I read The Freeman regularly and get the daily feeds from FEE.
Here are some great articles worth reading in the latest edition.
When it comes to power, energy density is the key. Solar power, wind power, and ethanol are so expensive because they are derived from very diffuse energy sources. It takes a lot of energy collectors such as solar cells, wind turbines, or corn stalks covering many square miles to produce the same amount of power that traditional coal, natural gas, or nuclear plants can on just a few acres
The Long and Short of Short Selling
Short selling is a little-understood, much-maligned tactic by which traders can profit from their belief that a company’s stock is overvalued. (Editor’s note: it works for commodity futures too.)
Failure is an essential feature of free markets. Companies that suffer losses must be allowed to fail so that scarce capital can be redeployed into lines of business that better serve consumers. Short sellers, when they are right, hasten the necessary decline of the stock of a faltering company. In extreme cases, short sales can predict liquidation or bankruptcy. In other cases the stock of a generally sound company may have been driven to unsustainable heights by bandwagon psychology, and short sellers can help deflate those spikes and hasten a return to more realistic levels.