RGGI Auction

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) today announced that the auctioning of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions allowances in North America is off to a strong start. All of the 12,565,387 allowances offered for sale on September 25, 2008 were sold at a clearing price of $ 3.07 per allowance.
RGGI, Inc. reported [...]

Yesterday’s Financials

Here is an interesting Bloomberg article on yesterday’s financial happenings.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&refer=worldwide&sid=a9MTZEgukPLY

Shorting…call me crazy, but

I have often stood mystified by the ways the financial industry has found to make money… some of which leave me breathless. Not to oversimplify, but do you often invest in the potential of your neighbor’s failure (with borrowed money, no less)?
Shorting has been suspended in 799 stocks because of our current crisis. I think [...]

We Have a Problem

The U.S. House of Representatives just defeated the Bailout Bill.
Middle Americans are not happy…and bailing out financial institutions that support CEO ‘wealth’ packages does not make sense to them….nor does the abstract finance that made this mess.
Hank Paulson has a problem….we have a problem….and that problem is spreading to commercial paper, business lending, personal loans, [...]

Rhode Island Wind Energy Agreement

Though details are somewhat sketchy, Cleantech reports that Deepwater Wind has been selected to develop Rhode Island’s first offshore wind project. Expected to cost over $1 billion and supply 15% of the electricity requirements of the state (1.3 million megawatt-hours), no time scales has been presented for the project.
In addition to the wind project, Deepwater [...]

The Michalenka Plan

Our CPA, Henry Michalenka, has been helping households, individuals, and small businesses for thirty years. He’s honest, smart, and…from years of dealing with every financial entity on the planet…cynically funny.
Hank has an alternative plan to the Bush Administration bailout.
The Michalenka Plan will give the $700 B to American households (he figures it would be $10,000 [...]

U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities

A group of us in Southern New England have recently sent a preproposal to the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities to create a Forest Enterprise Zone in New England.
The history of the U.S. Endowment and the money that made it possible:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/360970_timber29.html

2008 EPA Report on the Environment

EPA today released the “2008 Report on the Environment: Highlights of National Trends” (2008 ROE HD), which provides the American people with an important resource for better understanding trends in our nation’s health and environment. The report is intended for a general audience and summarizes highlights of the more comprehensive “EPA’s [...]

More Insight on the Bush/Paulson Bailout Plan

Alternet Article

The Mother of All Bailout Provisions

The Bush/Paulson proposed bailout provisions include this:
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
For the Administration to propose that language is outrageous.
A more extensive article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/dirty-secret-of-the-bailo_n_128294.html
This is a good explanation of what [...]