Amazingly, John Humphreys on BBC Radio’s flagship news programme “Today” had two religious leaders Tarek Al Diwany and Dr Selby, who were discussing where money came from and its relationship to religion, and how the Christian Church had historically relaxed its stance against usury. They both agreed that where we had gone wrong, was in […]
Read MoreUK Gas Storage Fiasco Illustrates Folly of Assuming That Markets Can Substitute for Strategic Planning
Headline in the Guardian article covering this, Jan 12th says it all “Plans to Increase Britain’s gas storage capacity left in tatters by credit crunch” What did the economists at Ofgem expect? Only an economist would have any faith in the Market’s ability to replace central planning. Having bemoaned the fact that UK only has […]
Read MoreNew Titanic Disaster Discovery Points Way To Solving Global Warming And Fossil Fuel Shortages
Jodrell Bank radio telescope discovers faint radio echoes of last broadcasts from doomed ocean liner Titanic. World learns of hitherto unknown triumph of economic thinking with striking lessons for how to deal with global warming and predicted energy shortages! (Also see http://tx1.fcomet.com/~claverto/cms/professor-lowed-notes-similarity-between-birkenhead-disaster-and-complex-systems-such-as-politics-globalisasion-and-economics-the-banking-crisis-perhaps.html) By: Brendan “Lunchtime” O’Toady * Images courtesy Wikipedia. It is well […]
Read More"US government should fund massive public works projects" – Dennis Kucinich – Congress
On the Today programme this morning (Wednesday 18th Dec) there was an interview with Dennis Kucinich, chair of a US congressional committee (who stood for the Democrats presidential candidate in 2004), and he proposed that the US government should take over creating money from the banks, to fund massive public works projects, rather than borrow […]
Read MoreDr Maitland Mackie discusses "a second agricultural revolution" based on community funding of wind energy assets
Dr Maitland Mackie, BSc (Agriculture), MA Hons (Economics), CBE, LL.D, FRAGS Existing power companies are scouring the country for sites to build wind turbines. While this offers some profit for landowners Dr Maitland Mackie has other ideas. His recently formed company proposes that those in rural areas retain most, if not all, of the profits available – nothing less than a new agricultural revolution.
Maitland, a comparatively new member of the Claverton group, formed the idea for an energy company owned by the rural sector having seen the financial and aesthetic success of the turbines installed by his three offspring who now run the family dairy and ice cream business in Aberdeenshire (Maitland says he now basks in the reflected glory of their efforts).
Read MoreSystemic Fiscal Reform – way to beat boom and bust
By Dr Adrian Wrigley, Neale Upstone and Robin Smith (10th Sept 2008) – SystemicfiscalReform.Org
Systemic Fiscal Reform is a radical programme for the reform of taxation, subsidies and welfare. It is designed to stabilize economies, improve quality of life, and facilitates the transition to full environmental sustainability.
The reforms mainly comprise the abolition of cumbersome and wasteful tax, welfare and subsidy systems, together with abolishing the bureaucracies which implement them.
In their place, a simple integrated tax and welfare system is introduced. This includes retaining a number of existing taxes which have been found to operate effectively where they have been tried.
Read More2008 Claverton Energy Group Conference Papers Available
Those that have been forwarded in text format have been published as News Articles. Those in PowerPoint or PDF format have been uploaded to the website, and can be downloaded for reading at:
Read MoreUK ENERGY SYSTEM COULD SUFFER SAME FATE AS BANKS, EXPERTS WARN
Representatives of an independent group of over 250 international energy and financial experts are meeting this week to reveal how the UK, Europe and other continents can run on renewable electricity for a similar price to that currently paid for fossil-based electricity. The Claverton Energy Research Group is also warning on the eve of its conference, which runs in Bath from 24-26 Oct, that current world governments’ energy policies are inadequate to meet growing global energy demands, and says serious action needs to be taken now!
Read MoreGeorge Soros Agrees With Claverton?
During In an Interview on the Global Financial Crisis and investment in Energy, George Soros appears to agree with Claverton Group’s previously expressed views. In an interesting ‘Global Viewpoint’ article distributed by Tribune Media Services Inc, entitled “My Interview with George Soros: End of Financial Crisis Could Be in Sight” it seems that George has caught up with our thinking, in that he says what the markets (or government!) should be investing in is new/ alternative energy sources:
Read MoreCarbon Pools – Financing Energy after Peak Credit
By Chris Cooke
2008 Conference Paper Synopsis
1/ Conventional Financing – involves both “asset-based finance” (Investment) and “deficit-based” finance (Debt), typically “secured” or “asset-backed.”
– investment is either “Public” – by the State – or “Private’ through a legal entity known as a “Joint Stock Limited Liability Company.”
2/ Peak Credit and the Credit Crunch – following last year’s point of “Peak Credit” conventional “deficit-based” financing is drying up rapidly, and probably permanently.
3/ “Equity – but not as we know it, Jim” – using legal frameworks which are not based upon Company Law, but upon Trust and Partnership Law.
4/ Introducing the Carbon Pool – a simple new investment mechanism where assets remain in Public ownership, but investors could buy Energy Units redeemable against units of energy eg 10 Kilo Watt Hours.
– Carbon Pool funds may then be created, unitised, funded by a carbon levy and used to invest directly in renewable energy (“MegaWatts”) or energy savings (“NegaWatts”).
5/ Outcomes – by creating, and Unitising energy – with intrinsic value – energy value of carbon may be monetised rather than monetising by government “fiat” intrinsically worthless CO2, or TEQ’s .
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