August 2016
How Much Do We Know?
31/08/16 19:19
Global Warming/Climate Change is a hotly debated topic, especially the cause of it. One side does not believe humans are involved, whereas the other thinks we are the culprit. This post is not about which side is right, that is a topic for a long form article. This topic is about a realization of the what we know about the argument. The realization came about when I asked one question:
How much Carbon Dioxide is in the atmosphere?
Ask this to a group of people who are engaged in the argument. If they are lay people, meaning not atmospheric scientists, I am thinking less than 50% would know the answer. I wouldn’t be surprised if no one knew the answer.
Yet is is such a basic fact. And the substance may, or may not, be the cause of global warming / climate change. A heated argument, where people know so little about all the facts.
The answer is below…….(in small print, so copy it, past it some place, then change the font size)
Less than 1%
How much Carbon Dioxide is in the atmosphere?
Ask this to a group of people who are engaged in the argument. If they are lay people, meaning not atmospheric scientists, I am thinking less than 50% would know the answer. I wouldn’t be surprised if no one knew the answer.
Yet is is such a basic fact. And the substance may, or may not, be the cause of global warming / climate change. A heated argument, where people know so little about all the facts.
The answer is below…….(in small print, so copy it, past it some place, then change the font size)
Less than 1%
Greed Is Good?
01/08/16 19:21
“Greed is good” by Gordon Gecko in Wall Street.
I think that statement set off more financial shenanigans then anything else. Gecko’s character was supposed to be a villain, yet somehow he became, if not quite a hero, someone who commanded respect? He was ruthless in the world of finance. He was charismatic. He was rich and powerful. He was self made.
I don’t think Gecko created the plethora of financial misdeeds that came about in the 1900’s and 2000’s, but he did seem to validate some of the baser instincts in the financial field. He empowered some more of the unsavory characters. The academic version of the “Greed is good” motto was the “The sole goal of a corporation is to increase shareholder wealth”. Some CEOs took that one step further in saying the goal should be to increase their wealth, and with the corporate structure acting as a personal shield, they acted with impunity.
Again, I go back to the Robert Owens experiment, employing owned companies and co-ops. Everyone’s interests on the same page, or at least much more closely aligned together and with a longer term view.
I think that statement set off more financial shenanigans then anything else. Gecko’s character was supposed to be a villain, yet somehow he became, if not quite a hero, someone who commanded respect? He was ruthless in the world of finance. He was charismatic. He was rich and powerful. He was self made.
I don’t think Gecko created the plethora of financial misdeeds that came about in the 1900’s and 2000’s, but he did seem to validate some of the baser instincts in the financial field. He empowered some more of the unsavory characters. The academic version of the “Greed is good” motto was the “The sole goal of a corporation is to increase shareholder wealth”. Some CEOs took that one step further in saying the goal should be to increase their wealth, and with the corporate structure acting as a personal shield, they acted with impunity.
Again, I go back to the Robert Owens experiment, employing owned companies and co-ops. Everyone’s interests on the same page, or at least much more closely aligned together and with a longer term view.
