Stern Reality: Is Global Warming Even Worse than You Thought?

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Nicholas Stern, author of the gloomy, eponymous review that sparked a debate among environmental economists in 2006, said he was wrong. Things are actually much worse. From the Independent: “We badly underestimated the degree of damages and the risks of climate change,” said Lord Stern in a speech in London yesterday. “All of the links in the chain are on average worse than we thought a couple of years ago.” […]He also reiterated his previous estimates that governments and business must invest the equivalent of between 1 to 2 per cent of global GDP annually up to 2050 in new technologies and efficiency measures or face climate change of catastrophic proportions. The Stern Review “People who said this was scaremongering are profoundly wrong. If anything, I was too reticent. What we are playing for is the transformation of the planet,” he said. President Bush’s vague calls f Jeroen van der Veer has gone red in the face calling for Europe to increase funding of clean-coal technology

Lame Ducks in Bali

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Frustration with U.S. negotiating tactics at the climate conference burst wide open Thursday, with countries from Germany to Tuvalu blaming the U.S. for torpedoing a new climate-change deal. Europeans have threatened to skip the U.S.-sponsored global warming fest in Hawaii in January in retaliation for the slow-go tactics of U.S. negotiators. But another crew of Americans, skippered by Al Gore, Michael Bloomberg, and John Kerry, are getting a hero’s welcome. “People are turning away from the official delegation and they’re starting to face toward the future,” he says. They can’t afford to wait around for the next president.” America’s official negotiators are seen as an increasingly irrelevant nuisance International frustration peaked after the U.S. team blocked language that would establish concrete targets for greenhouse-gas reductions. Sen. Kerry promised the U.S. would take the lead fighting climate change — eventually.

Scientists: Arctic Is Screaming; Global Warming May Have Passed Tipping Point

clipped from www.foxnews.com An already relentless melting of the Arctic greatly accelerated this summer, a warning sign that some scientists worry could mean global warming has passed an ominous tipping point. One even speculated that summer sea ice would be gone in five years. Greenland's ice sheet melted nearly 19 billion tons more than the previous high mark, and the volume of Arctic sea ice at summer's end was half what it was just four years earlier, according to new NASA satellite data 2007 shattered records for Arctic melt in the following ways: 552 billion tons of ice melted this summer from the Greenland ice sheet A record amount of surface ice was lost over Greenland this year Alaska's frozen permafrost is warming White sea ice reflects about 80 percent of the sun's heat off Earth Earth has hit one of his so-called tipping points "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."

Greenspan Bashes Bush Over Spending

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in his new book, bashes President Bush for not responsibly handling the nation's spending and racking up big budget deficits.

A self-described "libertarian Republican," Greenspan takes his own party to task for forsaking conservative principles that favor small government.

"My biggest frustration remained the president's unwillingness to wield his veto against out-of-control spending," Greenspan wrote.

And he weighed in briefly but pointedly on the Iraq war: "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."


Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in his new book, bashes President Bush for not responsibly handling the nation's spending and racking up big budget deficits.

A self-described "libertarian Republican," Greenspan takes his own party to task for forsaking conservative principles that favor small government.

"My biggest frustration remained the president's unwillingness to wield his veto against out-of-control spending," Greenspan wrote.

And he weighed in briefly but pointedly on the Iraq war: "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

Bush took office in 2001, the last time the government produced a budget surplus. Every year after that, the government has been in the red. In 2004, the deficit swelled to a record $413 billion.

"The Republicans in Congress lost their way," Greenspan wrote. "They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose."

In 2006, voters put Democrats in charge of Congress for the first time in a dozen years.

Greenspan's memoir, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," is scheduled for release Monday. The Associated Press purchased a copy Saturday at a retailer in the Washington area.

The book is a recollection of his life and his time as Fed chief.

Greenspan, 81, ran the Fed for 18 1/2 years and was the second-longest serving chief. He served under four presidents, starting with his initial nomination by Ronald Reagan.

He says he began to write the book on Feb. 1, 2006, the day his successor -- Ben Bernanke -- took over. A caption under a photo of Bernanke's swearing-in has Greenspan saying he was "very comfortable leaving the post in the hands of such an experienced successor."

The ex-Fed chief writes that he regrets the loss of fiscal discipline under Bush.

"`Deficits don't matter,' to my chagrin, became part of Republicans' rhetoric."

Greenspan long has argued that persistent budget deficits pose a danger to the economy over the long run.

At the Fed, he repeatedly urged Congress to put back in place a budget mechanism that requires any new spending increases or tax cuts to be offset by spending reductions or tax increases.

Large projected surpluses were the basis for Bush's $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut approved in the summer of 2001.

Budget experts projected the government would run a whopping $5.6 trillion worth of surpluses over the subsequent decade after the cuts. Those surpluses, the basis for Bush's campaign promises of a tax cut, never materialized.

"In the revised world of growing deficits, the goals were no longer entirely appropriate," Greenspan noted. Bush, he said, stuck with his campaign promises anyway. "Most troubling to me was the readiness of both Congress and the administration to abandon fiscal discipline."

Greenspan, in testimony before Congress in 2001, gave a major boost to Bush's tax-cut plan, irking Democrats.

He argued then that a tax cut could help the economy deal with sagging growth. The economy slipped into a recession in March 2001. The downturn ended in November of that year.

Surpluses quickly turned to deficits after the bursting of the stock market bubble and the 2001 recession cut into government revenues.

Government spending increased to pay for the fight against terrorism and receipts declined
because of a string of tax cuts.

The Bush White House defended its fiscal policies in light of the Greenspan book.

"Clearly those tax cuts proved to be the right medicine for an ailing economy," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. The 2001 recession was a mild one.

"Tax cuts contributed a portion to early deficits, but those tax cuts accelerated growth over time," Fratto said. He added: "We're not going to apologize for increased spending to protect our national security."

Greenspan said he was surprised by the political grip that Bush exerted over his administration.

The Bush administration turned out to be different from "the reincarnation" of the Ford administration that Greenspan said he had imagined. "Now the political operation was far more dominant." Greenspan was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Ford.

Greenspan enjoyed a good relationship with Bush's predecessor, Bill Clinton, "a fellow information hound."

They also were on the same economic page. During the Clinton administration, budget deficits turned to surpluses.

Greenspan recalled a conflict with the White House when Bush's father was president. The elder Bush wanted lower interest rates and challenged Greenspan's inclination to raise them because of inflation risks.

For Bush's father, the economy was his "Achilles' heel, and as a result we ended up with a terrible relationship." The economy went into a recession in the summer of 1990 and emerged from it in the spring of 1991.

Many supporters of the elder Bush blamed Greenspan's tight-money policies for the recession that contributed to Bush's loss to Clinton.

Greenspan says in the book he does not lament the loss of America's manufacturing base.

"The shift of manufacturing jobs in steel, autos and textiles, for example, to their more modern equivalents in computers, telecommunications and information technology is a plus, not a minus, to the American standard of living," Greenspan wrote.

Greenspan's memoir includes his early years growing up in a New York City neighborhood of low-rise brick apartment buildings filled with families of Jewish immigrants, his stint as a jazz musician and his decades as a Washington policymaker.

On other topics, Greenspan:

-- Says he believes looser mortgage terms for "subprime" borrowers -- those with spotty credit histories or low incomes -- raised financial risks. However, he says the benefit of expanded home ownership in the United States was worth the risk.

-- Questions whether global powerhouse China can continue its economic successes over the long run if it doesn't incorporate democratic processes. However, he predicts that if Beijing continues to move ahead on free-market principles "it will surely propel the world to new levels of prosperity."

-- Predicts the most important economic decision U.S. lawmakers and courts will confront in the next quarter century will be to clarify rules involving intellectual property -- patents, copyright and trademarks.

-- Proposes lowering barriers to skilled immigrants and improving education to narrow income inequality.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who said the following about the Presidents address to the nation

Do you know?

Your reaction or comment?

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com I thought the president was correct to follow General Petraeus's recommendations. ... it seems to me that our goal in Iraq is no different now than it was at the very beginning. The goal, the mission in Iraq is to provide safety and security so we can have an ally in Iraq against the Islamic terrorists. That was the mission that most of the Democrats agreed to in 2003. They've kind of changed their minds about that. He is bound to the same failed course that we have seen for the last several years. The President’s strategy in Iraq is not succeeding. It is not making America safer. Doing more of the same would be a disaster. After almost five years, tonight was just more of the same. It's not progress nor is it the strategy for success our troops deserve.

Energy RoundUp

What is happening in energy today.

clipped from www.google.com The Arctic’s steady thaw over the years has emboldened sailors to attempt crossing the Northwest Passage. Now, instead of encountering deadly ice floes, many recreational boats are finding the route to be smooth sailing. The House and Senate are working on legislation that over the next seven years would phase out the conventional light bulb, a move aimed at saving energy and reducing man-made emissions believed linked to climate change. A federal judge’s ruling that Vermont can limit greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and trucks will have national implications in the intensifying debate over fuel economy and global warming. With energy prices steadily increasing, the world’s biggest aluminum companies are investing heavily to secure dedicated power sources, at times buying local power plants or building aluminum-making operations in remote parts of the world where energy is more abundant and cheaper.