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One need not look too far back to find examples of financial crises in our time; there is the banking crisis, the savings and loan crisis, the energy trading crisis, etc. And now the mortgage crisis, the mortgage banking crisis and the investment banking crisis.

It seems to me that one thing that all of our recent financial/commercial crises share is that they are, almost without exception, segments of our economy that were deregulated during the 1980's and 1990's.

These sorts of problems will keep occurring as long as people are willing to buy the ideology that the best way to benefit the sheep is to let the wolves do as they please without oversight or regulation.

Government is not the enemy; government is all of us banding together to achieve together the things that we cannot achieve separately. And that includes regulation of those whose ethic is 'profit uber alles'.

posted 4 years, 8 months ago
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Marine reserves are an excellent idea, and not just for scientific study. We have watched fishery after fishery, on the east coast and elsewhere, brought to the brink of collapse, caused by excessive exploitation of resources whose ecology we do not sufficiently understand.

Marine reserves act as important reference points for the study and understanding of complex ecologies, allowing policy makers and resource managers to gather data critical to proper management and planning. In addition, such reserves provide invaluable sanctuaries for sea life undisturbed by human intervention.

I would advocate reserves, not only for the purpose of scientific study but to ensure that breeding populations of sea life remain vibrant and viable and, in addition, that 'wilderness areas' of the coastal environment are maintained.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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