The green bubble burst

Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger of The New Republic suggest that the green eco-friendly bubble has already burst. They conclude that this isn’t the first time an eco bubble has inflated then burst.  First signs of an eco-friendly society emerged in 1969 with an industrial pollution fire on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio,  generating public outrage.

…these past bursts of environmentalism waxed and waned with the rise and fall of the economy. But, perhaps more significantly, the green bubbles inflated during highly polarized periods in American society and politics, often fueled by disastrously violent episodes in foreign policy.

The Sidewalk to Nowhere

The Crazies.

Laissez-faire (hey, a French word)

Admit it, mes amis, the rugged individualism and cutthroat capitalism that made America the land of unlimited opportunity has been shrink-wrapped by a half dozen short sellers in Greenwich, Conn. and FedExed to Washington D.C. to be spoon-fed back to life by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson

It only gets better..

All Mitterrand did was nationalize France’s big banks and insurance companies in 1982; he didn’t have to deal with bankers who didn’t want to lend money, as Paulson does. When the state runs the banks, they are merely cows to be milked in the service of la patrie.

The article is here.

Bailout central..

Here is a look at the Feds extensive new emergency lending programs.

..taking a wider array of securities, including equities, as collateral for its loans, the central bank said late Sunday.

shizer.

Should we be scared?

The government is looking for an agreement that would not involve public money.

Recent discussions amongst Lehman Brothers, the Federal Reserve, and Treasury Department in regards to actively selling the financial giant.

And I don’t see where anything has really changed in the last few days to make Lehman a $4 stock versus a $20 stock. So what we’re dealing with, I think, is less fundamentals than fear,” Paulsen said. “It’s spooky because I’m not sure anyone has an answer as to how you’d end it.”

McDonald’s theory of war

The logic is thus: countries with middle classes large enough to sustain a McDonald’s have reached a level of prosperity and global integration that makes warmongering risky and unpalatable to its people.

Thomas Friedman, who invented the theory in 1996, finds that countries with a developed middle class, one that can sustain a McDonald’s, is less likely to engage in aggressive behavior. Unfortunately, the Russia-Georgia conflict proves otherwise. What about countries with KFC and Taco Bell?

Here is the entire article via the Guardian.

R.A. Childs

Anarchism and Justice, by Roy A. Childs, and further readings here.

Victims of globalization? I think not…

An interesting article I received from an acquaintance of mine. It touts the trade policies of the 1990’s, while remaining fixated on recent fed bailouts.

Yes, I believe it’s safe to say that emerging markets, combined with a weak dollar, have boosted commodity and energy prices, but I have difficulty seeing any validity in the argument that we as Americans have fallen victim to globalization in the recent decade.

But in this decade, rampant growth in emerging markets has mercilessly boosted prices for energy and commodities; competition from foreign workers has tamped down wage growth, and the weak dollar has made U.S. companies vulnerable to foreign buyers. “In the 1990s, we got all the upside of globalization,” said David Smick, a consultant and author of the new book “The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers in the Global Economy.” “Now we’re getting some of the downside.”

Click here for the entire article.