Category: economics

the end of global warming?

On By Rick McIn economics, health & fitnessLeave a comment

Climate change continues.

The endless cycles of Earth’s warming and cooling.

Has man or cow accelerated the rate of warming? … I’m not sure.

But I am sure that man nor cow will be doing much to reverse that damage any time soon.

An opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal explains why not much is going to be decided in Durban, South Africa next week:

The Great Global Warming Fizzle

… On Sunday, 2,232 days will have elapsed since a category 3 hurricane made landfall in the U.S., the longest period in more than a century that the U.S. has been spared a devastating storm. …

torturing and murdering seafood

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, food2 Comments

… apologies for all the (delicious) dead animals on this blog of late. Yet here are more creatures put in pain for our pleasure.

I’d avoided the usual Japanese tourist “attractions” — fish markets … until Hokodate.

At that seaport it’s near impossible for a passerby to avoid the cruelty zoo.

Crabs and squid seem to object more strenuously than the rest.

The shark tried to make a run for it.

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Let’s say you believe in trying to reduce global warming. Like this guy:

… There’s not a single person who’s done more to fight climate change than Bill McKibben. Through thoughtful books, ubiquitous magazine contributions, and, most notably, the founding of 350.org (an international non-profit dedicated to fighting global warming), McKibben has committed his life to saving the planet. For all the passion fueling his efforts, though, there’s something weirdly amiss in his approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions: neither he nor 350.org will actively promote a vegan diet. …

… as a recent report from the World Preservation Foundation confirms, ignoring veganism in the fight against climate change is sort of like ignoring fast food in the fight against obesity. Forget ending dirty coal or natural gas pipelines. As the WPF report shows, veganism offers the single most effective path to reducing global climate change. …

read more on Freakonomics – Agnostic Carnivores and Global Warming: Why Enviros Go After Coal and Not Cows

Occupy Wallstreet explained by Calvin

On By Rick McIn economicsLeave a comment

People are angry at too big to fail corporations.

Yet protesters are having trouble explaining what they want changed. Perhaps this will help.

Click the image below to see the full cartoon explanation.

via Sly Oyster – Decades Old Calvin and Hobbes Strip Succinctly Explains Occupy Wall Street Movement

who is in debt?

On By Rick McIn economics3 Comments

Update: Warren still prefers to live in the red countries.
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I love seeing complex data presented in an easy to understand way.

Do you live in one of the RED countries? … RED is bad. 😦

Click through for even more detail – Economist magazine debt clock

Thanks Fedak.

Verizon paid less tax than they charged YOU last year

On By Rick McIn economics, government, product complaints3 Comments

Although Verizon paid less in income taxes than its average customer paid in phone bills, the company broke no laws. America’s corporations spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on lobbying, and they get a good return on their investments. They get tax loopholes — and plenty of them. Last year, Verizon shelled out $16.8 million to lobby federal lawmakers and another $18.7 million on contributions into the campaign accounts of their favorite federal politicians.

Obviously Verizon needs to charge customers MORE … so they can pay some corporate tax.

Read more on Consumerist.

I know that the USA cannot tax itself to fiscal balance. But it’s stupid to perpetuate a system where “25 out of the country’s 100 highest-paid chief executives actually earned more in 2010 than their companies paid out in corporate income taxes”.

Corporations and rich individuals should actually pay more tax.

economists on parenting

On By Rick McIn economicsLeave a comment

… What can economists possibly have to say about something as emotional, as nuanced, as humane, as parenting? Well, let me say this: because economists aren’t necessarily emotional (or, for that matter, all that nuanced or humane), maybe they’re exactly the people we need to sort this through. Maybe.

You may remember that we wrote a bit about parenting in Freakonomics; now we’ve put together an entire roundtable of economists to talk about a great many elements of child-rearing, with one essential question in mind: how much do parents really matter, and in what dimensions? …

New Freakonomics Radio Podcast: “The Economist’s Guide to Parenting”

All parents should listen to the audiocast linked above. It’s a shocker. They conclude that parents have remarkably little influence on how their children turn out.

The current research shows that parenting has little influence on a child’s educational attainment and on how much money the child will earn. Reading to your child doesn’t help, taking them to museums doesn’t help …

It does show that a parent can have a significant influence on whether your child smokes, is a heavy drinker, treats others with kindness and how happy your child is. Children with loving nurturing parents will be happier.

… But music lessons are simply a point of friction and unhappiness for both parent and child.

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The Economist’s Guide to Parenting: Full Transcript

Warren Buffett: Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

On By Rick McIn economicsLeave a comment

The world’s 3rd richest man:

… Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent. …

read more in the NY Times

Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his cleaning lady.

The mega-rich should pay higher taxes, certainly. But that’s only going to solve a tiny fraction of the American Debt problem.

… I only link to this as it’s so hilarious to hear Fox Business’s Eric Bolling ask:

… if Buffett, one of the great capitalists of all time, is “completely a socialist” …

Fox News – fair and balanced. 🙂

Right.

What Does a Gigabyte Cost?

On By Rick McIn economics, internet, product complaintsLeave a comment

In expensive Canada, about $0.07 / GB.

What does your ISP or Phone company charge YOU / GB?

In Canada, folks are charged as much as $10 per gigabyte. (Companies try to convince that there is a shortage of electrons traveling over wires or fibre. That’s a lie.)

Once the wires are in place, the cost for extra electrons is almost zero.

related – CNet – Are you overpaying for smartphone data?

about time – electronic textbook rentals

On By Rick McIn economics, education, good newsLeave a comment

… Students can already save a few bucks by opting for a digital version of a textbook over a hardcover, and they can now save even more courtesy of Amazon if they aren’t too intent on hanging onto the book after they’re done with it. The company has just announced textbook rentals for Kindle, which promises to let students save “up to 80 percent” off the list price of those often pricey textbooks. That discount varies depending on the rental period — which can be anywhere from 30 to 360 days —

… The National Association of College Stores estimates that U.S. college stores posted $10.25 billion in sales for the 2009-2010 fiscal year with each student spending $745 on average.

read more on Mashable

This is only the beginning of the end for the many ripoffs associated with the textbook industry, but at least it is a start.

SHAW does something right

On By Rick McIn economics, internet, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Internet service providers are normally sneaky, or downright evil. One of the most hated industries.

But SHAW in Canada is garnering a wee bit of praise in the Tech community for this:

“We’ve created a non-cap kind of regime. If you’re always going over, we’re going to ask you to go into a package that really fits you.”

The immediate result is that the download limits on existing plans will at least double, so that high speed jumps to 125 gigabytes from 60 and Extreme to 250 gigabytes from 100 at the current price.

The company will also offer a number of new plans that provide choice in download and upload speeds, as well as increased data limits, including two unlimited options.

Those will become available next month, with new additions rolling out over the next 16 months as the analogue to digital TV upgrade happens and capacity is created.

“It should provide sufficient choice for our customer” …

Shaw responds to public outcry over Internet pricing, increasing data limits

Those packages are still way over-priced. But it’s the right direction.

The BIGGER issue is whether or not SHAW and the other Canadian oligopoly carriers will be able to convince the new FREE ENTERPRISE Conservative government to stiffle competition …

Click PLAY or watch a CBC TV News feature on YouTube.