One of the first cleantech investment opportunities I represented when 2GreenEnergy was launched in 2009 was a wood pelletization plant in Georgia that had a huge take-off agreement with several utility groups in the UK and Europe. This has just recently become an appealing proposition, because of the newly minted regulations in that part of the world requiring that coal be diluted with a certain percentage of biomass. (more…)
On my recent post: Protests in Michigan Could Have Erupted in Gun Violence Frequent commenter Gary Tulie writes from his home near London:
Surely even in states where open carry is permitted, using firearms to threaten and intimidate the elected assembly has got to be illegal. I would have thought it could be considered a terrorist act, and quite possibly treason. I can’t understand how a president can condone these actions the condoning of which could be seen as supporting terrorism and treason. One step away from Kristallnacht maybe? (more…)
The Citizens Climate Lobby is the environmental activist group, of which I am a member, that is most responsible for promoting the Carbon Fee and Dividend, which will create incentive for everyone, all businesses and all consumers, to decarbonize. When signed into law, it will level a fee on the use of carbon-based energy, and return 100% of that sum back to consumers.
Here’s a note I just received from them that I thought I would pass along. Regular readers know that I’ve addressed this sad issue several times since the release of Michael Moore’s catastrophically misleading film, but these people put it very nicely: (more…)
Sure, it’s galling that huge sums of the Paycheck Protection Program are going to huge publicly traded companies rather than small businesses, but this post focuses on another matter. (more…)
It’s unclear where reader Hayley Nuttall hails from, but she writes about the tragedy described in the meme here: This is your new reality America. This is what Trump has created. He encouraged the protesters. Convinced people this is a Democratic hoax. Promoted disregard for truth, science, facts, the media and authority. (more…)
This may be cute, but not all Trump supporters are morons. Strangely enough, there are some highly intelligent racists; no one thinks Stephen Miller or Steve Bannon are idiots; they’re despicable people, but they’re not idiots. (more…)
The picture of this little boy really is impactful, but in truth, I actually don’t need a photograph; I simply think of:
• Endless wars to support and grow the military-industrial complex
• 22 million American children living in poverty
• Rollbacks in banking regulations making us vulnerable to economic recessions or depressions, the brunt of which will not be borne by the perpetrators, but by you and me
• Law-makers responsible only to large donors
• Socialism for the rich / Bailouts for huge corporations
• Disintegration of organized labor
• 40% of Americans can’t afford an unexpected expense of more than $400
• Looting the U.S. Treasury to create huge tax cuts for billionaires
• U.S. president profiting from his office with complete impunity
• Rolling back environmental standards to make business operations more profitable
• Suing states to force them to repeal renewable energy portfolio standards
• Reducing funding and cutting programs for public schooling
• Minimum wages that require people to work two or three jobs
• Planned cuts for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
• For-profit prisons and detention centers providing inhumane conditions
• Tax loopholes for the rich
This would be funnier if it weren’t so tragic. (more…)
It seems that the political right and left find reasons to fight about everything. Strategies to address the coronavirus are just one more example, where the right puts a higher value on the impact to the economy, and thus advocates reopening America’s businesses sooner than those on the left of the political spectrum. Having said that, I wonder if, in this particular case, we’re not closer to one another than we think.
In a conversation with my conservative mother last night, she asked what I would do if I were a state governor and therefore had the task of making these decisions. Here’s what I told her. (more…)
Watching money meant for small businesses go to the rich is a horribly painful process, but the creator of the meme here has managed to sew some humor into it.
Here’s a recent article in Forbes: Crony Capitalism: Why The Best-Connected Businesses Got Much Of The SBA Coronavirus Cash.
For America to rebuild its honor, roll back levels of corruption to pre-Trump days, and re-establish some level of respectability on the world stage it is going to require a lot of time and hard work.
