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Derek Thompson

Derek Thompson - Derek Thompson is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees business coverage for the website.
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He is a visiting research fellow at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget at the New America Foundation. Derek has also written for Slate, BusinessWeek, and the Daily Beast. He has appeared as a guest on radio and television networks, including NPR, the BBC, CNBC, and MSNBC.

'A Party Balloon Should Cost $100'

By Derek Thompson
Aug 23 2010, 6:20 PM ET Comment

In the future, there will no more balloons because helium will be more expensive than diamonds:

Scientists say the world could run out of helium in 25 to 30 years, especially because a U.S. law stipulates that the country's National Helium Reserve--by far the largest in the world--must be sold off by 2015, regardless of the market price. That same law has made helium artificially cheap, to the point where one scientist estimates that a party balloon should actually cost about $100. Helium is used to cool MRI scanners and also for radiation monitors used for anti-terrorism purposes.

Read the whole thing at the Daily Beast.



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