Category Archives: Predictions

The President Who Cried “Recovery”

Posted on Friday, August 12, 2011 by Sean Patrick Hazlett

“You can only talk about ‘things are going to get better’… for so long and be a cheerleader for so long before it has to actually happen. And that’s the role of policy, not communications, is to actually make things … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Business, Finance and Economics, Media, Policy, Politics, Predictions | Tagged Morniing Edition, NPR, President Obama | 4 Comments

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi: S&P Lowers America’s Credit Rating

Posted on Saturday, August 6, 2011 by Sean Patrick Hazlett

Sic transit gloria mundi How doth the busy bee Dum vivimus vivamus I stay my enemy! — Emily Dickinson opening to a poem she published in the Springfield Daily Republican in 1852, a newspaper associated with the founding of the Republican … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Business, Finance and Economics, Media, Policy, Politics, Predictions, Taxes | Tagged Downgrade of U.S. Debt, Emily Dickinson, Mortgage rates, Risk free rate, S&P, S&P Downgrade, Sic Transit Gloria Mundi, Sovereign debt, U.S. Treasuries | 14 Comments

How Many Words Do You Know?

Posted on Friday, July 29, 2011 by Sean Patrick Hazlett

Today, I discovered an interesting test on The Economist website. The website, testyourvocab.com, is hosting a serious research project to measure how many words the average English speaker knows. You can take the test here. Given that the English language … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Blogging, Education, General, Media, Predictions | Tagged English language, Vocabulary, Words | 34 Comments

The Debt Ceiling and Our Urge to Destroy Ourselves

Posted on Wednesday, July 27, 2011 by Chris Ladd

As a kid growing up on the Gulf Coast the annual hurricane watch was a terrifying treat. We were supposed to want the big storms to miss us, but we were disappointed when they did. The old-timers told us stories … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Business, Finance and Economics, Media, Policy, Politics, Predictions, Taxes | Tagged Congress, debt ceiling, Deficit, Irrationality, Jonah Lehrer, TARP | 21 Comments

Cyber War: Why “Click and Kill” Is the Next Threat to Modern Civilization

Posted on Friday, July 1, 2011 by Sean Patrick Hazlett

Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do about It is Richard A. Clarke’s and Robert A. Knake’s all-encompassing tome on current and future cyber security threats. The authors wrote the book in a clear and concise manner so that anyone … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Book Reviews, Business, China, Defense, Energy Security, Finance and Economics, Food Security, International Security, Mathematics, Media, Policy, Politics, Predictions, Science, Smart grid, Technology, Terrorism, War | Tagged Book review, China, Cyber war, Google, Internet, Richard Clarke, Robert Knake, Russia, Technology, United States | 2 Comments

President Obama Releases Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Why?

Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 by Sean Patrick Hazlett

Last week, President Obama ordered the release of 30 million barrels of crude oil from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in concert with a broader International Energy Agency (IEA) effort to release 60 million barrels. This action was only the third … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Business, Central Asia, Clean Energy, Clean Tech, Defense, Energy Security, Finance and Economics, International Security, Middle East, Peak Oil, Policy, Politics, Predictions | Tagged Peak oil, President Obama, Saudi Arabia, Strategic Petroleum Reserve | 9 Comments

Capitalism, Unions, and Offshoring (Part VII): Lessons Learned

Posted on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 by Sean Patrick Hazlett

In the last six installments of this series, Egalitarius’ management encouraged its workers to unionize, and then instituted several aggressive cost-cutting measures to offset the cost of more expensive unionized labor. In another scenario, Egalitarius’ unionized workforce went on strike. In the last … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Business, Finance and Economics, Investing, Mathematics, Policy, Politics, Predictions, Taxes, Unions | Tagged Capitalism, Egalitarius, Meritocratus, Offshoring, Strikes, Unions | 14 Comments

Capitalism, Unions, and Offshoring (Part VI): Recession

Posted on Sunday, June 26, 2011 by Sean Patrick Hazlett

In the last installment of this series, Egalitarius’ management instituted several aggressive cost-cutting measures to offset the cost of more expensive unionized labor, and Meritocratus’ management moved its production facilities offshore. This scenario starts before Egalitarius’ strike begins. As both companies … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Capitalism, Unions, and Offshoring (Part V): Offshoring

Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2011 by Sean Patrick Hazlett

In the last four installments of this series, the Widget Worker’s Union (WWU) brought Egalitarius to its knees with a strike that ultimately forced the company to declare bankruptcy. Before the WWU strike, Egalitarius’ management instituted several aggressive cost-cutting measures to offset the … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Build a Community: Ten Lessons From Four Months of Blogging (Part XI)

Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2011 by Sean Patrick Hazlett

In my first few months of blogging, over 50% of my traffic came from search engines. That said, I suspect that my other sources of traffic will increase over time. A little over 30% of my traffic was from what I … Continue reading →