You may have seen the headlines about riots in Lebanon in recent days. They can be easy to gloss over. We’re used to riots in the Middle East. These riots, however are not about Hezbollah or Israel – they’re about electricity. Five people died protesting that their power was cut off. Surely, if Lebanon was […]
A friend tipped me off to a small story from last month’s New York Times: “World Food Supply Is Shrinking, U.N. Agency Warns” You’d think it would be front page news, but it was buried in the section C. Food prices are spiking, especially for the world’s poorest people. Global warming is causing crops to […]
According to a report in today’s Washington Post 35,000 people moved to Florida last year. This was unusual, because the Sunshine State’s annual population are more on the order of the 268,000 who moved there in 2005. The Post reporter, Peter Whoriskey, speculates that high taxes and the cost of hurricane insurance are making Florida […]
Oil futures hit $100 a barrel. That didn’t take long.
Not all the numbers, but some significant ones. As we ring out the year, the price of gas averages $2.98 per gallon in the US, up 64 cents from a year ago. The price of oil is $96.93 per barrel, up from $55.95 at the end of 2006. Gold is selling for $840 an ounce, […]
The Theme Park
Twenty-five years ago, I worked at a theme park in central Florida, the one with the mouse. It was not a good fit; I lasted about 90 days, then fled back north. I learned some things, however, and the lessons stayed with me. The first thing I learned is that appearance is reality. The theme […]