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Economy

Connecting the dots between the cost of energy and such traditional measures of the economy as GDP, jobs, and the health of the US dollar, along with re-localization.

What do triple digit oil prices mean for growth?

By January 11, 2012
gas station sign

Can we still expect to see sustained economic recoveries when oil, the world’s principal source of energy, is trading in triple digit range? As I argued several years ago in my book, Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller, triple digit oil prices will redefine our notion of an economic recovery because as soon as the global economy picks up, oil prices will quickly soar to levels that challenge growth. Last year was a case in point. In the second full year of recovery from … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy, Energy Tagged With: , ,

Meet the woman who makes your kids nag you for products

By January 4, 2012
Lucy Hughes

"We found the way a child nags isn't always the same," says Lucy Hughes, then-director of strategy and insight for Initiative Media. "There's one of two ways that they nag— either with persistence or with importance." Persistent nagging is "really whiny," according to Hughes. "'Mommy, I really, really want the Barbie Dream House, wah, wah, wah, wah...'" Important nagging by contrast is more reasoned: "'Mommy, I need the Barbie Dream House so barbie and Ken can live together and have … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Consumerism, Economy

#8 & 7: For that Holiday spirit

By December 24, 2011
Generosity

Like Rick Perry and FOX News we're not afraid to use the word Christmas when we talk about December 25th and the season beginning with Advent and ending with Epiphany. Since both the publisher and the editor of this magazine are Christians who celebrate both the sacred and the secular aspects of Christmas, it's only natural that they'd comfortably use the term Christmas, and the phrase, "Merry Christmas" in many instances during the holiday season. Where we differ But unlike Rick Perry and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy

#15 & #14: Doom and boom

By December 18, 2011
reasons1415

The problem with most people is that they're uninformed -- or just complacent. They think the economy's got to pick up, that Obama or somebody will figure out how to create jobs and that the energy industry will find some technological solution to replace cheap fossil fuels and to stop global warming. Transition Voice readers know better. Some of our readers think it's too late for industrial society to save itself. They worry that the next banking crisis or oil crash could bring down the … [Read more...]

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Six ideas for a low impact holiday

By December 15, 2011
Recycled Gift Tags

For many of us, the first snow is on the ground, night skies are star-studded and a holiday spirit is in the air. Holidays, as much fun as they are, tend to bring out some of our most entrenched bad habits. The holidays shouldn't be a burden on the environment, but they are. Most Americans, for example, produce about 25 percent more trash during the holidays (from Thanksgiving to New Year’s) resulting in around 25 million extra tons of waste. There has to be a better way to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Consumerism Tagged With: , , ,

This Buy Nothing Day #OCCUPYXMAS

By November 24, 2011
Buy Nothing Day Poster

You’ve been sleeping on the streets for two months pleading peacefully for a new spirit in economics. And just as your camps are raided, your eyes pepper sprayed and your heads knocked in, another group of people are preparing to camp-out. Only these people aren’t here to support occupy Wall Street. They’re here to secure their spot in line for a Black Friday bargain at Super Target and Macy’s. Occupy gave the world a new way of thinking about the fat cats and financial pirates on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Consumerism, Economy Tagged With: , , ,

Embracing Buy Nothing Day

By November 23, 2011
Buy Nothing Day

I love Buy Nothing Day. I've celebrated it since it was first announced twenty years ago by the same band of merry activists who launched the Occupy Wall Street movement. Why do I like it so much? It's not just the rejection of a massive consumer culture that I relish, though I do find the doorbuster frenzy mentality tacky and dangerous. No bargain is worth taking my life in my hands. But moreover, the values of more, more, more stuff just doesn't resonate with me, either materially, or as … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Consumerism, Economy Tagged With: , , ,

Could gold become money again?

By November 11, 2011
gold bar

"There just won’t be enough gold coins to go around," said Gail Tverberg, known for years on the Oil Drum as Gail the Actuary, at the ASPO-USA conference in Washington, DC last week. "If you have gold, maybe you can find somebody who will sell you some piece of land. But otherwise it will have very limited use, unless you have some certificates that will go with it for denominations we need. And you need a safe place to keep it too." As the Great Recession drags on despite attempts by … [Read more...]

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Leveraging your own money

By November 1, 2011
Hoare bank

Editor's Note: With just a few days left until Bank Transfer Day, we thought a little humorous inspiration might help you get in there and move your money. After watching how banks make money I've decided to join the con. Um, sorry, I mean the money game.  I'm leveraging my bank deposit. I made an appointment with my bank manager and the conversation went something like this: Me: Good morning Mister Bank Manager, I'd like to talk to you about my account. At this stage I handed over my … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , , , ,

Will an oil-driven misery index claim another president?

By October 27, 2011
homeless man

What US presidents seeking re-election fear most is the wrath of a rising misery index. And nothing brings more misery to the world’s largest oil consuming economy than high oil prices. During the 1960s, Arthur Okun, an American economist, created the idea of a misery index to measure economic hardship. It was simply the sum of the nation’s unemployment rate and its inflation rate, assuming the two to be equal in the costs they impose on society. The concept was popularized by Jimmy … [Read more...]

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