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Selasa, 08 Februari 2011

Complacency Is the Main Danger in Regard to Climate Change

There is little to gain in reducing greenhouse gases if farmers are continually hammered by floods and cyclones, even if carbon output is the cause of these events. It might seem logical to lessen gas emissions thus eliminating some cyclones and floods, but with no profit not much can be done.

Improving the digestion of cattle will help farmers generally, though such research by the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre seems to be not the ideal project to work on. Determining how high carbon levels impact on wheat quality is more relevant and could help if climate change becomes permanent.

Bodies such as the Climate Challenges Centre can be useful if they are well targeted. It needs to get on with the job. Australia's economy cannot sustain continual buffering from climatic extremes. Furthermore, other countries will surely get bad weather as well without a worldwide change in the way we live. Even Russia is getting extreme summers and winters. No country can avoid damage in the long term.

Mankind is at crisis point. Looking around at people you would not know this. Complacency is probably the greatest danger we face.

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Jumat, 24 Desember 2010

The Days of the US Dollar as World Currency Are Numbered

With the US printing paper dollars by the truckload the American currency cannot remain the world's gold standard. Can something akin to gold be created to act as the measure of value for world trade? China's call for a new stand alone currency for international trade will not work. The difficulties of the Euro has highlighted this. Putting the world's "strong" currencies in a pot with gold then calculating out a value for transactions is also problematical. Wouldn't this be a partial return to the gold standard?

The gold standard worked for a long time mainly because is was a scarce commodity and new finds of the mineral were increasing the gold "pot" at about the same rate as the world growth in trade. A new gold standard would probably not work now because there would be a rush to invest in gold companies which could flood the market.

This would not solve the problem of nations openly trying to weaken their currency to gain a market edge. Quantitative easy by the US is a case in point. The US Treasury bought up securities to increase the money supply. This could still be done with a gold standard.

As time passes people will lose confidence in the US dollar. This is inevitable as the US tries to pull the economy out of recession. China's dominance in low-cost labor industries will not last, but things will not improve for the US as cheap-labor industries move to other less-developed Asian countries. The US cannot turn the clock back. Like Britain, it has had its day in the industrial limelight.

The sun will truly set on US hegemony when the national deficit will finally have to be paid. Many countries beside the US will be in trouble then, particularly the ones issuing bonds in US dollars.

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Jumat, 17 September 2010

Can City Sanitary Systems Stand Up to Fat People?

The fattest people in the world are Americans closely followed by Australians. This is not true. Bahrain has the fattest women. Even in that country fat people are looked down upon. They have a high risk of getting many life-threatening diseases. I don't want to be rude but women in Islamic states do tend to be on the large side. Perhaps this is due to the men not wanting them to be attractive to other men. Maybe Australian wives are fat because their husbands take the same view.

New research has shown that fat people have lower activity in frontal lobes. This increases risk-taking behavior. Gambling apparently has a cause. Mass produced foods are causing behavioral change in societies. As developing countries adopt Western dietary habits their societies change as well. Preservatives and colorings are the main factors. High carbohydrate and protein diets are also detrimental. Gone are the days when women foraged for wild vegetables and berries while their men brought home meat once a week. Eating too much food definitely contributes to diabetes. This disease is rising as people eat, eat and eat.

A human being should only eat one meal a day. Many have four meals a day and eat between meals. Treat-taking is becoming the norm. When people do the weekly shopping they fill the trolleys with soft drinks, chips, chocolates and lollies. Rich, sweet deserts are popular. Your body can do without them. It is not a question of whether the health systems can stand up to this onslaught. In the long run city sanitary systems may not cope.

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Senin, 05 Juli 2010

Who Do We Owe Money To?

Everyone is in debt. That seems to be the case. But if we all owe money to whom are we indebted? Who are these fat cats who spend their days on the beach having cool drinks brought to them while they while away the time sunbathing?

If truth be known the money does not actually exist. It has been created in the books of independent and national banks. In centuries passed the local blacksmith acted as the bank. Gold, silver and promissory notes were left in his safe. He soon became aware that the "goods" left for safe keeping would not be taken out by the owner for a very long time, if ever. For storing the valuable minerals and promissory notes he gave promissory notes in return. This meant that he could create money. He could also give loans, a large part of which would return directly back because the debtor opened a new account.

When large private banks started, governments gave an assurance that a run on an institution would be protected by public money. We have seen how silly this concept has proved to be by the US and European governments bailing out private banks. Private debt has become public debt. This on top of the mushrooming private debt worldwide.

Much of Western debt is owed to China which buys US bonds. It is a mistake to believe that it wants the money back any time soon. If it did the world economy would grind to a halt. Then, who would buy its exports?

The real problem is economics. This social science is just theory. There are complicated models that do not apply to the real world, with demand and supply curves, meeting long term average costs and so on. Real business doesn't operate that way. There is not one model for cost plus 10 or 20 percent, or get it cheap and sell high until demand stops then throw the stuff out. That is how business really runs. Note the supermarkets, they don't cut the price of everything that doesn't sell. They would rather throw it away than sell it. After all, they make the supplier take the loss. Economic advisers have not helped one government to balance the books. And the advice they are giving now to raise taxes and cut spending will surely prolong the recession. Cutting debt is like turning the water tap down - someone has to go without! Let's be honest much of this debt will never be paid. It doesn't really exist.

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Sabtu, 06 Februari 2010

Australia Fails Tests to Meet Demands of the Modern World

A majority of Australians lack the minimum reading, writing and problem-solving skills to cope with life in the modern world. Just under half of Australians struggle to understand the meaning of newspaper and magazine articles or documentation such as maps and payslips. Over half failed the minimum numeracy and problem solving tests. The US rated much worse when the tests were applied to Americans. Switzerland and Norway did better. In Australia, women were stronger at understanding written material than men, but males were better at understanding documents such as maps and dealing with problems of numeracy.

The Australian government has not improved the education system over the last decade to meet changes in societal demands. It is an opportunity missed. If you don't make relevant public education interesting, exciting and a way to get into the modern world, you will slip back - and that's what's happening to Australia. We will look back over the last 10 years and realise with some horror how much we overemphasised the value of the individual and overlooked the common denominators in our society.

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