Posted in economy, politics, technology, tagged adapt, adjustment, ahead, alternative energy, alternatives, Amazon, American Dream, Baby Boomers, bailouts, banks, barrel, big box, Big Coal, Bowling Alone, brick and mortar, budget, buy local, buying, buying decisions, cap and trade, capacity, careers, cars, Cash for Clunkers, chain stores, challengers, change, climate, coffers, commodity, communitarianism, communities, community, community centers, community purse, companies, compete, computers, concentration, consequences, constrain, consumer confidence, consumers, cookie cutter, crude, Dark Age, deals, debt, debtor, deficits, defunct, demand, demise, demographics, desertification, destinations, developments, digital, discontinued, discounters, diversity, domain, double dip recession, downsizing, drivers, e-commerce, e-retailers, e-tailers, ecommerce, economists, education, efficiency, Ellen Ruppel Shell, encroach, energy, entitlements, erosion, evolution, expectations, 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, out of business, outlook, overstock, Perfect Storm, petro, pitfalls, population, postal service, prediction, price wars, prices, production, projection, public safety, purchases, question, ramifications, 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, weak, 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 economy, politics, tagged 21st Century, adopting, agitators, all-size-fits-all, allegations, alter the way we live, American, analogy, Asean Plus Six, Asian, bailout, Barack Obama, barriers, block, bode, body, borders, bottom line, brainwash, broken, bureaucracy, business, capitalism, captive, challenges, change, civil, civil unrest, codependent, coercion, coined the phrase, collectivist, commonwealth, communism, comparative advantage, competition, concentrate, concentration of power, confederacy, conflicting, consolidate, conspiracy, conspirator, Constitution, cooperation, corporation, crisis, culture, currency, customs union theory, deceive, deconstruct, deliver on, downside, economics, eggs in one basket, emergent, enmeshed, evolution by stealth, expedient, experiment, fact, fascism, fearmonger, fears, federation, fiction, finance, foolhardy, force, foreign policy, framework, free trade, freedom, Friedmanesque, Friedmanism, future, global, globalization, goal, groups, guarantee, H.G. Wells, H.W. Bush, history, hope, horizon, human, idealism, imagined, impersonal, in name only, independence, individual, interregionalism, is United States, issues, Jerome Corsi, jobs, justice, language, law, legal, legislation, liberty, lies, logical extension, Lou Dobbs, maps, market, media, member, metaphor, military complex, myth, NAFTA, NASCO, nation, national sovereignty passe, nationalization, nature, neocapitalist, neoclassical economists, net gain, new deal, new economy, new empire, new world order, North American, NWO, offset, opponents, opportunity, opt out, optimal currency area theory, organization, oversell, paranoid, peacetime, policy, policymakers, practical, practice, pragmatic, president, Prime Minister Brown, principles, progress, promise, proposals, prosperity, psychology, public opinion, push, raindrops, real, reality, reconstruct, Reform, regional security complex, regionalization, relationship, replace, representative, representative democracy, rights, Ross Perot, rule of law, scale, secure, security, serious questions, shift, Single Market and Economy, socialism, speak out, specialization, SPP, states, stimulus, subservient, succession, SuperCorridor Project, sustainable, theory, threat, timeline, Trans-Texas Corridor, transnational, transnational progressives, treaty, trend, Union, unrest, Urban Legend, usher in, Utopian, venture, wages, weakest link, WFM, Woodrow Wilson, workers, world federalism movement, world leaders on October 30, 2009|
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President H.W. Bush, borrowing a phrase from an earlier era, popularized the term “New World Order” (NWO) in the early 1990s. But while the New World Order has legitimate roots, it has come to be associated with little more than paranoid conspiracy.
Given what we’ve witnessed in recent times, however, is it wise to continue to dismiss the notion out-of-hand?
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