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Oil and Gas Investments of Donald Trump’s New UK Ambassador

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Original article by Adam Barnett republished from DeSmog

Warren Stephens. Credit: The Golfer’s Journal / YouTube

Campaigners warn that the UK will face “pressure from American fossil fuel interests” to slow its energy transition.

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be UK ambassador runs a firm with investments in several oil and gas companies, DeSmog can reveal.

Billionaire Warren Stephens, a major Trump donor who was nominated on Monday to be the next UK ambassador, is chairman, president, and CEO of Stephens Inc., one of the largest privately-owned investment banks in the U.S..

The firm’s portfolio includes at least five companies that make their money from oil and gas exploration and production, including one, Stephens Natural Resources, which is “solely owned” by the Stephens family business. 

“President-elect Trump’s promise to boost U.S. fossil fuel production is reflected in his choice of UK ambassador, raising concerns about the potential impact on the UK’s own climate leadership”, said Fossil Free Parliament campaigner Carys Boughton. 

Tessa Khan, executive director of the environmental campaign group Uplift, told DeSmog the appointment was a sign that “the UK is going to be under pressure from American fossil fuel interests to slow its transition away from oil and gas”.

Trump has vowed to “drill, baby, drill” for oil and gas in the U.S. while his presidential campaign received the backing of major fossil fuel interests. The president-elect has called climate change a “hoax” and is expected to once again pull the U.S. out of the flagship 2015 Paris Agreement, which established a global ambition to limit warming to 1.5C above industrial levels. 

The Stephens hire comes just weeks after the UK Labour government unveiled an ambitious new climate target to cut emissions by 81 percent by 2035. The move was criticised by Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, who this week flew to Washington DC reportedly to build ties with senior Republicans ahead of a second Trump presidency.  

As DeSmog revealed last week, Badenoch has hired advisors who have criticised climate action and have links to fossil fuel-funded think tanks. Badenoch, who describes herself a “net zero sceptic” has also received donations from the head of Net Zero Watch, a climate science denial group.

Oil and Gas Investments

Stephens Inc.’s investments in oil and gas include Stephens Natural Resources, a company run by Warren’s uncle Witt Stephens. 

The company, which trades as Stephens Production, “has a rich history of drilling and producing both oil and natural gas”, according to its website, and “continues to expand its production and reserves in the continental U.S. and offshore Gulf of Mexico”. 

The company is “solely owned” by the Stephens family, whose investment stretches back to 1953, according to the website. 

Stephens Inc.’s other current investments, which date back to the mid-2010s, include Four Corners Petroleum, an oil exploration and production company based in Colorado. 

Stephens Inc. lists RK Supply in its portfolio, a “leading distributor of piping, oil and gas valves, fittings, and other oilfield service equipment” based in Texas. It also lists Dakota Midstream, a company that “provides infrastructure support to oil and gas exploration and production”, based in Colorado. 

Another company in the Stephen Inc. portfolio, Texas-based Basin Oil & Gas, buys “non-operating oil and gas interests”, and is developing carbon capture and sequestration projects. Carbon capture is a favoured climate solution of the oil and gas industry, and is often used simply to extract more fossil fuels. 

Stephens Inc. lists a firm called Capture Point in its portfolio, which specialises in enhanced oil recovery – a method for extracting hard-to-get oil. Capture Point told DeSmog that Stephens Inc. was not an investor in the company, though did not respond when asked if Stephens Inc. was previously an investor. 

All the companies cited were approached for comment. 

Trump Tensions

Stephens’s appointment comes at a critical time for the UK’s energy transition, and highlights the differences between the new Labour government and the incoming Trump administration. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer last month attended the COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, pledging that the UK would restore its role “as a climate leader on the world stage”. In its 2024 election manifesto, Starmer’s Labour Party pledged to ban all new licenses for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. However, after five months in office, the government has yet to implement that promise. 

“While the UK government has pledged to turn the UK into a ‘clean energy superpower’, it has not enacted its manifesto commitment to ban new licenses, nor provided a plan for a just transition away from fossil fuels”, Carys Boughton told DeSmog. 

“Trump’s choice of ambassador will gift the fossil fuel industry yet more influence within UK politics, which is particularly concerning while the government is still wavering on the future of fossil fuels. 

“It is therefore yet more important that the government take action to restrict fossil fuel industry influence – to protect its developing climate and energy policy from the industry’s polluting interests.”

As DeSmog has reported, Trump’s would-be energy secretary Chris Wright, chief executive of fracking company Liberty Energy, has praised Danish climate crisis denier Bjorn Lomborg as a friend. Wright’s nomination was welcomed by the CO2 Coalition, a climate science denial group which has received funding from the Koch Industries oil dynasty. 

Analysis by the climate outlet Heated found that all of Trump’s cabinet picks have made misleading statements about climate change. 

Science denial and an enthusiasm for fossil fuels are also views shared by Trump’s UK supporters. In September, DeSmog reported that Trump ally Nigel Farage, the Clacton MP and leader of Reform UK, was a keynote speaker at an event in Chicago run by the Heartland Institute, where he called on the U.S. to “drill, baby, drill” for more fossil fuels. 

“It’s no surprise that this appointment – like the rest of Trump’s administration – is shot through with oil and gas interests”, Uplift’s Tessa Khan, told DeSmog.

“Fossil fuel companies will prove extremely influential in the incoming U.S. government, and they want nations across the world to remain hooked on oil and gas for years to come just so they can keep profiting.

“The UK is going to be under pressure from American fossil fuel interests to slow its transition away from oil and gas. To succumb would be against the UK’s national interest”.

Original article by Adam Barnett republished from DeSmog

Continue ReadingOil and Gas Investments of Donald Trump’s New UK Ambassador

Wealth of World’s Richest Has Doubled Over Past Decade

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Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Amazion founder Jeff Bezos participates in a discussion during a Milestone Celebration dinner September 13, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The total wealth of billionaires increased by 121% from 2015-24.

Driven largely by the accumulation of massive wealth by the richest people in the United States, the Swiss wealth manager UBS said Thursday the assets of billionaires around the world more than doubled over the past decade.

Between 2015-24, the total wealth of billionaires increased by 121%, from $6.3 trillion to $14 trillion.

Meanwhile, the MSCI AC World Index of global equities, which measures the performance of more than 3,000 stocks from both developed and emerging markets, rose by 73%.

The planet’s total gross domestic product is about $105.4 trillion, with a population of just over 8 billion, underscoring the extreme concentration of wealth among the very richest people.

The number of billionaires rose from 1,757 to 2,682 over the past decade, while the wealthiest people in the world boasted significant gains over just the past year.

Billionaires’ wealth jumped by about 17% in 2024, with the accumulation of wealth among the richest people in the U.S. offsetting a decline in China.

U.S. billionaires amassed wealth gains that were 27.6% higher than the previous year, accumulating a total of $5.8 trillion—more than 40% of international billionaire wealth.

The tax cuts pushed through by President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican Party in 2017 are still in effect in the U.S. Tax policy analysts have found that the law was skewed to the rich, with households in the top 1% of incomes expecting to receive an average tax cut of more than $60,000 in 2025 compared to an average tax cut of less than $500 for people in the bottom 60%.

As Common Dreams reported this week, the top 12 U.S. billionaires now control $2 trillion. The wealth of the four richest people in the U.S.—Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg—has hit $1 trillion.

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“These four men were worth $74 billion 12 short years ago,” said Americans for Tax Fairness. “Tax billionaires.”

At the G20 Summit last month, world leaders agreed to “engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed.”

Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Keir Starmer warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog.
Keir Starmer warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog.
Continue ReadingWealth of World’s Richest Has Doubled Over Past Decade

Billionaire Jeff Bezos Wants to ‘Help’ Trump Gut Regulations

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This article was originally posted 6/12/24 but was deleted probably by mistake.

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin speaks with billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos during The New York Times Dealbook Summit on December 4, 2024 in New York City. (Photo: Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The New York Times)

“Shockingly another one of the richest guys on Earth wants to defund our government and scrap regulations.”

Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Wednesday expressed his optimism about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s next term and suggested he would “help” the Republican gut regulations.

“If we’re talking about Trump, I think it’s very interesting, I’m actually very optimistic this time around… I’m very hopeful about this—he seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation,” Bezos told The New York Times‘ Andrew Ross Sorkin during the newspaper’s DealBook Summit.

“And my point of view, if I can help him do that, I’m gonna help him, because we do have too much regulation in this country. This country is so set up to grow,” he continued, suggesting that regulatory cuts would solve the nation’s economic problems.

After complaining about the burden of regulations, Bezos added, “I’m very optimistic that President Trump is serious about this regulatory agenda and I think he has a good chance of succeeding.”

The comments came during a discussion about Bezos’ ownership of The Washington Post, which also addressed the billionaire’s recent controversial decisions to block the newspaper’s drafted endorsement of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and have it stop endorsing presidential candidates.

Bezos said Wednesday that he is “very proud” of the move, that the Post “is going to continue to cover all presidents very aggressively,” and the decision did not result from fears about Trump targeting his companies.

As Inc. reported Thursday: “Trump had railed against Bezos and his companies, including Amazon and The Washington Post, during his first term. In 2019, Amazon argued in a court case that Trump’s bias against the company harmed its chances of winning a $10 billion Pentagon contract. The Biden administration later pursued a contract with both Amazon and Microsoft.”

Bezos owns Blue Origin, an aerospace company and a competitor to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Musk—the world’s richest person, followed by Bezos, according to the Bloomberg and Forbes trackers—has been appointed to lead Trump’s forthcoming Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.

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Bezos’ remarks at the Times summit led Fortune‘s Brooke Seipel to suggest that he may be the next billionaire to join DOGE.

Musk and Ramaswamy headed to Capitol Hill on Thursday to speak with GOP lawmakers about their plans for the government.

“Despite its name, the Department of Government Efficiency is neither a department nor part of the government, which frees Musk and Ramaswamy from having to go through the typical ethics and background checks required for federal employment,” The Associated Press noted. “They said they will not be paid for their work.”

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingBillionaire Jeff Bezos Wants to ‘Help’ Trump Gut Regulations

Claudia Sheinbaum stands up to Donald Trump, calls for respect of migrants’ human rights

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Original article by Pablo Meriguet republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum speaking on the phone to US president-elect Donald Trump. Photo: Presidencia MX

The Mexican President told the press that it is not true that she informed the US President-elect that she would close the border between both countries, contradicting statements from Trump about their conversation

The tensions between Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and US president-elect Donald Trump are growing, with Trump continuing to launch accusations and threats at the Southern neighbor of the US, only to be met with a firm and resolute Sheinbaum.

On November 25, Trump, in a post on his media platform Truth Social, threatened to impose a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian products until illegal migration and drug imports into US territory were stopped. He also threatened that products coming from China will have to pay 10% more tariffs if the Asian country does not further control the sale of certain chemicals from which fentanyl is made. The three targeted countries responded clearly and firmly (more so China and Mexico than Canada) to Trump’s warnings and pointed out that if the threat were to become a reality, a real “trade war” could be unleashed.

For her part, the Mexican President stated in her daily morning press conference on November 26 that the imposition of new tariffs will not reduce drug consumption in the United States, nor will it curb illegal migration to the United States; on the contrary, “it would cause the United States and Mexico inflation and job losses.”

That same day, Sheinbaum and Trump spoke on the phone and addressed several issues of interest to both nations, such as immigration, drug trafficking, drug consumption, and more. However, in the aftermath of their conversation, two versions have emerged of what was said and agreed on, with Trump insisting that Mexico has agreed to effective “clos[e] our Southern Border” to “stop the illegal invasion of the USA”.

Donald Trump said through his social network, Truth Social “Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border. We also talked about what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States, and also, the US consumption of these drugs. It was a very productive conversation!”

The president-elect added “Mexico will stop people from going to our Southern Border, effective immediately. THIS WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARD STOPPING THE ILLEGAL INVASION OF THE USA. Thank you!!!”

However, for the Mexican head of state, this version is far from the truth.

Sheinbaum’s version

For her part, Sheinbaum reported on X “I had an excellent conversation with President Donald Trump. We addressed the Mexican strategy on the migration phenomenon and I shared that no caravans are arriving at the northern border because they are being taken care of in Mexico. We also talked about strengthening collaboration on security issues within the framework of our sovereignty and the campaign we are carrying out in the country to prevent the consumption of fentanyl.”

However, the Mexican President said that at no time did she communicate to Trump that she would order the closure of the Mexican-US border: “In our conversation with President Trump, I explained to him the comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migratory phenomenon, respecting human rights. Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are attended to before they arrive at the border. We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples.”

In an official visit to the state of Nuevo León, the Mexican leader highlighted that trade ties between the United States and Mexico are very deep, so a trade war would only bring higher inflation and a contraction of the GDP of the countries involved. In the case of the United States, Sheinbaum said that Mexican remittances are partially consumed in the United States, so a disruption could imply a major disruption of the US economy; she also noted that a reduction in migration would increase the US social security debt by 13%.

The Mexican president also announced last week that in her letter to Trump, she called on the head of state to remove the economic sanctions and blockade on Cuba and Venezuela, and that respectful and open dialogues be established between all nations of the continent.

Original article by Pablo Meriguet republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingClaudia Sheinbaum stands up to Donald Trump, calls for respect of migrants’ human rights

‘Unsettling New Milestone’: Top 12 US Billionaires Now Control $2 Trillion in Wealth

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Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Jensen Huang of Nvidia speaks about the future of artificial intelligence and its effect on energy consumption and production at the Bipartisan Policy Center on September 27, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“The oligarchic dozen is richer than ever, and they are endowed with extreme material power that can be used to pursue narrow political interests at the expense of democratic majorities,” according to the author of a new analysis.

Just 12 U.S. billionaires now have a collective net worth of over $2 trillion—a figure that amounts to a little less than a third of total federal spending in 2023—according to an analysis out Tuesday from Inequality.org, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).

The $2 trillion number is also twice the amount of wealth that the top 12 US billionaires held in 2020, according to researchers at IPS, a progressive organization.

The full list of 12 billionaires includes Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, Steve Ballmer, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jim Walton, Rob Walton, and Jensen Huang.

“This is an unsettling new milestone for wealth concentration in the United States. The oligarchic dozen is richer than ever, and they are endowed with extreme material power that can be used to pursue narrow political interests at the expense of democratic majorities,” wrote the author of the analysis, Omar Ocampo, a researcher at IPS.

New to the “oligarchic dozen” is Jensen Huang, the co-founder and CEO of the tech company Nvidia. Nvidia, which became the most valuable publicly traded company this year, has seen its profits jump thanks to the world’s ravenous appetite for the artificial intelligence chips that the firm produces. According to the analysis, Huang’s personal wealth “has skyrocketed from $4.7 billion in 2020 to $122.4 billion—a mind-boggling 2,504 percent increase—over the last four years.”

Each of the billionaires on the list “owns or is a controlling shareholder of a business that is investing billions of dollars in artificial intelligence,” according to Ocampo, which raises concerns about their respective carbon footprints.

Fueling AI is energy intensive, and AI data centers in the U.S. are largely powered by fossil fuels, meaning their proliferation poses a threat to the environment and a transition to a green economy.

Ocampo also discusses the political reach of the billionaires on the list. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who respectively own X and The Washington Post, “have both purchased large media platforms, which has granted them the ability to set the terms of public debate with the hopes of influencing public opinion in their favor.”

Musk specifically has established himself as a major power broker within the GOP. The billionaire spent hundreds of millions helping to re-elect Donald Trump and is now poised to play a major role in the president-elect’s administration, helping oversee a new advisory committee tasked with slashing government spending.

As of early December, Trump had tapped an “unprecedented” total of seven reported billionaires for key positions in his administration, according to a separate piece of analysis by Inequality.org.

“We see the effects of this growing concentration of wealth and economic inequality everywhere—plutocratic influence on our politics, wealth transfers from the bottom to the top, and the acceleration of climate breakdown,” Ocampo wrote on Tuesday.

Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue Reading‘Unsettling New Milestone’: Top 12 US Billionaires Now Control $2 Trillion in Wealth