Thursday, August 23, 2018

The Ultimatum Game


The cheerleaders for “Economic Growth” like to remind us that the best way for working class Americans to take home a bigger pay check is for economic growth to grow the whole pie. And even if their %age share of the pie doesn’t grow, as long as the pie grows they will take home a bigger piece of the pie. Which is probably true. After all, “A rising tide lifts all boats” (attributed to John F Kennedy, fgodsake!). 

But is this fair? Is it fair that when the pie grows, the top earners keep most of the extra pie while workers only get crumbs? “Hey, a bigger pay check is a bigger pay check! What business is it of yours that your portion (%age) of the pie isn’t bigger as long as the size of your portion (raw $’s) is bigger?”

Sunday, August 5, 2018

HIPPO

I called the second essay in the Appendix of my book, To My Countrymen, "Gaian Issues" (Gaia is the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth). The essay laments the fact that Americans place Gaian (environmental) issues at the bottom of the heap of political issues that are important to them. And it lists the ten most significant Gaian issues (Global Warming / Climate Change is only one of them). Here is the list: 
  • Global Warming
  • Peak Oil
  • Rain Forests & Coral Reefs
  • Deforestation
  • Endangered Species – the Sixth Extinction – the Loss of Biodiversity
  • Over-fishing, over-hunting
  • GMO
  • Waste
  • Water
  • Human Population Growth