Author Archives: ArdenCulbert

‘Alarming’ coral reef bleaching wave descends on the Maldives

by ArdenCulbert Posted on August 8, 2016

Tide 2 Go

‘Alarming’ coral reef bleaching wave descends on the Maldives

By on Aug 8, 2016Share

We have a new competitor for the “worst place on Earth to be a coral!”

More than half of the coral reefs in the Maldives have been hit by a wave of bleaching this year, according to a new survey conducted by a team of researchers. Signs of bleaching were found in around 60 percent of the study area’s total number of corals — in some segments of the reef, the percentage of corals affected was as high as 90 percent. The biodiversity-rich area is home to some 3 percent of the planet’s corals.

The Maldives bleaching disaster is the latest battle in a three-year war on the world’s coral reefs. The attacking force? A deadly combo of record-smashing high ocean temperatures and the effects of a strong El Niño year. Bleaching is a phenomenon that happens when stressed, hungry corals expel the algae that give them their characteristically vibrant colors — just like you when you’re too late for the happy hour app special at Chili’s. It’s most recently made headlines by turning the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest collection of corals, ghost-white.

Ameer Abdulla, the research team leader and a senior adviser to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), told the Guardian that the study’s results were “alarming,” adding that the bleaching is likely to only get worse.

Think the Maldivian corals have it bad? Consider the tiny nation’s 400,000 human citizens. The low-lying chain of islands has been hit so hard by climate change and rising sea levels already that it’s been making plans to relocate its own citizens — making Maldivians some of the world’s first climate refugees.

So … can our coral reefs survive climate change? Watch our video to learn more.

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‘Alarming’ coral reef bleaching wave descends on the Maldives

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Jay Carney Is Stepping Down as White House Press Secretary

by ArdenCulbert Posted on May 30, 2014

Mother Jones

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Jay Carney is stepping down as White House Press Secretary, President Obama announced Friday. Carney, who joined the administration in 2011 after more than two decades in journalism, will be replaced by Josh Earnest. Earnest had served as Carney’s deputy.

Gone but not forgotten, we’ll think of Carney whenever we watch A Christmas Story.

Originally posted here:  

Jay Carney Is Stepping Down as White House Press Secretary

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Are Corporations Hoarding Cash? It’s Complicated.

by ArdenCulbert Posted on March 18, 2014

Mother Jones

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Over at the newly launched—or relaunched—FiveThirtyEight.com, Ben Casselman updates us on the enormous mountains of cash that have been piling up in company treasuries ever since the recession ended:

One of the early narratives of the economic recovery was that companies were “hoarding” cash….The data backed up the story: The Federal Reserve in 2011 reported that American companies had more than $2 trillion stashed away in overflowing vaults.

Then the Fed revised its data. New figures released in early 2012, based on more complete tax filings, showed that American companies actually had close to half a trillion dollars less cash than previously thought….The revision didn’t just change the numbers—it undermined the whole narrative.

….It’s understandable that so many experts bought into the “cash on the sidelines” narrative. What’s less understandable is that they’re still buying into it. Despite the big revision, the corporate-cash narrative remains very much alive.

Hmmm. I think there’s a little more to it. It’s true that two years ago the Fed revised down its corporate cash estimate1 for the first quarter of 2012 from $2.2 trillion to $1.7 trillion. But even taking that into account, corporations have been increasing their cash holdings about 15 percent per year since 2008. In 2013 corporate cash increased another 12 percent. That’s a pretty steep increase.

Beyond that, David Cay Johnston estimates that when you count cash worldwide, not just domestically, American corporations are holding something like $7.9 trillion in liquid assets. He calculates that this number has grown six times faster than corporate revenues since 1994. “When liquid assets grow six times faster than revenues, it tells you that companies are hoarding cash, not investing or spending.”

Now, it’s true that the huge spike initially reported in 2011-12 was mostly illusory. But it’s not clear to me that this undermines the entire “cash hoarding” narrative. Even without that spike, corporate cash holdings have been growing strongly over the past decade. What’s more, corporate profits have been booming ever since the recession ended—without a correspondingly dramatic increase in capital expenditures.

There are plenty of other arguments floating around. If you remove the tech sector, the whole phenomenon looks less dramatic. Corporate debt has been increasing too thanks to ultra-low interest rates, which suggests that companies are simply making a rational decision to borrow rather than spend their own cash. Cash overseas is piling up because companies don’t want to repatriate it and pay the taxes that would be due. Etc.

In other words, it’s complicated. I think Casselman has a point that the Fed’s revision wasn’t very widely reported or acknowledged, but I’m not sure that’s quite as damning as he suggests. The corporate cash pile-up, though less startling than we thought in 2012, is still real. Probably.

1Actually, this is an estimate of “liquid assets.” We’re just using cash here as shorthand.

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Are Corporations Hoarding Cash? It’s Complicated.

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