Economic growth and investment has shifted considerably towards India and China over the past few decades – that’s no secret. But to what extent is all the hype (ex. the RMB will be the major international reserve currency by 2020) accurate? It’s hard to predict what the future will look like between all the prophecies […]
Marty McFly, post-materialism, and the FUTURE! (of American growth).
I was watching Back to the Future 2 (the one that actually takes place in the future) in my pajamas last weekend, and after tuning in and out, began to pay attention when Marty asks – “Tell me about my future. I know I make it big, but do I become, like, a rich rock […]
What Obama needs to say on gas prices
I think there’s a real lack of progressive engagement with the most pressing issue to most people – gas prices. For people working 40 to 60 hours a week, looking for jobs, feeding their families, the latest EPA MACT rule isn’t even on their radar. They care about gas prices, which are really cutting into […]
Decline and displacement by authoritarian China
I saw this article while going through the news this afternoon: IMF bombshell: Age of America nears end And it’s a lot closer than you may think. According to the latest IMF official forecasts, China’s economy will surpass that of America in real terms in 2016 — just five years from now. It provides a […]
Pace of innovation accelerating in Clean Tech
I came across these two articles demonstrating the rapid pace of technical improvement in clean energy. In spite of all the bad news from the debt deal (funding cuts for clean energy research), at least we’ll see returns from previous investments. A lot of the breakthroughs below come from innovation in academic settings. More and […]
From this week’s New Yorker
“But if, in the debt-limit scramble, the President has been a less effective educator and negotiator than many of his supporters wish he would be, his Republican opponents, in thrall to their Tea Party Jacobins, have been reckless and irresponsible beyond imagining.” Hendrik Hertzberg, Talk of the Town.
DoD tolerates human trafficking and foreign national abuse on US bases
I’m reading Sarah Stillwell’s article in the June 6th issue of the New Yorker. She spent months interviewing foreign workers on American military bases abroad. The Pentagon issues logistics contracts to big companies like Halliburton and Fluor that subcontract to smaller foreign companies. These companies then contract with recruiting firms in poor countries in Africa and South […]
USA Today blasts climate deniers
USA Today isn’t known for being a hugely political paper. It usually reports the news right down the middle and doesn’t get called out on Fox News for being part of the “Mainstream Liberal Media” cabal. Which is one of the reasons it was the number one newspaper by circulation until last year (since eclipsed […]
Wind and Solar among top ten thriving industries – WSJ
According to the Wall Street Journal, Wind and Solar are among the top ten thriving industries in America. The wind industry grew at 17% in the last decade and Solar grew at 2.7%, but they’re forecasted to grow at 11.2% and 7.9% respectively in the next six years. Sector Revenue 2010 (in millions) Growth 2000-2010 […]
Cleantech saves soldiers’ lives
The military is the one area where government spending on R&D is tolerated by the GOP. Republicans tried to gut the Department of Energy’s hugely successful ARPA-E program during the last budget fight, but left DoD’s DARPA virtually untouched. But Defense is picking up the slack by demonstrating a practical application of clean energy: to […]