In an earlier post, I argued that people need to better appreciate that dollars are fungible (see here and here). Why is it important to understand that dollars are fungible? A case in point is the new American enthusiasm for turning food into fuel. Consider this report from Fortune Magazine:…
“The free market–the invisible hand–will take care of everything.”
I’ve addressed this topic of the free market as alleged panacea several times before. I’ve referred to this blind faith in the market as unsubstantiated. I’ve mockingly referred to the common belief in the wisdom of the invisible hand as a belief in the Fouth Person in the Holy Quartet. Why mock? Because stark shortages of critically important natural resources loom in every direction. And yet we’re in denial. You deny the denial? Then how is it that we tolerate, this year, big U.S. metropolitan areas like Raleigh-Durham and Atlanta had only a few weeks left of their municipal water supplies? We tolerate that we are drawing down unreplenishable water sources throughout the desert southwest. Intelligent civilizations don’t deny such dangers. They consciously deal with their problems.
I’ve just read a well-phrased description of why the modern version of the free market can’t save us from our problems regarding impending shortages of essential natural resources. The following quote is from a new book available free on-line from Population Connection: PLAN B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, by environmental analyist, Lester R. Brown (2008).
…Now with the economy as large as it is, the indirect costs of burning coal—the costs of air pollution, acid rain, devastated ecosystems, and climate change—can exceed the direct costs, those of mining the coal and transporting it to the power plant. As a result of neglecting to account for these indirect costs, the market is undervaluing
The March 2008 addition of Consumer Reports contains an article called "Nine Ways to a Longer Life." There's lots of common sense advice, such as get enough sleep, exercise and don't smoke. There is also some less-obvious good advice, including the need to eat the right kind of fat. For instance, the…
I learned of the issue of "downer cows" by reading a report on Common Dreams: You wouldn’t think you could “spin” a video that shows slaughterhouse workers electric shocking downer cows, “water boarding” them, jabbing their eyes with herding paddles and ramming them with forklift blades while they squeal in…
Many of them eat much the same food as you, but there are many differences too. This is a wonderful photo-essay published by Time. The Photographs, by Peter Menzel, are from the book Hungry Planet. The unvarnished facts speak loudly while you click through the series of photos. I found that viewing these…