In the 1990s in grad school, a friend of mine was working on a project to develop a non-monetary based measure for a nation’s well being. Many had long questioned GDP as an adequate measure of economic progress or quality of life. I lost touch with my friend, but retained my interest in hers and similar projects. There have been a number of efforts by government bodies, researchers, and nations to find a better way. In a previous book review in this column, I discussed the idea of Gross National … [Read more...] about What Can You Do? What Can You Be?
Check, Please
Everything has a price and there’s no such thing as a free lunch (though the cost of a salad and blackberry lemonade - to go - at Wildflower Café is awfully reasonable). If you’ve ever wondered why things cost what they do, The Price of Everything by Eduardo Porter explains. “Prices are everywhere.”Even if some of Porter’s claims are hard to take, he’s probably right. He compares the price for sorting garbage in Norway (about $114 per ton for somebody else to do it) to the earning of a waste … [Read more...] about Check, Please
Why Did the Cannibal Move to Flagstaff?
FBN's Business Book Review: Andy Kessler’s new book, Eat People and Other Unapologetic Rules for Game-Changing Entrepreneurs reads like Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead – lite. Early in the book, we find him lunching with Republican activist George Gilder (identified in his Wikipedia entry as a “techno-utopia intellectual”). Gilder dispenses this advice: the more you waste, the better! The idea is that the more we “wastefully refine energy, the more useful it becomes and the more we use it and the … [Read more...] about Why Did the Cannibal Move to Flagstaff?
Are Icelanders the New Polish?
Reykjavik, Iceland has much in common with Flagstaff. In preparation for a March trip, one visitor was told that almost everything was within a five-minute walk, but to dress warmly because of the snow. Add in a national financial crisis, unemployment, bank failures, home foreclosures, commitment to green living, and dramatic mountain landscapes and the similarities multiply. For a small island country (just under 40,000 square miles), Iceland does things big. In 2010, Eyjafjallajokull … [Read more...] about Are Icelanders the New Polish?
What if Kathleen Battle Were a Market Economy?
When it comes to the market (one is tempted to write The Market), we speak as if it is an entity with “a mind and a morality of its own,” writes Bernhard E. Harcourt in The Illusion of Free Markets. Philosophers call this a category mistake – that is talking about a thing in one category as if it belongs to another. Even if we know the market isn’t a person or a thing you could meet walking on the street, we have the unfortunate tendency to talk as if we might. The market has “needs” (don’t we … [Read more...] about What if Kathleen Battle Were a Market Economy?
Get the Crayons Out and Get to Work
Do you want to be a “good corporate citizen,” occupy the “executive suite,” or go super-charged by taking an “extreme job” to earn the really big bucks? It’s no easy choice. On the extreme end of the spectrum are “over-achieving road warriors,” whose income ratchets them up the lifestyle scale of a champagne chaser. Not bad until you realize it’s a 24/7 job and having a family or social life isn’t one of the perks. On the opposite end is the middle manager, the good corporate citizen. Your life … [Read more...] about Get the Crayons Out and Get to Work
New Speak in the Capitalist World?
Business Book Review by Constance Devereaux Shaking his fingers, face in a frown, a former professor always cautioned us to avoid the “sloppy thinking” evident in our “sloppy speaking.” He believed most people, students especially, were guilty of vague and ambiguous expressions in everyday speech, with negative consequences for thinking and decision-making. Over the past couple of years, I’ve wondered if a good finger wagging, and a really stern frown, could have steered us from the sort of … [Read more...] about New Speak in the Capitalist World?
Hopi Village Breaking Ground for New Prosperity
The concept of planned development has been in place in Sipaulovi for more than 30 years; the ideal location of houses, fields, ceremonial buildings, and public gathering places was laid out to maximize land use on Second Mesa. Planned commercial development, in Sipaulovi, or anywhere in Hopi, is a more recent idea, but a much needed one. Unemployment rates on the reservation have been reported as high as 80 percent and as low as 50 percent – depending upon the source – although the term “low” … [Read more...] about Hopi Village Breaking Ground for New Prosperity
How Green is My Valet?
Most of our efforts will really never be seen by guests,” said Annika Jackson, vice president/managing director of Enchantment Resort in Sedona. One of three hotels (the other two are Sedona Rouge and Wyndham Sedona) certified “Green” by the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association (AzHLA), Enchantment is part of an effort to create sustainably greener Arizona hotels. “A lot of what we do is behind the scenes,” agreed Mark Gray, western regional VP, resort operations for Wyndham Vacation … [Read more...] about How Green is My Valet?
Work–The Gift That Keeps Giving
If you missed Seth Godin’s book, Linchpin (Penguin Books), when it was first released last June, there’s still time to make it part of your January list of resolutions. In fact, as our economy hiccups back to life in the new year, and employers realize it is okay to start hiring again, Godin’s book offers hope that, with the right attitude, you’ll be hopping right on board that gravy train as soon as it whistles its way into Flagstaff. The message is simple enough. In today’s work world, … [Read more...] about Work–The Gift That Keeps Giving
