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POPSWhy the rich are rich and the poor are poor "Judith: Will this help Joe the Plumber? ...You know — the one who is not named Joe, is not a licensed plumber, and would benefit from Obama's tax plan? Steve: Of course not. Your average plumber makes $48,000 a year. Apart from Mafia enforcers, no one named Joe the Plumber is rich. The bailout is designed to help Alexis the Investment Banker, Jason the Hedge Fund Manager, and Thatcher the Trust Fund Nitwit. Judith: And why should we should help them? Steve: This is the natural order of things. The rich, not the poor, should have money. Otherwise the rich wouldn't be rich and the poor wouldn't be poor. As we have witnessed, disturbing the natural order of things creates instability and leads to economic chaos. " by Steve Clifford
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POPSVampire Stealing Your Lifeblood Just walk around your house at night and look for all the tiny colorful leds that are shining from TV's, VCR/DVD players, and computers...do a simple energy audit.
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POPSThe Rapture Can't Happen Soon Enough The Lord told me to clip this. :) The Rapture Index (omens portending the Rapture) stands at 163, the highest it's been since September 11, 2001 when it peaked at its all-time high of 182. I don't know what the numbers mean either. But I'm not making this up. Anyway, I'm not worried about 'the Rapture' one little bit... Jesus , he knows me. ;)
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POPSSchwarzenegger to the rescue of homeowners I have to say, i think this guy has been an awesome governor. I love how aggressive and ballsy he is. Especially love his approach regarding the environment and alternative sources of energy. I wish he could run for president.
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POPSDon't think so much, French government says!
Laissez-moi réfléchir...s'il vous plaît :roll: "This is the sort of thing you can hear in café conversations from morons who drink too much," said Lévy, who is so famous in France that he is known simply by his initials, BHL. "To my knowledge this is the first time in modern French history that a minister dares to utter such phrases. I'm pro-American and pro-market, so I could have voted for Nicolas Sarkozy, but this anti-intellectual tendency is one of the reasons that I did not." "Lévy said that Lagarde was much too selective in quoting de Tocqueville and suggested that she read his complete works. In her leisure time." "The satirical weekly Le Canard Enchainé, meanwhile, mocked Lagarde for praising the sheer joy of work and quoting Confucius's oft-cited line, "Choose a work that you love, and you won't have to work another day." "Such "subtleties have escaped the cleaning lady or the supermarket checkout clerk," a commentary in the newspaper said Wednes
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POPSMillions of Missing Birds, Vanishing in Plain Sight "In our everyday economic behavior, we seem determined to discover whether we can live alone on earth. E.O. Wilson has argued eloquently and persuasively that we cannot, that who we are depends as much on the richness and diversity of the biological life around us as it does on any inherent quality in our genes. Environmentalists of every stripe argue that we must somehow begin to correlate our economic behavior — by which I mean every aspect of it: production, consumption, habitation — with the welfare of other species. This is the premise of sustainability. But the very foundation of our economic interests is self-interest, and in the survival of other species we see way too little self to care. We look around us, expecting the rest of the world’s occupants to adapt to the changes that we have caused, when, in fact, we have the right to expect adaptation only from ourselves."
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POPSWarm weather gasoline: less bang for your buck? Does paying for fumes have you fuming? "Almost a century ago, the industry and regulators agreed to define a gallon of gasoline as 231 cubic inches (3,785 cubic centimeters) at 60 degrees F (15.5 degrees C). But as the mercury rises and gasoline expands, it takes more than a gallon of gas to produce the same amount of energy as a regular gallon in colder weather.U.S. gas retailers ignore the temperature swings and always dispense fuel as if it is 60 degrees F (15.5 C). As a result, gas is an average of about 5 degrees F warmer than the federal standard"
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POPSThe truth about recycling Far too much valuable info here to fit in a clip, so go to the source for interesting discussions of the history of recycling, current status, innovations and concerns about what happens to recyclables being shipped to China and other developing nations. China is now the largest importer of recyclable materials in the world! The explanation of how single stream collection of recyclables works is fascinating. I was not aware of all the new technology being employed to sort and separate recyclable materials. The section on the future of recycling discusses the need for product design to take into account recycling of the product materials to create "closed-loop" cycles where there is no waste. Sustainable packaging emphasizes the use of renewable, recycled and non-toxic source materials to benefit the environment and cut costs. Wal-Mart is jumping on this bandwagon. "Waste is really a design flaw."
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POPSCall for G8 to help stem corruption in Africa: Zambia President Mwanawasa's administration is promoting private sector development for third world countries, but needs help to stop corrupt leaders from stealing the aid and other monies needed for development. This is something that has frustrated me for a long time. So much money has been given to aid African countries, with the goal of delivering food, water, healthcare and education to the people and hopefully help them become self-sufficient, yet time and again corrupt "leaders" steal the money. When I read this news article today I was relieved to learn that ethical leaders in Africa are also frustrated by the corruption, and that they are trying to find ways to thwart it. Hopefully the G8 have the ethics needed to heed the plea and do the right thing.
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POPSExactly the Wrong Response to Caplan I absolutely agree that there is a difference between economic rationality and something like good judgment, but child labor and minimum wage laws (and every other real check on the market) come not from the better angels of our natures, but from the stubborn struggle of the workers, and the fear of that struggle among the decision-making elites. The moralistic rejoinder to free market ideologues is liberal in the bad sense--fuzzy headed wishful thinking.
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POPSPoliticians weighing renewal of Net access tax ban Another reason to pay close attention to politics; as the saying goes, we can't avoid death and taxes, but we can be more aware of how they are forced upon us unnecessarily by politicians. Unnecessary death by war, poverty, guns...and unnecessary taxes on Internet access. Is nothing sacred? Regarding sales tax on online purchases, shouldn't they be based upon the sales tax rate in the seller's location rather than that of the buyer, as if the buyer physically went to the seller to buy the item?
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POPSGas prices pose risk to economy Soon there will be no place to hide from reality. Denial will no longer be possible, and, perhaps, some more intelligent personal and political decisions will be made.
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POPSFlags of the world, given new meanings Very clever idea... Using UN statistics, an artist has attached "legends" to some of the world's flags such that the area filled by each color represents some statistic about that country. If you look at it, it'll make sense.
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POPSMore carbon emission from greenhouses than planes? : food miles debate global economy versus carbon emissions Tesco is threatening to reduce the amount of horticultural produce they import from Kenya due to carbon emissions concerns and Kenyan businesses are worried that other EU retailers will follow suit. The Kenyan claim is that more carbon is emitted from greenhouses than from airplanes. "Environmental lobbyists want all food imported to be labeled so that consumers can be aware of the pollution caused by air transport." "The Kenya Flower Council ...would seek to avert the proposed labeling of products imported from developing countries." "labeling would join the long list of non-tariff barriers that most developing countries are fighting to eliminate through the World Trade Organisation (WTO)" "Over 150 countries are negotiating for a transparent and balanced global trade regime through the WTO."
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POPSGood news for vegans, bad news for meat-eaters One great result of the rising cost of corn due to rising demand for ethanol is that the price of meat will reflect the cost of the feed. If higher prices result in less demand for chicken, beef and pig flesh, then perhaps the conversion of feed to fuel will be worth it. Don't forget that eggs will cost more, too, since hens need to eat grain. And, oh yes, don't forget dairy products--the rising cost of feed for cows will cost us more for those, too. Vegans won't feel the pinch nearly as much. :-)
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POPSHow to Save the Middle Class from Extinction Krugman is correct in saying that this is not the middle class society that I grew up in! Maybe that's why so few people care much about "the two income family" just treading water to stay afloat.......the young families today don't have anything to compare their plight to.......they never lived in a society where one person could actually make enough money to keep his family in the necessities of life......those days are gone!
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POPSWhat India's IT visionaries strive for With the rise of knowledge-based technology industry the Indian economy is growing stronger despite problems with lack of infrastructure. One other big problem is that in order to create enough jobs the manufacturing industry needs to grow as well. Religion and social class have a huge influence in this area. See article for an enlightening discussion of India's growing economy.
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POPSHow can America be America My son served in the Peace Corps, and now works for the Peace Corps. He served in Panama for two years. His pay and living expenses was about $300 per month. I was unable to help him out financially, so he made it on his own for the most part. He now works for Peace Corps headquarters in Washington D.C., and has been in many different countries in the past several years.....some of which I can even pronounce the names, never mind understanding the geography. I know that his experiences has made him a better American Citizen, and a better human being. I am one proud father! If you are interested in the places he has been and the people and cultures he has experienced, go to www.webshots.com .....the screen name is "schreibe" the pictures are availabe for public view. The number of "views" average about 500 per week. Or, just look up a county ie "Suraname"
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POPSAwesome research/ Homework resource I only found this the other day and mostly I'm clipping it for my own uses; however, it's a great resource and I thought I'd share. The site itself has pretty cool info too. 'Hope you guys like the clip.
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POPSThe Oil We Eat Tremendous thought piece on the inefficiency of our food production systems and the resulting ecological and societal costs. Author: Richard Manning
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POPSSan Francisco ups minimum wage to $9.14 an hour Good news for minimum wage workers in San Francisco! Six states increased their minimum wage as of January 1st. Twenty-three states mandate a higher minimum wage than the federal government. Federal minimum wage is STILL unchanged since 1997--a pitiful $5.15 per hour. Disgraceful.
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POPSGrowing National Debt--Dire Warnings in the Caribbean From the source: "What has been bothering the Grenadian writer for some time is that borrowing for construction will only temporarily create employment. Instead borrowing for Fisheries and Agriculture are creative investments which will reap long term job benefits. "The Agriculture and Fishing Sector, through our Farmers and Fishermen; and the Tourism Sector, by assisting the Hoteliers and other Food suppliers with Restaurants - are the areas for foreign exchange earnings to service those huge debts to enable us to be Credit worthy.." In addition, he says, projects in these areas "cater for those thousands of young folks who are liming their lives away - with nothing to do of a worthwhile nature, and plenty time and opportunities to do wrong and illegal things..." From me: Good points made here. Obviously growing national debt is a big concern for many countries, not just the USA. The difference is that some of these other countries are questioning the reasons for their debt.
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