Podcast

Paying the Same Amount for Smaller Products

by JW

Transparency: Paying the Same Amount for Smaller Products (view the article and infographic)

An interesting infographic highlighting some of the ways that price increase are being hidden. Also, here is a great summary by member rhare of product size/price changes. Subterfuge – Hiding signs of inflation.

You might think you're getting what you pay for at the supermarket, but you're actually getting a little less. A recent investigation by Consumer Reports found that many of the everyday items you buy have been suspiciously shrinking, despite no similar reduction in cost. Does that orange juice feel a little lighter? That's because it is, even though you paid the same amount.

Paying the Same Amount for Smaller Products

by JW

Transparency: Paying the Same Amount for Smaller Products (view the article and infographic)

You might think you're getting what you pay for at the supermarket, but you're actually getting a little less. A recent investigation by Consumer Reports found that many of the everyday items you buy have been suspiciously shrinking, despite no similar reduction in cost. Does that orange juice feel a little lighter? That's because it is, even though you paid the same amount.

Seven Steps to Earthquake Safety

by JW

Take the necessary steps to assess, plan, and prepare for earthquake events, whether at home or traveling in regions where earthquakes occur.

http://www.earthquakecountry.info/roots/seven_steps.html

Seven Steps to Earthquake Safety

by JW

Take the necessary steps to assess, plan, and prepare for earthquake events, whether at home or traveling in regions where earthquakes occur.

http://www.earthquakecountry.info/roots/seven_steps.html

DIY Simple Chicken Waterer

by JW

Poultry nipples are metal and plastic valves that dispense a drop of water when they are pecked. They provide an economical way to provide fresh, clean water to your chickens on a continuous basis. This not only saves the producer time, but also helps ensure the health of your flock. As any experienced backyard chicken owner knows, keeping a clean water source is a tedious process involving cleaning out the waterers at least once every day. Chicken nipples can be threaded into the bottom of a 2 or 5 gallon bucket, as we have done here, or you can rig up more complex systems attached to PVC pipe.

DIY Simple Chicken Waterer

by JW

How to Store Gas

by JW

If you are planning on storing extra fuel for a generator or just keeping a reserve on hand to avoid a rush in crisis events, store it safely and check on it periodically to make sure it is secure and fresh.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5864810_store-gas-cans.html

How to Store Gas

by JW

http://www.ehow.com/how_5864810_store-gas-cans.html

Pop Bottle Solar Tubes

by JW

Need simple lighting to brighten up your chicken coop or shed? Here is a great way to recycle your waste and give you plenty of light inside during the day.

http://diystudio.net/2011/06/pop-bottle-solar-tubes/

Pop Bottle Solar Tubes

by JW

Need simple lighting to brighten up your chicken coop or shed? Here is a great way to recycle your waste and give you plenty of light inside during the day.

http://diystudio.net/2011/06/pop-bottle-solar-tubes/

The Price of Water 2012

by JW

Another indicator that the cost of basic necessities in life are getting more expensive.

Reflecting economic circumstances for water utilities in countless American cities and towns, single-family residential water prices in 30 major U.S. cities have gone up an average of 7.3 percent during the last year and 17.9 percent since 2010, when Circle of Blue began collecting pricing data. The median increase was 7.8 percent over the last year.

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2012/world/the-price-of-water-2012-18-percent-rise-since-2010-7-percent-over-last-year-in-30-major-u-s-cities/

The Price of Water 2012

by JW

Another indicator that the cost of basic necessities in life are getting more expensive.

Reflecting economic circumstances for water utilities in countless American cities and towns, single-family residential water prices in 30 major U.S. cities have gone up an average of 7.3 percent during the last year and 17.9 percent since 2010, when Circle of Blue began collecting pricing data. The median increase was 7.8 percent over the last year.

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2012/world/the-price-of-water-2012-18-percent-rise-since-2010-7-percent-over-last-year-in-30-major-u-s-cities/

The Dawn of the Great California Energy Crash

by Gregor Macdonald

California, which imports over 25% of its electricity from out of state, is in no position to lose half (!) of its entire nuclear power capacity. But that’s exactly what happened earlier this year, when the San Onofre plant in north San Diego County unexpectedly went offline. The loss only worsens the broad energy deficit that has made California the most dependent state in the country on expensive, out-of-state power.

The Dawn of the Great California Energy Crash

by Gregor Macdonald

California: The Bellwether for the Rest of America

PREVIEW

by Gregor Macdonald

Executive Summary

Escalating energy costs (direct and indirect) create a vicious cycle in the economy that further hinders growth/recovery
Overspending and other poor capital allocation decisions by state governments are compounding the problem
California spends $1 on public transit vs. $10 on automobile-related investment, a gap that energy costs will soon painfully reverse
Solutions are hard to come by and harder to fund, but without investment, alternative systems won't ever achieve scale
California's future is increasingly easy to predict; individuals and other state governments better take notes or suffer the same fate

If you have not yet read Part I: Dawn of the Great California Energy Crash, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

A key feature in the post-war industrial success of countries like South Korea and Japan, given that they had virtually no domestic energy supplies, was the ability to turn a profit from manufacturing powered by imported energy. This favorable equation relied on three key factors:

That imported energy remained a cheap input cost compared to the high margin value of exported goods
That energy producing countries had cheap energy to export
That purchasers of the exported goods were growing, and were running their own economies on cheap energy

These are the exact same assumptions still being made — and extrapolated into infinity — about California's economy.

Are we really to believe that California's GDP can forever deindustrialize, requiring fewer and fewer energy inputs, while growing in profitability, thus providing the capital to access/import energy — at any price?

California: The Bellwether for the Rest of America

PREVIEW by Gregor Macdonald

Executive Summary

Escalating energy costs (direct and indirect) create a vicious cycle in the economy that further hinders growth/recovery
Overspending and other poor capital allocation decisions by state governments are compounding the problem
California spends $1 on public transit vs. $10 on automobile-related investment, a gap that energy costs will soon painfully reverse
Solutions are hard to come by and harder to fund, but without investment, alternative systems won't ever achieve scale
California's future is increasingly easy to predict; individuals and other state governments better take notes or suffer the same fate

If you have not yet read Part I: Dawn of the Great California Energy Crash, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

That imported energy remained a cheap input cost compared to the high margin value of exported goods
That energy producing countries had cheap energy to export
That purchasers of the exported goods were growing, and were running their own economies on cheap energy

These are the exact same assumptions still being made — and extrapolated into infinity — about California's economy.