Juggling Dynamite

A must read article in the May 23 Time Magazine carefully and clearly lays out how the finance sector has come to dominate, control and suck the strength and stability out of our economy while undermining capitalism and social order.  See: American Capitalism’s Great Crisis

America’s economic illness has a name: financialization. It’s an academic term for the trend by which Wall Street and its methods have come to reign supreme in America, permeating not just the financial industry but also much of American business. It includes everything from the growth in size and scope of finance and financial activity in the economy; to the rise of debt-fueled speculation over productive lending; to the ascendancy of shareholder value as the sole model for corporate governance; to the proliferation of risky, selfish thinking in both the private and public sectors; to the increasing political power of financiers and the CEOs they enrich; to the way in which a “markets know best” ideology remains the status quo. Financialization is a big, unfriendly word with broad, disconcerting implications.

A startup in Spain called Vortex, has come up with a new design for wind turbines. It’s called Bladeless, and it’s a wind turbine with — you guessed it — no blades.

The bladeless turbines are massive poles jutting out of the ground. Because they’re thinner than a regular wind turbine and have no blades, more of them can fit into a space, meaning more electricity can be generated while taking up less real estate. See more here: Try not to jiggle while watching these amazing wind turbines.  Here is a direct video link.

Danielle was a guest today with Jim Goddard on Talk Digital Network, talking about recent developments in the world economy and markets.  You can listen to an audio clip of the segment here.