Agent Orange, the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, the Virginia Tech massacre, the 2008 financial crisis, and the Deep Horizon gulf oil spill: each was a disaster in its own right. What they had in common was their aftermath -- each required compensation for lives lost, bodies maimed, livelihoods wrecked, economies and ecosystems upended. In each instance, an objective third party had to step up and dole out allocated funds: in each instance, Presidents, Attorneys General, and other public officials have asked Kenneth R. Feinberg to get the job done. In Who Gets What?, Feinberg reveals the deep thought that must go into each decision, not to mention the most important question that arises after a tragedy: why compensate at all? The result is a remarkably accessible discussion of the practical and philosophical problems of using money as a way to address wrongs and reflect individual worth.

Richard Lechthaler moved to Vermont in 1968 after a career in Manhattan. Over the years, he enjoyed hearing Vermont stories, embraced the idea of citizen government, and took part in whatever seasonal and community events he could. One story stuck with him, that of Vermont farmer Romaine Tenney, who refused to leave his land when it was confiscated for the building of I-91. In Just Compensation, Lechthaler has created a fictional character, Rayland Jensen, and the town of Towsley, to address the broader questions at the heart of Tenney's refusal - can a government ever truly compensate someone for the loss of his property, his livelihood, his place in the world. Simultaneously, the novel explores the question of progress - Is it inherently a good thing? Who gets to decide? In so doing, Lechthaler also reconstructs the stories of a vanished Vermont, one in which it was not unusual for hill farmers to milk by hand, for rural homes to not have electricity, and for communities to be more like families, facing change and difficulty, both close to home and far away, together. This novel will make you ache for that quieter time while realizing that it, too, could not have lasted forever as the planet and Vermont itself became more populated and more complex. For such is life ... but the life and lives of this fictional community remain something worth remembering and honoring.

If legal scholar Richard Epstein is right, then the New Deal is wrong, if not unconstitutional. Epstein reaches this sweeping conclusion after making a detailed analysis of the eminent domain, or takings, clause of the Constitution, which states that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. In contrast to the other guarantees in the Bill of Rights, the eminent domain clause has been interpreted narrowly. It has been invoked to force the government to compensate a citizen when his land is taken to build a post office, but not when its value is diminished by a comprehensive zoning ordinance. Epstein argues that this narrow interpretation is inconsistent with the language of the takings clause and the political theory that animates it. He develops a coherent normative theory that permits us to distinguish between permissible takings for public use and impermissible ones. He then examines a wide range of government regulations and taxes under a single comprehensive theory. He asks four questions: What constitutes a taking of private property? When is that taking justified without compensation under the police power? When is a taking for public use? And when is a taking compensated, in cash or in kind? Zoning, rent control, progressive and special taxes, workers’ compensation, and bankruptcy are only a few of the programs analyzed within this framework. Epstein’s theory casts doubt upon the established view today that the redistribution of wealth is a proper function of government. Throughout the book he uses recent developments in law and economics and the theory of collective choice to find in the eminent domain clause a theory of political obligation that he claims is superior to any of its modern rivals.

The comprehensive resource on reactive power compensation, presenting the design, application and operation of reactive power equipment and installations The area of reactive power compensation is gaining increasing importance worldwide. If suitably designed, it is capable of improving voltage quality significantly, meaning that losses in equipment and power systems are reduced, the permissible loading of equipment can be increased, and the over-all stability of system operation improved. Ultimately, energy use and CO2 emisson are reduced. This unique guide discusses the effects of reactive power on generation, transmission and distribution, and looks at the compensation of existing installations in detail. It outlines methods for determination of reactive power and answers the questions that arise when controlling it, for example, at parallel operation with generators. There is also a chapter devoted to installation, maintenance and disturbances. Key features include: A concise overview as well as deep specific knowledge on the segment power factor regulation and network quality Theory of reactive power compensation coupled with typical application examples such as car manufacturing, metal rolling and chemical works Chapter summaries with charts explaining how to put the theory into practice Coverage on the cost-saving aspects of this technology, including the efficient use of energy and the reduction of CO2 A practical guide for electrical engineers and technicians in utilities, this is also essential reading for maintenance engineers, designers, electrical contractors, manufacturing companies, and researchers, also those in industry and planning agencies. Insightful and clear, the book will also appeal to senior undergraduate and graduate electrical engineering students and professors.

This law school study aid contains the history and cases related to the Takings Clause of the United States Constitution. The authors bring their long-time teaching experience to this important area.

The charming, return-to-the-land memoir of a refugee family who flees Nazi Germany and finds their true home in the backwoods of rural Vermont Alice and Carl Zuckmayer lived at the center of Weimar-era Berlin. She was a former actor turned medical student, he was a playwright, and their circle of friends included Stefan Zweig, Alma Mahler, and Bertolt Brecht. But then the Nazis took over, and Carl’s most recent success—a play satirizing German militarism—impressed them in all the wrong ways. The couple and their two daughters were forced to flee, first to Austria, then to Switzerland, and finally to the United States. Los Angeles didn’t suit them, neither did New York, but a chance stroll in the Vermont woods led them to Backwoods Farm and the eighteenth-century farmhouse where they would spend the next five years. In Europe, the Zuckmayers were accustomed to servants; in Vermont, they found themselves building chicken coops, refereeing fights between fractious ducks, and caring for temperamental water pipes “like babies.” But in spite of the endless work and the brutal, depressing winters, Alice found that in America she had at last discovered her “native land.” This generous, surprising, and witty memoir, a best seller in postwar Germany, has all the charm of an unlikely romantic comedy.