The Week End Economists kiss the Blarney Stone. Mar 12-13, 2016.

[Hugin]

In response to the upcoming St. Patrick's day the WEE felt the need to do something from the Emerald Isle.

The WEE turned a jaundiced eye toward the overuse of the typical references to "Green Beer", Corned Beef, and Clover. It may be time to expand the envelope a tad.

Originally, the thought was it was a natural to explore the creepy little green clad fellows called, "Leprechauns."

However, It's seems as if Nature itself has taken issue with the small statured gold hoarders. So, they may be busy.

Then, with the primary debate silly season in full swing, another piece of Irish Lore presented itself.

The Blarney Stone



"The Blarney Stone (Irish: Cloch na Blarnan) is a block of Carboniferous limestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney, about 8 kilometres (5 mi) from Cork, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of the gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery). The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446. The castle is a popular tourist site in Ireland, attracting visitors from all over the world to kiss the stone and tour the castle and its gardens.

The word blarney has come to mean 'clever, flattering, or coaxing talk'. Irish politician John O'Connor Power defined it this way: 'Blarney is something more than mere flattery. It is flattery sweetened by humour and flavoured by wit. Those who mix with Irish folk have many examples of it in their everyday experience.'

More at the wiki: Blarney Stone

It seems only logical to examine the Blarney Stone and The gift of gab in this unprecedented Primary debate spectacle.

[Tansy_Gold]

1. 'Tis a fine topic ye've chosen

We're probably hearin' as much blarney in our politics as we've been fed in our economy.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. Look to the rainbow

To sing it whenever the world falls apart

And follow the fellow who follows a dream.

[Tansy_Gold]

3. More blarney -- The irony of oil abundance

http://www.alternet.org/fracking/irony-oil-abundance-way-too-much-supply-not-enough-demand?akid=14057.2550698.jXn_4l&rd=1&src=newsletter1052440&t=18

Three and a half years ago, the International Energy Agency (IEA) triggered headlines around the world by predicting that the United States would overtake Saudi Arabia to become the world’s leading oil producer by 2020 and, together with Canada, would become a net exporter of oil around 2030. Overnight, a new strain of American energy triumphalism appeared and experts began speaking of “Saudi America,” a reinvigorated U.S.A. animated by copious streams of oil and natural gas, much of it obtained through the then-pioneering technique of hydro-fracking. “This is a real energy revolution,” the Wall Street Journal crowed in an editorial heralding the IEA pronouncement.

. . .

"The picture in terms of resources in the ground is a good one,” Bob Dudley, the chief executive officer of oil giant BP, typically exclaimed in January 2014. “It’s very different [from] past concerns about supply peaking. The theory of peak oil seems to have, well, peaked.”

. . . .

If the blindness of so much of this is beginning to sound a little familiar, the reason is simple enough. Just as the peak oil theorists failed to foresee crucial technological breakthroughs in the energy world and how they would affect fossil fuel production, the industry and its boosters failed to anticipate the impact of a gusher of additional oil and gas on energy prices. And just as the introduction of fracking made peak oil theory irrelevant, so oil and gas abundance -- and the accompanying plunge of prices to rock-bottom levels -- shattered the prospects for a U.S. industrial renaissance based on accelerated energy production.

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Looks like we've been sold a bill of goods, boyos. Again.