Ed Dowding

Category: Money

Finance, trade, economics, and what we think of as money.

Tired of ISMs?

YouTube – ISM Inspired by Slow Money.

Is there a useful time to have money?

I rail against money quite a bit, since the facts suggest that as it is currently structured it has ceased to be the servant of humanity’s needs. So consequently I’m not that fussed about having a lot of it, since why would I want to be part of the problem? But within this reasoning there ...

Earning vs making

Just to be very clear to anyone who makes a lot of money: there is a BIG difference between making money and earning money. There’s nothing wrong with earning lots of money, of course. Just be sure you spend it wisely. Tip: If you get more than £200,000 per year you could probably be running ...

Growth or no-growth?

Economic growth or no economic growth? Which way is best? As with most questions with only two allowed answers, the real answer is “almost certainly both, and neither.” We have plenty of resources, if only we were to use them properly. Whichever model we choose we have to start from where we are right now ...

The UK's renewable energy is a national shame

Here’s some figures for renewable power generation in 2006: 62.9% – Austria 48.7% – Sweden 29.9% – Portugal 17.1% – Slovak Republic 19.2% – Romania 17% – Denmark 12.4% – France 4.6% – UK In November 2009, Spain generated 53% of its demand from wind alone last week (it was a bit windy). So if ...

James Murdoch vs Reason

Murdoch is like a redneck with an AK-47 shooting wildly into a herd of BBC elephants. “These slow good for nothing beasts! Stomp all the grass for my cattle! HAHAHA!! BANG! BANG!! Take that, Dumbo!” But that’s all just opinions and metaphor. Numbers, let’s look at numbers. These put some perspective to Murdoch’s power grab. ...

Green Revolution in India Wilts as Subsidies Backfire

In the 1970s, India dramatically increased food production, finally allowing this giant country to feed itself. But government efforts to continue that miracle by encouraging farmers to use fertilizers have backfired, forcing the country to expand its reliance on imported food. India has been providing farmers with heavily subsidized fertilizer for more than three decades. ...

Ethical bottled water is an oxymoron

‘How Bad For The Environment Can Throwing Away One Plastic Bottle Be?’ 30 Million People Wonder All agreed that disposing of what would eventually amount to 50 tons of thermoplastic polymer resin wasn’t the end of the world. “It’s not like I don’t care, because I do, and most of the time I don’t even ...

A farm for the future

I finally got around to watching A Farm for the Future (available on Google Video) a few nights ago, and found it to be a great introduction to the concepts of permaculture. Key things to realise (some not from the programme): Current methods of farming will not continue to feed you during your lifetime. We ...

Nation Realizes Money Just A Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion

If only… As news of the nation’s collectively held delusion spread, the economy ground to a halt, with dumbfounded citizens everywhere walking out on their jobs as they contemplated the little green drawings of buildings and dead white men they once used to measure their adequacy and importance as human beings. Care of The Onion

Extra Ethical

via United Diversity

Good.is' most popular infographics of 2009

http://www.good.is/post/transparency-good-s-most-popular-infographics-of-2009/

Supermarkets are still totally lame

I don’t think anyone really needs much convincing over the unintended consequences of supermarkets (inner city decline, fewer jobs in retailing, etc), but they aren’t delivering the savings we think they do, either. The EC is currently investigating the failure of supermarkets to pass price cuts on to shoppers. The cost of butter has fallen ...

How valuable are you?

I really love the work of the New Economics Foundation. It’s clear that the amount we pay people does not correspond with the amount we value them (contrast teachers with stock traders, farmers with ad. execs). The NEF has gone on to calculate the real value of different professions. The report goes on to challenge ...

Royal Mail strikes – a postie's perspective

Edited highlights from an LRB article: ‘Figures are down,’ we chortle mirthlessly, as we load the third batch of door-to-door catalogues onto our frames, adding yet more weight to our bags, and more minutes of unpaid overtime to our clock. We get paid 1.67 pence per item of unaddressed mail, an amount that hasn’t changed ...

Heidi's Bar

An Easily Understandable Explanation of Derivative Markets Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit . She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with new marketing plan that allows her customers to ...

Money is getting in the way of progress

It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. Henry Ford (1863-1947), Founder of Ford Motors via Thomas Seidler

What Would Jesus Buy

At last, Europe has become interesting

We are at one of those moments in history when the challenges are international and the only means of dealing with them is at least on a regional level. […] [R]egions can and must supply the answers to all sorts of issues from the environment to the economy. If the world is to recover, then ...

Sacrifices on the alter of efficiency

“I discovered a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works. ” Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, 23 October 2008 I do love that quote. It’s to brilliantly demonstrative of the problem: “I thought the world worked like this. I was ...