MGx - Musings, Essays & Ballads

Recognizing the importance of addressing the climate change crisis and reducing dependence upon foreign oil and gas, the US Department of Energy (USDOE) has launched an aggressive program aiming to meet 20% of America’s energy needs via wind by 2030. In conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the American Wind Energy […]

[Read more →]

[Read more →]

We are going to be hitting a few more rough spots

[Read more →]

Just as a point of interest, during my trek the last couple days to Yreka and back gas was $4.68 a gallon in that northerly California city. Thankfully I was able to wait and gas up again at Seven Feathers at $4.28 (gosh, what a savings) and the lowest price I saw was in […]

[Read more →]

A secret report written by Don Mitchell, a senior economist with World Bank, details the impact of government mandated use of biofuels and rising food costs and shortages.
“Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably and price increases due to other factors would have been moderate,” says the […]

[Read more →]

This past week heralded a stunning example of the dangers of designing an economic policy dependent upon outside resources. Just three days after Governor Kulongoski inaugurated the new $20M airport terminal and delivered a $624,000 check to build an air traffic control tower, Horizon Air announced they will cut service to Coos County.
One of […]

[Read more →]

From Rawstory a report predicts the cost of oil will rise to $200 a barrel — or $7 a gallon — in the next two years, CBS News reported Friday.

Families will be paying more for gasoline than food soon.

[Read more →]

In the wake of the horrific flooding in Iowa and the Midwest commodities traders are predicting a sharp increase in food prices across the nation. The floods, made worse by collapsed levees, devastated millions of acres of crops in an already shortened growing season but that is not the main reason for food price […]

[Read more →]

Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and Linda J Bilmes have done an exhaustive study on the real cost of the Iraq war. The book goes into great detail the costs to other nations and the impact on the global economy as well.
More importantly, it assesses the human cost in more […]

[Read more →]

The price of crude oil was approximately $25 a barrel just prior to the invasion of Iraq. Now we sit at $140 per barrel and the only people benefiting are the oil companies, OPEC and defense contractors.
Oil surged to a new record high on Monday of nearly $140 a barrel, propelled by weakness […]

[Read more →]

[Read more →]

[Read more →]

The NY Times reports today that the $4 per gallon national average price of gas has hit rural America the hardest.
Sociologists and economists who study rural poverty say the gasoline crisis in the rural South, if it persists, could accelerate population loss and decrease the tax base in some areas as more people move closer […]

[Read more →]

Now here is a lawman who recognizes the difference between serving his community and serving his masters. This lawman understands that it is possible to violate the spirit of the law and hurt a community when following laws to the letter.
With the economy soft and thousands of Philadelphians delinquent on their mortgages, Sheriff Green […]

[Read more →]

The price of oil is definitely the gremlin in the machine.
the Dow industrials shedding 395 points, after oil prices spiked more than $11 a barrel and the May jobs report showed a big jump in the unemployment rate.
Bond prices surged, as investors sought safety in government debt, while the dollar tumbled versus the yen and […]

[Read more →]