The Era of Living Dangerously

[slapout9]

Hi Beetle,
How about this? Land,Labor,Capitol,etc. the old factors of production may or may not have been OK for local production but Globalization is Long Range production. So the new factors are Time,Distance,and Energy. Don't think that is a sustainable model no matter what viewpoint you have Capitalism,Communism, or any other ism out there.

We need a new ism....Civil Engieeringism

[motorfirebox]

Hi Beetle,
How about this? Land,Labor,Capitol,etc. the old factors of production may or may not have been OK for local production but Globalization is Long Range production. So the new factors are Time,Distance,and Energy. Don't think that is a sustainable model no matter what viewpoint you have Capitalism,Communism, or any other ism out there.

We need a new ism....Civil Engieeringism

I can't picture exactly what Civil Engineeringism would entail, but I'd sign up for the newsletter.

[Surferbeetle]

Slapout,

Police work provides quite the vantage point and learning laboratory. MOM – Motive, opportunity, method and other heuristics learned here have come in handy over the years. Fortunately, one of my teams included a lawyer and policeman when we stumbled across that stolen vehicle bazaar….

Your observations about the importance of time, distance, and energy in the context of globalization echo some of the things I have experienced and learned about. With changing conditions as a constant backdrop, business models for the creation of value must change. Perhaps it is true that Globalization tilts the balance of power in favor of markets instead of nation states. It is also described as speeding up, concentrating, and yet at the same time, expanding global relations. Globalization certainly appears to facilitate the global movement of goods, capital, and jobs. These observations are congruent with the idea that nations/societies/people are generally not containers with rigid and impermeable walls which serve to permanently separate/isolate them from the rest of the world.

Time – Global economic timelines are said to be compressed by Globalization. Tulipmania of 1637, The Post Napoleonic Depression of 1815, The Long Depression of 1873, and the Great Depression of 1929 may be seen as early examples of global economic integration. The Commanding Heights video walks us through other examples and timelines of global economic integration. Fibonacci had some interesting ideas about quantifying cycles. Attempts to quantify business cycles, both local and global, may be of interest and The Kiel Institute for World Economics may be of interest as well.

Distance – Geographic and conceptual distances are compressed by Globalization. Today, in North America, we are able to wander down to Walmart and purchase cut flowers which a few hours earlier were growing in South America. In the space of time it takes to clear the register and get those babies back home we have managed to make the wife happy while simultaneously participating in a global value chain which funds alternatives to nacrobusiness, enables cutting edge aircraft design, regulates aircraft maintenance, standardizes air transportation networks, and keeps civil engineers employed building cool airports We can contrast this modern transportation infrastructure network with our history at Lexington and Concord on April 19th, 1775. News of the battle made it to Williamsburg Virginia on April 28th and back to the Cabinet in England on May 28th via a special courier. It wasn’t until that 1817 Jeremiah Thompson, later channeled by FedEx, was able to establish regularly scheduled transatlantic service with his Black Ball Line of sailing ships.

Energy – Globalization also impacts energy. Energy Value Chains have taken a number of centuries to build and span the globe. Within this context it is interesting to consider the Energy Density of different types of fuel:
45,000 kg of wood=22,000 kg of coal=15,000 kg of gasoline=12,000 kg of diesel =1kg of uranium.

Slapout and Motorfirebox,

You might also be interested in the American Society of Civil Engineers Website. Cool stuff

[slapout9]

Motorfire and Beetle, I was thinking more along these lines. We actually have/had our own System of Economics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America...(economic_plan)


I have been a long time reader at the American Society of Civil Engineers their paper on Critical Infrastructure for the 21st Century that is sustainable is outstanding. Write the Work Order and Print US Dollars and go do it, the Country needs it and there will be millions of jobs created



Notice how Henry Clay wanted to issue Soverign Credit as Opposed to Soverign Debt!!!!