Geek John Hodgman puts the president’s nerddom on trial at the Radio & Television Correspondents Dinner (June 19, 2009).
Go viral, my friend.
(This makes me even prouder of my PCs)
In this week’s article on Thornburg Mortgage, I quoted former venture capitalist and author Eric Janszen on whether the housing crash that ultimately claimed one of Santa Fe’s largest employers could’ve been predicted or not.
Our phone interview ranged too far for that article, but we thought Janszen’s thoughts on capitalism’s boom-bust cycle and the rise of what he calls the “FIRE economy”—for finance, insurance and real estate—were worth sharing at length.
Basically, he thinks the government started selling everybody out to big creditors decades ago, and the massive debt burden that resulted has paralyzed the economy.
Janszen, who lives in Boston, also has some thoughts on the federal recovery plan, with its focus on “green jobs”: “How many mortgage brokers does it take to screw in an energy-saving lightbulb?” he asks.
You write the punchline.
SFR INTERVIEWS ERIC JANSZEN
I liked your Harper’s article on the housing bubble.
Thanks. It seems to be panning out.
That was back in early 2008, when many people hadn’t yet grasped the extent of the subprime mortgage crisis. But you went so far as to predict the next bubble—green energy.
I’m actually working on a book on that. So far it does seem likely to focus on infrastructure.
The refrain I keep hearing was that nobody saw the real estate crash coming. You say people could’ve seen it coming.
Many people did, of course. And many people who did made money on seeing it coming. It wasn’t all that hard. There were a few fantasies you had to not buy into. One is that housing prices always go up, and stock prices always go up.
If any other product was sold based on those premises, you’d think people would be somewhat skeptical. It’s pretty marvelous to convince so many people of something that can’t possibly be true.
Here’s a follow-up to our recent story on Obama’s sort-of-plan to move control of the US nuclear weapons complex from the Department of Energy to the Pentagon, and what that means.
Via US Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s Office, a letter from New Mexico’s Congressional delegation to Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag opposing the move:
“For decades, Sandia and Los Alamos laboratories have strongly supported the civilian mission of maintaining our nation’s nuclear stockpile – a mission that was first envisioned with the passage of Atomic Energy Act of 1946. We believe that civilian control of our stockpile recognizes the crucial differences between nuclear weapons and conventional military munitions. Shifting to military control could be a dangerous precedent, causing other nuclear weapons states, such as Russia and China, to do the same.”
Hm…”Could” is the operative word, there.
The delegation also told Orszag that the labs’ multiple missions have helped foster a creative environment that keeps our nation’s top scientists and engineers engaged … [blah blah blah] This research has not only helped our government meet its needs, some of it has also been commercialized to create high-tech jobs in our state,” they wrote.
Finally, the delegation said that moving the laboratories from DOE to DOD would jeopardize President Obama’s desire to work toward a nuclear free world. They said they feared that under DOD control, general science funding for the laboratories likely would decline, which in turn would put at risk the labs’ ability to verify and certify the nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing. Absent that capability, the delegation is concerned that the United States would have to revert to nuclear testing, giving other nations the go-ahead to test as well, and endangering the prospects for passage of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Follow that logic? The Pentagon would cut the labs’ science budget, therefore they’d have no choice but to start setting off nuclear weapons again, which would lead to an international incident.
The rest after the cut.
I’m at Gov. Bill Richardson’s press conference on what the federal stimulus means for New Mexico. Actually, I’m waiting in the lobby with all the other reporters. I’ll update throughout the presscon.
Recap: Not much here you haven’t heard already. The state’s going to repave some roads—woo hoo! There’s also the possibility of a Rail Runner connection to the Albuquerque Airport. And this afternoon, the state will be launching a website, www.recovery.state.nm.us, where you can keep track of how New Mexico is spending its federal stimulus money.
Notes and more after the cut.
If you die in a dream, do you die in real life? No.
If you promise to die for a dream, will that make the dream real? Maybe.
Depends on the dream and the dreamer.
Española-based energy consultant Miro Kovacevich is floating a $21-billion plan to set up a National Renewable Energy Administration in New Mexico. The scheme would include $7 billion annually for Sandia and Los Alamos National labs and another a $7 billion annually for a headquarters in Santa Fe.
“I’m certain we’ll get it all. I’m certain. I put my life on the
line,” Kovacevich says.
As president of Vivilux Consulting, Kovacevich has led open meeting in Los Alamos and lobbied in DC for his plan to restructure the country’s energy economy around a central scientific administration.
“You need, first and foremost, the best and brightest, 800 to 2000 of them, trans-disciplinary, up close and personal,” Kovacevich. “This is essentially both methodically, structurally and conceptually exactly what the Manhattan Project was. This is the Manhattan Project in reverse.”
Santa Fe Mountain Lion
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