Archive for the ‘Economics’ Category
Posted by Ted Hopton on December 27, 2008
Like many people, I’ve been somewhat unclear exactly how we ended up with such a mess in the mortgage and housing market. I certainly grasped the broad outlines — people got greedy and made loans to people who never should have gotten them because those loaning the money knew they were going to sell those risky mortgages to others. But why did this happen now, and just how in the world did all the pieces fall in place to create this disaster?
Well, good old NPR has explained it all, clearly and simply. Take an hour to listen to this episode of This American Life and you’ll understand it, too: . It’s not only educational, it’s entertaining, too, as they have interviewed the people who actually made the loans and bundled the mortgages into securities. They’ve asked the questions we all want to ask, such as “What were you thinking?!”
Posted in Economics, Ethics, Human Interest | Tagged: money, mortgage crisis, NPR, the giant pool of money, this american life | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on June 25, 2008
I live in the country, in a cottage on a horse farm, and I love it. But I’m not surprised by the findings explained in this article:
Skyrocketing energy prices are inflating the costs of living on the distant edges of metropolitan areas.
One of the key changes that may also be accelerated is the shift to more telecommuting. That’s how I can manage my country lifestyle. If you remove your commute completely, or even several days per week, it has a tremendous impact on both time and costs. I’m surprised this angle was not mentioned in the article.
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Posted in Economics, Human Interest, Trends | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on June 23, 2008
As a long-time renter who has felt somehow inferior, I liked this column.
Why should ever-increasing homeownership be a policy goal? How many people should own homes, anyway?
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Posted in Economics, Politics | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on June 11, 2008
David Brooks makes sense, again, in this column.
The most rampant decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent norms about how to use and harness money.
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Posted by Ted Hopton on June 6, 2008
Paul Krugman’s column makes some points we have certainly heard before, but he also ties in a new perspective that is worth thinking about.
Everything that can be digitized will be digitized, making intellectual property easier to copy and harder to sell for more than a nominal price.
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Posted in Economics, Media, Trends | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on May 31, 2008
I got my first detailed, in-depth look at the problems of the industrial farming complex when I read Michael Pollan’s eye-opening book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma (which I highly recommend). This NYT editorial cites two reports, one by the Pew Charitable Trust and one by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
As new reports make it clear, the efficiency of industrial animal production is an illusion, made possible by prisonlike confinement systems.
Not only is the efficiency an illusion, it’s actually a disaster all around. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Animals, Economics, Environment, Ethics, Food, Health, Human Interest, Politics, Research | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on May 11, 2008
Farming has the potential to go through the greatest upheaval since the Green Revolution, bringing harvests that are more healthful, sustainable and flavorful.
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Posted in Economics, Environment, Food | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on May 1, 2008
It’s pretty funny that this reporter for the Huffington Post tried contacting all kinds of different experts to find anyone who would say the gas holiday proposed by McCain and Clinton is a good idea. He got no takers!
Over the past several days, some of the nation’s leading economic and political pundits have weighed in critically on the proposal of both Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain to institute a gas tax holiday this summer.
Frankly, you only need to understand Economics 101′s fundamental concept, supply and demand, to understand why the gas holiday won’t do anything constructive. And you just have to do the math to figure out how little extra money you might possibly have in your pocket, anyway, to realize that the benefits promised to consumers are minimal.
But if you understand American Politicians 101 even a little, it’s easy to see why McCain and Clinton have proposed this plan. It’s politics as usual.
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Posted in Economics, Environment, Politics, Trends | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
Ultimately, it is the consumer who will pay the greatest price if the federal government continues to prevent the local food movement from expanding.
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Posted in Economics, Environment, Health, Politics | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
Young urbanites, learning that dirt can also be soil, are using their Carhartts as originally intended.
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Posted in Career, Economics, Environment, Human Interest, Outdoors, Trends | Leave a Comment »
