Joseph Stiglitz interview with Amy Goodman, Nobel Laureate Economist - Democracy Now!
Stephan: Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, both Nobel Laureates, are the two economists with the best track records over decades for predicting economic trends. Here is what Stiglitz has to say about the Republican push to end unemployment benefits.
As unemployment benefits for millions of U.S. workers expired on Labor Day, with many states suffering the worst surge of the pandemic, economist Joseph Stiglitz says it’s “disturbing” federal aid was allowed to lapse. “This is going to feed into the problems posed by the Delta variant.” Stiglitz also talks about whether Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should stay in the job, saying he has done a “reasonable job” during the pandemic but has a tendency “to side with Wall Street and engage in deregulation.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Unemployment benefits for millions of U.S. workers expired on Labor Day, after President Biden declined to press the Democratic-led Congress to extend assistance, even as many states suffer their worst surge of the pandemic. An estimated 9.3 million jobless workers lost benefits, along with 26 million members of their households who relied on the income. The cutoff of aid came after the Labor Department reported the U.S. economy added just 235,000 jobs in August, a significant slowdown due largely to the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant. The unemployment rate for African Americans rose six-tenths of a percentage point in August to 8.8%.
Michael Birnbaum, Climate Solutions Reporter - The Washington Post
Stephan: Here is some wonderfully good news. We are going to need dozens of plants like this, and one might reasonably ask, why aren't we building such facilities in the U.S.?
The Orca aims to capture 4,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Credit: Climeworks
A major new facility to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere started operating in Iceland on Wednesday, a boost to an emerging technology that experts say could eventually play an important role in reducing the greenhouse gases that are warming the planet.
The carbon capturing plant, perched on a barren lava plateau in southwest Iceland, is the biggest of its kind, its builder says, increasing global capacity for the technology by more than 40 percent. Many climate experts say that efforts to suck carbon dioxide out of the air will be key to making the world carbon neutral in the coming decades.
By 2050, humanity will need to pull nearly a billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year through direct air capture technology to achieve carbon neutral goals, according to International Energy Agency recommendations from earlier this year. The plant in Iceland will be able to capture 4,000 metric tons annually — just a tiny fraction of what will be necessary, but one that Climeworks, the company that built it, […]
Stephan: As we exit the carbon era, what do we do with failed batteries is going to become a major issue. Here is some early information on how this is going to be addressed.
Batteries at a factory in Nanjing in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, which makes lithium batteries for electric cars. Credit: STR/AFP/Getty
A tsunami of electric vehicles is expected in rich countries, as car companies and governments pledge to ramp up their numbers – there are predicted be 145m on the roads by 2030. But while electric vehicles can play an important role in reducing emissions, they also contain a potential environmental timebomb: their batteries.
By one estimate, more than 12m tons of lithium-ion batteries are expected to retire between now and 2030.Advertisementhttps://1895b405bdb469e8f0315faa6239a1fb.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Not only do these batteries require large amounts of raw materials, including lithium, nickel and cobalt – mining for which has climate, environmental and human rights impacts – they also threaten to leave a mountain of electronic waste as they reach the end of their lives.
As the automotive industry starts to transform, experts say now is the time to plan for what happens to batteries at the end of their lives, to reduce reliance on mining and keep materials in circulation.
A second life
Hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing into recycling startups and research centers to figure out how […]
Stephan: Part of the solution to the battery problem will be new technology. And here is an early report on that aspect of the trend.
Tesla battery
The recycling solution has been in the works for at least two years, or at least mid-April 2019 was the first time we heard them mention it publicly; it may very well have been (and probably had been) in the works for longer. Back then, Tesla called it a unique battery recycling solution that would yield significant savings in the long term, but it didn’t say any more.
The manufacturer recently pointed out that 100 percent of the batteries it scraps are recycled and nothing ends up in a landfill. It has been setting up internal structures within the company to gather and recycle old battery packs for years and it believes that the companies that made the packs should also recycle them, arguing this is more efficient than having third parties do it.
Tesla points out that through the use of this new process, it managed to recycle 1,300 of nickel, 400 tons of copper and 80 tons of cobalt last year alone. This means the manufacturer now essentially produces some of the materials it needs, thus […]
Stephan: I have been telling my readers for a decade that Florida is largely doomed, and it continues to amaze me that people are still moving to Florida seemingly unaware of what is coming. Here is the latest.
Florida flood Credit: CCO Public Domain
Sea-level rise may appear to be a problem only for coastal residents, a hazard that comes with the awesome views and easy access to the beach.
But neighborhoods 20 miles inland are starting to feel the impact, as the Atlantic Ocean’s higher elevation makes it harder for drainage canals to keep them dry. The problem showed up last year in Tropical Storm Eta, when floodwater remained in southwest Broward neighborhoods for days, partly because the elevated ocean blocked canals from draining the region.
“It was pretty scary,” said Barb Besteni, who lives in far west Miramar. “I stepped out of house into ankle-deep water. It came three-fourths up the driveway. I’d never seen the water that high. It was scary because I didn’t know if it was going to continue to rise.”
Although her house in the Sunset Lakes community stands at the edge of the Everglades, the Atlantic’s higher elevation prevented it from draining as efficiently as in the past.
“It took a very, very long time to recede,” she said. “Two or three […]
