Saving Ourselves from Ourselves Written By: Casson Rosenblatt 2007-08-16 13:16:57 Most Americans inherently believe in the power of free markets. It is ingrained in us along with our sense of individualism. Even those who believe in "big government" are not necessarily in favor of elected officials telling citizens how to live their lives.
Yet with the growing awareness of how individual choices affect society as a whole, more and more legislation has been coming out that limits individual choice for the benefit of the larger public. Indoor smoking and trans-fat bans are just two examples. These bans met fierce opposition from many corners, particularly restaurants, since their businesses would be most affected. But the smoking ban, at least, has been a success for patrons, and there has yet to be a flood of restaurants going out of business because of it.
In developing countries there are serious challenges to providing cheap and environmentally-friendly sources of electricity and clean drinking water. But Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway, wants to try to overcome them. Recently he unveiled two of his latest projects at the Lux Executive Summit: an electricity generator that runs on cow waste and a water filtration system. Green Tech reports on the reasoning behind Kamen's efforts:
In general, I think that Ford motor company is in trouble because they lack innovation. They rejected building and researching hybrids and will further continue to reject building cars with alternate energy sources unless led and forced by the more innovative German, Japanese and, maybe now, Chinese manufacturers. By owning the preferred stock, which I think of as a really risky subordinated high yield bond, I profit and Ford survives, but I do not need them to lead.
I would prefer to bet on the long term survival of Ford (either as a subsidiary of another company or because of a government bailout) than the long term success of Ford. This is not to say that the knock down to $6.70 a share might not represent an opportunity for a short term trade on the bounce back after the year end tax sellers are done.
Summer Driving Season Kickoff Video Written By: David Neubert 2008-05-25 00:00:00 Okay so I wrote about my actions at the 2008 Chevron shareholder meeting. Now for a little levity about gas prices on the first weekend of the summer driving season.
Disclosure: My car is sitting in a garage in Massachusetts. I haven't used it in more than a month. Thanks to Miranda Marquit's blog at AllBusiness.com for alerting me to the video.
Tesoro (TSO) Fights California Ethanol Mandate Written By: Miranda Marquit 2008-10-06 11:17:12 Back in August, California's Air Resources Board passed a mandate requiring that Photo: arbyreed, Creative Commons, Flickr
ethanol blend in gasoline be upped to 10 percent (from 5.7 percent). Oil refineries in California have until 2009 to carry out the changes that would bring companies in compliance with the mandate. Tesoro (TSO), however, is fighting back.
