(PhysOrg.com) -- By using the sun's visible light and heat to power an electrolysis cell that captures and converts carbon dioxide from the air, a new technique could impressively clean the atmosphere and produce fuel feedstock at the same time. The key advantage of the new solar carbon capture process is that it simultaneously uses the solar visible and solar thermal components, whereas the latter is usually regarded as detrimental due to the degradation that heat causes to photovoltaic materials. However, the new method uses the sun’s heat to convert more solar energy into carbon than either photovoltaic or solar thermal processes alone.
The new process, called Solar Thermal Electrochemical Photo (STEP) carbon capture, was recently suggested theoretically by a team of scientists from George Washington University and Howard University, both in Washington, DC. Now, in a paper just published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, the scientists have experimentally demonstrated the STEP process for the first time.
“The significance of the study is twofold,” Stuart Licht, a chemistry professor at George Washington University, told PhysOrg.com. “Carbon dioxide, a non-reactive and normally difficult-to-remove compound, can be easily captured with solar energy using our new low-energy, lithium carbonate electrolysis STEP process, and with scale-up, sufficient resources exist for STEP to decrease carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to pre-industrial levels within 10 years.”
As the scientists explain, the process uses visible sunlight to power an electrolysis cell for splitting carbon dioxide, and also uses solar thermal energy to heat the cell in order to decrease the energy required for this conversion process. The electrolysis cell splits carbon dioxide into either solid carbon (when the reaction occurs at temperatures between 750°C and 850°C) or carbon monoxide (when the reaction occurs at temperatures above 950°C). These kinds of temperatures are much higher than those typically used for carbon-splitting electrolysis reactions (e.g., 25°C), but the advantage of reactions at higher temperatures is that they require less energy to power the reaction than at lower temperatures.
The STEP process is the first and only method that incorporates both visible and thermal energy from the sun for carbon capture. Radiation from the full solar spectrum - including heat - is not usually considered an advantage in solar technologies due to heat’s damage to photovoltaics. Even in the best solar cells, a large part of sunlight is discarded as intrinsically insufficient to drive solar cells as it is sub-bandgap, and so it is lost as waste heat.
By showing how to take advantage of both the sun’s heat and light for capturing and splitting carbon dioxide, the STEP process is fundamentally capable of converting more solar energy than either photovoltaic or solar thermal processes alone. The experiments in this study showed that the technique could capture carbon dioxide and convert it into carbon with a solar efficiency from 34% to 50%, depending on the thermal component. While carbon could be stored, the production of carbon monoxide could later be used to synthesize jet, kerosene, and diesel fuels, with the help of hydrogen generated by STEP water splitting.
“We are exploring the STEP generation of synthetic jet fuel and synthetic diesel,” Licht said, “and in addition to carbon capture, we are developing STEP processes to generate the staples predicted in our original theory, such as a variety of metals and bleach."
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Explore further:
SHEC Labs achieved breakthrough performance in manufacturing hydrogen from water using the sun's power
More information:
Stuart Licht, Baohui Wang, Susanta Ghosh, Hina Ayub, Dianlu Jiang, and Jason Ganley.” J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2010. 11 2363-2368. DOI:10.1021/jz100829s
smashczar
4.2 / 5 (13) Jul 22, 2010Birthmark
Jul 22, 2010Jimbaloid
3.4 / 5 (8) Jul 22, 2010danman5000
3.4 / 5 (9) Jul 22, 2010GSwift7
3.1 / 5 (10) Jul 22, 2010jamey
2.4 / 5 (8) Jul 22, 2010Donutz
4.4 / 5 (11) Jul 22, 2010Ever fooled with a magnifying glass? Lee Valley sells (or used to) a solar furnace That's basically a big reflecting mirror. Granted it requires direct sunlight, but you could in principle melt lead with solar power alone.
kshultz222_yahoo_com
4.6 / 5 (10) Jul 22, 2010winthrom
4.3 / 5 (6) Jul 22, 2010DaveGee
4.2 / 5 (6) Jul 22, 2010At first I was stumped by this statement.. However after giving it more thought I guess what they are trying to say is this.
At a temp of 25C splitting carbon requires X energy.
At a temp of 850C splitting carbon requires X - Y energy.
I guess I have to presume that Y energy is some number LESS than the energy used to raise the temp from 25C to 850C... Right?
Other than that it certainly SEEMS like an exciting announcement / discovery. However, I really wish these endless number of amazing stories found here ob a daily basis are put into some realistic perspective.. For example a story just a day or so ago stated that introducing a small qty of cheap nano mat into batts double capacity and greatly reduce recharging
david_42
5 / 5 (1) Jul 22, 2010Considering this is yet another experimental process that might, some day, be commercialized, the information content is quite high. The ten years is probably based on 30 years of development and manufacturing, followed by ten years of operation. Leaving a trillion dollars would of equipment with no purpose.
El_Nose
4.3 / 5 (3) Jul 22, 20103432682
2.3 / 5 (19) Jul 22, 2010dnatwork
3.2 / 5 (5) Jul 22, 2010How so? They offset current carbon with this process (or some other carbon capture process, it really doesn't matter), and in so doing they generate a new, renewable stream of fuels that are fully compatible with current fossil fuel technologies and infrastructure, thereby staving off any conversion to other energy sources.
It's time to double down on Exxon Mobil stock, people.
maxcypher
5 / 5 (4) Jul 22, 2010aintry
3.5 / 5 (13) Jul 22, 2010I know, right? Wake up and smell the FOX news, people. And please flush twice when you're done.
Thanks for the laugh 3432682. I needed that.
gunslingor1
Jul 22, 2010gunslingor1
2.1 / 5 (8) Jul 22, 2010-Really? how about stop burning fossil fuels... the one solution we can actually implement and that is sure to prevent futher increases (once the planet catches up).
All these rediculous and impractal solutions do not address the increased health consequences of burning fossil fuels.
GSwift7
1 / 5 (3) Jul 22, 2010AAhhzz01
4.5 / 5 (2) Jul 22, 20101) using the CO2 from the atmosphere to generate a synthetic fuel seems pretty carbon neutral once the fuel is burned. Use solar to power the process and your doing pretty good.
2) " decrease carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to pre-industrial levels within 10 years " ....*blinks*....Am I misunderstanding this or are they seriously proposing to remove nearly 300 years of carbon build up ( lets call it 1,000 gigatones ) in a Ten Year Period...without any mention of possible consiquences to the Climate?
If carbon emissions over the past 300 years have lead to a +1 degree temperature increase in the past century, how could removing all that carbon, but 30 TIMES FASTER not have an effect worth mentioning?
3) If your really worried about global warming, why the heck would it matter Who is doing it? If they are saving us from all the disasters Al Gore describes, why does it matter Who It is?
Caliban
3.7 / 5 (3) Jul 22, 2010In terms of the pure carbon component, some could be sold for industrial use to produce goods, and another portion, if not all could be milled with the other necessary components as bio-char, to replace petrochem fertilizer, and to help reclaim depleted or marginal land for crop production and reforesting.
In terms of overall cost to society at large, and to enable control of allocation for maximum economic/societal/environmental benefit, this technology/production/distribution should be Nationalized, to prevent the monopolization/monetization/leveraging that dnatwork, above, rightly voices a fear of- why put the means of profit-above-all into the hands of the very same ones who have so egregiously abused it in the past, and with such detriment to so many? contd
Caliban
4 / 5 (4) Jul 22, 2010This technology, if Nationalised, would create/sustain just as many jobs as it would if operated privately, would generate huge amounts of tax revenue(even at nominal rates) to finance government programs, would be strictly regulated, and could be deployed in a coordinated, comprehensive, approach for maximum benefit impossible in the free market.
Being operated in a not-for-profit way would free up hundreds of billions of dollars annually, that could be reinjected/reinvested into research and other programs. Think about it.
@Gswift7
Gotta disagree with you about trees being carbon-neutral. While that is more or less true, it is only so at equilibrium- whether for one tree or a forest.
While forests are being replanted, the CO2 uptake is a positive curve, that only stops being so when planting stops, at which point it would trend to equilibrium.
I know it is hair-splitting, but it is an important distinction to make.
blazingspark
3.7 / 5 (3) Jul 22, 2010Venus certainly has abundant heat and light from the sune hitting the surface.
Alphakronik
5 / 5 (2) Jul 22, 2010Yes, Hemp would be a much better choice. It prefers CO2 upwards of 1800ppm.
marjon
1.5 / 5 (8) Jul 22, 2010How would it generate anything? Nationalized industries fail. Why do you want this to fail?
A for profit company has incentives to improve the process, be more efficient, sell products more cheaply. But if there is no profit, only taxes, no one will have the incentives to open or operate a facility except unions and political hacks.
Caliban
2.6 / 5 (5) Jul 22, 2010Corporation has motive of making profit, and keeping for self/shareholders. Only driver for increased efficiency is to increase profit. There is no value-added in this scenario, and only a dribble of tax revenue, if any at all -and this only assuming that enterprise is not subsidised directly or indirectly by taxpayer dollars.
Go blow your noise out of your hole, mangy.
plasticpower
5 / 5 (2) Jul 23, 2010Yeah, great idea. I'd love to dance in the scorching hot sulfuric acid rain - sounds romantic!
CarolinaScotsman
1 / 5 (3) Jul 23, 2010This thing just recycles carbon and does nothing to improve the CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
AnnieG
4 / 5 (4) Jul 23, 2010Husky
2.5 / 5 (2) Jul 23, 2010danlgarmstrong
5 / 5 (2) Jul 23, 2010Taking carbon out of the atmosphere quickly IMHO should not cause a big problem as what should happen is less heat gets trapped by the greenhouse effect. Recently some scientists have published data that says we have been storing this heat in the deep ocean waters. If we stop pumping extra heat into them, they should begin releasing this heat slowly. So there should be no dramatic cooling of the earth, only perhaps a gradual decrease in the average temperature, just as the pumping of CO2 into the air only increased the temperature gradually.
marjon
1.6 / 5 (7) Jul 23, 2010"The Consensus" has decided for us. The peons should shut up an listen to our betters like the great Nobel Prize winning millionaire Al Gore.
marjon
1 / 5 (5) Jul 23, 2010For once you said something almost on point. If there is no value added for this solar to carbon process, why should the government try to operate this at a 'profit' (code word for taxes to Cali).
Supposedly many here have some background with science yet many promote pure socialism that Cali just suggested: the government should run this project to raise taxes. How oxymoronic! Please provide some data from real experiments to show that such a project will do what you propose. But then why should you as you don't need data to support the belief that CO2 is the cause of 'global climate change'.
And then, when challenged to support his idea with real data, he must resort to insults as he has no such data.
Even the government today knows better than to try and operate as a business. That's why they hire contractors.
0c4pnh4nk
5 / 5 (2) Jul 23, 2010Just in case you missed it, here's the pdf if you want to read the whole article. http://pubs.acs.o...z100829s
tkjtkj
1 / 5 (3) Jul 23, 2010Well, Dave, that, you see, is the basic theme of PhysOrg.com
"Undemonstrative, untested, and infeasible 'pseudo-reports' that contain nothing, and go nowhere. All done usually unaccompanied by any pic that might reveal what its about, but always 'in the name of science'."
tkjtkj
1 / 5 (1) Jul 23, 2010Well, Dave, that, you see, is the basic theme of PhysOrg.com
"Undemonstrative, untested, and infeasible 'pseudo-reports' that contain nothing, and go nowhere. All done usually unaccompanied by any pic that might reveal what its about, but always 'in the name of science'."
marjon
1.7 / 5 (6) Jul 23, 2010It is usually in the name of 'we need more government money'.
Ed_from_NY
5 / 5 (3) Jul 23, 2010Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Jul 23, 2010No it doesn't, and no I won't give you the experimental evidence for it.
Hemp prefers below 1600ppm and over 400ppm for optimum growth.
Caliban
3.7 / 5 (3) Jul 23, 2010OOOOOH!! Must've hit a mangynerve! Could it be because this might threaten profitability in the "free market"? "No value added" in my post meant: no value added for the people- only profit for the corporate.
Since we ain't got no real numbers(that I know of) I'll just say that we use the same pricing models that are currently used to retail the equivalent products. That means that ALL of what is currently excise tax PLUS profit would go into treasury, contd
Caliban
3.4 / 5 (5) Jul 23, 2010with no burden to the taxpayer for regulation or subsidy of the industry -as presently constituted.
It would be hard to pin a profit figure on the entire petrochem industry, but it has to be nearing a trillion annually, if not in excess of that. So, in my scenario, that is all equivalent to TAX REVENUE, that is directly collected and spendable. That's a lot of money for R&D, and full funding for programs. Plus, I don't see how this would cost any jobs, with the possible exception of those that are directly involved in drilling/support operations, but we would need lots of staff for the new production facilities, and their construction, so that would probably offset.
And stop saying it hasn't been done before, mangy- ever heard of BPA, TVA, REA? Sorry if those hallowed acronyms scorched yer freimarketvampire flesh, but that's just the way of it. No, all of your concern is based on the concept of something like my proposal making inroads against your investment portfolio.
marjon
1.6 / 5 (7) Jul 23, 2010Ever hear of PEMEX?
"A two-year review by the inspector general's office at the Tennessee Valley Authority finds that staffers made millions of dollars of questionable purchases on credit cards provided by the government-backed corporation."
http://voices.was...tva.html
"Mexico’s Federal Comptroller Secretariat (SFP) says it has detected more than $13 million in losses to Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) due to fraudulent transactions."
http://thenews.co...3m-10527
Show data that proves government monopolies provide products and services more efficiently than markets.
USSR went 'out of business'. Even Cuba has to layoff workers.
"Raul Castro has startled the nation lately by saying about one in five Cuban workers may be redundant." http://www.theled.../7175021
marjon
1.7 / 5 (6) Jul 23, 2010"n his nationally televised speech in April, Castro also had harsh words for those who do little to deserve their pay.
"Without people feeling the need to work to make a living, sheltered by state regulations that are excessively paternalistic and irrational, we will never stimulate a love for work," he said."
"The government has moved to embrace some small free-market reforms. It handed some barbershops over to employees, allowing them to set their own prices but making them pay rent and buy their own supplies."
"low pay means low productivity. On Obispo street, a state-run cafeteria sells heavily subsidized soft ice cream and pork sandwiches for the equivalent of a few American pennies - meaning wages and tips are so tiny that the staff is indifferent toward customers."
"He thinks it's unfair to keep workers under communist domination and yet call them unmotivated. "
http://www.theled...mp;tc=pg
Caliban
3 / 5 (4) Jul 23, 2010AAhhzz01
2.6 / 5 (5) Jul 23, 2010And Cuba and Russia were models of excellence? Please give me a break. While Corporations do strive for Profit....guess what...they are owned by People, they hire people and they richer they become the greater the tax revenues they generate. Government run enterprises are almost always at break even margin, and thus pay fewer taxes.
Seems to me your own point of view is one that fails more often than Mangy's...Ever wonder Why?
Caliban
2.3 / 5 (3) Jul 23, 2010Hey, A-
Should i wonder why you didn't bother to read my earlier posts any more than mangy did, before jumping in with all fangs poised to suck?
You could have at least done me that one small courtesy.
Caliban
2.6 / 5 (5) Jul 23, 2010I am entirely aware that most people would automatically reject any such proposal based on the grounds that it would be "socialistic". All argument of definition and terminology aside, however -is this a legitimate option or not? Do people object to it because it is inoperable due to some inherent flaw in government(that is entirely absent in private enterprise), or because they just don't like the idea of all that sweet profit not going to the direct enrichment of a handful?
AAhhzz01
2.3 / 5 (6) Jul 23, 2010Its not that the idea sounds Socialist, I couldnt care less about how it Sounds, its the fact that governments are Inherently Inefficient at almost everything. Far too much risk avoidance and desire to leave it at the status quo, no matter how bad that status quo is....
If a corporation is inefficient it goes out of business correct?
Name one government agency that has been closed ( I do not mean a single office, I mean an entire agency ) due to inefficiency.
Would you say Public schools are models of effectiveness? Public Housing? The Military? Which agency do you point to as a paragon of effective management?
AAhhzz01
2.6 / 5 (5) Jul 23, 2010Taxes? On a government project? Since you cited TVA, what is the tax rate they pay on thier "profits" How realistic are those profits? How overmanned is the project?
Case in point: Worked at a government shop that was transitioned to a contractor run operation. Manning at that shop went from 72 government workers to 41 contract workers. Within a year it was 35 workers. Since labor is a major cost factor, how much of TVA's overall budget goes to salaries? How much of it would be pure "Profit" that they could pay taxes on if manning was lowered?
Caliban
3.7 / 5 (6) Jul 23, 2010All of your comment so far goes right back to my asking why you didn't read. I already addressed that issue, specifically, using "taxes" in quotation marks to stand for the income generated over and above operating costs.
And the rest of your objections are window-dressing, since they are equally true of private enterprise, once you've inverted the meanings of a few operative terms. "efficiency", for instance, which generally stands for "all other factors are secondary to profit"- which isn't the same as minimization of waste. Status Quo vs. Innovation? Just ask Detroit.
Some services are too important for the private sector. You named three: Education. Public Housing. The Military. The same model of business "efficiency" that leads to offshoring and downsizing and pension-shedding would leave vast numbers completely exposed. Unless, of course, you want the rationale behind Walmart to provide those basic needs for us.
Caliban
3.4 / 5 (5) Jul 23, 2010I don't mean for this debate to be a political one -merely pragmatic. And I don't see any reason why the industry could not be operated by Agency at a tolerable level of efficiency, and still generate vastly more revenue for the operations of government than the (privately held)petrochem industry does now(through direct taxation).
marjon
1.7 / 5 (6) Jul 23, 2010In 2005, Exxon sold 26 billion gallons of gasoline with state and federal government collecting ~$.25 per gallon. So Exxon's gasoline products generated over $4 billion in taxes.
As a shareholder owned company, all taxes must be taken from profit which is then not available for investments or dividends. That is called opportunity costs. Something that socialists just can't seem to comprehend. Taxes taken is money removed from the economy that could have been put into more wealth creation.
That's why BHO's policies are not creating more private sector jobs. No one wants to risk their wealth just to have it confiscated by the state.
HarshMistress
4.9 / 5 (7) Jul 23, 2010Not true, marjon. 53% of Sweden's GDP is generated by public spending and we all know that Sweden is better off than the USA. It all depends on what you spend the public money for: wars and investments in China (the economics of dominance), or social programs, infrastructure and R&D at home (the economics of partnership).
The Internet was researched, developed and built by public money - corporations came afterwards to make profits on our commons.
Azpod
3.7 / 5 (3) Jul 23, 2010The technology sounds awesome. I just hope they can find a way to bring it to market cheaply. If they can't, then it'll be no more than a niche device sold to greenies who want to save the planet, but something that'll never become mainstream.
AAhhzz01
1.8 / 5 (5) Jul 23, 2010AAhhzz01
2.4 / 5 (5) Jul 24, 2010So you file your taxes claiming no deductions? Of course they take advantage of every legal loophole. Everyone does...they just have a lot more loopholes.
Your suggestion that there are enterprises that are too important to leave to the private sector is valid
However, which do better? Public or private schools?? I know if I could afford one my children would have gone to a private school.
There are things that the government Must Do. But giving any endeavor to the government means it will take 4 times as long, cost 8 times as much and deliver half of what was promised ( initially that is, later as the public complains it will improve...at 4 times the cost...
AAhhzz01
2.3 / 5 (4) Jul 24, 2010Yes it was, and as a text based medium it did ok...but it really didnt take off until you could Pay for it.
Profit motive a basic human desire harnessed to make our lives better
PinkElephant
5 / 5 (6) Jul 24, 2010I've worked for several very large companies, and if I learned anything, it's this: a bureaucracy is a bureaucracy regardless of whether it's private or public. Private companies have incentives to cut waste only when they are engaged in real competition (i.e. they're not patent-protected, brand-protected, or retail capture-protected: in all of which cases they happily keep the waste and let their customers pick up the tab for it.)
A government agency properly incentivized to cut waste (e.g. by remittance of budgetary savings or /timely/ milestone achievements in the form of salary bonuses), can also become quite optimal in its performance.
stanfrax
1 / 5 (1) Jul 24, 2010rally2xs
3.8 / 5 (4) Jul 24, 2010This thing just recycles carbon and does nothing to improve the CO2 levels in the atmosphere."
Not true. Lots of carbon filters out of the atmosphere naturally. If no NEW carbon is put in, but simply recycled, carbon cocentration in the air will diminish continously.
marjon
1.7 / 5 (6) Jul 24, 2010Pinkie, wow, we agree!
That is what I have been saying about free markets, but the statists here, including you, have promoted the state bureaucracy instead of competition.
When has this ever been accomplished?
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (3) Jul 24, 2010Speaking of government agencies how would you prevent pollution without government agencies?
GSwift7
1.8 / 5 (5) Jul 24, 2010If you increase the number of trees then you would take carbon out of the air, but it remains in the cycle. Since you haven't removed it from the cycle, the trees are almost carbon neutral. I didn't say they are completely neutral, by the way. Read my post carefully. Trees do end up shedding some debris into the ocean and lake bottoms where the carbon may be semi-permanently sequesterd in sediment, but that is a negligable amount. Just changing where the carbon is in the cycle doesn't really remove it, so it's not going to matter how many trees you plant. If you double the number of trees in the world today, then at some point later those trees will all die and return that carbon to the air. You're just moving carbon from one bank account to another with trees. You're not going to get carbon rich or carbon poor in the long run by planting trees. I also think it's funny that you can disagree with me and then say the same thing I said. You just disagree with me out of habit
marjon
1.3 / 5 (7) Jul 24, 2010The government does not pay attention to the GAO and it has no power to control waste. How efficient is that?
Want to stop pollution or have polluters pay? Enforce property rights.
Property owners injured by pollution sue for damages.
Property rights must also include the air above you and the water and minerals below.
GSwift7
2 / 5 (4) Jul 24, 2010marjon
1.6 / 5 (7) Jul 24, 2010You miss the point. Efficiency is not important. Use of solar power and a government run operation is more important.
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (5) Jul 24, 2010GSwift7
3.3 / 5 (7) Jul 24, 2010GSwift7
Jul 24, 2010DaveGee
3.7 / 5 (3) Jul 24, 2010Great point... And I'm somewhat puzzled why more people aren't discussing this. Reminds me of a story posted here just a few days ago about a way to reliable rid ourselves of Mosquitos ( I'm over simplifying ) and while the gut reaction is YEA!! After thinking about it for a second it's a really scary thought not only because of the possible ramifications but because we now have the knowledge to actually pull it off.
damnfuct
5 / 5 (3) Jul 24, 2010marjon
1 / 5 (5) Jul 24, 2010Yep, that is the idea. How will that abolish the transportation industry?
marjon
1.7 / 5 (6) Jul 24, 2010You could set it up like AMTRAK, USPS, Freddie and Fannie, those government operated enterprises have generated quite a return on investment for the government, no? (This is sarcasm.)
marjon
Jul 25, 2010Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (3) Jul 25, 2010marjon
1.8 / 5 (6) Jul 25, 2010That is because governments grant monopolies to utilities.
One can always go off grid. There is a vote.
Vote with your feet, move.
Attend the government board meetings that control utilities and vote for members.
I just 'voted' for DSL over cable internet because I wanted to use the house cable for Direct TV and I chose Direct TV because they are the only source for the international programming we want.
I can vote for satellite internet if ATT DSL is not satisfactory.
Honda makes a NG electric generator for home use. It will take you off he electric grid and provide hot water.
Honda also sells a NG powered car you can refuel at home. How will the state collect taxes?
Skeptic_Heretic
Jul 25, 2010marjon
1 / 5 (4) Jul 25, 2010Why do you say that?
MadPutz
2.7 / 5 (3) Jul 25, 2010fireofenergy1
5 / 5 (2) Jul 25, 2010Perhaps it would be best to continue down the electric and battery infra, instead of clean liquid fuels.
In the end, I believe, whichever is easiest to produce by robotic arms will be the winner because it is far too costly to have humans make solar PV (no matter how efficient) in the obvious exceedingly large amounts (like 50,000 sq mi) to do any good.
Enviro's want to keep the price of solar high because they form with nimby and prevent the strategic mining and desert placement needed to achieve a clean, prosperous {and growing} tomorro. There is a concern that I agree with... NO BULLDOZING on the large scale! PV and Stirling dish units are post mounted, unlike the solar trough and apparently can be more efficient!
fireofenergy1
1 / 5 (1) Jul 25, 2010Perhaps it would be best to continue down the electric and battery infra, instead of clean liquid fuels?
In the end, I believe, whichever is easiest to produce by robotic arms will be the winner because it is far too costly to have humans make solar PV (no matter how efficient) in the obvious exceedingly large amounts (like 50,000 sq mi) to do any good.
Enviro's want to keep the price of solar high because they form with nimby and prevent the strategic mining and desert placement needed to achieve a clean, prosperous {and growing} tomorro. There is a concern that I agree with... NO BULLDOZING on the large scale! PV and Stirling dish units are post mounted, unlike the solar trough and apparently can be more efficient!
fireofenergy1
5 / 5 (1) Jul 25, 2010marjon
2.3 / 5 (6) Jul 25, 2010The last time such innovation was 'forced' was the Apollo program, which was a surrogate defense program.
Salander
2 / 5 (1) Jul 25, 2010fireofenergy1
1 / 5 (1) Jul 25, 2010unless
natural gas exploration was "forced" by use of incentives. What {I think} we want is an over supply of NG.
Since we do concern ourselves with excess CO2, we should ban coal in favor of NG since it can power the grid and cars. By doing so, we would effectively cut CO2 emissions by over half, for far less of a price than imaginable from RE and grid storage, at least in the mean time...
Caliban
3.7 / 5 (3) Jul 25, 2010Not what I was saying. The carbon neutrality of trees depends on how they are managed. And the amount of carbon "sequestered", if only in the form of a balanced equation, increases with the actual number of trees.
It is certainly true that when a tree dies, it's carbon is added back into the environment, but another tree can grow and take that much carbon up again. So, as long as Forests are managed, by increasing planting, it is entirely possible to increase Carbon containment.
More trees growing = more carbon taken out of artmoshere. That is the distinction I was trying to make, without success-at least as far as you are concerned.
Just as importantly, however, reforestation increases O2 production, maintains biodiversity, enhances the water cycle, cleans water, reduces erosion, provides jobs, et c.,et c. - all of which, I believe we can agree are beneficial in every conceiveable way. And even more so if properly managed.
Caliban
2.7 / 5 (3) Jul 25, 2010Yeah, mangy, we all know that these enterprises are not models, but they do seem to hang on, don't they -even though they are designed to operate as not-for-profit.
Especially in the case of the USPS, which our lawmakers allowed to be skimmed of the cream of their business- ie, parcel post, by unregulated private enterprise that could make up the rules as it went along. Ironically(or maybe not), the vast majority of all parcels(UPS, FedEx, et c.) are transshipped on USPS jets. Betcha didn't know that, eh?
I'll say it again, one more time, so that you'll have to waste your mangytime with another thoughtless, pointless, baseless, insupportable contradictory assertion:
Contd
Caliban
3.5 / 5 (4) Jul 25, 2010I propose an Agency, tasked with the coordinated development/deployment of this tech, both for fuel+energy production, and feedstock(Plastic,Carbon Nanofiber, Graphene, et c.) operated as a not-for-profit, but using the same mark-up as the Petrochem industry currently does, and all revenue generated above operating cost to be used to fund R&D and the rest of government operations and programs that are otherwise taxpayer-funded.
I'll remind everyone that government/civil-service employees pay federal/state/local income taxes just like everyone else- and that in this scenario, one would expect that roughly the same numbers of jobs would be preserved and/or created as currently exist, industry-wide.
All of the money that is currently siphoned out of the process, AT EVERY STAGE, from extraction to delivery of Fossilfuel products, as income/profit/dividend/deduction/subsidy et c, would equal gov't revenues -ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE greater than current taxes derived from Petro.
marjon
2.1 / 5 (7) Jul 25, 2010Because their 'CEOs' force their customers, the tax payers, to fork over more money.
That's like drinking your own urine in the desert. It will keep you alive, for a while. Government's create no wealth.
Wealth creation from private, free enterprise creates the wealth, the energy, needed for an economy to be sustained and grow. Zimbabwe used to create wealth. Now they don't because the state decided they could raise crops better than the white farmers. Same for Cuba.
Money and jobs are not wealth. Wealth creates money and jobs.
AAhhzz01
3.6 / 5 (5) Jul 25, 2010Sounds reasonable except the government will inevitably find a "Use" for any funds generated...sort of like they did for the Social Security funds....remember those?
Oh Many many more jobs would be created...However, Civil service folks (like me) pay taxes into the same pot of money they take their salaries from...so basically unless they pay more than 100% of their salary in taxes its a money drain on the federal budget isn't it? Government projects are almost inevitably overstaffed, over budget and over enthusiastic in their benefit projections.
AAhhzz01
2.8 / 5 (4) Jul 25, 2010Curious phrasing there...Siphoned Out...as if the producers of a product are not entitled to a Profit?
Ok, lets see if you know this one..
How much revenue is generated for Federal State and local government in Taxes, Tarrifs, Fees and levies by the petro industry.
Dont forget to add in the personal income taxes of everyone employed, directly or indirectly, by any of the companies involved. (Exxon BP, Haliburto...you know All of those evil corporations...and their service industries...and the service industries that serve those industries )
Thrasymachus
1.8 / 5 (13) Jul 25, 2010Thrasymachus
1.7 / 5 (13) Jul 25, 2010Thrasymachus
1.7 / 5 (13) Jul 25, 2010Caliban
3.3 / 5 (4) Jul 25, 2010Uh, Dang, AAhhzz01- you got me there, because I DON'T know how much money that is.
Now, I've a question for you: How much money is represented by the revenue generated across the ENTIRE SECTOR of the petro/coal/chem industry over and above physical operating/administration costs?
We'll ignore R&D for oil/NG/coal, as there hasn't been any significant innovation in the industry in close to 50 years.
This represents quite a much larger figure than mere individual/corporate income taxes, tarriffs, excise taxes, et c., no? And not just by a small margin, either. We're talking an amount very near the entire annual budget of the US Federal government.
How about that!
Thrasymachus
1.7 / 5 (13) Jul 25, 2010marjon
2.3 / 5 (6) Jul 25, 2010They can try. Apple is a 'monopoly' as it is the manufacturer of the Ixxxx.
But there are numerous competitors.
How does wealth destroy jobs? Paul Allen is using his wealth to create a private space travel business. Richard Branson is joining him. Wealth creates the opportunity for risk which creates new industries and technologies and jobs and the cycle grows. Until a government steps in and decides to tax that wealth and destroy innovation and more wealth creation.
In 2005, Exxon sold 26e9 gallons of gas which was taxed at $.25/gal. From Exxon gas sales alone, governments took in +$4e9.
marjon
2.8 / 5 (6) Jul 25, 2010Pull your head out.
How many peak oil predictions have fallen by the wayside in 50 years? Why? Innovation in drilling technology, processing technology, exploration technology, etc.
If you really want to find out, the information is out there.
marjon
1.5 / 5 (6) Jul 25, 2010Would you say the soft drink industry or the chewing gum business is mature?
There are no monopolies, competition is fierce and those businesses make a profit.
Your assertion and understanding of economics is way off the mark.
Thrasymachus
1.4 / 5 (9) Jul 25, 2010Caliban
2.3 / 5 (3) Jul 25, 2010mangy should profit from mangy's own advice.
The same old tech has been refined and re-refined. Very little actual innovation, as I said.
As for "Peak Oil" if you were enough of a fool to believe that fiction...then that says everything that needs to be said regarding your knowledge base.
Or, more precisely, your lack thereof.
Thrasymachus
1.9 / 5 (12) Jul 25, 2010Those industries are not at all mature, and do not operate on a basis of pure competition. Brand loyalty is very high, and there's constant new innovations and new products. I mean, hell, there's a new gum out there that changes flavors as you chew. That's proprietary, it'll take a while for competitors to figure out how to copy it, and if they try they can run afoul of patent laws. So long as only one company can make flavor-changing gum, that company has a monopoly on the flavor-changing gum market. That has a lot of implications with how those sorts of businesses are run, i.e. by setting prices before hand (not by letting the market set the price) in order to recoup fixed costs associated with opening up a new market.
Thrasymachus
1.6 / 5 (12) Jul 25, 2010Once a market has matured enough to allow such direct competition, and provided there is no collusion between businesses or corruption in government oversight preventing monopolies, profit margins always start falling, and only start coming up again when one or more of the competing companies innovate new products and open up new markets.
marjon
1.8 / 5 (4) Jul 25, 2010Maybe the buggy whip industry is 'mature'?
Again, a company can try to set prices, but the market WILL decide the price.
Thrasymachus
1.9 / 5 (12) Jul 25, 2010jerryd
5 / 5 (4) Jul 25, 2010I hate to tell many of you but this is likely to work. It not far removed from present FT processes. Really it's just burning in reverse. They just seem to have found a more eff way.
marjon
2.6 / 5 (5) Jul 25, 2010If someone can make a profit from it, go for it.
Creating hydrogen from water is de-oxidation, anti-burning.
donames
Jul 25, 2010Thrasymachus
1.4 / 5 (11) Jul 25, 2010marjon
2.6 / 5 (5) Jul 26, 2010Carbon was made in stars. Living things recycle carbon.
Evodevo
1 / 5 (3) Jul 27, 2010Then assume you built that what do you do with 30,000,000 cubic meters (700 million tons) of solid carbon you split out each day? Fuel, eh? How big is the factory that does that?
They should have saved this for 4/1/2011.
SteveL
5 / 5 (1) Jul 27, 2010lengould100
2.7 / 5 (7) Jul 29, 2010Properly run government has a LOT to provide to all citizens. The only argument Marjon has is that he can use the US government as an example of problems. For examples of much better run governments see Sweden, Norway or Canada.
lengould100
3.9 / 5 (7) Jul 29, 2010The Con of the Decade (Part II) meshes neatly with the first Con of the Decade. Yesterday I described how the financial Plutocracy can transfer ownership of the Federal government's income stream via using the taxpayer's money to buy the debt that the taxpayers borrowed to bail out the Plutocracy."
In order for the con to work, however, the Power Elites and their politico toadies in Congress, the Treasury and the Fed must convince the peasantry that low tax rates on unearned income are not just "free market capitalism at its best" but that they are also "what the country needs to get moving again."
The first step of the con was successfully fobbed off on the peasantry in 2001: lower the taxes paid by the most productive peasants marginally while massively lowering the effective taxes paid by the financial Plutocracy."
Caliban
3 / 5 (4) Jul 29, 2010Thanks for the concise refutation/delineation of the Friedman/Austrian/Chicago Cons. It's too easy to get caught up in tail-chasing, debating the details. Nice to see the Big Picture painted. perhaps some here will obtain insight thereby.
marjon
2.1 / 5 (7) Jul 29, 2010The big picture is that a free market with limited government provides the best opportunity for prosperity.
If the USA would follow the Constitution, that would be great start instead of supporting socialism.
otto1923
3.4 / 5 (5) Jul 29, 2010Feldagast
1 / 5 (2) Jul 30, 2010marjon
1.7 / 5 (6) Jul 30, 2010Yes it will.
Caliban
3 / 5 (2) Jul 30, 2010That's not CO2, it's noise blowing out of the mangyhole. I'm not sure if it's classified as a greenhouse gas, though.
Still, I feel certain that the IPCC would recommend a sharp reduction.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Jul 30, 2010"However, media in South Korea said the players got off lightly by North Korean standards.
"In the past, North Korean athletes and coaches who performed badly were sent to prison camps," a South Korean intelligence source told the Chosun Ilbo newspaper."
http://www.telegr...Cup.html
'The beatings will continue until moral improves' comes to mind.
This may an extreme state response, but it is a typical state response, coercion.
otto1923
4 / 5 (4) Jul 30, 2010You'll like the new socialism. No money-grubbing, no pointless waste, no exploitation, everybody content with what they already have. Only experts running govt, the way it obviously ought to be.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Jul 30, 2010Where is this 'paradise', Greece, Spain, Germany...?
Caliban
3 / 5 (4) Jul 30, 2010If it was up your mangyhole, you'd know where it was. However, since you have such a rabid, atavistic fear of the mere concept, allow me to enlighten you: Denmark, Sweden, Norway- for example.
Ironic, is it not, mangy? That the Vikings of old are such exemplars of the Way Of Socialism, and of living such civilised lives, being the descendants of your very own Ancestoors, and all?
You should "reach out and touch" some of them, and ask how they do it.
marjon
1.8 / 5 (5) Jul 30, 2010"Scandinavia is in the midst of an economic transformation. Thanks to tax reform, openness to investment/trade, sound property rights, little corruption, and continuing efforts to privatize, economies there have made great strides toward liberalization. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden have been rated “free” economies by the Heritage Foundation’s 2006 Index of Economic Freedom"
"Scandinavian countries have low corporate tax rates and transparent procedures to establish a business."
"Moreover, these countries have implemented numerous reforms over the past couple years. For instance, cutting income taxes has become one of Iceland ‘s crowning economic achievements. Denmark has been ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as having the best business environment thanks to, among other things, its flexible labor market. "
http://www.thefre...zation/#
marjon
1.8 / 5 (5) Jul 30, 2010"other details remain grim. Sweden has extremely high taxes, which encourage workers to cut hours to avoid them. The Norwegian government continues to drag its feet on privatization, thus thwarting investment into the country. Additionally, the Scandinavian welfare state hinders productivity by enabling otherwise healthy workers to stay at home."
"every day about one-fifth of the workforce stays home in Sweden. These “potential” workers are receiving disability benefits or are on sick leave"
"“A total of 2.2 million people in Denmark received income-substitute benefits in 2003,” according to the 2005 Danish Statistical Yearbook. The term “income-substitute benefits” includes sickness, unemployment, maternity, and social assistance. Many Scandinavians use these benefits as a means to earlier retirement."
marjon
1.8 / 5 (5) Jul 30, 2010"Sweden ‘s official unemployment rate, 5.5 percent in April according to Statistics Sweden, should be viewed with skepticism. A recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute indicates that Sweden ‘s real unemployment rate is around 15 percent. “McKinsey reached its conclusions by including those who want to work and those could do so, meaning people on government programmes as well as those on prolonged sick leave,” according to the Financial Times. "
http://www.thefre...zation/#
I met many Scandinavian expats who prefer to work abroad to avoid taxes and have a house and car that are too expensive at home.
marjon
1.8 / 5 (5) Jul 30, 2010(What we’ll find: Scandinavia, especially Sweden, is an official’s dream come true. On average, over half of people’s income is confiscated. "
http://www.thefre...sperity/
marjon
1.8 / 5 (5) Jul 30, 2010“It’s not sustainable to keep taxes that radically diverge from other countries,” Finance Minister Anders Borg, who is not related to the tennis great, told The Associated Press on Thursday. “Not if you want the money to stay in the country.”"
"[T]he wealthiest Swedes have fled the country, including IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, No. 4 on Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s richest people. He lives in Switzerland. "
http://www.cato-a...lth-tax/
Sweden also uses education vouchers providing a market for education.
Let's follow the Swedish way!
Caliban
3 / 5 (4) Jul 30, 2010The sheer volume of the mangy noise emitted from the orifice of the datapoint armchair-eqipped mangyhole can sometimes be nearly deafening.
If you can't impress 'em with your brilliance, then overwhelm 'em with your Bulls**t.
marjon
1.8 / 5 (5) Jul 30, 2010"The economic benefits of ERTA were summarized by President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers in 1994: "It is undeniable that the sharp reduction in taxes in the early 1980s was a strong impetus to economic growth.""
"eduction in high marginal tax rates can induce taxpayers to lessen their reliance on tax shelters and tax avoidance, and expose more of their income to taxation. The result in this case was a 51 percent increase in real tax payments by the top one percent. Meanwhile, the tax rate reduction reduced the tax payments of middle class and poor taxpayers. The net effect was a marked shift in the tax burden toward the top 1 percent amounting to about 10 percentage points. Lower top marginal tax rates had encouraged these taxpayers to generate more taxable income. "
http://www.house....txct.htm
marjon
1.6 / 5 (7) Jul 30, 2010Caliban
3.4 / 5 (5) Jul 30, 2010You've not got any "data", just highly massaged, ideologically biased "position paper" BS, designed with no other end than to provide the illusory appeareance of actual support for proposed policy.
marjon
1.7 / 5 (6) Jul 31, 2010Why do they and you want to continue high unemployment and no economic growth?
The only reason I can think of is the same reason Chavez in Venezuela did, socialist dictatorship.
Coolidge, JFK and Reagan successfully demonstrated what must be done to create prosperity.
Why do statists refuse to follow their methods? They must give up power, pure and simple.
otto1923
3.7 / 5 (3) Jul 31, 2010mdk
2 / 5 (2) Aug 02, 2010@Caliban: since you quickly resort to name-calling it's safe to assume you have nothing useful to contribute? That being said, this is not a political or economic forum so why not discuss physical science here?
Caliban
3 / 5 (2) Aug 02, 2010Since you quickly resort to finger-pointing, it's obvious to me that you didn't bother to read the whole thread, and based a snap-judgement on incomplete evidence.
If you go to the trouble to pay attention, you'll find that I was already on record with commentary regarding the substance of this article.
You comments are at minimum a bit misdirected. I recommend that you attempt a better job of informing yourself of the facts next time around.
marjon
1 / 5 (5) Aug 03, 2010Germans have been well conditioned to do anything.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 03, 2010"
http://www.optoiq...122.html
Thrasymachus
2 / 5 (12) Aug 04, 2010marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 04, 2010They can, do and have existed without governments for centuries.
If you dig a bit, any outperformance is due to limiting government interference.
What made Hong Kong so successful was the limited corruptibility of the British civil service.
Government can help, if they are limited in power, which limits their corruptability.
The more power, the more regulatory power a government has, the more ways corruption creeps in.
Thrasymachus
1.7 / 5 (11) Aug 04, 2010marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 04, 2010Not when the people are armed. The frontier of the USA had no government for protection. People protected themselves with their own weapons.
Ever hear of the Northfield, MN raid? The Cole-Younger gang rode into town to rob the bank, but the locals responded with their own firearms.
" a small corps of armed horsemen swept through the mining camps of the Rocky Mountain foothills in southwest Montana and hanged twenty-one troublemakers, including a rogue sheriff, creating a legend whose impact can still be felt today.3"
http://visitmt.co...tes1.htm
The first step a tyrant takes is to disarm his victims.
SteveL
5 / 5 (3) Aug 05, 2010As for government regulation; I remember Uncle Billy Clinton pounding on a pulpet during a speech stating he will do whatever it takes to de-regulate the banking industry - to free up the money for the common man. Well, he did and the housing market and economy went wild for a while, but Uncle W. Bush got stuck with the blame five years later after folks started discovering they couldn't pay for houses that cost 5 times their annual gross income.
I'm all for "sensible" regulation to keep economic playgrounds equitable, and to protect the public. For some reason we keep getting into the All-or-Nothing mentality. Too much regulation (All) is bad and no regulation (nothing) is worse. The trick is to find what Goldilocks was looking for "Just right". Sensible regulation that protects the public, even from themselves.
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 05, 2010I've never heard a bigger lie in my entire life.The more market share, or financial power, a company has, the greater their chance for the exact same corruptability.
The key, my friend, is balance.
marjon
1 / 5 (2) Aug 05, 2010The banking industry was not de-regulated. It was forced to accommodate new 'incentives', new 'regulations'.
The most sensible regulation is to let the markets do it.
The job of the government is to prosecute theft and fraud. It failed miserably with Madoff and meddled where it shouldn't, government backed and promoted mortgages.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 05, 2010Market forces deal with such corruption quite swiftly. Recall Aurthur Andersen?
If that financial power buys government agents so they have that coercive power, that is the fault of the government.
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 05, 2010Andrew Cornford: Internationally Agreed Principles For Corporate Governance And The Enron Case,
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 05, 2010Bernard-Henri Lévy, the French philosopher
"Younger generations take for granted the prosperity won by the sacrifices of their forebears. Some want escape from the disciplines of a commercial republic, and some have contempt for the restrained manners and mores of their ancestors. "
Michael Novak
http://www.temple.../market/
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 05, 2010"Loosely, we may define it as the use of governmental powers for illegitimate private gain."
http://www.hoover...cle/5462
Based upon this definition, corruption requires a the coercive power of a state.
There is little or no chance a company can be corruptible without 'help' from some government.
So your solution is to increase the power of the government, creating an even greater incentive for corruption, to limit corruption?
Thrasymachus
2 / 5 (12) Aug 05, 2010marjon
1 / 5 (4) Aug 06, 2010Smart business decision.
Why should he help his competition?
Recall a little old lady who refused to sell her house to Trump so he could build a huge casino in Atlantic City? Trump couldn't get the government to force her to sell so he built his casino around her house.
Property rights are respected or they are not. When they are not respected, all property rights are subject to whims of the state.
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 06, 2010I can vote the state out of office, or overthrow them.
I have no protection from a company. Your statements are ridiculously ignorant....again.
SteveL
5 / 5 (1) Aug 06, 2010Ok, so the banking industry wasn't completely deregulated - a valid argument. However the rules were changed so that everyone (the market) had access to money they simply could not afford to pay back. The whole sector lost its collective mind. Effectively the market was liberalized to the point that the brakes were off. It was a feeding frenzy and we are now paying for our excesses.
As for Madoff; I have difficulty defining any significant difference between what he did and what governments do via taxation - Except with him you could legally say no.
SteveL
5 / 5 (2) Aug 06, 2010marjon
1 / 5 (2) Aug 06, 2010The fault was all the government's, not Enron:
"That’s because most analysts contend that California’s regulations actually created the problem. Foremost among them was the law that fixed pricing for retail with market pricing for wholesale, which made it difficult to maintain profitability."
"“One essential fact is that the problems in California were not created by deregulation, but by strong regulatory rules,” said James Sweeney, a Stanford University professor and author of The California Energy Crisis."
http://www.ieee.o...ics.html
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 06, 2010It was not. Freddie and Fannie, govt agencies, guaranteed mortgages.
Don't buy their products. Don't buy their stock. Sue them in court if they commit fraud. Start our own company. Unless that company bribes some government agency, what protection do you need?
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 06, 2010What protection did the above example have from Rockefeller?
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 06, 2010Rockefeller's oil customers were quite happy with his price and service.
Companies that are losing the competition typically bribe some politicians to sue their better competitor even though the customers are quite satisfied. This can only happen with a powerful govt regulatory system.
Thrasymachus
2 / 5 (12) Aug 06, 2010You idiot, it wasn't his property he was blocking. It was a public right of way. He didn't just cut off his competitors, he cut off anybody else that wanted to use that path. And what do you call a law that says you can't park your train blocking a public right of way if it's not a regulation of business practices?
Thrasymachus
2 / 5 (12) Aug 06, 2010Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 06, 2010It took you 6 hours to make up this fantasy story and 30 seconds for me to find refutation. That's why you shouldn't lie Marjon. You just look silly.
http://www.linfo....oil.html
Start reading under "Public Disgust and Revulsion".
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 06, 2010It does not. It requires a mechanism of contract enforcement.
Credit rating agencies are private companies and provide, for a fee, your credit rating which affects your ability to conduct business with other private companies who want to know if you will pay your bills.
marjon
1 / 5 (2) Aug 06, 2010marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 06, 2010"Because of Standard Oil's superior efficiency (and lower prices), the company's share of the refined petroleum market rose from 4 percent in 1870 to 25 percent in 1874 and to about 85 percent in 1880.[27]"
"All of Rockefeller's savings benefited the consumer, as his low prices made kerosene readily available to Americans. Indeed, in the 1870s kerosene replaced whale oil as the primary source of fuel for light in America. "
"Rockefeller was extremely generous with his employees, usually paying them significantly more than the competition did. Consequently, he was rarely slowed down by strikes or labor disputes."
"Of course, in every industry the less efficient competitors can be expected to snipe at their superior rivals,"
http://mises.org/daily/2317
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 06, 2010Its competitors have responded by competing and we all benefit.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 06, 2010What is the source? Who is the author? Where are the references? This paper would fail any research writing class.
And you claim to promote peer reviewed research?
Caliban
2.3 / 5 (3) Aug 06, 2010Again, mangy blows enough noise from the mangyhole to overwhelm any meaningful speculation or discussion regarding the content of the article and its possible impact upon our lives here on Planet Earth.
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (1) Aug 07, 2010Secondly, are you trying to say that Ida Tarbell didn't write a book about the whole ordeal? You can't know anything about Stadard Oil unless you've read her book.
You must actively seek knowledge, not just google and quote mine it.
Sam Walton didn't run all of his competitors into the ground through unfair business practice.
marjon
1 / 5 (2) Aug 07, 2010Of course it is a matter of science. Research into the facts of history is no different.
How you want spin those facts (your theory) is conjecture and based upon your bias.
I provided a source, with references that challenges your bias.
As my source stated, Ida's was trying to protect her brother's company because he could not compete.
That is what happens in a highly regulated market and in other facets of life today. If companies or people can't compete they whine to the state to protect them. So schools stop failing students and little league teams can't keep score.
Where is the data showing Standard Oil's customers were not satisfied?
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 07, 2010Where's the data saying they were satisfied? That is your assertion, isn't it
marjon
1 / 5 (2) Aug 07, 2010"n 1885, John D. Rockefeller wrote one of his partners, “Let the good work go on. We must ever remember we are refining oil for the poor man and he must have it cheap and good.” Or as he put it to another partner: “Hope we can continue to hold out with the best illuminator in the world at the lowest price.”"
"Even after 20 years in the oil business, “the best . . . at the lowest price” was still Rockefeller’s goal; his Standard Oil Company had already captured 90 per cent of America’s oil refining and had pushed the price down from 58 cents to eight cents a gallon."
"Consumers were not only choosing Standard Oil over that of his competitors; they were also preferring it to coal oil, whale oil, and electricity. Millions of Americans illuminated their homes with Standard Oil for one cent per hour; in doing so, they made Rockefeller the wealthiest man in American history. "
http://www.thefre...line.org
marjon
1 / 5 (2) Aug 07, 2010The facts bear out the that it was the limited government response by Cooledge allowed markets to sort out the recession and government polcies of Hoover and FDR extended the Depression.
Nixon and Carter's policies led to decline while Reagan's tax cuts and Bush's tax cuts stimulated the economy.
BHO's massive spending is proving to be ineffective in reducing unemployment and increasing growth, except in the size of government.
Those are readily available facts.
Caliban
2.3 / 5 (3) Aug 07, 2010The facts bear out that there is a never ending stream of noise blowing out of the mangyhole, utterly meaningless, and equivalent in information to a jet of steam. the boiling matter of mangy's perfervid, blunt-object ideology precludes any intelligent discussion. The Standard Issue FundXian, Objectivist, Bigoted, Arational Hypocrisy.
marjon
1.8 / 5 (4) Aug 07, 2010"But detailed Internal Revenue Service data show that the across-the-board rate cuts of the early 1920s-including large cuts at the top end-resulted in greater tax payments and a larger tax share paid by those with high incomes."
http://www.cato.o..._id=3015
Thrasymachus
1.7 / 5 (11) Aug 08, 2010marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 08, 2010So your solution is to nationalize the economy just as the USSR did or start a war?
So you agree, Mellon's tax cuts worked and FDRs policies failed.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 08, 2010Don’t blame the officers. New York’s pension rules make it pay more to retire than to work. And the horrible habits here are a window on a national pension picture that’s looking more disastrous by the day.
Read more: http://www.nydail...w1gyQ7Bp
"
By Keynesian economics, paying people not to work should create all sorts of prosperity. How is the economy of NY doing?
Or FL? How many NY retirees stay in NY?
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 08, 2010You're switching scope to create false examples. The question should be, how do those pensioners affect the economy local to their environment?
I'm unaware of any study answering that question.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 08, 2010What? The state takes taxes from hard working people and pays retired government workers for 20+ years NOT to contribute anything.
Microcosm? Bloomberg is worried that if he raises taxes much more, the rich will move out of NYC.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 08, 2010"“Fannie Mae’s Top Strategic Business Objectives With Lender.” The first: “Deepen relationship at all levels throughout CHL and Fannie Mae to foster alignment and collaboration between our companies at every opportunity.” (CHL refers to Countrywide Home Loans.) No. 2: “Create barriers to exit partnership.” Next: “Disciplined Risk/Servicing Management” and “Achieve Fannie Mae Profitability Goals.” "
http://www.nytime...business
Fannie Mae IS a GOVERNMENT agent.
No conflict of interest there?
You are all hot and bothered by Rockefeller selling kerosene cheaper, but don't mind govt collusion in the mortgage business.
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 08, 2010marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 08, 2010Your support of the government's action against Rockefeller speaks for you.
Which is it?
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 08, 2010Caliban
3 / 5 (3) Aug 08, 2010Governments, Municipalities, Universities, and many large corporations and Unions typically under-contributed to the plans, borrowed against them, or raided them, and then, in the most recent couple of decades, abandoned safe, low-yield instruments like Treasuries, et c, for the siren call of high-profit hedge funds, CDOs, and the rest of the proverbial "complex financial instruments", all based on your wonderful freemarket's "notional value" of lipsticked collateralised DEBT.
The failure of these investments to produce a return, coupled with under-contribution, liens, raids, and fund-manager bonuses and admin costs are what wrecked what were solid pension and retirement plan funds.
When these eventualities became apparent, Private enterprise, at least, were the first to dump them off on the government to honor in their stead.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 08, 2010How could the government do that? They are the Great Regulator that will fix all.
BTW, the Ponzi scheme known as Social 'Security' is now officially in the red thanks those wonderful Government Regulators.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 08, 2010http://www.guardi...nal-park
Those damn Rocefellers!
BTW, a Libertarian presidential candidate propose sell all federal land and using the proceeds to create a real trust fund for Social Security instead of the Ponzi scheme it is and always was.
Caliban
3 / 5 (4) Aug 08, 2010Nothing you post here can withstand even the most cursory, general information-based scutiny, much less an intensive factual analysis, without showing itself for what it is -a filthy excrescence that you blow onto the surface of reality, and obscuring the truth by laminating over it, layer by layer, a build up of distorting, corroding lies, halftruths, and misdirection, all in the hope that some poor, gullible nitwit will be taken in by your deception.
But mainly to satisfy your sociopathically megalomaniac narcissism.
Mangy: A DIRT-DAUBER
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 08, 2010You are one of the great defenders of the state but then blame the government for failing to fulling fund its own pensions and even worse, it creates an agency which enables private companies to pass on their pensions to Uncle Sugar.
But how can you justify a 42 year old 'veteran' policeman receiving a pension for the rest of his life, with COLAs, that is greater than his salary when working?
Caliban
3.7 / 5 (3) Aug 08, 2010No, mangy -I blame the undue, corrupting influence of amoral, self-serving "freemarketeers" like you upon our duly elected government for those problems. Without your kind, these problems wouldn't exist.
Firstly, have you ever been a cop?
Secondly, your example is of a policeman who was offered early retirement in the instance of a Department being downsized due to the pressures produced by your "freemarketeer" economic disaster, and its run-up.
Lastly, It is telling that you use this particular out-of-context example, rather than that of a CEO Bank Bailout Billionaire.
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 09, 2010And what are Unions? Corportations. Every Union is a corrupt corporation these days. And you're all about free market principles and corporate protections. You're like a solitary hunter, stuck in the woods at night.
Pointing your gun and firing at every noise that upsets you, while the tiger sneaks up behind you quietly, driving away these other animals and lulling you into a false sense of safety and security. Wake up man, it's getting pretty sad to read your commentary as of late.
Actually that'd be because of the population statistics primarily. All the baby boomers are retiring and taking their social security while the smaller next generation isn't large enough, or well employed enough to keep up with inflation.
SteveL
2.5 / 5 (2) Aug 09, 2010Either entity requires viligence on the part of the people to keep them in check.
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 09, 2010In short, you can't if they control vital resources or contracts.
SteveL
2.5 / 5 (2) Aug 09, 2010An example: I own some land in Nevada that requires I drive on BLM land to get to it. I have to yearly pay for the right of way. I have no issue with this. This year, some bone head in the present administration decided we would pay for the next 10 years worth of access, all at one time. Where is their money going to come from 5 - 7 years from now? What do you want to bet that in a few years another administration will be needing the funds they were deprived of by the present administraion?
Thrasymachus
2 / 5 (12) Aug 09, 2010marjon
1.8 / 5 (5) Aug 09, 2010Yes.
"Why was the recovery from the Great Depression so slow? A number of economists now argue that the NRA and monetary policy were important factors. "
"The number of unemployed workers declined by 7,050,000 between 1940 and 1943, but the number in military service rose by 8,590,000. The reduction in unemployment can be explained by the draft, not by the economic recovery. "
'The rise in real GNP presents similar problems. Most estimates show declines in real consumption spending, which means that consumers were worse off during the war. "
Bad government policies caused the Depression, bad government policies prolonged the Depression and if you assert a war that killed millions lifted the US out of a Depression, is that your solution now?
The only reason the US economy boomed after the war is that the USA was the only nation with production capacity that was not destroyed
marjon
1.8 / 5 (5) Aug 09, 2010The only way a company can have no competition is if the law so states.
If a company is so competitive, so efficient that it drives competitors out of business because it provides the lowest cost and best service, what's wrong with that? History shows that such companies become arrogant and competitors will over take them.
Give me and example of any private company that has no competition and abuses its customers?
marjon
1.8 / 5 (5) Aug 09, 2010"Simplified, the government spending that many claim got us out of the Great Depression was only feasible once the government got out of the way somewhat and allowed Americans to work."
"To assume war is stimulative is to argue for governments that regularly wage wars or massive employment programs. "
{Is that what you want, T?}
"By the late 1930s it was already apparent that the New Deal had not worked, and more legislation of its kind ceased. "
http://www.realcl...e_g.html
Skeptic_Heretic
4.3 / 5 (3) Aug 10, 2010Public Service of New Hampshire. Our privately owned power company. Without pricing legislation, people were being priced off the grid as a "cost cutting" measure.
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 10, 2010The only reason why this is relevant is because everyone bought their raw materials from the US.
WW2 was fought by both sides using English tactics, German weapons, and American steel. We became rich from the European wars as their resources to fund war came from us, just as we now make the Middle East rich each time we go to war.
Thrasymachus
1.6 / 5 (12) Aug 10, 2010marjon
1.8 / 5 (4) Aug 10, 2010Care to provide an example?
"STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
DE 09-035
PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
Petition for Permanent Rate Increase"
As this utility is regulated by the state, it has monopoly authority from the state."
"The NHPUC is vested with general jurisdiction over electric, telecommunications, natural gas, water and sewer utilities"
No free market here.
Here is a list of oil drilling companies in TX alone:
http://www.magicy..._tx.html
There seems to be quite a lot of competition.
Why would a country with no production capacity buy raw materials?
No, what happened, as noted earlier, FDR started easing government oppression of the economy.
marjon
1.8 / 5 (4) Aug 10, 2010The government can't 'give' anything until it takes if from someone else.
The USSR claimed to have 100% employment. Old ladies swept the streets everyday.
The USA has been giving away money in the 'war on poverty'. No progress has been made since 1965.
The war was productive only in the sense that it provided a vital govt function, defense.
After the war, there was pent up demand and no other production capacity in the world.
But the government DID ease its tax policies and trade policies that started and prolong the Depression in the first place.
The data is there for all to see, govt tax cuts in the 20s, 40s, 60s, 80s 2001 stimulated economic growth, and , unfortunately more tax revenue inspiring MORE govt spending.
So keep raising taxes and the govt will go broke, as is happening now.
Thrasymachus
1.7 / 5 (11) Aug 11, 2010marjon
1.8 / 5 (4) Aug 11, 2010"Hoover acted quickly and decisively. His most important act was to call a series of White House conferences with the leading financiers and industrialists of the country, to induce them to maintain wage rates and expand their investments. Such artificially induced expansion could only bring losses to business and thereby aggravate the depression."
"The New Deal program of farm subsidies, characterized especially by farm price supports, arrived in the United States under the Hoover, not the Roosevelt, administration."
Smoot Hawley was a major tax increase that expanded the Depression around the world.
http://mises.org/...ter9.asp
Caliban
2.3 / 5 (3) Aug 11, 2010mongo, mongo, mongo. keep trolling, you sockpuppet noiseblower.
marjon
1.8 / 5 (4) Aug 11, 2010{Sounds familiar.}
"Throughout the years preceding the Stock Market crash, the Fed did just that. The Fed set below market interest rates and low reserve requirements that all favored the big banks. The money supply actual increased by about 60% during this time. "
{Sounds familiar, instead of buying stocks on margin, we bought houses.}
"So what went wrong? It was in 1929 that the Fed realized that it could not sustain its current policy. When it started to raise interest rates, the whole house of cards collapsed. "
"Hoover did intervene after the Stock Market crash, but the acts passed by Congress and signed by Hoover were the worst kind of intervention: they actually exacerbated the problem. "
http://www.amatec...iew.html
Caliban
2.7 / 5 (3) Aug 11, 2010So, they sought regulation in name only, as in deregulation -or more properly, "self-regulation".
Which money was converted to private wealth by a very few.
Which it was poised to do in any event. Hoover's austerity measures were immediately couterproductive, even though, by all accounts, well-intentioned, and benefitting from the advice of 5-star economists.
You're all wet, mongo.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 12, 2010So YOU say.
Just can't admit that government meddling screws up an economy as it is now.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 12, 2010"So a gamble it remains. But it is one that in general this newspaper supports. Throughout the rich world, government has simply got too big and Mr Cameron’s crew currently have the most promising approach to trimming it."
http://www.econom...16791720
Caliban
2.3 / 5 (3) Aug 12, 2010Get a job, mongo.
marjon
1.8 / 5 (4) Aug 12, 2010Caliban
3.4 / 5 (5) Aug 12, 2010According to me, the spaghetti I just had for dinner was the best spaghetti there ever was.
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (4) Aug 13, 2010*GASP* That was someone's deity!
SteveL
5 / 5 (3) Aug 16, 2010Do you know you will never change each other's minds? A handful of you argue the same things repeatedly over many topics. This is getting silly. You're not going to change anything here.
marjon
1 / 5 (2) Aug 16, 2010If we don't change the economic ignorance exhibited here, socialism and tyranny will prevail and all your science will be for naught.
Caliban
3 / 5 (2) Aug 17, 2010But you needn't concern yourself with the threat of AGW, or totalitarianism, fascism, corporatism, fundamentalism. Or lifting a finger to promote Liberty, Equality, Justice, Dignity, a better quality of life in general.
No sir -you can leave that to be sorted out by your betters, aka mangy and his freimarket mammonite minions.
They'll fix you right up!
Skeptic_Heretic
5 / 5 (2) Aug 17, 2010They could always ban marjon for starting this bullshit in the first place. Then again, I can't really support that move.
marjon
1 / 5 (3) Aug 17, 2010"Struggling to keep its budget under control after the financial crisis, the government in June cut into its benefits system, the world’s most generous, by limiting unemployment payments to two years instead of four. Having found that recipients either get work right away or take any job as their checks run out, {Imagine, people respond to incentives!}officials are also redoubling longstanding efforts to move Danes more quickly out of the safety net.
“The cold fact is that the longer you are out of a job, the more difficult it is to get a job,” Claus Hjort Frederiksen, the Danish finance minister, said during an interview. “Four years of unemployment is a luxury we can no longer allow ourselves.” "
http://www.nytime...ark.html
Even those happy, socialist Danes are beginning to see the limits to government control.
Caliban
3 / 5 (2) Aug 18, 2010Yes, even those happy, socialist Danes understand that their economy was derailed by the same unregulated freimarket greed that that left most of the developed world raped and bleeding. If your country's economy doesn't generate enough tax revenue, government services have to be scaled back, or financed by additional debt. Has nothing to do with government control, and everything to do with the lack thereof.
marjon
1 / 5 (2) Aug 18, 2010Is tax revenue created out of thin air? (It is now in the USA as the Fed starts to monatize the debt.)
It is the free market that creates the wealth for the government to tax. When the government strangles the goose, it stops laying golden eggs.