Artwork: Ilargi The UK is set to embark on its second dash for gas. The first, beginning in the early 1990s, occurred when gas was first permitted to be used for power generation. Prior to that it had been considered a premium fuel too valuable to be used in this way. The regulatory change initiated a substantial building programme for combined cycle gas plants, fuelled by North Sea gas. Very quickly gas generation became a major component of baseload in
Read More...
Barack Obama has one last, fleeting chance of becoming known to posterity as a Great President. His first four years were nothing to write home about, but with the burden of seeking re-election gone, you could argue that he can now throw off the shackles that held him back – and down – since January 20, 2009, and at last show his true face and intentions. If he keeps up what he has done in his first term, Obama will
Read More...
Chaplin – "Modern Times": A story of industry, of individual enterprise – humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness Some of our readers have been wondering why we spend so much time covering the situation in Europe. The relevance of the European situation is not perhaps immediately obvious to those geographically far removed, with a temptation to ascribe the problems of the European periphery to locally-specific conditions. However, the global economy is exceptionally integrated, and what happens in one location
Read More...
It has taken a while, but now The Automatic Earth can proudly announce the release of our brand new 4 DVD set, A World of Change, featuring the lectures of Nicole Foss as she delivers them year round to audiences all across the world. There is one difference worth noting: on this DVD set the lectures are much more elaborate and comprehensive. Nicole never talks for over 4 hours in front of a live audience (the time limit is mostly
Read More...
“In the lack of judgment great harm arises, but one vote cast can set right a house” – Aeschylus (525 BC-456 BC) Image: Ilargi for TAE The EU is a morally bankrupt blind behemoth that, in a doomed attempt to survive, destroys everything around it just to keep itself standing. In that, it is hardly different from several incarnations of the 20th century politburos in Russia and China – and those are by no means the darkest comparisons that could
Read More...
Let me try to keep this short and still make the point I want to make. Lately, I've seen a huge amount of people talking about an economic recovery, certainly in the US, so much so that people who disagree with that assessment are labeled "doomer" or things like that. Again. It's an easy thing to do. I'll start with a graph from this New York Fed report. It depicts the – almost – 10-year development of US household debt,
Read More...
Science? Or Religion? I’ve said this before, but just in case: I have very little appreciation and/or patience for the field of economics and its practitioners. Labeling it "the dismal science" does it far too much honor in my view, since it's not a science at all. No more than psychology is, or anthropology, or beer brewing. Nothing that can't stand the falsifiability test Karl Popper left us is a science. Falsifiability is the dividing line between the real thing
Read More...
Definition of a lie: any not entirely accurate representation of the world as we perceive it; what's not spoken can be as crucial as what is. So yeah, people lie. They, we, all do. Some of us understand the extent to which this is true better than others, but that's probably just because we haven't all spent equal time wondering when it was we first started doing it. Let alone why. Interesting questions. After the fact, it's blindingly obvious why
Read More...
Disaster and Preparedness: How Well Are We Doing? Superstorm Sandy has been a devastating experience for many, and will continue to be so for a long time to come. Much of the damage will take weeks or months to repair, and some may take years. A myriad long battles with insurance companies are a given, as the available funds are unlikely to match the damage and there will be many arguments as to what is covered. The impacts are widespread,
Read More...
Here's what may be a useful angle to explain to people what is happening in Europe right now, and what's yet to come. It's not about Greece, which shoved another "Deal" through its besieged parliament this week, a deal that itself is also still under siege. It's not about Spain either, which managed to borrow a few billon more, enough to stay alive till Christmas, but sees its bond yields enter the land of ugly (yawn) again. We all know
Read More...