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Economics 
Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 20:02:06 PM EST
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We’re diving deep into “geek world” today with a story that combines economic hardball, the periodic table of the elements, and a barely noticed provision of the Defense Authorization Act that seeks to break a monopoly which today gives China near-absolute control over the materials that make cell phones, electric cars, wind turbines, and pretty much every other tool of modern life possible.
If we successfully break the monopoly, we’ll be able to create millions of new manufacturing jobs in this country—and if we don’t, somebody else owns the 21st Century.
Ironically, the global warming we’re trying to fight with new green technologies might be an ally in our efforts to make those very same green technologies happen.
There’s a revolution in industrial processing going on, rare earths are at the center of it all...and in today’s story, the revolution will be televised.
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Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 01:00:31 AM EST
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Our favorite irascible media tyrant is in the news once again, and once again it’s time for me to bring you a story of doing one thing while wishing for another.
In a November 6th interview, Sky News Australia’s David Speers spent about 35 minutes with the CEO of NewsCorp, Rupert Murdoch; the conversation covering topics as diverse as software piracy, world economics, the role of Fox News (and Fox NewsPinion©) in American politics, a strange defense of Glenn Beck, and, not very long afterwards, an even stranger defense of immigration.
We have heard a lot about the...how can I put this politely...challenges Murdoch seems to face associating factual reality with his reality, and we could have lots of fun going through his factual misstatements—but instead, I want to take on one specific issue today:
Rupert Murdoch says he hates it when people steal his content from the Internet to draw readers to their sites...which is funny, if you think about it, because he has no problem at all stealing my content (and lots of yours, as well) for his sites.
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 01:44:39 AM EST
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We strive to be, if anything, a participatory space around here, and I’ve had a question come to my inbox that is very much deserving of our attention.
To make a long story short, our questioner wants to know why, on the one hand, despite the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, also known as the “stimulus”), unemployment in the construction industry continues to increase, and, on the other hand, why there is such a giant disparity, on a state-by-state basis, in the cost of saving a job?
They’re great questions, and, having done a bit of research, I think I have some cogent answers.
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Tue Nov 10, 2009 at 07:01:38 AM EST
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There has been a great wailing and gnashing of teeth over the past day or so as those who follow the healthcare debate react to the Stupak/Some Creepy Republican Guy Amendment.
The Amendment, which is apparently intended to respond to conservative Democrats’ concerns that too many women were voting for the Party in recent elections, was attached to the House’s version of healthcare reform legislation that was voted out of the House this weekend.
The goal is to limit women’s access to reproductive medicine services, particularly abortions; this based on the concept that citizens of good conscience shouldn’t have their tax dollars used to fund activities they find morally repugnant.
At first blush, I was on the mild end of the wailing and gnashing spectrum myself…but having taken a day to mull the thing over, I’m starting to think that maybe we should take a look at the thinking behind this…and I’m also starting to think that, properly applied, Stupak’s logic deserves a more important place in our own vision of how a progressive government might work.
It’s Political Judo Day today, Gentle Reader, and by the time we’re done here it’s entirely possible that you’ll see Stupak’s logic in a whole new light.
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Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 07:34:39 AM EDT
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It was a long hot August for those who would like to see health care reform, as rabid “Town Hall” protesters proffered visions of public options that would lead to death panels and socialism and government tax collectors with special alien mind control powers that would use sex education and child indoctrination and black helicopters as the means for gay people to impose their dangerous agenda on the innocent, God-fearing citizens of someplace in Mississippi that I’m not likely to ever visit.
Part of the reason that opposition was so rabid was because health care interests were spending millions upon millions of dollars doing...well, doing whatever the opposite of giving a distemper shot to the angry mob might be, anyway.
So wouldn’t it be great if all the CEOs of all those health care interests were to gather at one time and place so you could, shall we say, gently express your own thoughts regarding the issues of reform and public options?
By an amazing coincidence, that’s exactly what’s going to happen Thursday in Washington, DC, as the Patient Centered Primary Care Cooperative (PCPCC) holds its Annual Summit.
Follow along, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know.
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Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 13:26:53 PM EDT
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So it’s the day of the big speech, Mr. President, and we got trouble with a capital “T” right here in Health Care City.
What are you gonna do? Do we follow the traditional Democratic Party legislative process of passing...something...at any cost, assuming the entire time that the Left and the Netroots will “go along with the program”, or is there a risk that the calculus doesn’t work as well today as it did in 1994 and 1996?
Well, lucky for you, I’m a fake consultant, and I know a few things about your “target market”, so before you answer that question...we need to talk.
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Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 00:55:49 AM EDT
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Forty years ago this week an event occurred that changed the history of mankind forever.
An event so monumental that the memory lingers on, even though the venue where the event took place has been, shall we say, “repurposed”.
But we’re not here to talk about the time that Minnesota Twins Manager Billy Martin appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Instead, let’s talk space.
NASA is forever trying to interest the world in space exploration...and forever struggling to come up with the money to get things done.
Well, I’m not a scientist, nor an engineer, and I don’t assemble rocket vehicles...but I am a fake consultant, and if NASA took my advice, I’d bet my fake paycheck that money would be a lot less of a problem.
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Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 10:06:07 AM EDT
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I don’t know if you’ve been thinking about it, but the costs of long-term care have been on the mind of some friends of mine lately.
For reasons that we won’t go into here, they are in the process of pricing long-term care at care facilities…and yesterday afternoon, we had a chance to have a look at the “menu” of services (the facility's term) that can be purchased at this particular location.
If you are facing this issue in your own family, if you are a taxpayer thinking about how we plan to fund long-term care in the future…or if, one day, you expect to be old yourself…this conversation will surely matter.
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Fri May 22, 2009 at 10:32:06 AM EDT
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It’s great to see that people are starting to think about hybrid vehicles, but so far, they really haven’t been for me.
You know why?
Because for the most part, they have no...style.
The Prius?
If you look at it sideways, and squint, it looks more like a pepita than a car.
The Insight?
They say it’s stylish...but it looks like a Prius to me.
You know what I want?
I want someone to build the biggest, nastiest, most oversized hybrid the world has ever seen.
Something drenched with chrome, with seating for...many, and a convertible top; and maybe, if all my dreams come true: tail fins.
Something crazy.
Something ridiculous.
Something...American.
Well, guess what?
Somebody’s already gone out and had one built—and ironically, that somebody is Neil Young, Canadian.
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Fri Apr 17, 2009 at 01:17:35 AM EDT
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So if you’re like me, you have been wondering just exactly what all this “tea party” stuff is about. There’s going to be some sort of protest, that we know; but beyond that the whole thing seems a little...vague.
Alternatively, it’s possible that you were unaware that “tea party” has recently become a word reborn in conservative political circles.
Well, whether you knew it or not, April 15th was indeed a day of protest, with citizens gathering for what were reported to be a series of grassroots events across the nation that was intended to invoke the spirit of the Boston Tea Party.
In an effort to find out exactly what is motivating these folks, and to find out what they are trying to accomplish, I took my handy recorder and captured a conversation with a “tea bag” protester.
We will review that conversation, and we will follow it up with a few thoughts about how this group of voters might impact electoral politics going forward.
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Mon Oct 13, 2008 at 22:05:24 PM EDT
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Every morning lately, we have turned anxiously to the news to see if financial markets are in freefall...and some days, they actually are.
Governments across the world have responded over the past two weeks--including a massive commitment by the United States Treasury that is, to say the least, highly controversial to the American voter.
As this is being written markets are opening in Asia. At the moment things are somewhat stable, and except for Shanghai and Taiwan, they’re heading upward. During the writing process, Europe has opened, and there are gains there today as well.
The US credit markets did not open today (although the stock markets did) because of the Columbus Day holiday—but anyone who recalls Mr. Dow’s Wild Ride last Friday is quite nervous ahead of the Tuesday opening.
Despite all that bailout stuff we’re hearing about, confidence doesn’t seem to be returning to the markets. Why?
Excellent question, Gentle Reader, and I have a few helpful answers.
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Wed Oct 01, 2008 at 16:39:40 PM EDT
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Even if the dollar continues to strengthen, high gas prices are here to stay, and so is apparently, the long-term crippling of the U.S. economy. Economists now characterize what began two years ago with falling prices in the American real estate market as the biggest economic disaster since the world economic crisis of the 1930s. No one knows whether and how the meltdown of global financial markets, which would have grave consequences for the world economy, can still be prevented. And now, of all times, the world is faced with a preeminent power that no longer seems capable of leading and a US president who is not even able to unite his divided country in an hour of need. For weeks, Bush ignored the crisis, insisting on the strength of the market and telling Americans: "Everything will be fine."
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Wed Sep 24, 2008 at 17:11:36 PM EDT
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As this is being written we are in the midst of the second day of testimony before Congress by Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson in support of the Administration’s proposed financial rescue package.
The basic sales pitch is that the Nation’s financial problems are at this moment so severe that the only solution is to expose to risk $700 billion dollars of taxpayer money to buy assets with a currently unknown price…and to give the absolute and total power over what those valuations are, what should and should not be bought, what repayment terms will be sought—and additionally, what happens to any money recovered--to one man, Henry Paulson.
There are those who are not on board. They have critics, who continue to stress the dire consequences of inaction.
With all due respect to those critics…we have been down this road before with this Administration—and last time, they weren’t so big on telling the truth…or getting the job done effectively.
We’ll cover that ground, we’ll talk a bit about “mark to market” issues—and on a positive note, we’ll address the role of “warrants”, the negotiating power of Warren Buffett, and how the taxpayer could actually see substantial recoveries of money down the road.
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Tue Sep 23, 2008 at 10:42:40 AM EDT
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: This was originally published on February 14th of this year, but it seems to be exceptionally timely today.
We had a lively discussion last week regarding the causes and possible future of the “subprime crisis” that is on everyone’s lips these days.
Having examined the sources of the problem, and noting the lack of holistic thinking about how things might be resolved, I’ve taken it upon myself to come forward with an idea that can actually get at the root causes of today’s difficulties...and do it in a way that offers a potential “win-win-win” outcome for homeowners, investors—and the taxpayer.
Paying attention, Presidential candidates?
Good—because time is short, and we need to get to work.
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Wed Aug 27, 2008 at 03:37:57 AM EDT
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Once a year the professional golf community comes to visit my neck of the woods, in the form of the PGA’s Champion’s Tour.
It’s an event that changes the character of the community in several ways: spectators swell the size of the town, there’s a media focus that usually doesn’t exist...and an actual, no kidding, traffic jam might develop—on a weekend.
It’s a great economic barometer, as well. Despite the efforts of the Professional Golfers Association (the PGA), there is a lot more of an upper-income demographic attending the tournament than there is a Happy Gilmore kind of crowd.
Which brings me to the point of today’s examination: what can we learn about the state of the economy from the perspective of the tricklers, as opposed to how it looks from the point of view of the trickled upon?
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Tue Jun 24, 2008 at 11:05:55 AM EDT
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There is no way to save us from our dependence on oil, we are told, except to drill for more oil wherever it can be found-and some will even tell us it's possible that there's so much oil not yet discovered off the coast that all our problems will be over once we poke a few holes in the ground and git 'er done.
Of course, it's also possible there are monkeys to be found in certain of my body cavities...and I'm hoping most fervently that no one proposes drilling in my ANWAR in an effort to find out.
But what if there was another way?
What if we could afford to convert our gas-powered cars to something else...something that could reduce our national gasoline consumption by 70%?
Something we could put into place just as quickly as offshore wells could be drilled-and maybe even faster.
A "Manhattan Project" of fleet conversion, if you will.
Well, Gentle Reader, I think we can-and today we examine a way it might be done.
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Tue Apr 17, 2007 at 12:52:12 PM EDT
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It is likely that most readers of these pages are familiar with microlending, and by extension, Mohammad Yunus, the winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
Microlending (the extension of small amounts of capital to the world's poorest people) has become a huge part of Bangladeshi life, as just one example, and there are many excellent discussions of what the concept means to the world.
There is even a movement among traditional capitalists to enter this market, thanks to the efforts of Yunus' Grameen Bank and others.
But I'm a "bury the lead" kind of writer, and for that reason, microlending will not be a part of our discussion today.
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