Day: August 16, 2008

So You Wanna Fly

This is some news that may change your mind, if not please add me to your insurance policy.

Pilots are complaining that their airline bosses, desperate to cut costs, are forcing them to fly uncomfortably low on fuel.

Safety for passengers and crews could be compromised, they say.

The situation got bad enough three years ago, even before the latest surge in fuel prices, that NASA sent a safety alert to federal aviation officials.

Since then, pilots, flight dispatchers and others have continued to sound off with their own warnings, yet the Federal Aviation Administration says there is no reason to order airlines to back off their effort to keep fuel loads to a minimum.

With fuel prices now their biggest cost, airlines are aggressively enforcing new policies designed to reduce consumption.

In March, for example, an airline pilot told NASA he landed his regional jet with less fuel than required by FAA regulations. “Looking back,” he said, “I would have liked more gas yesterday.” He also complained that his airline was “ranking” captains according to who landed with the least amount.

A month earlier, a Boeing 747 captain reported running low on fuel after meeting strong headwinds crossing the Atlantic en route to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. He said he wanted to stop to add fuel but continued on to Kennedy after consulting his airline’s operations manager, who told him there was adequate fuel aboard the jet.

When the plane arrived at Kennedy, the captain said it had so little fuel that had there been any delay in landing, “I would have had to declare a fuel emergency” – a term that tells air traffic controllers a plane needs immediate priority to land.

I was thinking that Amtrak is sounding more attractive now. How About you?

Politicalsynthesis

politicalsynthesis

If photosynthesis is nourishment from a light source, then using the same logic, politicalsynthesis is deriving nourishment from politics.  OMG I am a news geek!  THis time of the political season becomes an all consuming desire to digest all the political crap I can read, watch, listen to and otherwise obtain.  If it was possible I would lie on a newspaper if I could get the info through osmosis, now if only I could figure out a way to turn news into a liquid.  I will work on that after the election, it will help me with my withdrawal problems.

Normally I am pouring over info/news from around the world looking for trends that could become problems and trying to analyze them to see if there could possibly be a solution.  Then when I think it is safe to read the news–BAM!–it is US election time with debates and sound bytes and accusations and……  Then it is like someone that just got a speed injection–I go into high gear–forsaking all other news for the elections.  I am such a news whore!

I try to get the American people, at least the ones that will listen, to think about their choices.  That the two party system is really not accomplishing a whole lot.  Since Reagan we have gone to the party as the most important aspect of politics and have ignored the country and the people.

With the coming election, my political hunger reaches out to me and drives me to comment on everything that I see.  It is a bit frustrating at times, but with election there is much at stake and I try to get the people to make their determination through knowledge not emotions.  That in itself is a daunting task.

Today In Labor History

16 August

George Meany, plumber, founding AFL-CIO president, born – 1894

Homer Martin, early United Auto Workers leader, born in Marion, Ill. – 1902

National Apprenticeship Act passed – 1937

National Agricultural Workers Union merges into Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen – 1960

International Union of Wood, Wire & Metal Lathers merges with United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners – 1979

Bill Would End War Photos

The Department of Defense would be required to grant journalists access to ceremonies honoring fallen military personnel under a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The legislation is significant because it would, for the first time since Vietnam, let photojournalists capture the powerful images of flag-draped caskets arriving on American soil during wartime.

The bill states: “The Secretary of Defense shall grant access to accredited members of the media at military commemoration ceremonies and memorial services conducted by the Armed Forces for members of the Armed Forces who have died on active duty and when the remains of members of the Armed Forces arrive at military installations in the United States.” It was referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

Just yet another way to control what the people see and read about the wars of aggression.

2008 Anal-Ocity

More for my readers to consider. Are they arrogant? Or just plain stupid?

Referring to Russia’s incursion into Georgia, President Bush says that invading a sovereign country that poses no threat is “unacceptable in the 21st century.” John McCain echoes that sentiment with, “In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations.”

We have co-nominees today–they sound like the same person……keep that in mind when considering where to put your vote.

Georgia Needs Your Help!

No dipstick I am still talking about the country, not the state.  And why would a country that has a surplus in their budget need our help?  Why would a country that runs on a deficit help a country that workes with a surplus?

The United States is exploring ways to assist Georgia’s economy including how global financial institutions can help limit economic damage caused by the conflict with Russia, a senior U.S. Treasury official said Friday.

Assistant Treasury Secretary Clay Lowery said the situation in Georgia was “fluid” and it was hard to know how much harm was done to the economy and investor confidence since the crisis erupted over the breakaway South Ossetia region.

While the White House has flexed its political muscle to force Russia to pull troops out of the region, the U.S. Treasury has tried to reassure investors over Georgia’s young democracy.

All three institutions said this week they stood ready to help Georgia’s government, which they said had acted to tackle corruption, quicken privatization and created a business-friendly environment that increased capital flows.

“For Georgia to succeed it has got to continue along the path it has been following in terms of its economics, which can lead to greater economic growth and continued private sector flows both from investment and trade,” he added.

Yes, Irene, The Worse Is Yet To Come

Growing evidence suggests American consumers, businesspeople, and political leaders should all be bracing for double-digit inflation, probably as early as 2009.

The relative price stability of the past 15 years is giving way to worsening inflation, despite the recent softening of oil prices. The Consumer Price Index for all items shows the inflation rate averaged 2.6% a year from 1992 through 2007 but has doubled since January, reaching an annual rate of 5.6% in July. By next year, the monthly figure could hit double digits, and the inflation rate for 2009 overall could triple 2007’s 2.85%.

Anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave for the past year knows that oil prices have soared and pushed up the prices of gasoline, diesel fuel, and heating oil. Largely hidden from view, however, have been steep and continuing price increases across the whole spectrum of commodities.

Oil almost doubled in price, from $78.21 in July 2007 for a barrel of benchmark crude, to $145, where it peaked before dipping below $120. But from a longer perspective, oil sold for about $30 a barrel during 2003 and much of 2004. Thus it has actually quadrupled in five years. Coal, traditionally volatile, sold for about $30 a ton during 2003, peaked briefly at $63 in 2004, and went for $45.25 at the end of July 2007. A year later it hit $139.50 before slipping back a bit. It has tripled in 12 months.

Copper, another basic commodity, went from 82¢ a pound in July 2003 to $1.14 a year later, and to $3.72 by the end of last month. That’s an increase of 350% over five years. The price of steel has climbed from under $240 a ton for hot-rolled steel coil throughout most of 2003 to $1,125 a ton last month, quadrupling in five years.

Grains have also soared in price. U.S. corn prices jumped from $3.01 a bushel in July 2007 to $5.37 one year later. Wheat doubled from $3.05 a bushel in July 2006 to $6.02 last month. A Midwestern bakery owned by one of our portfolio companies turns out 13 million pies a year. The cost of ingredients of a standard pie jumped 100%, from $1.20 a year ago to $2.40 today.

The first step in solving the problem is to recognize that we have one—and it is serious. No American housewife has any doubts about that. Our policymakers shouldn’t, either. Yes, Irene, the worse is yet to come.

The ‘Dead Zones’

Coming to a body of water near on you.

Dead zones – areas of oxygen-depleted bottom waters – are spreading at an alarming rate in coastal waters, killing off huge amounts of marine life, a new study has found.

In a paper published today in Science, Robert Diaz, a biological oceanographer at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and Rutger Rosenberg, a marine ecologist at Sweden’s Göteborg University, identified more than 400 dead zones worldwide, affecting an area of more than 95,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of Oregon. The number and size of these dead zones are far greater than previously estimated.

While some dead zones occur naturally, many are caused or exacerbated by chemical fertilizer runoff, fossil fuels, and rain. The fertilizer, which is rich in nitrogen compounds, is washed away from farmlands into rivers and ends up in the ocean. Burning fossil fuels produces airborne nitrogen oxides, which the rain washes into the ocean.

The nitrogen compounds feed massive algae blooms. When the algae dies, it sinks to the ocean floor where it is consumed by microbes, which also consume oxygen in the process. As the oxygen is depleted, creating a condition called hypoxia, marine life that can flee does, and life that cannot – some fish but also clams, crustaceans, and other bottom dwellers – die of asphyxiation. At that point, microbes that live in oxygen-free environments begin to thrive and produce hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas. Most dead zones are seasonal, as the algae thrives in warm water.