It has been over 160 years since a commercial quantity of ‘rock oil’ was found. Through much of that time, uses for its refined liquids gradually expanded, from lighting to fuel oil to gasoline and the automobile. Gradually petroleum became the energy source of choice, though coal and natural gas were large competitors. During World… Continue reading The Global Implications of Oil Price Renormalization (Part 3)
Category: politics
The Global Implications of Oil Price Renormalization (Part 1)
First, we have to understand some of the history and makeup of the commodity. In North America, from time immemorial, the Indians in the Western Allegheny area had skimmed oil seepage off the surface of the water and used it as a medicine. The settlers called it ‘Seneca oil’ after the local tribe and used… Continue reading The Global Implications of Oil Price Renormalization (Part 1)
Aging and Economies
It’s really pretty simple. In order for a society to reproduce itself, each woman must have 2.1 children during her fertile period, which normally lasts from, say 14-42 years of age, more or less. This is called a fertility rate, as opposed to a birthrate. A stable population fertility rate is reached by counting one… Continue reading Aging and Economies
Wyoming, 1870 – The Accidental First Suffragettes: a Political Breakthrough for Women
Early in 1870, while the Wyoming Governor was away in the East, Edward Lee became the Acting Governor. He, with the legal help of one of the state Supreme Court Justices, appointed three women to vacancies for Territorial Justice of the Peace positions. The terms were shortened in order to put them on a consistent… Continue reading Wyoming, 1870 – The Accidental First Suffragettes: a Political Breakthrough for Women
Just Bubbling Along
In essence, the bubble problem is tied to borrowing, that is, to put it [more or less] in the words of a character in the movie Popeye, "If you lend me money for a hamburger today, I’ll pay you back on Monday". Presumably, there would be an extra charge for taking the risk, called interest.… Continue reading Just Bubbling Along
‘I Stole It Fair and Square’
I have sometimes used this quip in the above title to describe what went on in much of the American land policy with respect to Native Americans. An awful lot of land was acquired from various ‘chiefs’ who were deemed by the American authorities to have had the legal right to sell property presumably owned… Continue reading ‘I Stole It Fair and Square’
Review of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’, The General in His Labyrinth
I meant to read this book many years ago, but never got around to it. In a way, I am glad of that, as it resonates more, I think, the older you get. I came away acknowledging that the author really deserved his Nobel Prize for Literature. The novel, The General in his Labyrinth is… Continue reading Review of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’, The General in His Labyrinth
Involuntary Servitude
There is a notion, common in human history, that it is acceptable to force some people to labor for their sustenance alone, while others make use of the difference between the value of the forced laborers’ production and their sustenance. Reasons for justifying this involuntary servitude include national necessity, the fate of captives in war,… Continue reading Involuntary Servitude
Havana Dreamin’
I wrote this 6 years ago, before President Trump more or less established the Status Quo Ante in US Cuba relations. This is a lightly revised piece from then. I knew Cuba in the old days before President Obama unleashed the second American invasion of that Caribbean island. This one was not a military one,… Continue reading Havana Dreamin’
Amelia Jenks Bloomer: A Yankee Woman Goes to Iowa
Amelia Jenks was the daughter of Ananias Jenks, who was born in Yankee Rhode Island around 1786. He was a woolen clothmaker by trade who migrated, first to Oneida NY and then south to Homer, in Cortland County, on the eastern margins of the Finger Lakes. Here he operated a woolen mill and married Lucy… Continue reading Amelia Jenks Bloomer: A Yankee Woman Goes to Iowa
Old Professor by the Sea 