Around here we're all amazed and delighted by the steadily dropping prices. From nearly five dollars a gallon to now nearly two, we've seen it get easier and cheaper to fill the tank.
I don't drive more than I used to, but still I'm concerned about the general effect of cheap fuel on driving habits and vehicle size. Gas mileage has been going up and is mandated to go up farther. In addition, more people are doing without private vehicles, either renting, biking, or using public transportation, so maybe the net result with be neutral.
The global economic ramifications are huge and multi-dimensional. It occurred to me the other day to see how the nation of Norway was doing. From the beginning of the North Sea oil boom, that country has been salting away a major portion of its oil revenues from the beginning of the North Sea oil boom in a sovereign capital fund now worth over $800 billion.
That's a lot of money for a country of five million, but who can fault a polity that has been prudent enough to save the bulk of what may prove THE windfall of the country's history.
What to do with the money is a live topic of debate but one thing strikes me: having a reserve of this size has its own risks. There's the question of return on investment, which has been low for some time, and may continue so for the indefinite future. Then there's the issue of liquidating the assets without diminishing the value.
All of this brings to my mind the "economics" of this blog. Day by day, I write it hand - to - mouth, as it were. l have maybe an idea or two jotted down for future posts, but too many in the pantry and they tend to go stale. This blog is about encounters, and the discoveries that flow from these meetings. It's not that there isn't anything to learn from yesterday's experiences, but that there must be regular freshness and immediacy or else I lose interest in the whole project.
Professionals are always making notes, or sketches, or taking down snippets of potentially interesting material for future use. But some things have to be enjoyed fresh, piping hot as it were, to be worth having at all.
These many months, there have been many days when I've not known what my topic of the day would be, yet something has always happened that would be the encounter of the day. Part of that is me being on the lookout which is really the point anyway. The world is full of potential encounters; I just need to keep my eyes peeled, and my heart open.
What works for me may not for you, Norway. We are very different entities, but there are individuals who base their lives on your strategy. There's wisdom in that, but some wisdom also in that old injunction: "Consider the lilies..."
I don't drive more than I used to, but still I'm concerned about the general effect of cheap fuel on driving habits and vehicle size. Gas mileage has been going up and is mandated to go up farther. In addition, more people are doing without private vehicles, either renting, biking, or using public transportation, so maybe the net result with be neutral.
The global economic ramifications are huge and multi-dimensional. It occurred to me the other day to see how the nation of Norway was doing. From the beginning of the North Sea oil boom, that country has been salting away a major portion of its oil revenues from the beginning of the North Sea oil boom in a sovereign capital fund now worth over $800 billion.
That's a lot of money for a country of five million, but who can fault a polity that has been prudent enough to save the bulk of what may prove THE windfall of the country's history.
What to do with the money is a live topic of debate but one thing strikes me: having a reserve of this size has its own risks. There's the question of return on investment, which has been low for some time, and may continue so for the indefinite future. Then there's the issue of liquidating the assets without diminishing the value.
All of this brings to my mind the "economics" of this blog. Day by day, I write it hand - to - mouth, as it were. l have maybe an idea or two jotted down for future posts, but too many in the pantry and they tend to go stale. This blog is about encounters, and the discoveries that flow from these meetings. It's not that there isn't anything to learn from yesterday's experiences, but that there must be regular freshness and immediacy or else I lose interest in the whole project.
Professionals are always making notes, or sketches, or taking down snippets of potentially interesting material for future use. But some things have to be enjoyed fresh, piping hot as it were, to be worth having at all.
These many months, there have been many days when I've not known what my topic of the day would be, yet something has always happened that would be the encounter of the day. Part of that is me being on the lookout which is really the point anyway. The world is full of potential encounters; I just need to keep my eyes peeled, and my heart open.
What works for me may not for you, Norway. We are very different entities, but there are individuals who base their lives on your strategy. There's wisdom in that, but some wisdom also in that old injunction: "Consider the lilies..."
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