The End of Economics and Society as We Know It

3 Comments Posted by on August 8, 2011

Richard Heinberg delivers a clear and powerful message on the urgent need for the world to begin the transition to a sustainable future. He takes a big picture perspective on the interconnectedness of economics, energy, the environment, and society. Here are several excerpts from recent interviews. These are very sobering. The Future of Energy Consumption (4-5 minutes) [...]

Capitalism, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Financial Crisis, History, Oil Prices, Peak Oil, Philosophy, Psychology & Sociology, Public Policy, Sustainability, Uncategorized , , , , ,

ANTHROPOCENE: A New Era of Human Civilization on Earth

1 Comment Posted by on June 1, 2011

From The Economist cover story of May 28, 2011: “Humans have changed the way the world works. Now they have to change the way they think about it, too.” Human civilization evolved during a period of relatively stable climate over the last 10,000 years. With a rapidly developing and industrialized world, now at about 7 [...]

Climate Change, Environment, Issues, Philosophy, Sustainability , , , ,

Saudi and Libyan Oil Production Concerns

Leave a Comment Posted by on April 17, 2011

Saudi Arabia did not make up for the loss in Libyan oil production. (From The Oil Drum) Two interesting things to note form this graph. First, Saudi Arabia had been increasing oil production well before the outbreak of hostilities in Libya. Second, the recent increase in Saudi production has not nearly made up for the [...]

Charts, Energy, Middle East, Oil Prices

U.S. Health Care

1 Comment Posted by on April 10, 2011

Documentaries FRONTLINE: Sick Around the World – Five Capitalist Democracies (Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, Switzerland)  FRONTLINE: Obama’s Deal (behind the scenes politics of health care reform) Growth in U.S Health Care Spending Although not adjusted for inflation, the % of GDP shown along the bottom is comparable over the years and is actually the [...]

Health Care, National Debt, Uncategorized

Perils and Possibilites

Leave a Comment Posted by on March 23, 2011

A Big Picture Look at the Economy, the Environment, Energy, and Technology This presentation was given to the MILES group at MCC on 3/23/2011: MILES-Keynote-Part-1 / MILES-Keynote-Part-2 (PowerPoint downloads) Key Videos to Watch The Financial Crisis CNBC: House of Cards FRONTLINE: Inside the Meltdown The Budget and Deficit Crisis I.O.U.S.A. Original I.O.U.S.A. Solutions The Environment [...]

Uncategorized

Return of Stagflation?

1 Comment Posted by on February 20, 2011

Inflation for January showed an uptick that could signal the return of stagflation (cost-push inflation during periods of weak economic growth and slack demand). See the FRB of Cleveland web site for a good discussion of measuring core inflation with an explanation of the measures used in the graph below. In the election of 1980, [...]

Charts, Energy, Financial Crisis, Macroeconomic Data , , , , , , ,

Unemployment Outlook Mixed

1 Comment Posted by on February 3, 2011

Household Survey (survey of 60,000 households) Unemployment fell to 9.0% from 9.4%, although the underlying population estimates were given annual revisions so the comparison from December to January may be difficult. The underlying data show a sharp drop in the unemployed and a small increase in the employed, the labor participation rate fell and those [...]

Charts, ECO Courses, Economic Updates

Google vs. Facebook: Is this the right question?

Leave a Comment Posted by on December 24, 2010

While I do have a Facebook page and a few dozen “friends”, I don’t find it compelling enough to check in with more than a few times per week and have been wondering if I am missing the boat. Google, on the other hand, I can’t live without. For an information junkie, it’s nirvana. More [...]

Issues, Media, Technology

“A Game-Changer” for the U.S. Auto Industry

Leave a Comment Posted by on December 9, 2010

One of every three Motor Trend magazine covers over the last year featured a Mustang. The last two issues showcased the Volt. The staff of Motor Trend are mostly muscle car guys but they were gaga over the Volt. Has the transition to the era of the electric car finally arrived? The Volt is technically [...]

Energy, Environment, Hybrid/Electric Cars, Issues, Politics, Uncategorized

QE: How does the Fed do it?

Leave a Comment Posted by on November 18, 2010

A student sent me a clever YouTube video cartoon trying to explain QE2. It scores some points on Bernanke, the Fed, and Goldman Sachs but either intentionally or unintentionally confuses demand-pull and cost-push inflation to push its point of view. It is nevertheless very entertaining. QE Explained / A Response I was left left with [...]

Fed, Monetary Policy, QE, Satire

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