Maybe this time action will be taken. Maybe you too think that subsidising oil is the wrong way to reduce pollution and increase fuel efficiency. Here’s a petition to sign. At the G8 Obama and others intend to finally sign in to effect agreements to stop subsidising fossil fuel companies like Exxon, BP, Texaco, Chevron, …
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Category:Economy
Government bureaucracy is keeping us down.
IMD just sent out promotion for the World Competitiveness Yearbook. The table here was highlighted. My beloved Hong Kong, where you can get things done, is at the top, but Ireland, mired in government sloth, is comparable to centrally controlled Mainland China. Anyone who has taken initiative will know that much red tape is wasteful …
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Recession timing.
Doesn’t look good according to the chart below. This pain could go on for a few more years yet. Of course charts don’t predict the future, but they do give an indication of a system dynamic. the problem for the world is that the system is not adapting. There has been no change in the …
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GEO 2012 – Uncertainties and Vulnerabilities. No, really??!
Global Economic Outlook 2012: Developing countries should prepare for further downside risks, as Euro Area debt problems and weakening growth in several big emerging economies are dimming global growth prospects, says the World Bank in the newly-released Global Economic Prospects (GEP) 2012… http://www.worldbank.org/globaloutlook
Ireland’s future depends on breaking free from bailout
Ireland’s future depends on breaking free from bailoutIreland’s future depends on breaking free from bailout by Morgan Kelly in teh Irish Times: WITH THE Irish Government on track to owe a quarter of a trillion euro by 2014, a prolonged and chaotic national bankruptcy is becoming inevitable. By the time the dust settles, Ireland’s last …
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Banking, Budgets, Inflation, Food prices
Four degrees of separation? I just browsed through three links that interested me and suddenly noticed that they drew the banking crisis and the food crisis (which is barely on many people’s radar) together. Here it is: US banking system ‘open to abuse’ One of the US’s top fraud investigators is warning that America’s policing …
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Inequality in America is stretched wider
The US Census Bureau’s report – Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the US: 2009 says the number of people in poverty increased by nearly 4m – to 43.6m – between 2008 and 2009. One in seven Americans was living in poverty in 2009 with the level of working-age poor the highest since the …
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Environment destruction is harming economies.
Earth’s ongoing nature losses may soon begin to hit national economies. The third Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3), a major UN report, warns that some ecosystems may soon reach “tipping points” where they rapidly become less useful to humanity. These tipping points include rapid dieback of forest, algal takeover of watercourses and mass coral reef death. …
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GDP is obsolete.
A easy read article from Time magazine describing why the way we measure performance is primitive and unhelpful: Is GDP An Obsolete Measure of Progress? Since last summer the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has gone up — indeed, it grew at a surprising 5.7% rate in the 4th quarter — seeming to confirm what …
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Richer, but less free.
Freedom House released its 2010 survey. The principal findings are depressing: less democracy. It’s mainly in sub-saharan africa, but that doesn’t make it OK. Maybe the rich world is a main driver. We vote with our wallets every day. While we might enjoy some kind of democracy and freedom at home, we choose cheap food, …
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