Transcripts For ALJAZ Counting The Cost 20220815

Their bah on us who are seeking leadership in our country. Not to sail away finish cities, but to saddle our program, our manifesto, our agenda and our plan. We do not have the luxury to point fingers. We do not have that luxury to apportion blame. We must close ranks and walk together for a functioning democratic process, but us ok now but controversy surrounds his when before the result was announced, violence broke out at the national, tallying center in nairobi for members of the Election Commission disowned the result saying the process was 2, a peak accorded miramar hurts convicted, answered leader, incense who g at more corruption cases, adding 6 years to her prison sentence. Charges related to accusations that she was building a home with money from charitable donations. China has announced more military exercises around taiwan and as a u. S. Congressional delegation continued its visit to the self governing island. If i politicians met with ty, once president sign wayne, a similar visit by how speak and nancy pelosi this month angered b. Jing prompting nearly 2 weeks of military exercise or honors denied. The country was involved in a knife attack on author salman rushdie. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that rusty and a supporters to play iran issued a decree against the author in 1989 after the publication of his novel, the satanic verses which supp muslims consider blasphemous. Rusty was disturbed at a mitre event in new york state that was on friday. Yesterday with headlines counted, the cost can be right up. Ah i hello there, im to start the at hey, and this is counting the cost on al jazeera. You are, look at the wild a business in economics this week. Oil and gas majors are raking in their outings on the backs of the poorest. People says that the united nations, its urging a windfall tax on their profits to support households and the most vulnerable will governments, hed the call. Also this week, the races on for semi conductance and the u. S. Is spending billions of dollars to boost domestic manufacturing. Well, keeping an eye on china. Can america rival, asian markets . Plus the sales of video game giants have dropped in the 2nd quarter of this year . All game is spending less time playing and is its game over for the pandemic. Boom. Ah. Now a new study found the oil and gas industry has produced almost 3000000000. 00 a day and profits for the last 50 years. Its now caching and even more money as the war in ukraine has driven up Energy Prices through and secretary general has criticized these sky high awnings as grotesque. Agreed at a time when millions of people around the world are feeling, the pinch of the rising cost of living. And Tony Gutierrez is urged governments to tax the profits of fossil fuel giants to help those in need. Its use immortal for oil and Gas Companies to be making records profits from the Energy Crisis on the beck of the buddhist people in the communities. And that the massive costs to the climate. The combined profits of the Largest Energy companies in the 1st quarter. The vizier, are close to an end that has 1000000000 us dollars. I urge all governments to tax these excessive profits and use the funds to support the most Vulnerable People through these difficult times. Well that her call comes as energy giant recorded, i was offering figures for the 2nd quarter of the m. B. P reported a profit will missed 9000000000. 00. Thats the biggest win for 14 years. American energy, exxon mobil pocket, it around 18000000000. 00. The net income is the companys largest ever quarterly profit europe florida. Soil companies show has broken the record for a 2nd quarter in a row with profit of more than 11000000000. 00. Those 3 Major Companies put together with the us from chevron and francis total energy is made 55000000000. 00 this past quarter. And its not just oil and gas blend. Call. The Worlds Largest coal ship are also made record profits and plans to pay an additional 4500000000. 00 and dividends and buybacks to shareholders out while companies are reaping the benefits. Households are struggling to pay high energy bills. Food prices of also such theyve risen around 50 percent since 2019 the u. N says more than 50000000 people across 45 countries are now on the brink of famine. While joining us now from london as are the, im sure of it, he is a Senior Research fellow, the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and also author of the book trading and price discovery for crude oils. Thanks so much for joining us on counting that cost audio. So by asking you what you make as good terrorist a suggestion because i know many economists would argue that taxing profits at a time the short supply could backfire in the long term. It would definitely back fire. I think taxing process is a terrible idea on a number of levels. The 1st reason why its a bad idea is that it essentially, it basically penalizes the companies that are actually supposed to be investing into energy. Exactly at the time when we need to last. Secondly, also it, it sort of picks and chooses when, as why are we, why are we taxing Energy Companies . A lot of other companies had when, when for profits as well, why not tax, google and facebook . Why not tax law law firms that a lot of companies that its time to time and windfall profits for. Ready whatever reasons and those profits are usually an incentive for them to actually invest into the resources that are badly needed. So if we tax them, were going going to get those resources in the long run. Well, we have a number of case studies here, the u. K. In india, for instance, have impose these windfall taxes. What do you make of their success . You know, its too early to say. Weve only just had them. In fact, from the energy point or industry point of view, probably that the one have a terribly big negative effect. It will have a negative effect, but not, not particularly big because it happened at the time where, where we have univision, russian invasion on ukraine and a lot of Energy Companies basically managed to make quite a bit of money out of out of their resources that theyre having the north fee or elsewhere in terms of oil and gas production, but we are really not passing the right message. Anastasia is, ill give you an example. Lets say central is producing a lot of gas in the u. K. Having a, when full tax is just going to pot, send a message to everyone. Well, if you invest more into the u. K and u. K, gas product, gas production, which we need really, really badly. Well, and you make money, were going to tax you. The same thing applies to e d, f, for example e d f is making a lot of money out of their Nuclear Power plants because the, as we know of just the prices are quite high. Well, now producing clean electricity, green electricity, nuclear, christie, and why should they be taxed . I mean, basically the messages. Well dont invest into these Green Resources because youre, were going to tax you as soon as you make some money. Well, i notice that the u. S. S. Are avoided attacks like this, but i believe the white house hasnt actually rule that out. Now, given that biden has had such stern words, well, companies and refiners, what do you make of, of the state of pay there now . Well, the United States and obviously is lot more market oriented. And i think also in mind of, of the consumers, its a lot easier to do these taxes in, in europe, and the u. K. Where we are used to having a nanny state in the United States, its a lot less so. So, you know, i think its very important to go to the consumer and actually explain that gas prices are international prices. Oil prices are international prices, gas prices went up tenfold. So when something goes out, tenfold will surely is going to be at home as well. Just like the price of coffee. You know, theres not much you can, you can government can do about the prices. What that could, you could government and all the governments can do and should be doing is helping those really ah, shit, badly who i need. And they should be given cash, not, not subsidies. Because what happens, as you said, for example, when you subsidize gas prices, they are right now in the u. K. And theres lot of talk about price raises. Terrible, terrible idea. Come back to that in a 2nd. What happens . You actually subsidizing the rich more than anyone else. People in, in, in big mansions, people driving because and so on. So youre suggesting public cash transfers and to the most vulnerable absolutely. Give those in need, cash, giving a subsidizing or freezing even because there was some cause in some quarters with them at parties, suggested freezes, terrible idea. 970 lessons from 970. We havent learn Nixon Administration in price raises and what happened there was shortages of, of energy. What happens is that if, if the Energy Companies have to pay this price and you give them that price, theyll say, well, were not going to invest anymore. Were not going to do this because we are losing money. You have a really good case in france, e d f. Now being being a nationalized. Why . Because the government basically enclosed very harsh price caps on, on, on energy. And companies in germany is the other one units where basically went bankrupt. Then when the governments think they have a free lunch, then eventually in the long run, well they end up doing is actually, you know, nationalizing these companies and spending billions and billions of dollars already. You suggested the taxes like the wind for tax. Theyve been talking about discourage investment. So then is all of this then really just part of the pain that we need to go through in order to get to a green transition . Absolutely, well, you know, the, all those who are calling for energy subsidies, for example, gas just have to remember, look outside. I mean, we, you know, we have Climate Change that happening now. Its not happening in the future. And you want to subsidize fossil fuels. Is that will be one to do now . Got no, we shouldnt be doing that. We, what we do need to do is help. And the reason growing fraction of the population that need help, that helps should be given in terms of cash to those in need. Everyone else should pay the full price or the fossil hills. And that would also be an incentive to move much quicker to on shore when, for example, offshore wind and other green sources of energy that we need really, really badly. And we need them now rather than pay, give money to put him very anxious gone id. Im sure that the Senior Research fellow at the Oxford Institute Energy Studies, thanks so much for sharing results from counting the cost. Youre welcome. Thank you. Now thailand, like many countries, is facing sharp increases in the cost of food and fuel and central bank is following in the steps of many others hiking rates to try to payments lation. But in a society where the gap between rich and poor is one of the was in the wild type, say the governments efforts will bring little relief. Tony chang reports nestled between embassies and gleaming high rises in the center of thank cox, a community on the other side of the wealth. Get in the shadow of a new apartment complex when he still lives with her 3 children. He says her income barely covers the family cost full repayments of loans. Shes been forced to take the money. I want to have a better life, but i cant. I just have to accept my fate because i was born in this condition and i have to take what is available. I just spend my life day to day trying to get enough to eat, and thats all. During the pandemic, many people lost jobs and incomes dropped. And now the cost of living is rising sharply. Then not getting any help. Let a man man from nailer hole we barely get any help from the government. We dont get anything. We only get help from foundations and charities, so we reach out to them. Thailands often size, it is a Success Story when it comes to reducing poverty, but the welfare has not been evenly distributed. And then this credit sways Global Wealth reported 2018. Tyler was listed as one of the most unequal places in the world. In the years since then, life has been even harder for lower income communities. By the side of a busy expressway, some of the most vulnerable a struggling to survive. This is a community for the deaf and hard of hearing, often cast out by their families. Form takes us under the bridge where she, her husband and several other families have made homes from refuse and scrap. She explains their disability allowance of 20. 00 a month. Barely lasts a few days. The strain is enormous. They trying to salvage what they can from the waste. Others threw away with the raw of the traffic overhead. Life goes on while their complaints going on. So tony chang, al jazeera banker, i, while fossil fuels power, the globe, semiconductors drive the digital economy, the tiny computer hits, so seen as the oil of the 21st century. They run everything from smartphones to Missile Defense systems. After a global shortage hit hard, many countries are racing to secure uninterrupted supplies. Now, among them is the United States, which is just approved a multi 1000000000. 00 bill to boost domestic production. The bipartisan bill includes more than 52000000000. 00 and subsidies. The u. S. Companies producing computer chips, as well as billions one tax credits to encourage investment and research in the industry. The u. S. Fall is behind asia and ship manufacturing with a global share of at least 10 percent compared to almost 40 percent just a few decades ago. But it does lead in cutting edge shift design. Well, lets hear what President Joe Biden had to say when he signed that bill and law. Its crystal clear. We need the Semi Conductors, not only for those javelin missiles, but also for weapons. This is the future that are going to be even more reliant on advanced chips. Unfortunately, we produce 0 percent. These advanced chips now in china is trying to move away ahead of us, the manufacturer, the sophisticated ships as well. Its no wonder the Chinese Communist party actively lobbied us business against this bill. The United States must lead the world the production of these advanced ships. This law will do exactly that on china has criticized that bill as a threat to trade and an attack on chinese businesses. The nation imports more than 300000000000. 00 worth of semiconductors annually, but ends to produce 70 percent of its own ships by 2025. Around 90 percent of the worlds most advanced ships though are made in taiwan. The rest comes from south korea. European legislatures also plan multi 1000000000. 00 investments in the industry over the coming years. While joining us now from singapore is alex capri, hes a Research Fellow at the hendrick foundation, and also electra at the national university, a Singapore Business school. Alex, we seeing the emergence of a new semi conduct, a cold war here. What were seeing is a re shuffling a restructuring, a paradigm shift if you will, around global value, change Global Supply chains when it comes to strategic goods. And at the top of that list are semiconductors. How much then do you think this bill will actually help the u. S. In particular, try to regain its leading role and in Semi Conductor production, its important to, to step back and take a look at the state of the Semiconductor Industry as a whole. So u. S. Companies still dominate the technology, they still dominate the i p, the manufacturing equipment, the tooling. But what has happened over the last 30 years is us, chip makers have offshored manufacturing. So we have these pure play types scenarios where a company like p s m c, and taiwan. As a contract manufacturer is manufacturing on behalf of its its making the chips for Big Companies like qualcomm, for example. And so what the us wants to do now, given this strategic rivalry with china, given the sensitivity of Global Supply chains, because of the pandemic and so forth, is it wants to bring that manufacturing back to the United States. And thats what the chips act is all about. I see that the companies that would benefit from this bill there then actually not allowed to increase their production, particularly of advanced chips in china. Just how attractive is that. So the big kisses, well, is this is been the game that the Semiconductor Companies have been playing in china a so called in china for china strategy. And that is, continue to sell mature older Generation Technology in china in the chinese market, make a lot of money, use that money and wow, that back into innovation and research. But dont sell because of export controls. And sanctions, for example, dont sell leading Edge Technology to the chinese. Now what school you probably happen in the coming months and years is the u. S. Is going to crack down and choke off even that older Mature Technology thats going into china and that is fueling chinas growth in the trailing edge section of semiconductors. And that means that were going to see further bifurcation in the markets. Were going to see further decoupling if you will, and its going to be more difficult for china to try and become self sufficient when it comes to semiconductors. When youve been talking about this strategic rivalry, and as you alluded to, the Industry Leader were talking about here is taiwanese, do you think that the tensions weve seen escalate recently or the taiwan can that affects the supply chain . Putting too much dependence on one country and this is taiwan. This is for manufacturing. Again, we have to be very clear. Were talking about manufacturing and ships ah, in, in particular, im so clearly the move, not just in the United States, but in europe, in japan, in south korea, is all about diversifying and avoiding a Single Source supply chain situation. Ah, with a single point of failure, for example, which would be taiwan. So were going to see how were going to see re shoring are all over the world. And its also going to involve taiwanese company. So t s m c is investing in the United States. Its investing in europe. We could see india emerging to a certain extent as a place where that, you know, the big Taiwanese Companies and others will invest. Or let me ask you then about the rare earths shortage that weve seen around the world. Now given that chinas been very focused on the supply and those materials that you need to produce semiconductors. And what does that mean for other countries like the u. S. Or india, well, its part of the decoupling process that were seeing and we have United States, australia, canada, for example, re opening. For example, the, the Mountain Pass mine in california, which used to be the Worlds Largest extractor and processor of rare earth before that was all offshore to china. So in this decoupling process from china in this re shoring ring fencing process that were seeing, were going to see a friend shoring. In other words, were going to see Strategic Partners such as the United States, u. K. Japan, australia working together to, to re open and to and to re sure these supply chains. And thats exactly whats happening with rarer as well. So do you then theme broader political implications for the future of semiconductors here, a bifurcated while then . Absolutely. So, you know, a semiconductor is not just a hyper strategic good for weaponry. And for sophisticated electronics, it is a public good. It is every bit as important to a nation as energy, water or food security. So were going to see a increased emphasis on self reliance, or at least on strategic alliances around supply chains involving semiconductors. Alex cap pri, there from the henry foundation. Seeing customer singapore. Thanks so much for your time and sharing a thought to that. How gaming has outgrown the earnings of some of the biggest Entertainment Companies in the past decade, becoming even bigger than movies. And the Music Industry combined pandemic locked downs and stay home restrictions. So a growth and uses as more people reached for their consoles. Last year, the industry wrapped up almost 180000000000. 00 in revenue, but with Holiday Travel taking off again, the gaming industry has taken a hit video game johns have seen millions of dollars of losses and revenue in recent weeks. In the 3 months that ended in june, microsoft, sony and nintendo each reporter the fall and sales americans spent more than 12000000000. 00 on games and the 2nd quarter according to Market Research firm and p d, thats down that 10 percent year on year. Chinas video game revenues in the 1st half of 2022 felt for the 1st time since days became available and 2008 are. Joining us now from london is really led on better. He is a professor of economic sociology and Digital Social Research at the Oxford Internet institute. Thats part of the university of oxford. So really whats going wrong for Video Game Companies . I imagine the semiconductor shortage. Weve just been talking about how to help diva. Thats right. So 11 problem has been the supply chain crisis, a console manufacturers are not getting their, all their products from the consumers. But also the war rush Us Innovation of ukraine has led some game publishers to pull out from russia. And this is obviously had a negative impact on their revenues. And then a further reason is apple has since last year started limiting the data, it gives out to App Developers on, on players. And this has led to basically a decrease in revenues from ad supported games, as well as an increase in acquisition costs for game publishers because advertising is now less targeted. And its also further sort of entrenched the centrality of apples own app store as a gateway between App Developers and consumers. And all of these things are eating a little bit into the game industries. Revenues, how much of a difference as a pandemic made . Because intuitively you kind of think everyone stuck at home. Surely some of them are playing video games. Yes. So actually during 20202021. The Games Industry grew a lot. So there was Something Like a 25 percent spurt in the size of the market. This is massive growth. So if there is a little bit of a correction now thats almost to be expected as people are, are going out again and maybe playing some of those games that they bought during the lockdown. Do you think that we could potentially see an uptick in the industry when people have gotten bored of going out and want to be back at home . Yes, certainly the, the industry overall looks looks very healthy. So i dont think game playing or the Games Industry is going anywhere and suddenly there, i would expect them to find new sources of, of growth in due course of speaking of sources. Of course, i think chinese game is in particular are hitting the polar button. Why is that . Obviously one thing in china is that the government last year started massive crackdowns on the Games Industry. So limiting the amount of time the miners are permitted to spend on the games as well as suspending new licenses for 4 games publishes and publishes in china, need a license to publish any game. And the regulator has as suspended and still to some extent is suspending and new licenses. And this has had a big impact on chinese publishers ability to introduce new titles to the market. And this is obviously having an impact on, on their revenues as well. So that would be certainly one reason. Well, let me ask you then broadly about the future of the industry. I think Companies Like netflix, for instance, are also now investing in video games. Where do you see all of this going well for netflix, the way their executives speak about it . It sounds like its still a bit of an experiment. Theyre trying to figure out what, what to do with games. But if you, if you look at what tv shows they have some of their shows, we are actually based on games already before netflix started been turning some shows into games. And so, turning media franchises into these multi media franchises is of course a very old strategy in the media bases and these different media can support each other. So suddenly i would expect to, to continue to see that where games are not just games, but they are also films. Theyre also animations. Theyre also merchandise and other things as were talking about the future. I think also in the Games Industry as well as everywhere in the tech industry, the power and centrality of these tech giants like apple and google and microsoft. I think its going to be, its going to continue to be an increasing trend and even more investment despite the industry downtown at the moment, the lead on vessel from the Oxford Internet institute. Thanks for joining us on counting the cost. Thank you very much. Well, thats our show for this week. Do you get in touch with us by tracing me out and installs the pay and to use the hash tag h t t c. When you do or talk with an e mail counting the costs out there, a dot net is our address. But theres also more few online as algebra dot com slash ctc. Thatll take you straight to the page, which has individual report links inside episodes for you to catch up on this edition of counting the cost. Im the start the at hand from the whole team here. Thanks for joining us. The news on alpha 0 is the ah a a 3 year investigation into the pro gun lobby youve been in illinois, wont general started really going to refer whitfield secrets me want to point put messaging out there will get people out, race get mad and connections, some dont want to exposed many in legacy media pulled love, mass shootings, dock with my al jazeera investigations. How to center massacre on al jazeera. What is life like in maximum security prison . In this to plot special report . 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