The Frustrated Bunny

Technology. Science. Politics. Geek. Etc.

Tagged: economics

Politics / Random

FAQ: “WHY IS GAS SO $#@!ING EXPENSIVE??!!”

This question has turned up on my social networks a number of times in the last few weeks as gas prices have risen quite a bit over the past month or so. The short answer: it’s not. Ok, ok…that’s not what you wanted to hear. $3.89 a gallon is a lot when you’re used to gas in the low-to-mid $2 range. It’s about that much per liter in places that don’t give insane subsidies to oil companies, but let’s just tackle the question of why gas is so relatively expensive right now. Keep in mind the explanation below should be taken...

Personal / Politics

I am the 99%

When I was a child, my dad took out loans and worked full time to get a degree so he could make a better life for my family. By the time I graduated high school, he was able to do for me what his parents could not: pay for me to go to college without any debt. This wasn’t without other costs to me–my dad was gone a lot as he took on more responsibilities with his job and, following 9/11, served several tours of duty in the middle east. When the economy crashed as I was about to start my...

Politics

S&P’s downgrade of U.S. credit rating in a nutshell

Standard & Poors (S&P), one of three agencies that rate the credit of national governments, downgraded the credit rating of the United States from the highest rating, AAA, to AA+ with a negative outlook. This is the first time in history that this has happened. The U.S. Treasury, upon examining S&P’s analysis that prompted the downgrade, claims that it has found a math error that indicates that the downgrade should not have occurred. S&P rebutted that mathematical calculations are not the only factor in the decision to downgrade. Sovereign credit ratings, also referred to as national credit ratings and bond...

Food / Politics

Do you live in a “food desert”?

The USDA defines a “food desert” as a census block or tract where 500 people and/or 33% of the population is more than a mile from a large/full-sized grocery store (10 miles for non-urban areas). This phenomenon is considered by the USDA as a leading cause of malnourishment and obesity among poor and/or rural populations, as the only regularly accessible food is often in the form of preprocessed items from small convenience stores. Earlier this week, the USDA released an online tool that allows people to visualize what parts of the country are considered food deserts. The tool isn’t perfect–some...

Personal / Politics / Technology

Gasoline prices redux

Back in June 2007, I wrote a blog post about gas prices. At the time, gas was $3.15/gallon. Gas is a little more expensive now (about $3.70-3.80 here in north Texas), but more or less everything I wrote then still holds true, with the possible exception of my really bad jokes. Nonetheless, I’m not planning on writing another post about gas prices until there’s something truly new and different about how everyone is reacting to it, but I felt that in light of the same old panic about $5/gallon gas and a decrease in demand for gas from the same...