Investing — or Squandering — “the Energy Dividend” “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” –Stanford economist Paul Romer In the early ’90’s, politicians referred to the savings from reduced defense spending — made possible by the end of the Cold War — as “the Peace Dividend.” Thanks to the crashing price of oil (plus...Read More
One Size Doesn’t Fit All While energy sources like sunlight and wind are free and naturally replenished, converting them into large quantities of electricity requires vast amounts of natural resources ” most notably, land. –Robert Bryce, “The Gas is Greener“; The New York Times (6/7/2011) My Midwesterner’s reaction to Bryce’s piece? “So, what’s the problem?”...Read More
Perverse Incentives See that bum on the sidewalk? He’s worth $500 million more than I am. I owe $500 million — and he’s just broke. –Donald Trump, in less heady times The first rule of holes: when you’re in one — stop digging. –Thomas L. Friedman What prompts the above anecdotes isn’t the lack of a coherent, intelligent...Read More
