Tag Archives | regulation

The EPA and fracking.

By on April 23, 2012 in General Discussion, Politics, Science

The EPA recently announced it’s first air pollution regulations of the fracking industry, the process by which chemicals and water are injected into the ground to expand fractures in rock to permit the capture of natural gas. This has been well received by environmental groups since fracking can release greenhouse gasses and benzene into the air. [...]

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Religious Exemptions

By on March 1, 2012 in General Discussion, Human Behavior

I keep seeing conservatives trying to argue that religious-affiliated organizations shouldn’t have to provide contraception coverage in their healthcare plans (or, rather, that their healthcare insurers shouldn’t have to provide it, in light of the Obama compromise).  I think this whole line of argument requires a rather limited view of what religious views would need [...]

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Rogoff on the food industry

By on February 2, 2012 in Economics, General Discussion, Human Behavior

On the sidebar at Project syndicate is a nice article by Ken Rogoff, the economist at Harvard, entitled Coronary Capitalism. I found the following illuminating:   Consider the food industry, particularly its sometimes-malign influence on nutrition and health. Obesity rates are soaring around the entire world, though, among large countries, the problem is perhaps most [...]

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The Arab Spring and The Financial Crisis: The Common Thread

By on November 9, 2011 in Economics, Human Behavior, International affairs, Politics

This is in response to Diogene’s argument that the revolt against Gadhafi in Libya was somehow ‘manufactured’ by America. The May/June 2011 issue of ‘Foreign Affairs’ had a series of articles on the ‘The New Arab Revolt’, with subtitles of ‘What Just Happened’, ‘Why No One Saw It Coming’, ‘What It Means’, and ‘What Comes [...]

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Poster children for the need for regulation.

By on October 3, 2011 in Politics

It is a bit ironic that the Koch brothers, two people who hate government regulation of any sort should turn out to be poster children for the need for government regulation but it looks like they might. From Bloomberg News. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-02/koch-brothers-flout-law-getting-richer-with-secret-iran-sales.html The piece focuses on how Koch industries engaed in trade with Iran, and fired [...]

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