Daily Digest 4/30 - Iran Conflict Seems Less Likely, The Post-Cash Economy, Improving Well Flow At Berri And Ghawar

• Banks Seek To Put Pressure On Small Rivals
• Experts Believe Iran Conflict Is Less Likely
• Spain In Talks Over ‘Bad Bank’ Scheme
• The Post-Cash, Post-Credit-Card Economy
• Sudan Declares State of Emergency as Clashes Continue
• Clean Energy Investment Must Change - Reward Innovation not Production
• Improving horizontal well flow at Berri and Ghawar
• Amid Rural Decay, Trees Take Root in Silos

Own the Crash Course Special Edition Set with Presenter’s Pack (NTSC or PAL)

Economy

Banks Seek To Put Pressure On Small Rivals (Ernest W.)

The biggest global investment banks are examining ways to block rivals from using powers given them under the Jobs Act, potentially obstructing the goals of what is a rare US bipartisan agreement aimed at promoting small businesses.

Experts Believe Iran Conflict Is Less Likely (jdargis)

The talks two weeks ago in Istanbul between Iran and the United States and other world powers were something of a turning point in the current American thinking about Iran. In the days leading up to the talks, there had been little optimism in Washington, but Iranian negotiators appeared more flexible and open to resolving the crisis than expected, even though no agreement was reached other than to talk again, in Baghdad next month. American officials believe the looming threat of tighter economic sanctions to take effect on July 1 convinced the Iranians to take the negotiations more seriously, and that in turn has reduced the threat of war.

Spain In Talks Over ‘Bad Bank’ Scheme (Ernest W., registration required)

One option for the government seeking to tackle the worsening economic crisis is for a state bailout financed by EU rescue funds, but Spain wants to avoid a blow to its credibility and the strict conditions such aid would entail. In a speech to his party on Sunday, Mr Rajoy reiterated the PP’s commitment to painful economic reforms. “Spain needs, and needs urgently, deep structural changes, not window-dressing, in order to grow and create employment.”

The Post-Cash, Post-Credit-Card Economy (jdargis)

The survey, released earlier this month by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project along with Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center, asked just over 1,000 technologists and social scientists to opine on the future of the wallet in 2020. Nearly two-thirds agreed that “cash and credit cards will have mostly disappeared” and been replaced with “smart” devices able to carry out a transaction. But a third of the survey respondents countered that consumers would fear for the security of financial transactions over a mobile device and worry about surrendering so much data about their purchasing habits.

Sudan Declares State of Emergency as Clashes Continue (jdargis)

But reports of fighting continued through the weekend. On Saturday, Sudanese aircraft bombed Panakuach, a town near the border in Unity State, Mr. Benjamin said. And on Sunday, South Sudan’s army said clashes with what it called a militia group backed by Sudan left 21 people dead in Malakal, near the border. Mr. Benjamin called the militia a “mixture” of Sudanese forces and southern militiamen.

Clean Energy Investment Must Change - Reward Innovation not Production (James S.)

The two of us have been critical of how some of the green stimulus money was spent. Big investments to weatherize homes ended up creating few jobs and didn't have much impact on the nation's energy demand. Patchwork and overlapping subsidies and regulations allowed some rent-seeking firms to double-dip. Too much was spent on deployment and too little (less than 20 percent) was spent on energy R&D, which at under $5 billion a year is grossly underfunded compared to NIH's $30 billion and DOD's $80 billion R&D budgets.

Improving horizontal well flow at Berri and Ghawar (Ernest W.)

Aramco has used two ways to get around this problem. The first was to use a down-hole tractor to overcome the frictional forces that were otherwise stalling the placement of the CT by overwhelming the driving force before the tool could reach the back of the hole. The tractor has a small series of wheels that are recessed within the tool while it is fed down the well to the point where it is deployed.

Amid Rural Decay, Trees Take Root in Silos (jdargis)

The human footprint, however, continues to erode. At farms like the one run by Joshua Svaty, a former Kansas agriculture secretary, there are too many empty buildings to count, including an old barn occupied by a group of roosting vultures.

Article suggestions for the Daily Digest can be sent to dd@PeakProsperity.com. All suggestions are filtered by the Daily Digest team and preference is given to those that are in alignment with the message of the Crash Course and the "3 Es."