I am taking the final economics course for my major. I learned curves, graphs, labor and capital, and I have come to a truth about economics. It is incapable of quantifying human factors, such as fear, trust, greed and hope.
The free market plays to people's wants and desires, not their needs. The free market is good at finding the most efficient price levels, but not an ethical equilibrium.
We find ourselves in this precarious economic position because of a lack of diligence and self-control with many people living outside their means.
Our government needs to step in and provide clear leadership, stabilize the housing market and provide tax incentives for entrepreneurs to reinvest in an infrastructure that is energy-sustainable.
Old habits of relying on the free market and giving tax breaks to the wealthy have been bitch-slapped in the face.
Insults of being a socialist can no longer bring progress to American citizens who need relief and answers.
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman released a new book, titled "Hot, Flat, and Crowded," which offers a comprehensive view of the challenges and consequences the U.S. and the rest of the world must come to terms with.
The world faces an ever-growing population, an exponential growth in consumption and a climate being adversely affected by human activities.
Friedman offers a solution to the problems, saying the future will depend on our ability to innovate a sustainable energy plan that is accessible to the world's population.
Similar to how the information technology revolution grew in ways we never could have predicted and gave birth to a new middle class, an energy revolution could be the foundation for building a new economic juggernaut.
The future rests on our ability to create new job markets, specifically in sustainable energy, that would allow us to compete globally.
The magnitude of this problem is starting to become apparent to the majority of American citizens, which is good because we can't afford to blow this one.
We only know so much about how our gross domestic product grows. We create models based on the past to help predict the future.
Ingenuity doesn't come up as a nice neat variable, and not everything can be captured on a balance sheet.
Our government and our citizens need to man up and move into what Friedman calls the Energy-Climate era. Welcome to 1 E.C.
Anthony Paglino is an economics senior.
