ones
- see my 5G post
Also a world of abundant energy could be excitingly close and virtually
free. Described as 'Squandrable amounts of energy' in the book 'Abundance'.
This is because the prospects for developing nuclear fusion as a feasible
source of energy have significantly improved, say experts.
Nuclear fusion differs significantly from nuclear fission, which has been
our only way of getting electricity from atoms since the 1950s.
Fusion is what produces the sun's energy.
Enough energy from the sun falls on the Sahara Desert in a day to power the
whole world for a year!
For decades, researchers have been trying to "Build the Sun in a box" as
one physicist dubbed it.
The basic idea is to take a type of hydrogen gas, heat it to more than 100
million degrees until it forms a plasma, and then control it with powerful
magnets until the atoms fuse and release energy.
To deliver the fusion concept, countries have focused their energies on a
major international co-operative called Iter.
The Iter project involves 35 countries and, right now, it is constructing a
huge donut shape test reactor in southern France.
The plan is to have the first plasma generated in 2025.
However, getting from this step to producing energy is extremely
difficult.
Iter has also been beset by long delays and budget overspend which means it
is unlikely to have a demonstration fusion power plant working even by
2050.
The UK government has recently announced an investment of £200m to deliver
electricity from a fusion reactor by 2040.
But perhaps the major excitement comes from private companies. They are
usually smaller, and nimbler, (for example -Tesla's Eion Musk's Company
SpaceX, successfully launching a manned rocket to the International Space
Station for millions of dollars less than NASA can)
There are now dozens of them around the world, raising funds and pushing
forward, often with different approaches to Fusion that will generate the
squandrable amounts of energy,transforming economies and lives
everywhere.
But sceptics and critics say - with the price of wind and solar continuing
to drop, existing renewables might offer a more economical and timely
method of tackling climate change and generating energy, than an unproven
technology like fusion.
Either way The future looks bright - 'Put that light ON'
Feel better now ?
P.S. This will probably be my last post. My heavy leg and balance problem
has worsened and is aggravated by legs bent, sitting at the computer.
Reading that through, as an ex army man I hope last post is not
prophetic!
