Brian Gongol
December 2009 edition of the EconDirectory
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Formation flying for airliners? Don't count on it.
There are trial balloons being floated about the possibility of flying passenger aircraft in formation like migrating birds, with the objective being to cut down on fuel use and pollution emissions. But the chances of such a plan working out are slim and none. Not only would it require that competitive airlines start aligning their schedules, it also assumes a whole lot more regularity to the passenger-airline schedule than is presently possible. Just achieving the coordination required to get three passenger planes lined up on the ground in close enough proximity to take off closely enough together to even lead to such a formation is a virtual impossibility.
President Obama wants another $150 billion in "stimulus" spending
Who doesn't yet understand that we have a $12 trillion Federal debt that cannot keep growing at this rate? The spending will have to generate four times as much in new personal income to even remotely begin to pay for itself, and there's very little likelihood that the government is going to efficiently find a 4:1 payoff that Warren Buffett hasn't already.
The cost of "justice": About 42%
Iowa schools will soon start to receive the portion of the Microsoft settlement left unclaimed by the state's eligible consumers, to the tune of about $60 million. But it's worth noting again that the $179.95 million settlement, initiated as a class-action lawsuit by Roxanne Conlin, also tacked on $75.5 million for the attorneys -- or about 42% of the settlement total. Conlin now wants to run for the US Senate, where one can only hope that she wouldn't spend taxpayer dollars as though a 42% overhead should apply.
A retrospective on the Beatles from the year 3000
(Video)
Posters for the 2009 International Year of Astronomy look like they're from 1974
What happens to an empty, empty shopping mall?
Podcast: Why you'll be watching "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" long after nobody remembers Twitter anymore
