Jewish Odysseus: THE RIGHT APPROACH ON ENERGY.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

THE RIGHT APPROACH ON ENERGY.

From Nobel Prize Winner Milton Friedman, as quoted in "Time for Truth," by William Simon, in 1978:

"We've always had a finite amount of energy...We had finite supplies of wood in the early pioneer days. How did we make the transition from using wood to using coal, from using coal to using oil, from using oil to using natural gas? HOW IN GOD'S NAME DID WE MAKE THAT TRANSITION WITHOUT A FEDERAL ENERGY AGENCY?" [emphasis added]

...And a little timeless wisdom from the great man, in perhaps his most famous illustration:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: I loved the way Milton Friedman could explain economics. It is a shame he didn't get more acclaim during his life and at his death. Ohio Dan; May 29, 2012 at 5:06:00 PM PDT

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The Odyssey by Homer, Chapter 21:

For long Odysseus stood with the bow in his hands, handling it as a minstrel handles a lyre when he stretches a cord or tightens a peg. Then he bent the great bow; he bent it without an effort, and at his touch the bow-string made a sound that was like the cry of a swallow. The wooers seeing him bend that mighty bow felt, every man of them, a sharp pain at the heart. They saw Odysseus take up an arrow and fit it to the string. He held the notch, and he drew the string, and he shot the bronze-weighted arrow straight through the holes in the back of the axe-heads. Then as Eumæus took up the axes, and brought them outside, he said, ‘Thou seest, lord Telemachus, that thy guest does not shame thee through foolish boasting. I have bent the bow of Odysseus, and I have shot the arrow aright. But now it is time to provide the feast for the lords who woo thy lady mother. While it is yet light, the feast must be served to them, and with the feast they must have music and the dance.’ Saying this he nodded to Telemachus, bending his terrible brows. Telemachus instantly girt his sword upon him and took his spear in his hand. Outside was heard the thunder of Zeus. And now Odysseus had stripped his rags from him and was standing upright, looking a master of men. The mighty bow was in his hands, and at his feet were scattered many bronze-weighted arrows.