Paul Krugman Blames Egypt Crisis On Global Warming<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/opinion/07krugman.html?_r=2>
Excerpt: The consequences of this food crisis go far beyond economics. After all, the big question about uprisings against corrupt and oppressive regimes in the Middle East isnt so much why theyre happening as why theyre happening now. And theres little question that sky-high food prices have been an important trigger for popular rage. So whats behind the price spike? American right-wingers (and the Chinese) blame easy-money policies at the Federal Reserve, with at least one commentator declaring that there is blood on Bernankes hands. Meanwhile, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France blames speculators, accusing them of extortion and pillaging. But the evidence tells a different, much more ominous story. While several factors have contributed to soaring food prices, what really stands out is the extent to which severe weather events have disrupted agricultural production. And these severe weather events are exactly the kind of thing wed expect to see as rising concentrations of greenhouse gases change our climate which means that the current food price surge may be just the beginning. I wish I was creative enough to make this kind of stuff up. J - 08/02/2002 - The basic point is that the recession of 2001 wasn't a typical postwar slump, brought on when an inflation-fighting Fed raises interest rates and easily ended by a snapback in housing and consumer spending when the Fed brings rates back down again. This was a prewar-style recession, a morning after brought on by irrational exuberance. To fight this recession the Fed needs more than a snapback; it needs soaring household spending to offset moribund business investment. And to do that, as Paul McCulley of Pimco put it, Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble to replace the Nasdaq bubble. - Paul Krugman 03/16/2008 - Oh, and the man (Alan Greenspan) who failed to see the housing bubble and refused to do anything about subprime and has yet to admit to making any mistakes ends by reaffirming his laissez-faire faith . . . - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:334074 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
