Category Archives: Economy

But Joe, I said, you’re ten years dead

I don’t know anything about this Cliven Bundy versus the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) fight, expect what I read in the pixels and we all know the media is controlled by socialist Muslims, right? The issues at hand seem to be a) Mr. Bundy has been grazing his cattle on government land for the […]

The Old Canal

The temperature’s been below freezing here for the last week.  At times well below freezing.  Even at low-altitude Burlington there’s a dusting of snow – frozen crystalline rime – but more important, ice. Ice on the barge canal is almost thick enough for skating.  If it stays cold, maybe by Sunday.  For now, it’s Black […]

Nobel, Schmobel

It was pretty clear the Nobel Peace Prize committee goofed when they awarded the 2009 version to Barack Obama, apparently for the sole reason that he was not George W. Bush.  I have sympathy for their error; I was as tired of W’s arrogant idiocy as anyone. Four years later, I wonder if the Nobel […]

Going Down in History

I studied history in college and feel an obligation, as a witness to history, to write something about the political hostage taking in Washington, but I (like everyone I know) have crisis fatigue.  Really, since 9-11 it’s been one war, recession, mass murder or environmental disaster after another. In the first of these posts for […]

Pink Collar Ghetto

My old boss, Sue Goetschius, was in the New York Times a few weeks ago.  Alfred University and Alfred State College were tussling with their namesake village over money.  Sue’s acting vice president for external affairs at the university, but three decades ago she was Allegany County bureau chief for the Olean Times Herald.  I […]

You Can Be Too Rich or Too Thin

The New York Times posted a story this evening reporting a series of experiments at St. Louis’s Washington University in which bacteria from the guts of thin humans were injected into the guts of fat mice and the mice grew thin. Forget cancer, let’s research something with market potential With antibiotics, the indication is outside. […]

Vermont’s Military-Industrial-Real Estate Complex

Vermont has an Air National Guard unit based at Burlington International Airport (BTV).  They fly F-16s.  The Air Force intends to eliminate some F-16 bases, keep others and convert some bases for use by the new F-35 warplane.  Burlington is the Air Force’s number one pick to base the F-35.  Why is that? It’s because […]