Blog Archive
06/06/12 14:37
This is an archive of the blog posts I’ve put up over the past few years that still seem like they might be useful.
Economic factoids
10/05/12 18:54
Morgan Housel from the Motley Fool investment website recently made a list of fifty factoids about the economy that he says blow his mind. It showed up in my inbox in a spam message from the Motley Fools. I usually don’t read investment opinions, because it doesn’t seem to me like anyone at Zacks or Seeking Alpha or the Fool is right more than half the time on average. For the most part he does not cite sources, so there’s no guarantee these are accurate. But some of Housel’s factoids were interesting (he numbered them like a countdown):
49. According to economist Tyler Cowen, "Thirty years ago, college graduates made 40 percent more than high school graduates, but now the gap is about 83 percent."
43. About the same number of people was awarded bachelor's degrees in 2010 as filed for personal bankruptcy (1.6 million).
47. A record $6 billion will be spent on the 2012 elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Adjusted for inflation, that's 60% more than the 2000 elections.
That’s just criminal.
42. According to The Wall Street Journal, "U.S. refineries are producing more gasoline and diesel than ever. And Americans' gasoline consumption is at an 11-year-low."
12. For the first time since 1949, the U.S. is now a net exporter of fuel products like gasoline and diesel.
So if not because of supply and demand, why are gas prices so high?
38. The Census Bureau now classifies nearly 1 in 6 Americans as living in poverty.
3. The combined assets of Wal-Mart's Walton family is equal to that of the bottom 150 million Americans.
Again, criminal.
28. Just five companies, Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Google, and Pfizer, now hold nearly one-quarter of all corporate cash, equal to more than a quarter-trillion dollars.
21. Netflix is now responsible for about one-third of all Internet bandwidth.
So there’s a 1% and a 99% in the world of business, too.
49. According to economist Tyler Cowen, "Thirty years ago, college graduates made 40 percent more than high school graduates, but now the gap is about 83 percent."
43. About the same number of people was awarded bachelor's degrees in 2010 as filed for personal bankruptcy (1.6 million).
47. A record $6 billion will be spent on the 2012 elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Adjusted for inflation, that's 60% more than the 2000 elections.
That’s just criminal.
42. According to The Wall Street Journal, "U.S. refineries are producing more gasoline and diesel than ever. And Americans' gasoline consumption is at an 11-year-low."
12. For the first time since 1949, the U.S. is now a net exporter of fuel products like gasoline and diesel.
So if not because of supply and demand, why are gas prices so high?
38. The Census Bureau now classifies nearly 1 in 6 Americans as living in poverty.
3. The combined assets of Wal-Mart's Walton family is equal to that of the bottom 150 million Americans.
Again, criminal.
28. Just five companies, Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Google, and Pfizer, now hold nearly one-quarter of all corporate cash, equal to more than a quarter-trillion dollars.
21. Netflix is now responsible for about one-third of all Internet bandwidth.
So there’s a 1% and a 99% in the world of business, too.
Food & slime
06/04/12 18:54
First, there’s a detailed and very interesting article about Pink Slime, in the Emporia Gazette (east-central Kansas, pop. ~25,000) this week. The USDA microbiologist who coined the term is apparently from there. He makes a lot of good, sensible points. For example:
“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “They’re going, ‘ah it’s safe. It’s 100 percent beef.’ Okay great, it’s 100 percent beef. It’s just not as wholesome and nutritious as fresh ground beef. And then they don’t label it and people are paying nearly full price for whatever percentage of additive they are getting. They sell it for almost the same price as good, fresh ground beef.”
And then he goes on to explain why – things like levels of insoluble protein, bacteria load, and how much of it is in “regular” food, anyway? One thing to note: this guy is the real USDA. Not one of the political appointees at the top of the heap, doing the bidding of agribusiness – but a real scientist who probably got into it because he cares a bit about both science and food.
This article contains useful information, for people who want to understand the issue and make their own decisions. In contrast, I was really disappointed with the Boing Boing science editor’s approach to the issue last week, which was basically that “Given the massive amounts of energy it takes to raise a cow, I'd rather have us use all the cow, rather than waste the gross parts. And, when it comes down to it, I'm not convinced that pink slime is any more gross than, say, what goes on in 3/4 of French Provencal cooking.”
Cute, but not so useful. You can get a couple of cabezas (sheep heads with fur still on) in the market at Concepción, Chile for 1500 pesos (three bucks). But you’d better have an old-fashioned, traditional Chilean recipe to give you a clue what to do with them! And in any case, I don’t think the point is that connective tissue and other non-steak parts of the cow are off limits. The point is, if we’re paying for hamburger and it’s always been made in a particular way, out of a particular type of raw material, then not telling us you’ve changed the formula is a bit of a problem. Especially if the new product has a higher risk of being contaminated and the government is putting it in school lunches.
Second, here’s a reminder from the Daily Yonder of where the money we spend on food goes, from the USDA’s Economic Research Service. ERS is an interesting place to visit for data – although most of the farm data is limited to agribusiness-style agriculture. It’s better on “rural” topics like demographics, food deserts, etc.
Third, here’s a story from the Organic Consumers Association (which originally appeared on AlterNet) about Monsanto threatening to sue Vermont if the state requires GMO labeling. It’s absurd that a corporation thinks it can bully a state – and Ethan Allen’s state at that! Bottom line, it amounts to an admission by Monsanto: “Yes, we know our products are really bad for you and that if given a choice, you would avoid them. Our only hope is to prevent you from knowing which products contain our shit.” Hopefully, Vermonters will do the sensible thing and simply boycott any product that does not carry a label, and begin buying large quantities of products whose label says NO GMOs. That will send a bigger message, in the long run, than legislation.
Finally, as if to prove that corporate arrogance isn’t limited to Monsanto, some idiots at a Chicken Shack fast food company attacked a regular guy over his “Eat More Kale” t-shirts. Kale is really good for you (as fast food chicken sandwiches aren’t). We grow kale, and eat a lot of it in smoothies, kale chips, and salads. And I’ve never eaten a Chick-Fil-A sandwich, and never plan to. So of course, I bought a t-shirt.
“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “They’re going, ‘ah it’s safe. It’s 100 percent beef.’ Okay great, it’s 100 percent beef. It’s just not as wholesome and nutritious as fresh ground beef. And then they don’t label it and people are paying nearly full price for whatever percentage of additive they are getting. They sell it for almost the same price as good, fresh ground beef.”
And then he goes on to explain why – things like levels of insoluble protein, bacteria load, and how much of it is in “regular” food, anyway? One thing to note: this guy is the real USDA. Not one of the political appointees at the top of the heap, doing the bidding of agribusiness – but a real scientist who probably got into it because he cares a bit about both science and food.
This article contains useful information, for people who want to understand the issue and make their own decisions. In contrast, I was really disappointed with the Boing Boing science editor’s approach to the issue last week, which was basically that “Given the massive amounts of energy it takes to raise a cow, I'd rather have us use all the cow, rather than waste the gross parts. And, when it comes down to it, I'm not convinced that pink slime is any more gross than, say, what goes on in 3/4 of French Provencal cooking.”
Third, here’s a story from the Organic Consumers Association (which originally appeared on AlterNet) about Monsanto threatening to sue Vermont if the state requires GMO labeling. It’s absurd that a corporation thinks it can bully a state – and Ethan Allen’s state at that! Bottom line, it amounts to an admission by Monsanto: “Yes, we know our products are really bad for you and that if given a choice, you would avoid them. Our only hope is to prevent you from knowing which products contain our shit.” Hopefully, Vermonters will do the sensible thing and simply boycott any product that does not carry a label, and begin buying large quantities of products whose label says NO GMOs. That will send a bigger message, in the long run, than legislation.
Wind
02/04/12 18:53
Looks like there’s wind in Minnesota too! Click on the map, to see the current wind conditions in the continental US, in motion! By Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg, who have done loads of interesting data visualization - and thanks to Boing Boing for pointing it out. It’s cool and pretty. And it gets you thinking about where we might want to put windmills…
Solar in Minnesota
31/03/12 18:53
One of the fun things about the book is that she writes from a midwestern perspective. How often do you see a book dealing with national or global issues, locating itself in the “flyover” zone?
But in the end, I think the rubber will really hit the road when regular people can make changes that work for them, rather than the whole of society or the energy companies. That’s why it’s cool to see people in places like northern Minnesota doing their own thing with solar energy. Or maybe it’s just that I’m an incurable rural localist...
