Dave Cohen

Biography

Dave Cohen writes the blog Decline Of The Empire. His commentaries cover a wide variety of subjects, including the American economy & macro-economics, the oil markets, peak oil, politics & policy, environmental issues and global warming. Dave was writing search engine software before he gave up on the industry in 2005 after 20 years as a software engineer. Dave has a M.A. in theoretical linguistics and was working on a Ph.D. before leaving The University of Texas at Austin in 1985 to do research in Artificial Intelligence. He attended the University of Chicago as an undergraduate.

Latest articles from Dave

• Is a Carbon Disaster Brewing in The Pacific Northwest?

  Published 22 May 2012 | viewed 1,180 times

  Optimists and politicians like to remind us that U.S. exports are booming. Unfortunately, so are imports.The trade deficit in March, from Calculated RiskAn increasingly large…

• Can China's Monopolisation of the REE Market be Reduced?

  Published 04 January 2012 | viewed 1,761 times

  What does this percentage refer to? 97% That's the percentage of global production of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) controlled by the People's Republic of China.…

• Biofuels False Promise: Breakthroughs May be Tougher Than Previously Thought

  Published 21 October 2011 | viewed 6,737 times

  In the August issue of Scientific American, David Beillo published an article called The False Promise Of Biofuels. I have a paper copy, but not…

• Prepare Yourselves for The Next Oil Price Shock

  Published 28 June 2011 | viewed 14,620 times

  Looking at the oil supply & demand fundamentals, next year looks like an accident waiting to happen. If economic growth in emerging economies remains on…

• America's Invisible Energy Policy

  Published 30 May 2011 | viewed 1,415 times

  Once in a while I point out that the United States lacks an energy policy to deal with our oil problems, but we do have…

• Sunday Oil Market Roundup

  Published 22 May 2011 | viewed 1,733 times

  The Nymex oil price has calmed down a bit in the last week, and now stands at $100.10/barrel.  Mysteriously, that's about 3 bucks higher than…

• Invest In The USA? Why Bother?

  Published 24 December 2010 | viewed 1,727 times

  Capital will flow to where there's money to be made. It's just that simple. America's "accomodative" monetary policy has spurred a new wave of corporate…

• Understanding the Oil Markets in 2010

  Published 15 December 2010 | viewed 2,505 times

  I'm starting to think that the oil markets in 2010 are just a more chaotic version of the markets as they were in 2007. You…

• Volcker Critiques Every Corner of the Financial System

  Published 01 October 2010 | viewed 1,337 times

  Last week, octogenerian Paul Volcker lost his grip. Volcker, who was the Fed chairman before Alan "Bubbles" Greenspan, remembers a time when the Wall Street…

• Prediction for the Next Oil Price Shock

  Published 30 September 2010 | viewed 6,001 times

  Having done some analysis, I've decided to postpone my projection for the next oil price shock. I have moved the date from 2012 ± 1…

• The Brewing Crisis in Rare Earth Elements

  Published 31 August 2010 | viewed 337 times

  As economists focus on the Sacred GDP number, which must remain positive to maintain the statistical recovery myth, there is another crisis brewing in the…

• Ocean Acidification – The Other Carbon Problem

  Published 22 August 2010 | viewed 1,142 times

  Humankind's assault on the oceans continues apace. A short time ago, we considered the loss of 40% of the phytoplankton in the oceans since 1950.…