Greenpenny Puts Community Banking to Work for Clean Energy — Episode 123 of Local Energy Rules

Date: 10 Feb 2021 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

For this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Greenpenny’s Jason MacDuff. They discuss what’s needed for a prompt clean energy transition, the value of community banks, and the success of the innovative Greenpenny model.… Read More

(Corporate) Crime Most Definitely Pays

The New York Times reports that on August 7 a federal judge approved a settlement between the Justice Department and Morgan Stanley. Here’s the crime. In 2006 Morgan Stanley entered into a complex swap agreement with the New York electricity company KeySpan that gave it a stake in the profits of a competitor, enabling both to … Read More

S&P Says Microsoft More Creditworthy than US Government

Date: 12 Aug 2011 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 1 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Two days after Standard and Poor’s downgraded US government bonds, David Llewellyn-Smith, writing in The Sydney Morning Herald noted, “We now face the ludicrous circumstance in which the United States government holds … a lower (credit) rating than Microsoft, despite issuing its own currency (the world’s reserve), being able to raise taxes when it chooses, owning … Read More

The State of the Union President Obama Should Have Given

Date: 26 Jan 2011 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 5 Facebooktwitterredditmail

I started to write a comment on President Obama’s State of the Union Address, and the Republican Party’s responses. But I quickly realized the difficulties in having to comment on someone else’s narrative. I’d end up with, at best, a worthy critique when what I wanted was an alternative narrative. So I decided to write one. … Read More

ACORN deserves an apology, too

Date: 27 Jul 2010 | posted in: equity, From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Shirley Sherrod has her job back and a presidential apology. ACORN is still waiting. The cases are remarkably similar. Both Sherrod and ACORN were demonized by highly edited videos appearing on right-wing websites and widely publicized by Fox News and conservative radio hosts. In both cases the mainstream media and the federal government rushed to judgment … Read More

ACORN: Federal Government’s Best Investment Ever

Date: 23 Sep 2009 | posted in: equity, From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

To understand the current attacks on ACORN, and the organization itself, we need to go back more than 60 years, to the 1930s and the New Deal, when for the first time, the federal government accepted responsibility for directly helping the non-working poor. These programs were expanded in the 1940s, but in the 1950s, a backlash … Read More

Size Matters

Date: 21 Apr 1998 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Size Matters by David Morris Institute for Local Self-Reliance April 21, 1998 – published in St. Paul Pioneer Press The announced marriage of Travelers Group and Citicorp, and the wave of megamergers it inspired, once again puts size into the policy spotlight. Size matters. But contrary to what the bolsters of bigness promise, when it comes … Read More

Would Republicans Destroy Even Good Government Programs?

Date: 21 Nov 1995 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Would Republicans Destroy Even Good Government Programs? by David Morris November 21, 1995 When President Clinton assumed office he promised to reinvent government by making it smaller, more efficient and more responsive. Washington skeptics laughed. Undaunted, Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore set about their task. And although they would be the first to admit … Read More