The U.S. economy contracted for the second straight quarter during the second quarter this year, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday. With that, economic growth has hit a widely accepted benchmark for defining an economy as being in recession: two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.
Many people are growing concerned about pollution and its growing effects on our environment and quality of life. So much so it seems, that politicians are now taking nuclear power much more seriously than previously. We’ve seen a greater push toward solar and wind power, as alternative and more renewable means of providing energy for national and global economies.
Despite this, actions toward the green economy are for naught; not just while the tragedy of the commons and eminent domain remain, but while monetary policy remains in favor of secular inflation.
For those of us who see the world’s glass as half empty, a book entitled The End of the World Is Just the Beginning makes the pulse race in anticipation. The author, Peter Zelhan, doesn’t disappoint. R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It, (and I Feel Fine)” comes to mind.
Those who don’t learn from the past, as the old adage goes, are doomed to repeat it. Even in the realm of something as seemingly abstract and technical as economic policy, this saying holds true. Prices are soaring in all areas of consumption, from the grocery store aisle to the pump, with the United States experiencing its highest rate of inflation since 1981.
