Category: Commentary

Steve references a recent article regarding an action plan to solve the climate crisis. Sounds a but too easy to him.

A somewhat off the wall article in the Wall Street Journal makes a case, by accident, for the value of capitalism.

The article was a short note on the history of Christmas stockings, part of the Christmas holiday ritual developed in the 19th century in Europe, especially in England.

One part of the innovative middle class celebration of Christmas was for children – Santa Claus, who brought gifts to children who had been nice, not naughty, during the year, then ending. Small gifts were put in stockings, hung from a mantle over the fireplace.

Stockings used for that special purpose evolved from stockings made for daily wear.

The first modern stockings were knitted by hand and by a machine invented in 1589 called a stocking frame. Foot-powered stocking frames evolved over time. By the mid-18th century, England had some 14,000 stocking frames. Stockings were no longer only for the aristocracy. Very ordinary people could acquire such status coverings for their legs.

In mercantilist France, stocking frames were restricted to protect hand workers.

In 1758, Jedediah Strutt invented a way of incorporating the purl stitch into the making of the fabric, resulting in ribbed stockings. With his profits, Strutt financed the first spinning mills built by Richard Arkwright, whose invention of the water frame transformed cloth making from a low-productivity craft to an industrial product. Arkwright’s invention took only minutes to make enough wool yarn to make a pair of knee socks, when previously that task would have taken five hours.

Cotton hosiery, more desirable than wool, was one of the first consumer products made from the newly abundant thread. What could be produced in quantity could profitably be sold at lower prices and so could become more affordable to more people and so also more abundant in the lives of the many.

And Christmas stockings, too, could become part of most every English family’s Christmas celebration.

Thanks to the capacity of capitalism to evolve technology, expand and expand productivity, new wealth, including ownership of stockings, was created, which could more inclusively devolve to the people.

Our thanks to those of you who recently contributed to the work of the Caux Round Table during the Give to the Max special day of fundraising for non-profits here in Minnesota.

During the last two weeks, I have surprisingly received many emails from all kinds of organizations asking me for a personal contribution.  These requests seem here in the U.S. to be a new part of our holiday season, perhaps encouraged by increased use of Zoom and internet relationships over these past 18 months.

It is the end of our fiscal year and so I presume on your goodwill and concern to ask again for your financial support, particularly to defray the costs of our monthly newsletter, Pegasus.

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I wish you all the best in the New Year.

One of the surprises to me about the otherwise predictable and pedestrian meeting of leaders to “save” the world from global warming was the emergence of a new alternative or rather, the coming in from the cold of a well-known, but controversial technology for generating electricity.

As I have written, humanity’s mastery of technological innovation to generate power has brought about our current climate challenge and so reverse technological innovation is needed to get us out of the difficulties we are in, so I’m open to consideration of all new technologies, even those using nuclear fission.

Dan Byers, Vice President for Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute, recently wrote for the Real Clear Energy website:

Walking the halls of COP26, one can’t go far without bumping into young activists in bright blue shirts emblazoned with a simple request: “Let’s Talk About Nuclear.”  Their accompanying social media hashtag—#NetZeroNeedsNuclear—speaks for itself and is indisputable: achieving net-zero global emissions is simply not realistic without significant deployment of expanded nuclear generation.  The activists and their allies seem to be getting their message across.  As the conference winds down and we take stock of the most meaningful outcomes, strengthened support for nuclear energy is likely to emerge as a major COP26 success story.

This stands in sharp contrast to prior meetings, where nuclear has long been ostracized, despite its role as the world’s leading source of emissions-free energy.

“This COP is perhaps the first where nuclear energy has a chair at the table, where it has been considered and has been able to exchange without the ideological burden that existed before,” according to Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a U.N.-affiliated body responsible for promoting nuclear generation and safety.  Just two years ago in Madrid, Grossi attended the annual COP (Conference of the Parties) “in spite of the general assumption that nuclear would not be welcome,” but now he says the tide is clearly turning.

Enthusiastic support from the Biden Administration has provided a major boost.  Here in Glasgow, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has evangelized for nuclear at event after event, describing nuclear as a “holy grail” climate solution thanks to its ability to provide dispatchable, clean power around the clock.

The bullish rhetoric has been accompanied by numerous announcements, such as the Nuclear Futures Package, under which the State Department will partner with Poland, Kenya, Ukraine, Brazil, Indonesia and other countries to support capacity building for expansion of nuclear power.  

In another important announcement, Oregon-based NuScale signed an agreement with Romania’s Nuclearelectrica to help deploy the first small modular reactors (SMR) in Europe.  The State Department hailed the agreement as a “pioneering step” that “will build significant momentum for reducing emissions across Europe.”  They continued, “with 30 coal power plants in the region, including seven in Romania, SMRs are ideally suited to replace this baseload power and employ many of the same workforce.”

In addition, on November 9^th, the U.K. awarded Rolls Royce 210 million pounds to pursue design and regulatory approval of SMRs in the U.K.  SMRs offer unique features and design advantages relative to traditional multi-billion-dollar, gigawatt-plus size light water reactors and efforts by the U.S. and U.K. governments to promote the technology represent the next step in the intensifying global race to deploy nuclear to advance climate and energy goals. Competition from Russia and China is significant—both have numerous SMR facilities under development, while China has announced plans to build at least 150 new reactors (both large and small) in the next 15 years—more than the rest of the world has built in the past 35 years, according to Bloomberg.

Elsewhere in Europe, a coalition of 12 countries are calling for nuclear to receive a “green” designation under the continent’s forthcoming sustainable finance taxonomy, thereby enabling cheaper build costs and E.U. economic support.

While Germany continues to oppose the designation as it inexplicably works to close its remaining reactors over the next year, advocates remain optimistic.  An E.U. industry representative recently commented that … “we have more and more member states recognizing that, in order to achieve the decarbonization goals, we need nuclear in the mix…But also [because of] the recent energy crisis, I think more and more people are starting to recognize the risk of depending on imports.”

Add it all up and the conclusion is clear: while the case for nuclear power has always been strong, growing political support from governments, businesses and environmental interests alike is making it stronger.  To reach our ambitious global climate objectives, we need every tool in the toolbox to reduce emissions and including nuclear energy needs to be a priority.  Of course, COP26 is just a brief moment in time and momentum will need to be sustained.  So, pass it on: #NetZeroNeedsNuclear. 

His report deserves our attention.

Henry Kissinger, along with Eric Schmidt, who was then the Executive Chairman of Google, have teamed up with the Dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, Daniel Huttenlocher, to write a trending new book, The Age of AI.

Belinda Luscombe of TIME Magazine writes: “The book argues that artificial intelligence processes have become so powerful, so seamlessly enmeshed in human affairs and so unpredictable, that without some forethought and management, the kind of “epoch-making transformations” they will deliver may send human history in a dangerous direction.”

Thus, the negotiator, the tech tycoon and the professor make the point that AI needs ethics.

Last year, the Caux Round Table asked around for inputs to a set of principles for AI, seeing that there was not yet a general set of guidelines for use of that technology.

You may read our proposed principles here.

Please let me know your thoughts on this draft.

The Caux Round Table has recently tried to draw more attention to the contributions of social and human capitals to the success of wealth accumulation of individuals, firms and communities.

The most recent issue of the Harvard Business Review, by coincidence, has several articles which substantiate that thesis.

One article proposes that success in business negotiations is enhanced by certain human capital skills: the ability to recognize that “the gains to be shared are the additional value the agreement creates over and above the sum of the two sides’ best alternatives.  This negotiation pie should be divided equally because both sides are equally essential to creating it.”

A second article proposes that innovation is enhanced by the application of decision-making skills.  “Businesses need to strengthen and speed up their creative decision-making processes by including diverse perspectives, clarifying decision rights, matching the cadence of decisions to the pace of learning and encouraging candid, robust, conflict in service of a better experience for the end consumer.”  Such a decision-making process is a form of social capital, resting on specific human capital skills and dispositions.

On the individual level, a third article points out that people who transition to new roles in the organization or in a new organization often have a hard time doing so successfully.  Successful transitions employ five ‘fast mover’ practices: surge rapidly into a broad network, generate “pull” by energizing new connections, identify how to add value and who can help them fill skills gaps, use the network to expand impact and prioritize relationships that enhance their workplace experience.”

A fourth article proposes that innovation can be enhanced by avoiding certain psychological traps that arise from fear: “consult your future self; use red flags as teaching moments to refine your ideas; dissect causes of failure after setbacks; reframe rejections – focus on what was not negative or left unsaid; don’t get distracted when the time for action arrives; do what you are good at and leave the rest to others.”