financial crisis
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Obama transition teams wrestles with fiscal policy
Behind the scenes, Barack Obama is busy putting together “the largest and most disciplined presidential transition team anyone can recall,” says Edward Luce in the Financial Times. Obviously this is important for any incoming president, but with so many crises converging, it takes on particular salience this time around. Obama’s team is deep in the […]
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Dueling NYT op-eds
David Brooks: The lesson here is that we have a right to be skeptical of so-called stimulus packages. The Federal Reserve can effectively stimulate the economy. There are certain automatic government programs, like unemployment insurance, which also do it. But the history of the past century suggests that politically designed, ad hoc stimulus packages rarely […]
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U.K. secretary: Economic downturn will not delay measures that could speed economy
“In order to stimulate Britain’s economic growth and support our position as a leading world economy it is essential that we make the right long-term investments in our transport infrastructure and that we plan for future growth, in a way which is consistent with reducing greenhouse gas emissions overall.” — U.K. Transport Secretary Geoff […]
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If you thought ignoring financial risks blew up in our faces …
“We have seen the consequences of ignoring risk in the current economic and financial crisis. It has already led to negative growth in rich countries. The risk consequences of ignoring climate change will be very much bigger that the risk consequences of ignoring risk from the financial system.” — Sir Nicholas Stern, former World Bank […]
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Voices in favor of green stimulus spending
I think it kind of disappeared in the rush late last week, so if you haven’t already, check out this op-ed from Chip and me in the Seattle Times. It seems to be part of a growing chorus calling out for green stimulus spending. Here’s Michael Northrop, director of the Sustainable Development Program at the […]
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Solving the financial crisis by averting the climate crisis
Chip and I have an op-ed in the Seattle Times: "Solving the financial crisis by averting the climate crisis." It begins: Polar ice caps are melting, but Wall Street is melting down. The ongoing financial crisis means that the next president will have to postpone or dramatically scale back plans to address the twin problems […]
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Massive U.N. study attempts to do for biodiversity what IPCC did for climate
When Wall Street saw around $1-$1.5 trillion dollars go up in smoke from the financial sector, the world rightfully freaked the hell out. Meanwhile, the world is burning up between $2 trillion and $5 trillion of capital a year through global forest loss. That’s the cumulative value of the lost services forests provide, including carbon […]
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Finance is valuable to the ‘real economy,’ but the system needs to be replaced
Some Grist readers in comments seem to think we should ignore the financial aspects of the crisis to focus on the “real economy.” The problem is, finance is part of the real economy. Credit was invented before paper currency; there are records of debt in ancient Babylon. Try and imagine life without currency, or checkbooks, […]
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Nobelist Paul Crutzen suggests that a slowdown in the economy could be good for the climate
A: Of course not. Only efforts to sharply cut CO2 emissions starting immediately would be good for the climate. If proof were ever needed that winning a Nobel Prize does not make you a genius on every subject, consider what atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen told Reuters: It’s a cruel thing to say … but if […]