Al Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize

[StlSluggers]

It's pretty far fetched to tie a climate change to the cause of conflict like Darfur. Sure, it escalated the tensions that already existed, but we're really reaching if we're going to assume it would have been drastically different had Al Gore been doing what he's doing 50 years ago.

It's not far fetched at all. It is actually a widely accepted fact. It is not the sole cause for the conflict, but there is never a single cause for any extended conflict. Helping people adapt to the change in climate is probably the most important step to resolving the conflict.

http://seedmagazine.com/news/2006/08/a_hostile_climate.php
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19268452/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061501857.html
Etc.

You both are saying the same thing. Global warming exacerbated a tense situation. Even the first article above agrees with you guys that global warming basically brought years of government neglect to a boiling point:

Chalking the Darfur conflict up to climate change alone would be an oversimplification, argues Eric Reeves, a leading advocate and a professor of English literature at Smith College. "The greater cause, by far, lies in the policies of the current National Islamic Front regime," he said. Marc Lavergne, a researcher with the French National Center for Scientific Research and former head of the Centre D'Etudes et de Documentation Universitaire Scientifique et Technique at the University of Khartoum, agrees. "The problem is not water shortage as such, and water shortages don't necessarily lead to war. The real problem is the lack of agricultural and other development policies to make the best use of available water resources since colonial times."

[thedude]

I know that all the economic indicators are in great shape. How much econ do you know? The only thing out of wack is the the trade deficit, which the weakening dollar will fix.

If you call a recession and possibly a depression "great shape", then I'd say you're correct. This was posted up by Cornbread Maxwell and he really seems to know his stuff (I respect what he says anyway)

I dont think our government can do anything about it at all to be perfectly honest. The time for true reform to save this sinking ship has passed long ago. The Fed pouring $130 billion into the market this summer alone hoping that the dangerously leveraged population will continue to dig deeper into debt is a sad joke.

The average US worker is making LESS money than he was 5 yrs ago.
The average US worker is setting historical highs in debt - by a lot (have to go back to 1933 to get even close to the levels we are at now). Much of this debt is held in mortgages that will soon border usuary.
The government's answer is to make more money available for loans.

http://www.fantasybaseballcafe.com/forums/posting.php?mode=quote&f=13&p=2515578

My own opinion is that we haven't seen anything yet, it's going to get much worse before it gets better, and it appears those with more knowledge of the subject agree.

A recession is when a country faces negative real GDP growth for 2 or more years. The United States has positive GDP growth.

BTW the average american makes more than he did 5 years ago.

[Yoda]

A recession is when a country faces negative real GDP growth for 2 or more years. The United States has positive GDP growth.

BTW the average american makes more than he did 5 years ago.

Yes but can you explain weakening consumer confidence? Alarmingly increase in debt with people using their homes as ATMs the last 10 years? Mortgage market is in shambles (we haven't seen the worst yet) and the Fed keeps cutting rates in order to avoid the inevitable down turn in the market. How about the weakening dollar? Existing home sales? Oh and don't forget the billions spent in a needless war. Just because we've been on the gravy train recently doesn't mean we won't see a sharp decline soon because it will happen.

[CheeseBeger]

And we also had positive real GDP in 2001, after the hit that the markets took. Look at real GDP's across the world.

Here is a list of all of the countries with a negative Real GDP according to the CIA:

Cook Islands
Montserrat
Seychelles
Maldives
Zimbabwe
Lebanon


Yes that is right, a total of 6 countries. That doesn't look like a great indicator to use to predict how our economy is going.