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Tag Archives: kurt cobb
GameStop: Why the elites hate peer-to-peer power
GameStop: Why the elites hate peer-to-peer power During Great Britain’s golden age of gambling, a Scot named William Cunninghame Graham—losing at cards, out of money, but not yet ready to quit for the evening—secured a loan of 1,000 pounds from a Colonel Archibald Campbell. Graham pledged as security the use of his estate to Campbell […]
The latest story of toxic deceit and delay: PFAS
The latest story of toxic deceit and delay: PFAS Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS—a group of persistent toxic chemicals often referred to as “forever chemicals”—are everywhere. Don’t take my word for it. Here is a list posted on the site of the U.S. Environmental Protection (EPA) agency: Food packaged in PFAS-containing materials, processed with equipment that used […]
Solar now ‘cheapest electricity in history’: How much will it matter?
Solar now ‘cheapest electricity in history’: How much will it matter? The International Energy Agency (IEA), the Paris-based consortium of 30 countries, has told us in its flagship World Energy Outlook 2020 that solar-produced electricity is now the “cheapest electricity in history.” That seems like very good news, that is, until the actual expected impact of that […]
The priest, the engineer and the economist
The priest, the engineer and the economist I was exchanging economist jokes over the holiday and heard this one that seemed apropos both to our resource predicament and the seeming abundance of the holiday season: A priest, an engineer and an economist were stranded together on a desert island. Given their location, fish seemed to […]
Mobility is NOT a business: Why the pandemic-induced collapse of mass transit should concern us all
Mobility is NOT a business: Why the pandemic-induced collapse of mass transit should concern us all People have always needed to get from here to there whether by foot, by horse, by ship, by train, by car, by bus or by plane. Civilization DEPENDS on the mobility of humans and the produce they cultivate and […]
Low prices batter oil industry (and later the rest of us)
Low prices batter oil industry (and later the rest of us) It is a sign of the times that the largest oil company in the world, Saudi Aramco, the state oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, must borrow money to pay its shareholder dividend. I have written about the twice-delayed and often troubled initial public […]
Ransomware attacks and biodiversity: A possible lesson from nature
Ransomware attacks and biodiversity: A possible lesson from nature As I read about recent ransomware attacks on hospitals, I was reminded of a seemingly unremarkable event years ago when I was still using a computer with the Windows operating system. I was working with a medical doctor turned medical IT specialist. His preferred operating system—though […]
Do you own your own face?
Do you own your own face? The question of whether you own your own face may not be as clear as you might think. Companies are already buying and selling information worldwide based on facial recognition technology. In January of this year I proposed that the United States adopt a constitutional amendment which would give each person ownership of […]
Scavenger or thief: The line will continue to blur
Scavenger or thief: The line will continue to blur The role of scavenger in nature is to find that which others have discarded or which no longer has life. Vultures are the best-known example of a species that lives off the dead carcasses of other animals. Many insects act as scavengers as well. Human scavengers go […]
Why am I feeling so anxious? The end of modernism arrives
Why am I feeling so anxious? The end of modernism arrives A friend of mine quipped that it is one thing to talk about the end of modernism—as the two of us have been doing for over 25 years—and quite another to live through it. It might seem that such notions are far too abstract […]
The ‘new normal’ has been postponed (and probably canceled)
The ‘new normal’ has been postponed (and probably canceled) There remains a hope that once we get past the economic and social effects of the pandemic, all of us will be able to return to something resembling normal life before the pandemic—even if it is a “new normal” marked by heightened vigilance and protection against […]
Do we have room for a billion Americans?
Do we have room for a billion Americans? As I was reading Matthew Yglesias’ piece “The Case for Adding 672 Million More Americans,” the Soviet-era designation of Mother Heroine, initiated by Joseph Stalin in 1944, came to mind. Stalin and subsequent Soviet leaders gave Mother Heroine medals to mothers who bore and raised 10 or more children. Lesser […]
North Dakota blues: The legacy of fracking
North Dakota blues: The legacy of fracking When oil drillers descended on North Dakota en masse a decade ago, state officials and residents generally welcomed them with open arms. A new form of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” for short, would allow an estimated 3 to 4 billion barrels of so-called shale oil to be extracted […]
