Roughly the TRUTH

The inconvenient truth of rapid economic growth: Third of China ‘hit by acid rain’

Natural law tells us that for every action we take, there is a consequence…problem is, common sense isn’t always common practice. Just last month the Chinese government and it’s citizen’s were probably most optimistic about their new agenda to offset a brewing environmental catastrophe with a $175bn protection plan - unfortunately, there are cumulative effects from our actions as well.

Emissions of sulphur dioxide - the chemical that causes acid rain - were double the safe level, the report said. In some areas, rainfall was 100% acid rain, it added.

If there’s a silver lining to this, hopefully it will be a renewed push towards alternative, clean energy sources. The industrialized nations have been stoking this fire for decades - only recently it’s helped to create disasters like Hurricane Katrina, global terrorism and an economy which hangs by a thread - unless change is made quickly, I’d hate to see what’s ahead.

I just hope we learn our lesson before it’s too late.

On The Table: Oil, Price Gouging, Hurricanes, Terrorism, War and Peace…

The party is over, we drank too much and now it’s time to head home. As extremists inch closer to nuclear armament, the west will need to re-think it’s disfunctional relationship with energy. Oil prices reached an all-time high this week - over $74 per barrel - and the threat of another nuclear dictatorship has become a very real possibility; our addiction to mid-east oil just got extremely expensive.

With our economy under threat, the military over-stretched and the irreversable danger of global warming looming, many Americans are convinced our policy is pushing us in the wrong direction. Fortunately, an unlikely advocate for change has appeared.

This rogue group of xenophobes has taken matters into their own hands. Concerns over waning power is fueling their effort to send shockwaves around the world. “Who” you ask is this unintentional ally…it’s none other than the Islamic Republic of Iran.

There is an end in sight…an unintended consequence of our sworn enemy’s actions could very well turn into the catalyst which is to help America clarify a way out of the deep hole we’ve dug ourselves into.

Going back to our old partying ways is a bad idea, and the expense may be just too much to bear. Will $100 per barrel be the breaking point? Right now I’m hoping some of our political leaders are secretly attending weekly GA (Gasaholics Anonymous) meetings…If not, it might just be time for us to stage an intervention.

Related Links:
Car makers ‘failing’ on climate
US fuel crunch worsens
Oil’s top brass talk prices at summit
Bush promotes hydrogen-powered cars on Earth Day
G7 warning over rising oil prices
US looks to private sector to fix greenhouse pollution
Green mini-car to beat congestion

Did anyone seriously think this would last forever?

Many recent home buyers bet the house (literally) on expectations of continued low interest rates and dramatic appreciation gains. Many believed that a new market reality was emerging. This was due in large part to factors associated with ‘globalization.’ Here the prevailing wisdom said that greater liquidity in capital markets would put a cap on inflation concerns and that low rates would persist ad infinitum. Wow; they couldn’t have been more wrong. Energy, massive federal debt, and politically destablizing factors were somehow left out of this equation. Here are a couple of thorough articles that may finally help put this argument to rest (you can tell that ‘PIMCO’ - in the first article - has a good deal of experience here):

Bond giant makes ‘good case’ for real estate slowdown

Foreclosure Inventory Up Drastically, Report Says

I couldn’t have said this better myself…in fact, I probably wouldn’t have even come close. If you’re in a pinch there are a number of resources I’d like to recommend…I’ll discuss those in a later post though.

[UPDATE: 03.02.2006]

The evidence mounts: Home-price growth hits the brakes

A Timelime of Events - Post-State of the Union

January 31st
Heartened by some of the ideas put forth in the President’s state of the union address, I’d been eagerly awaiting some follow-up. Arab oil producers - those relying on the U.S. addiction to remain in power - provided it. Voicing their concerns to the administration on the ensuing day; the Whitehouse confided that the president was only speaking “metaphorically,” their understandable tension was - at least for now - temporarily allayed.

February 17th
The problem persists…but as of last week, we have unexpected cause to thank Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez. His confrontational statements (Chavez warns US on oil after Rice remarks) have brought the critical issue of this energy challenge back into the spotlight. I expect this scenario to repeat as tension with Iran and other oil producing countries rise.

February 20th
Caught in a pickle, the administration faces some tough decisions ahead. Either bow to the foreign powers who threaten our national security, or endure the economic pain that a shift away from this dependency would create. Bush should know better than most; his struggles with the bottle have likely given some good perspective on what it’s like to break an addiction. Reiterating ideas from the SOTU, Bush was again in the news today following a speech in Wisconsin (Bush: US must not be “hostage” to foreign oil).

Thoughts & Analysis…
Elements and repercussions of such a policy shift are potentially more far reaching and, by my measure, more beneficial than even the points brought up by the president. Implications of an independent energy initiative could bring a wealth of benefits to the stability of the entire planet. Thomas Friedman agrees (I’ll post a video of him speaking to this at a conference as soon as I figure out how). He also recently discussed this on The Charlie Rose Show in December. You can download it here on video.google.com for $0.99.

Even More Benefits:
Environment - It’s easy to see how alternative energy sources would help here. Recent studies (see 60 Minutes Report) suggest the situation is in fact much more dire than previously thought.Education - More scientists and engineers will be needed in order to attain such a goal. While building competencies in these areas through school reforms, we’ll also be addressing America’s failing scores among the world’s developed/ing nations. This also, of course, leads to a narrowed gap between the rich and poor, as well as an improved economy.

Economy - Imagine how valuable this sort of technology would be for developing nations. Low cost, efficient & renewable sources of energy that could drive their growth and development while giving billions of people an opportunity to live healthier, happier and more productive lives.

Equanimity - A greater balance of power might have some concerned, but this would certainly bring about more peace & stability to societies throughout the world as well as diminishing feelings of betrayal and mistrust.

The limited availability & high cost of energy is truly the great scourge of our time. Like Thomas Friedman, I would be a fervent advocate of any politician who ran on such a platform. I’ve also heard that this author of, “The World is Flat” and “The Lexus & The Olive Tree” is working on another book to cover these ideas in detail. I’m certainly looking forward to reading it and hope that it will gain some major political traction. I shudder to consider the alternative. This won’t be an easy task and will take a strong willed public to delay the gratification; but what thing that is worthwhile is ever truly easy to accomplish?

“China-like” economic policies have been prosed by the U.S. Congress in order to combat percieved “complicity in [China’s] human rights abuses.” How ironic…read this article to find out more:
Top News Article | Reuters.com :: Congress grills Internet execs on China policies

In the digital world, free speech reigns…even in China.

Bill Gates recently spoke out to defend Google’s filtering of content to appease the Chinese government. In his defense of Google’s actions, Gates stood with his arch-rival noting that the benefits of a more open dialogue within the nation of China as well as with the outside world would promote engagement & help prevent further censoring. I’d even take this a step further, noting that there are multiple ways around such content filters; as soon as someone creates one, a smarter guy comes along and finds a way around it.

Freedom of expression is a hot topic these days. The cartoons published in Denmark, the “dishonest” discourse railed against by the Bush Whitehouse, and the FCC’s crusade against “indecency.” We need only look to the past to remind ourselves what similar debates have yielded. The question is now, have we learned anything?

Debating how these issues relate to the past would take a lenghty oration, so in the interest of space & time, I’ll be sticking with the subject in the title…

Thomas Friedman’s best seller, “The World Is Flat,” wonderfully documents how the emergence of capitalism, coinciding with new technologies that gave birth to the internet, have put the reality of globalization into hyperdrive. International governments are now facing a flurry of new issues as a result. Labor laws, trade pacts, tariffs, and diplomatic relations; just to name a few of the headliners that political movements around the world must deal with. Some of these movements focus on resisting this change via a policy of isolationism, while others are bravely embracing this new world. Who will prevail?

Resist as they may, this burgeoning reality will be quite difficult to quell. The political issues involved in such discussions evoke a great deal of emotion in both sides; those that see this new world as a threat, as well as those who see it as an opportunity to increase knowledge & freedom for all. The very nature of these new technologies is what is has taken away the power from politicians & governments while actually delivering it to the individual end user. Economically speaking, this applies as well, where there is money to be made (an unmet demand for a good or service), someone is bound to step up to the plate and deliver (supply).

Just as African slaves did in early America, as Jews did in Nazi concentration camps, and as repressed people do all over the world today; they innovate. People in China will do the same; only now, they will have a communications tool which gives them a voice that is far more wide reaching than ever before, the internet.

UPDATE: 02.09.06

Google’s most recent go at censoring the content their Chinese site can be found here at Consumerist.com …Interesting.