Posted in Economics & Globalization, Politics & Public Policy, Technology & Science, tagged adjustment, ahead, alternative energy, alternatives, Amazon, American Dream, Baby Boomers, bailouts, banks, big box, Big Coal, Bowling Alone, budget, buy local, buying, buying decisions, cap and trade, careers, cars, Cash for Clunkers, chain stores, challengers, change, climate, commodity, communitarianism, communities, community, community centers, community purse, companies, compete, computers, concentration, consequences, constrain, consumer confidence, consumers, cookie cutter, crude, Dark Age, debt, debtor, demand, demographics, desertification, destinations, developments, digital, discontinued, discounters, diversity, domain, double dip recession, downsizing, e-commerce, e-tailers, ecommerce, economists, education, efficiency, Ellen Ruppel Shell, energy, entitlements, evolution, Federal, financial, forecast, fossil fuels, free shipping, frugal, fund, future, gains, gasoline, globalization, GNP, governments, Green, Greening, growth, hardware, here to stay, heritage, hikes, hindsight, horizon, income, increases, independence, inflation, infrastructure, innovation, internet shopping, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Goodell, jobless recovery, jobs, landscape, lifestyle, lingering, local, local color, long term, loss, losses, market forces, marketplace, Marshalls, money, moneysaver, mouse, myth, necessity, new normal, oases, oil, oil refineries, outlook, overstock, Perfect Storm, petro, pitfalls, population, postal service, prediction, price wars, prices, production, projection, public safety, purchases, question, rates, reality, red tag, refining, regulation, retail, retailers, revolution, risks, Robert B. Putnam, Ross, sales, scale back, sell, shift, shipping, shop, shop locally, shoppers, shopping, signs of life, Social Security, society, spend, stagnation, standard of living, state, suburbia, SUVs, TARP, tax base, tax revenues, tax-free, taxation, thrift, time, TJ Maxx, toll, too little too late, towns, trade, transport, travel, trends, unintended, United States, urban, vacuum, wages, web, web bargains, websites, welfare, workforce on March 22, 2010|
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For years “energy independence” has been the catch-all solution promoted by politicians, talk radio hosts, newspaper columnists and others who point out that the U.S. is short on oil refining capacity. Nonetheless, petroleum production facilities are not only in the process of downsizing in response to a weak economy, but permanently so the Los Angeles Times reports in “Oil companies look at permanent refinery cutbacks” [March 11, 2010].
The oil industry, which as recently as 2007 broke so many profit records that allegations of collusion and price-gouging surfaced, is singing a different tune: Limiting supply to increase sagging profit margins is the solution, analysts say, for losses induced by everything from fuel efficient cars to retiring baby boomers who no longer commute to and from work.
And to think: Just a few years ago SUVs, with their paltry ~13 mpg, were the rage from Coast to Coast. Could it be that Cash for Clunkers, unintentionally so, was a little too effective — or are oil industry insiders selling Americans up the river when they can least afford it? Whatever the case may be, nothing says Green like fuel-efficient automobiles and the beginnings of an alternative energy infrastructure. Even so, the picture the LAT paints is far from complete. The Perfect Storm of tightening supply, increasing commodity prices, rising taxes and further job losses looms on the horizon.
Hang on to your hat! The price of life is going up.
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Posted in Health & Environment, tagged affect, Ann Arbor, appearances, artificial, attendance, blessings, bonds, Bowling Alone, breakdown, caregiver, cave, challenges, charity, church, closing, club, commitment, commonalities, community, comparisons, competition, connectedness, consequences, cope, data, development, diagnosis, difficult, dignity, displaced, downsized, Easy Street, economic, effect, effort, employees, fear, friends, friendships, group, groups, hard times, hardship, hermit, how to, identity, illness, implications, individuals, involvement, isolation, Jennie E. Brand, job, job loss, job market, join, Joneses, keeping up, laid off, layoff, leave, livelihood, lives, lonely, long-term impact, longitudinal, Los Angeles, lose, loss, luck, meeting, membership, miss, model, needs, nonprofit, normalcy, notice, organization, outgroup, participation, personal, pride, prime of life, professional, PTA, reach out and touch someone, reciprocal, reconnect, recovery, reestablish, regain, regroup, rejection, religious, relocating, repercussions, researchers, respond, restructuring, retreat, safety net, service, sever, shorten, skills, social contract, Social Forces, social lives, social science, socialize, sociologists, spiritual, starting over, study, superficial, support group, team, tough people, tough times, trials, UCLA, unemployed, University of California, University of Michigan, US News and World Report, Wisconsin high school graduates, workforce, youth on July 24, 2009|
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Don’t be a stranger.
That’s the message of a 45-year-long study according to US News and World Report in “Job Loss Has Long-Term Impact on Social Lives“.
Once someone in the prime of life suffers a layoff or is otherwise displaced from the workforce, community connections — anything from a PTA meeting, charity involvement, sporting team or church attendance — are severed for good at least 35 percent of the time, study results show.
Perhaps this comes as a surprise. It shouldn’t. How many of us have grown distant from someone simply because they left our school, workplace, club or church?
And how many of us, by the same token, have isolated ourselves because we fear that others will judge us when the chips are down?
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