Discussing federal stimulus spending yesterday, a colleague and I were pondering how the New Mexico economy might go about absorbing the money the feds want to pump into it. One key question is the availability of a work force with the skills to build stuff. Some numbers, courtesy St. Louis Fed. The drop from the …
I have no reason to think Albuquerque will become a no-newspaper town, but the set of questions confronting civic life in Seattle as the P-I goes down and the Times teeters are nevertheless worth thinking about in our own context. In that regard, I’ve been following the discussions my old college chum Chuck Taylor and …
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Nothin’ like a good economic collapse to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. From Bloomberg: Oil demand will fall for a second year, the first back-to-back contractions since 1983, as a deepening recession erodes consumer spending, the International Energy Agency said.
(story ad gated, picture courtesy National Geographic, which also had a story)
Re last week’s post about the dead owl, which Jaime and I saw while out bike riding. This is one of those “I’ve got the best job in the world” things. I was over at the Museum of Southwestern Biology, talking about pink iguanas. When I was done, I stuck my head in the office …
Tim Haab on the question of which is better, a fuel consumption-based or mileage-based motoring tax: The answer comes down to one simple question: What is the goal? If the goal is revenue generation then a mileage tax makes sense. If the goal is fuel efficiency then a gas tax makes sense. If the goal …
Tedious but necessary explanation of Navajo-Gallup water project funding mechanism.
Rick Anderson on the rich life and untimely death of the Seattle P-I: It was different after the P-I packed up its globe and moved to a new building on the waterfront in 1986. Newspapers were evolving—less fun, but more respectful work. No more would a beleaguered reporter likely need to drop acid to get …
Continue reading ‘Elephant Diaries: Obituary for a Life I Never Quite Lived’ »
I was talking to a friend yesterday, an expert in the science of climate change, about our differing takes on carbon taxes and policy paths forward. My friend, a glass half full guy, believes bold action is needed, and that we can and must do hard things such as, for example, raising the price of …
Despite the weirdness, 2008 was a good year to be in the coal production game in the United States. But don’t expect the fun and games to continue. From EIA today: A significant increase in coal exports in 2008 contributed to a 2.8-percent increase in coal production. Production is expected to fall in 2009 by …