On one hand, the press/media would like to portray itself as the bringer of truth and wisdom. On the other, it is the press/media that often fails to provide the whole truth.
Take this example without any criticism of the particular source. British newspaper The Guardian ran a story a few days ago headlined “Electric cars exceed 1m in Europe as sales soar by more than 40 percent.” The information of the increase in electric car sales is factual. The article quotes Matt Allen, CEO of Pivot Power, a firm that wants to build a network of electric car chargers: “The 1 millionth sale this year is a clear signal of consumer intent.”
Countless other news organizations have jumped on board with the same thought that the increase in sales of electric vehicles (EV) during the past few years shows that the future of transportation is electric. They sometimes grudgingly note that EVs are still a small part of the total market, but the trend is clear. The legislature in the US state of California has proposed a bill that would ban new gas and diesel-powered cars in California by 2040.
Britain, France, Germany, India, Norway, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Korea and Spain also have set, or are going to set, laws that ban automobiles and trucks that run on fossil fuels. These plans are reported and received great commendation in global press. However, there is a reality that makes this all only a feel-good fantasy.
The most basic component of the EV is the battery. But there is not enough cobalt or lithium to replace even 25 percent of all cars on the road, let alone 100 percent.
Cobalt prices are up 180 percent in the past two years, making EVs even more outside the price range of the average citizen that owns most of those fossil-fuel powered vehicles.
But guess who is currently the single largest buyer and user of cobalt? Apple Inc. is so concerned about both the supply and price of cobalt that it is looking to write purchase contracts directly with the cobalt miners, eliminating the distributors.
There is, of course, no reason to believe that there is any malicious intent for the public not receiving an accurate picture of the issues. But why is that so often the case?
China’s “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) is another example. You would be pressed to find favorable press and media coverage even as The World Economic Forum (WEF) acknowledges that some view OBOR as China “deploying its economic power in pursuit of geopolitical objectives.” But then again, which country does not deploy its economic power in pursuit of geopolitical objectives? WEF says that OBOR will open the Chinese/Asian market to European goods in numbers impossible without OBOR. By 2030 Asia will represent 60 percent of the global middle-class population and of middle-class consumption.
However, even as the Chinese economy has been growing in the past few decades, it is still only half the size of the European Union. If OBOR does not achieve its goals, it is China that is the biggest economic loser. And that is probably more important than making Lao PDR, Cambodia and Pakistan Chinese “debt slaves.”
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E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.