More Thoughts On Copenhagen

Very inside the Beltway analysis but interesting. Read it here.

Don't Start Laughing -- What Agreement?

Well, I guess you could say the negotiations in Copenhagen ended with an agreement to agree?

Whatever.

Global Climate Change Talks

This is what the Global Climate Change talks in Copenhagen look like!

Warren Buffett's Train Set

Just in time for Christmas, Warren Buffett bought himself a railroad. Burlington Northern Santa Fe, a legendary rail line that helped "open up" The Grand Canyon and now provides freight hauling services throughout the country. One of BNSF's major customers are the coal fields of Wyoming and the great ports on the West Coast. This is a bold move by Buffett, who tends to acquire companies and hold onto them for a long time rather than churn for immediate shareholder profits.

It's also, Buffett said in his press release, a statement on his bullishness about the American economy.

Perhaps. But he is also obligated to make money for his shareholders and as we begin our national conversation about how we can change our lifestyles to slow down the rate of anthropogenic enhancements to global climate change, rail transportation will begin to figure prominently into the discussions about movements of goods and services. Trains are much more efficient at hauling freight than trucks, at least for long distances.

Some commentators have said this acquisition is about real estate. A number of years ago, Burlington Northern shed it's real estate division, Plum Creek, and the Santa Fe lines also did not have extensive holdings in the checkerboard lands deeded by the Federal Government in the late 1800s as a subsidy to the railroads for their expansions across the continent.

No, this is about wheels, rails, and locomotives.

Pretty cool train set.

Global Warming, Inc

I've had a love/hate relationship with Al Gore that stems back to the 1980s. Earth in the Balance was in many ways a phenomenal book, but it's optimism in technological solutions for disastrous environmental problems bothered me. There was no critical thinking about the environmental problems caused by technology.

And while I admire his emphatic and seemingly no-nonsense warnings about global climate change in Inconvenient Truth, I've always thought Tipper and he were a bit disingenuous promoting change in our life styles when their life style was rather, in my opinion, extravagant. I mean, how large of a house does one need, and I don't care if it's powered by coal, solar, or windmill. It's about consumption.

Plus, a little known fact about Gore, until today's article in the New York Times, is that he invests heavily in the technologies that he promotes will "save us" from global warming.

One of those technologies, smart meters, just received a huge grant from the Federal government. Metering of utilities has been around for a long time. It's one of the ways utilities figure out how much you owe them for water, natural gas, electricity. Smart meters are being sold to the public as a way for the consumer to determine when they are not using as much energy so they can spread their consumption around toward "off hours." But really, smart meters are a form of, well, er, intrusion. Currently, appliance manufacturers are installing in new appliances the ability for the appliance to "talk" with the electrical grid. The result of the "conversation," will be when your appliance turns on, for instance, when the dishwasher will operate. You wil no longer be able to just push the button. Smart meters will be able to tell the utility and frankly, at the risk of being paranoid, other agencies such as law enforcement, exactly when and how you're using energy.

Stop those indoor pot growers!

But seriously, it's a lot more intrusion than we are accustom.

But more importantly, Al Gore is making a lot of money off of his global warming warnings. Is that a good thing? What concerns me is his lack of, to use the over used word, transparency, on this. It's not like he stands up in his movie, or his speeches, gives his Power Point presentation, and then says: Oh, by the way, I've invested money and stand to make a lot of money in the very technologies I am advocating we all adopt.

Hmmm. Seems like a little bit of a conflict of interest to me.

Will Cap and Trade Work?

Before we all rush headstrong into cap and trade, it's time to pause and examine some of the basic premises. One of them is whether preserving forests far away from the emissions is actually impacting global climate change.

In a new report released today, Greenpeace is challenging the assumption that a power company (using coal for energy) in Indiana can purchase "rights" to a forest in Bolivia and all is then well with the coal plant's emissions. Countering the report are some conservation groups who have "adjusted their models," and believe preservation thousands of miles away will reduce carbon emissions.

Models are only as good as the inputted data and the analyst. And remember, models are what got us into the real estate/financial meltdown mess. Models are what always implodes the stock market. Models brought us clear cutting. We seem enamored with models, numbers, they appear oh-so scientific, so "sure." But, but, they really are only theories in numbers rather than narrative.

As we go onto the Next Big Issue after health care, global climate change, remember, be suspicious of models on all sides. Preservation of forests is a good thing, but will it help or is it a way for large scale emitters of carbon to absolve their responsibilities?

Ah, Finally Summer in New York

Finally, summer in New York. It reached over 90° in Central Park this afternoon. This whole summer I was beginning to wonder whether those hot, humid, and hazy summers would ever show up in the Big Apple.

All is right with the world.

China and the US Economy

News that a Chinese company may buy Hummer from GM along with Secretary of Treasury Geithner's comments that "China feels secure with the US economy," seems startling.  Several years ago a the Chinese government voiced it's interest in purchasing Standard Oil, the company started by John Rockefeller, but the idea was quashed by the government.  Now that we, the taxpayer, owns Hummer, along with the rest of GM, we may sell it to China.  

So let's see how this works.  The largest polluting country in the world purchases a large, gas guzzling car manufacturer.  Analysts say the company would be moved to China to sell Hummers to Chinese and Russians.  Adding, of course, more carbon into the air as well as consuming more oil.  Makes sense?

Then, of course, there is the comment by our own Secretary of the Treasury.  He went to China to assure them, our largest creditor, that we are solvent.  Think about that.  He did what thousands of home owners are having to do, call their mortgage company to tell them the check is in the mail!  

May we live in interesting times.

Dealing with Population Booms

2007 saw 4.3 million births in the United States, topping the greatest population increase in the 1950s.  In other words, we're increasing our population.  And that doesn't include increases from immigration.

Usually these kinds of topics are sensitive.  But population issues impact economics, culture, the environment.  For instance, if we're worried about how to pay Social Security and Medicare for the aging Baby Boomers, what are we going to do for this whole new generation?  

And, from an environmental standpoint, no matter what we try to do to reduce carbon emissions, frankly, increases in population increase our contribution to the human enhancements to global climate change.  More housing, more transportation, more food...

The news of the population increase was buried.  And the actual article focused on the high percentage of births by unwed mothers (40%) rather than the mind numbing idea that there are 4.3 million new Americans (not including immigration numbers).  

Where is the discussion about what are we going to do with this boom in relation to a life that seems to be going bust?