10 Weekend Reads

Pesticides Probably More Harmful Than Previously Thought, Scientist Group Warns
By DAVID JOLLY
APRIL 8, 2015

PARIS — An influential European scientific body said on Wednesday that a group of pesticides believed to contribute to mass deaths of honeybees is probably more damaging to ecosystems than previously thought and questioned whether the substances had a place in sustainable agriculture.

The finding could have repercussions on both sides of the Atlantic for the companies that produce the chemicals, which are known as neonicotinoids because of their chemical similarity to nicotine. Global sales of the chemicals reach into the billions of dollars.

The European Commission in 2013 banned the use of three neonicotinoids — clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam — on flowering plants after a separate body, the European Food Safety Authority, found that exposure to the chemicals created “high acute risks” to bees.

But the chemicals continue to be employed on an industrial scale in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing their use after President Obama last year established a national Pollinator Health Task Force amid concerns about so-called colony collapse disorder, a not fully understood phenomenon that has devastated commercial apiaries.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/business/energy-environment/pesticides-probably-more-harmful-than-previously-thought-scientist-group-warns.html

Re ShadowStats. That’s like asking why heroin is loved by its users and hated by the rest of non-pushing society.

Of course the Drug Enforcement Agency loves it. Gives them something to do.

Back to Shadowstats. The info is uninvestable. Useless and has cost rightwing nuts a fortune, so it’s all good

Re: Shadowstats and CPI

I think all of these economists are missing something fundamental at the micro-economic scale. Retailers have a certain amount of floor space and they need to sell a certain dollar amount per square foot. Manufacturers need to ship their goods and so they need to sell a certain value per truckload. They also need to package their goods (permanent cases, shipping boxes etc.) which will have a somewhat fixed cost.

So a new technology (PCs, plasma/LCD TVs etc.) can have a very high entry price point for early adopters but have to quickly approach the price of the object they are replacing before they can sell large quantities to consumers. As things get to commodity level, the basic costs of manufacturing permanent cases, shipping, and retail floor and shelf space start to dominate the actual prices for the good. That is why you almost never see old models of something being sold for low prices. Instead, they are phased out and the next improvement replaces it at the same price point (NEW! and Improved!). The same thing happens in cars where a modern car is nothing at all what was available in 1981 but the prices (adjusted for inflation) look familiar.

So the price of these types of goods largely rises with the cost of retail space and shipping. Improvements in technology and fuel efficiency means that retailers have fewer people and lower fuel usage, so inflation in wages and energy don’t get fully passed on to consumers. As a result, the actual CPI that consumers see if more complex over multi-decade periods than shown by either BLS or Shadowstats.

Cost of housing is difficult to evaluate because people buy and rent bigger homes that people can afford because of lowering interest rates. They are also much more energy-efficient which reduces that cost. University/college tuition and healthcare seem to be the two biggies that have been inexorably climbing at more than CPI for long periods, mainly because of the distorting effects of student loans and employer-paid healthcare protecting the consumer from immediate cost impacts – but they are causing subtle, major impacts on consumer debt loads and declining disposable income due to slow wage rises..