Category Archives: Economy

Shut Up and Pay

12/1/2011 – 4:31 pm

New York Times columnist Joe Nocera hinted Monday at something that’s been on my mind for a while, but he didn’t come right out and say it.
His column was on the European money crisis and the gist of his argument is this: it makes economic sense for Germany (Europe’s economic powerhouse) to bail out Greece [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Civil Liberty, Commentary | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Duty Now for the Future

11/10/2011 – 6:41 pm

My neighbors seemed to hit on a 21st century harvest ritual last Sunday.  It was the first dusk of standard time and was getting dark around 4:40.  It had been a beautiful days and we’d all been closing our gardens for the season, when I noticed fires burning in a few backyards.  It seemed a [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Civil Liberty, Commentary, Global Warming | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Zero to Seven Billion

10/27/2011 – 4:11 pm

When I heard the seven billionth person is due to be born Monday, I thought I must have made a mistake a few years back.  “Didn’t I just write a commentary on the six billionth person?  Was my math wrong?”
My math was not wrong.  I wrote that commentary the first week of October 1999.  What [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Civil Liberty, Commentary, Energy | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Pure Speculation

9/22/2011 – 3:38 pm

Along toward the end of August, I received an email from my state’s junior senator, Bernie Sanders (I).  I look forward to these because a) Senator Sanders is even more PO’ed about the state of the nation than most of his constituents (although right-winger politicians can say the same) and b) he’s not beholden to [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary, Oil, Peak Oil | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Orwell was an Optimist

9/8/2011 – 4:18 pm

Quick quiz, two questions: 1 – What percentage of scientists think global warming is occurring?  2 – What percentage of scientists think global warming is caused by human activities?  Read those again carefully; it’s not the same question twice.
The answers (I won’t make you wait) are 100 and 98.  No statistically significant number of scientists [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary, Electoral Politics, Global Warming | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Race to the Bottom: Homestretch

9/1/2011 – 1:25 pm

In this space the first week of January 2004, I predicted it would be the year that would determine whether or not American democracy would survive.  In the last month of that same year, I was forced to conclude, with sorrow, that American democracy is doomed.  Although I’ve been allowed brief moments of hope since [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary, Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear Energy, Oceans, Oil | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

“It’s Just Death”

8/18/2011 – 3:48 pm

It’s August and blight is upon us.  The tomatoes have early blight, which is bad, but can be controlled by cutting away the blighted parts of the plant and not (!) composting them.  We put them in plastic bags and send them to the landfill.
Late blight is worse, usually taking out the whole plant and [...]

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