SAR #9316

9316

Plans that rest on governmental change are fatally flawed.

Don't Panic:  The International Energy Agency's latest report has been poked and prodded and even accused of being less than forthcoming. The takeaway point is this: The IEA thinks the world is going to go on a fossil fuel diet, but even so will consume 105 mbd in 2030. They suggest that nearly half that oil – about 50 mbd – will come from fields that have yet to be found and developed, while only 25 mbd will come from current oil fields. They do not say where oil in those quantities will be found.

Career Path:  As more Americans compete with immigrants for pick-up work as day laborers, one wonders just what 'employment' means in government reports.

Asked & Answered:  “Do US businesses hate their workers?” Yes, why did you think anything had changed?

Cliff Note: The insurance companies are the problem, not the solution. They drive up the cost of health care. They avoid paying bills so effectively that hospitals and doctors have to hire their own bureaucracy to fight them. Since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%... 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care. H.R. 3962 would require 21 million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that has caused the problem. It will give the insurers at least $70 billion in new annual revenue, from the taxpayers either directly or indirectly. This has nothing to do with health and much to do with insurance company profits.

Idle Hands:  While you are sitting around not finding work, why not give some thought to a nice vacation – airlines and hotels are offering really good deals and you're not doing anything anyway.

Good Question:  Why die for Karzai? Or for a pipeline?

Communal Housing:  So far Fannie and Freddie have taken $121 billion from the taxpayers. It's as though we the taxpayers have bought a million houses for our neighbors at $120,000 each. You going to the house warming?

New Data:  A new study suggests the percentage of carbon dioxide emissions absorbed by the earth and that going into the atmosphere has remained essentially the same for the last 150 years, even as the amount of CO2 emissions has climbed from 2 billion to 35 billion tons a year. Terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems apparently have a greater capacity to absorb CO2 than previously suspected. This research does not suggest how much longer this can continue. We've been lucky so far, but there must be some level at which the earth's systems will get full and force a much greater percentage of CO2 into atmosphere, accelerating the greenhouse effect.

I'll Drink to That:  British wineries have resumed making red wines, a practice they abandoned 600 years ago when the climate got too cool. Warmer springs and milder autumns in recent years are credited, avoiding any suggestion that the climate is actually warming.