Readers of Stirring the Pot know that I am deeply concerned about the issues of global climate change and inequality in the United States. Climate change, or the larger issue of global change, is an existential threat to modern human civilization. Inequality strikes at the very heart of the American ideal of “liberty and justice […]
Let’s start with two facts. First, the human population continues to change in unprecedented ways how the Earth’s systems function. Originally this was called global warming. The realization that changes in the global climate included more than just temperature changes led to use of the term climate change. Now we understand that more in nature […]
We know when it is a Congressional election year. Like clockwork, in the mail arrives a letter from Maine Second District Representative Bruce Poliquin. The envelope boldly declares: “Public Document Official Business.” At first the letter is a puzzle. What “official business” do we have with this office? Then we remember. Mr. Poliquin uses the […]
When I was teaching, I used to joke with students that my classes were particularly demanding because I wanted to be sure they would succeed in the real world so that they could pay for my Social Security checks. Economists are supposed to believe that self interest is the dominant human motivator. I was only […]
