We are sure as you can be that we are experiencing effects of global warming. Observed temperatures are in line or ahead of predictions from the Greenhouse Effect. We have been told many times that the main cause of that is emissions from burning fossil fuels. Clearly this is a problem that needs to be met head-on by replacing fossil fuels with renewables. Or does it?
Monthly Archives: September 2008
Capitalise the Profits. Socialise the Losses.
We have a good example of the difference between capitalist rhetoric and the reality. The US sub-prime mortgage disaster is a real disaster for the finance industry but only a problem for everyone else because they need the finance industry to do business.
Random thought for the day
“The Internet is a self perpetuating reason for technicians who actually hate real people to be given full-time employment fixing the things that they broke last week”
Wall St, we have a problem …
What is Governance? Government in so called democracies is about doing things for the people, of the people and by the people who are governed. At that level the accountabilities are with the Parliament, Senate, House of Representatives or whatever local variation exists. This is largely based on ancient Greek and Roman models with the major innovations being in the areas of how people get elected (see Democracy). Governance of Public Administration is also relatively easy to understand. If Public/Civil Servants are to serve the people they must server the Government and still do the right thing, personally and for the greater good. Failed States fail mainly for poor administrative Governance. That is what allows them to continue to do what has previously failed to succeed until failure is irretrievable. What about Corporate Governance? I mean this in the sense of Companies and large Non-Government Organisations such as major charities. This is where the waters become muddy … Berings Bank, Enron, the NAB foreign currency trading scandal, the Japanese Banking collapse and now Bear-Sterns, the Mac-Mae twins, Merrill-Lynch, AIG and Lehman Brothers. Why can this happen? Continue Reading →
Crisis? What crisis?
Crisis managers are good at managing crises. Therefore they will start to become stressed when there is no crisis to manage. Smooth running organisations are not their thing. Ones where they have to intervene often are the way they like it. Why do we let them do it? Continue Reading →
Oil Crunch
Back in the mid 1970’s there was a group called “the Club of Rome” who wrote some papers that showed how exponential growth would cause the depletion of natural resources by about the year 2020 and probably by 2050, even if growth slowed. Where are we now?
When you vote you cannot avoid voting for politicians
There are two ideas going around as to where the word politician came from.
1- polis. the Greek word that refers to those who seek to influence public opinion. This is by far the most reputable idea, so I will ignore it :p
2 – Polit. To lie. I cant find any reference in any reputable book so I would like to offer this (frequently stated) explanation. It is supposed to come form Rome where “to polit” was to lie by pretending to tell people the things that they already know. This has also been called “The Big Lie” when referring to Nazi and Stalinist rhetoric.
Even if the second definition is totally made up, it is more true than not… witness the USA Presidential elections and the sad state of Australian politics for the past decade. Add to that what we have seen in Bejing, Tibet, Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkazia. They all show how “spin” is used to pretend that things are in some way comfortable to the audience being targeted while leaving the truth a long way behind.
When electing politicians, we usually get to choose from the least bad.