Delaware
updated
11:00 a.m.
In the words of St. Ronnie, “Here they go again.” It seems that an alliance of Tea Party groups has descended upon Washington again, in a three-week “Take the Town Halls To Washington” rally. They’re protesting a government take-over, or Bolshevik revolution, or alien invasion, or some such thing. Oh, OK. Actually they’re trying a [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - 9:43 a.m.
Welcome to Tuesday. I think we must have survived the Breitbartocalypse. I don’t feel any different. It’s definitely feeling like spring around here. My crocuses have bloomed and my daffodils will bloom any day now. I find it kind of amazing how spring this year was almost like a light [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - 9:01 a.m.
Senator Kaufman is delivering a speech today in favor or financial reform. All I can say is wow, you go Ted! Mr. President, last Thursday, the bankruptcy examiner for Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. released a 2,200 page report about the demise of the firm which included riveting detail on the firm’s accounting practices. That [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - 8:39 a.m.
Because in spite of this attempt to invoke this appeal to the authority of a basic economics class (which this person Cato has clearly never had), just claiming that TAXES ARE BAD is just not an argument when dealing with cap and trade. Because cap and trade is not a taxation system, it is [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - 7:03 a.m.
They’re ba-a-a-a-ck. For three weeks…before they break for Easter. The ‘honorables’ (shout out to Ralph Moyed) return to Dover with expansion of casino gambling apparently at the top of the ‘to-do, or not to-do’ list. I support expansion beyond the current race-track sites, not b/c I was a strong advocate for casino gambling in the first [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - 6:41 a.m.
Given the latest Catholic Church scandal… is it time to rethink the vow of celibacy? Senior Church figures in Germany meanwhile called for priestly celibacy to be reviewed, a tradition Benedict defended on Friday as a “the sign of full devotion” and of an “entire commitment to the Lord”. The Church “should reflect on whether there are [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - 6:01 a.m.
Putting a price on carbon (one of the objectives of climate change legislation) is intended to capture externalities so that polluters pay for the harm caused by their emissions. One way to put a price on carbon is to require companies to disclose risks related to climate change. As investors weigh the risks, companies that emit carbon will find their cost of capital is being adjusted to account ...
TommyWonk - 5:42 a.m.
The Senate’s financial reform plan was released yesterday by Sen. Chris Dodd: The plan would create a nine-member council, led by the Treasury secretary, to watch for systemic risks, and direct the Federal Reserve to supervise the nation’s largest and most interconnected financial institutions, not just banks. But the bill, which would amount to the most sweeping [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - 5:21 a.m.
As noted on Sunday (did you send in a question to the FCC Chair?), FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will deliver the National Broadband Plan to Congress today and then I imagine he’ll be everywhere talking about this plan. They released an Executive Summary today (pdf), which looks more like a To Do List than [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - 4:07 a.m.
This is especially dedicated to WDEL's Rick Jensen. Your bogus evidence and counter evidence are exposed. ...
Delaware Watch - 2:40 a.m.
OK, maybe I’m weird (that was rhetorical), but this from MoveOn cracked me up. Just type your name in … it’s worth it. I especially like the French Glenn Beck poster. I know that His Beckness will never have reason to go after me, but this video made me feel special — even if only for [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - Mon 6:08 p.m.
As I mentioned yesterday, the Obama Administration was sending over its blueprint for the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. (pdf) The New Yorker’s Hendrik Hertzberg on the future of nuclear energy in the United States, Some Nukes. Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria on President Obama’s successful strategy in Pakistan, A Victory for Obama. ...
DelawareLiberal.Net - Mon 4:08 p.m.
Beware the Ides of March! Today is the Ides of March and also the Breitbartocalypse. At this time tomorrow the “institutional left” will have ceased to exist. I suppose you’ll only see a blank page here tomorrow. We will all have been raptured or something. It’s pretty unclear what Breitbart meant. [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - Mon 10:20 a.m.
I’ve always thought that Glenn Beck would flame out sooner rather than later. You can’t make your living as a prophet of doom & gloom if the doom & gloom doesn’t come to pass. However, the end for Glenn Beck may be more related to money than from burn-out, according to Howard Kurtz: With [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - Mon 10:20 a.m.
They grow up so fast, don’t they? To some of us, at least, it seems like only yesterday that this whole “internets” thing got started. I remember how excited I got when I first started seeing web addresses referenced in tv commercials back in the mid to late ’90s. Little did I know, really until [...]...
DelawareLiberal.Net - Mon 10:20 a.m.
I've been shaking my head since I first heard of this a couple of weeks ago. The News Journal reports that the son of state senator wants to put a casino on state land at the Indian River Inlet : The plan by Clinton Bunting -- son of state Sen. George Bunting, D-Bethany Beach, who represents the area and is opposed to expanding gambling in the state -- would turn an area on the bay...
TommyWonk - Fri 5:46 a.m.
Jack Markell yesterday presented a new proposal to boost and extend the renewable portfolio standard and promote the development of green energy jobs in Delaware. Markell went to the Motech Americas solar panel plant in Newark to announce the Delaware Clean Energy Jobs Act. The proposal would extend and expand the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to 30 percent by 2029 and for the first time ...
TommyWonk - Thu 5:42 a.m. - 6 clicks 
If, as we are used to hearing, wind power is so expensive, then we should be seeing electricity prices climb as more wind power projects come online. It is estimated that Iowa now gets as much as 20 percent of its electricity from wind turbines. So how has that affected the price Iowans pay for their power? The Iowa Policy Project last week released a report that shows that the price of ...
TommyWonk - Wed 5:20 a.m. - 2 clicks
The story of how Delaware is leading the country on weatherization made the front page of DailyKos this morning with a hat tip to this blog. Kos diarist Meteor Blades reviews the weak results from most states , ending with this note: Meanwhile, states who are still having trouble getting their act into gear might take a gander at how Delaware did it . As I noted on Frida...
TommyWonk - Mar 8 - 10 clicks
Ezra Klein pointed me to this note by Paul Krugman on the economics of climate change. Economics students will recognize the methods. The non-geeks among my readers will find it rather heavy going. Krugman uses a simplified "toy model" to illustrate some of the economics of climate change and atmospheric carbon. According to his model, the longer it takes the carbon price to rise...
TommyWonk - Mar 8 - 3 clicks
The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Energy has released a report lamenting the slow pace of deployment of funds for weatherization . The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) allocated $4.73 billion for weathering homes over a three year period. Of that, only $368.2 million (less than 8 percent) has actually been used. The good news is that Delaware leads the country ...
TommyWonk - Mar 5 - 5 clicks
In preparation for tonight's talk on climate change at the UUFN , I have been thinking about the economics of energy. When I was just a kid, I remember standing on a corner of Rodney Square passing out fliers in support of the Coastal Zone Act. A man came up to me and asked what we would all do for a living if the CZA were passed. I didn't have an answer for him, but I have been pondering ...
TommyWonk - Mar 3 - 2 clicks
As I noted yesterday, Dr. Chad Tolman had this op-ed published in Saturday's News Journal . Dr. Tolman and I will speak tomorrow night at the Green Matters program at the United Universalist Fellowship of Newark . Carper backs up EPA on emissions DELAWARE VOICE • By CHAD TOLMAN • February 27, 2010 In Delaware's amicus curiae in support of Massachusetts, filed in August 2006 in the Su...
TommyWonk - Mar 2 - 6 clicks
Dr. Chad Tolman and I will be on the program at the United Universalist Fellowship of Newark this Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. to talk about climate change. Chad knows as much about climate science as anyone in Delaware. I will talk about the economics. The News Journal published Chad's op-ed on Tom Carper, Ted Kaufman and the EPA's endangerment finding on carbon emissions. Carper...
TommyWonk - Mar 1 - 8 clicks
Bipartisanship is not often found in the U.S. Senate. Jim Bunning (R-KY) has prompted a one man shutdown of unemployment benefits and the Federal Highway Administration , adding insult to injury by complaining about missing a basketball game. But as Floyd Norris writes in the New York Times , two senators, are collaborating on overhauling the tax code . Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Ron Wyden ...
TommyWonk - Feb 27
Republicans claim that doctors never turn away the uninsured--a claim that does not match up to the experience of making an appointment at the doctor's office....
FrameShop - Feb 26 - 3 clicks
I've got a piece up at the Guardian on Toyota's "stunning fall from grace." For decades, auto executives from around the world made the pilgrimage to Toyota's factories to learn its methods of lean production and continuous improvement. The famed quality guru W Edwards Deming helped Toyota set up its manufacturing methods after being spurned by complacent US auto makers. Detroit ...
TommyWonk - Feb 25 - 2 clicks
This New York Times article on Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's appearance before a congressional committee was notable for several reasons. First, he made headlines, and reassured markets, by saying that interest rates would remain low for some time to come. Second, the chart behind him shows the collapse and slow recovery of wealth over the last 30 months. The Fed's extraordinary extension...
TommyWonk - Feb 25 - 2 clicks
TommyWonk first went live five years ago with a post about this famous conceptual art parody : Not that anyone was paying attention at the time. Since then I have published 1,615 posts and I don't know how many words. My posts have gotten longer and my focus more narrow: climate change, the economics of renewable energy and most notably the Delaware wind power saga. While I ha...
TommyWonk - Feb 23 - 3 clicks
While the skeptics argue about snowstorms and climate change , the U.S. is in danger of watching a growing industrial revolution in energy technology from the sidelines. Senator Ted Kaufman writes in the News Journal that "the future lies in growing the green economy." Kaufman says that's where the smart money is: Many of our smartest investors see this and are betting on clea...
TommyWonk - Feb 22 - 3 clicks
The global warming skeptics have made a great deal out of the big snowstorm that socked the east coast recently, as if winter snow in the northern hemisphere is somehow unusual. Last week, I once again tried to explain that weather and climate are not the same , and pointed out that it has been unseasonably warm in Vancouver. As Think Progress reports, Barack Obama also noticed that it'...
TommyWonk - Feb 21 - 2 clicks
New Castle County residents have been diverting their leaves and grass clippings from the Cherry Island Landfill for two years now. Now, as the News Journal reports, the ban is being extended to the rest of the state . The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has issued a secretary’s order barring the landfilling of yard waste as part of a new operating permit f...
TommyWonk - Feb 19 - 3 clicks
It seems that whenever we get a snowstorm these days, we hear the same old argument: If global warming is real, why is it snowing? Those who seem to think that snow in winter is a meaningful measure of climate change repeat the fallacy of equating weather with climate. Tom Toles is right to ridicule the argument . For instance, while we have had an unusual amount of snow here on the eas...
TommyWonk - Feb 17
I will be going on the air with Alan Loudell of WDEL , 1150 AM, to talk about (what else) the weather. Specifically, we will discuss the economics of parking on snow clogged streets and the challenge of clearing the streets. If we have time, we might even discuss whether the latest storms have any bearing at all on the global warming debate. ...
TommyWonk - Feb 16
I have been thinking about how several feet of snow changes the balance of economic forces governing parking in city neighborhoods. Any city resident has seen the phenomenon of reserving parking spaces with trash cans and lawn chairs over the last ten days. Normally, the price of parking in a residential neighborhood is stable. Most Wilmington residents can park in their neighborhoods for free, ...
TommyWonk - Feb 15
I woke up on the east coast today for the first time in a week. This is how Denver looked at 7:00 a.m. two mornings ago: We got a couple of inches of snow in Denver over the last week. When I got home, I found my car safely embedded in a bank of snow. As for those who somehow see the last two snowstorms as refuting the evidence of global warming, I would point out that no scientist (at le...
TommyWonk - Feb 13
The Republicans lie that Obama hasn't lowered the taxes of the vast majority of Americans has taken seed. The Republicans are proof that if you tell a lie long enough in time the public will come to... ...
Delaware Watch - Feb 12
It turns out that the lying that Congressional Republicans have been doing about National Security matters is legion. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow chronicles more lies by more Republicans. Newt... ...
Delaware Watch - Feb 10
Well, Newt Gingrich has told another whopper. This time he was caught in short order. His lie was clearly intended to smear Obama. Apparently, these right-wing lunatrons feel they are entitled to... ...
Delaware Watch - Feb 10
Charles Weiss and William B. Bonvillian offer a telling anecdote in their book, Structuring an Energy Technology Revolution : A bus is traveling along the California coast packed with neoclassical economists attending a convention. They are accompanied by one reporter. Suddenly, the bus crashes through the guardrail over a 300-foot cliff toward the sea. The reporter starts screaming, but...
TommyWonk - Feb 10
I have always thought that many of the politicians and would-be politicians in the tea party movement were nothing more than outright opportunists. But if you want evidence, notice how the tea... ...
Delaware Watch - Feb 9
Let's say for the sake of argument that the Congressional Republicans are correct. That the Obama stimulus is bad for the economy, that it won't create jobs and it will not work. Wouldn't it... ...
Delaware Watch - Feb 9
Here in Denver, I have had the pleasure of meeting Tom Konrad, who can be found online as the Clean Energy Wonk . Tom is a serious quant; he has a PhD in mathematics and a CFA (Certified Financial Analyst), and writes about green energy investment opportunities at Alt Energy Stocks . As fellow wonks, we have traveled eerily similar paths. We have both been active in promoting clean energy, and ...
TommyWonk - Feb 9
