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|
2 Comments »
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.
(more…)
Read Full Post »
Posted in Economics & Globalization, Politics & Public Policy, tagged 60 Minutes, accountant, Baby Boomers, bankruptcy, big government, borrowing, business, candidates, CDS, comptroller general, crude, currency, David Walker, debt, deficit, deflation, Democrat, devaluation, Dollar, Economics & Globalization, economists, election, energy, entitlements, Euro, fiscal, food, gasoline, globalism, Government Accountability Office, Greenspan, health care, housing bubble, inflation, investors, Iran, Iraq, lending, limited government, Medicare, monetary, mortgage crisis, oil, OPEC, Pakistan, presidential, price, recession, Republican, Ron Paul, Social Security, spending, Washington on January 12, 2008|
1 Comment »
It has been called the “dirty little secret” that everyone in Washington knows.
“We suffer from a ‘fiscal cancer’. It is growing within us. And if we do not treat it, it can have catastrophic consequences for our country.”
Assume those are the words of Congressman Ron Paul, M.D.?
Think again. Those are the words of David Walker, top accountant in the nation.
The U.S. Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office hit the streets to warn Americans that the long-anticipated Economic Perfect Storm is not only brewing, it made landfall January 1, 2008. Walker began sounding an alarm last year “like an Old Testament prophet” according to CBS “60 Minutes”.
So is Congressman Paul an isolated alarmist — harping as he does on the precarious state of our “monetary system“? Or a modern-day Paul Revere? (more…)
Read Full Post »
