It has been stated that the Republican party is all for "small business as the backbone of America" and that we should do everything we could support it. That's the "Republican" standard.
"Republicans signaled that they would block a bill to expand government lending programs and grant an array of tax breaks to small businesses."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/us/politics/22cong.html?_r=1
Let's cut through all the hypocrisy. One of the main reason we are in the predicament we are in today is because of the Bush tax cuts for the rich in 2001. Things were great back then..low unemployment, big surplus...the rich took their huge tax breaks and really didn't know what to do with them. Most of the jobs created by any of their "investments" were overseas outsourced jobs...they certainly didn't invest in America's auto industry, or building solar manufacturing plants, or upgrading our railroad system. So they invented the great "Wall Street" games of derivatives, selling a loan to someone who then sold it to someone else, who sold it to someone else...everyone making money off it...until the house of cards collapsed. Then what happened? Who got screwed? The rich? Yea, they may have lost "value" in their portfolio, but those portfolios were huge to begin with. The average citizen took it (is taking it) in the shorts! Not many jobs were created in the process.
I have a friend whose daughter to Sacramento about three years ago...her husband got a pretty good job, and she got a job as a school teacher. They put $50,000 down on a house, and had a child...the American dream. Well, they had to walk away from the house a year and a half ago (Obama's fault?) Luckily, he still has his job. Another friend got married last year, and he and his wife moved to Carson City outside of Reno...they both got jobs...she has a condo in the LA area which she has been trying to sell for two years...she is now doing the "short sell" program where she , too, will basically walk away from it. Bummer...but better than bankruptcy or renting it for less than what the payments are. These are just two stories of people we know...what about the millions of folks who are suffering from the "sins of the rich?"
So Obama spends "our" money to try and help the economy...I guess he had to bail out the big banks, Wall Street, and the auto industry...but he is also trying to help the average citizen with unemployment, health insurance, small business support, etc, etc. This is what he is DOING. What are the Republicans offering....show me what they stand for and what they are proposing that would turn this country and the economy around.
Keep the Bush tax cuts? That's going to create jobs? Bullshit! Shrink government...fire and lay off a couple of million more people, and let our infrastructure go to hell? Deregulate industry so that they can run amok, outsource jobs, and create havoc in our waters, air, and land? Kill/deport all the dark skinned people? Get back to good 'ole family values and everything will be hunky dory? What DO the Republicans plan to do..what would you do...give me some specific ideas, etc. It seems nobody can find answers to this query.
I agree that the government is too big, full of fraud and waste...always has been, probably always will be..whether it is Republicans, Democrats, Bush, Obama, Clinton, Nixon, Reagan, Caesar, Henry VIII...whoever is in power.
The point is what do we DO NOW.
My suggestions are:
1. let the Bush tax cut fade away
2. step up the removal of troops from Iraq, and cut the military budget
3. develop a plan to get us OUT of Afghanistan
4. create incentives..gee..tax cuts..for small business development, especially in the area of local renewable energy; rebuild our infrastructure; and support education and job skill development.
5. And what I think needs to be done, but probably will not happen, is changes in political campaign financing, lobbying, and a return to the media "fair practices doctrine" eliminated by Reagan.
The "rich" have had a field day under Bush, and made lots and lots of money, without have to pay their FAIR share. It's time for them to bite the bullet and fess up. This is not going to destroy them or their wealth. If someone makes $5 million dollars a year, and they have to pay more taxes to support this country and the wonderful freedoms that allows them to make $5 million...then let them pay for it, They use our roads and our sewer systems; they need to educate their children; they get sick and need health care....in this time of National need, maybe they can swallow their greed and eat a little less caviar.
The criticism of the Obama administration is all about money...the debt, deficit, etc. Yes, that is a concern...BUT the big issue is the fate of the "average" citizen; the hard worker who wants a job, who will work for that paycheck, who cares about their family, who wants a "good" life...which they can get for $50-100-250,000 per year or more if they strive for it. Yet, it is the top 2%...let's say 5% who make WELL OVER $1 million who today are NOT paying their FAIR share. The great quote from Ruprecht Murdock in a recent Forbes magazine was "See my secretary over there...she pays a higher percentage of her income in taxes than I do. Ha Ha Ha !"
America is STILL a wonderful country. We HAVE the wealth, the technology, the knowledge... the American people who would WORK to keep it that way. What we lack is the political leadership and the will to make it happen, because our politics are corrupted by money and greed, and under the control of big corporations. They are the rich, and want to stay that way.
I am willing to pay my FAIR share for this wonderful life I have. That's ME..my values, what my parents taught me, what I learned and practiced in operating my business, what I strove for in my teaching, what I share with my family, friends, and in my music, and my struggles to preserve our environment. I deplore the hate, misplaced anger, misinformation, and fear mongering that is prevalent in the media, the internet, and in our political campaigns today. I realize there are many people who do not think the way I do. I love hearing their ideas, and am always open to learning/changing my beliefs, if they make any sense.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Foolish Economics of Nuclear Power
In the ongoing "discussion" on the exorbitant cost of nuclear power, here is yet another report not picked up by Fox news and its ilk....
http://sunpluggers.com/news/solar-pv-now-cheaper-than-nuclear-power-in-north-carolina-report-says-0703
I've been saying this for years...nice to start seeing some verification...just wait until 2016......the nuke industry is going to need way more subsidies to even build 5-10 reactors, let alone 100. Right now, those subsidies are about $18 billion to build three reactors. The industry is definitely pushing for more...$140 billion total nuclear subsidies in Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act.
http://www.examiner.com/x-50672-SF-Solar-Energy-Examiner~y2010m7d7-Nuclear-opponents-fight-140-billion-total-nuclear-subsidies-in-KerryLieberman-American-Power-Act
We currently have some 100 nukes producing about 18% of the electricity in the US. These plants will reach their life's end in the next 10-30 years and will have to be decommissioned (very expensive...for a lot of the older plants, it's running more to dismantle them than it cost to build them; and it will cost even more if we extend their life)) and their wastes (both high level spent fuel..we really have no idea how to deal with this, let alone how much that will cost; and low level waste..maybe we will eventually dig up the entire state of Utah and bury it all there)
I cannot comprehend how the "fiscal conservatives" support nuclear power; just from an economic point of view it goes against everything they preach. I can see them not buying into the safety, proliferation, terrorist, and moral respect to future generations arguments. It's all about the money...big business buying and running our politicians (Democrats and Republicans) and using their wealth and control of the media to brainwash the public. The free market...get government out of regulating industry, let them do what they want! Right!
Great hypocrisies...don't help out the poor slobs with subsidized health care, but make sure you subsidize "cheap" electricity for them! And pass on the real costs to their future descendents.
Gee, we need nuclear power because it doesn't produce any CO2....not totally true... less than coal, oil, and natural gas, but not zero...lots produced in the massive construction and in fuel processing. But wait, aren't these the same people who don't believe that CO2 is causing climate change?????
We need the "base load" electricity that renewables can't produce...that's if you're stuck thinking like the old school dinosaur energy engineers. Study after study has shown that new technology, an upgraded electricity grid, and a diverse generation system will provide a more reliable grid than what we have today.
Conservation isn't an option...within five years, you won't be able to buy an incandescent light bulb...the new LED and compact florescents are 5-8x more efficient. New technology will let us use all the energy we need more efficiently...from residential use to transportation to industrial and commercial use.
In spite of the skeptics, the world is not flat, apples fall to the ground because of gravity, and yes, the wonderful sun does revolve around us all!
I stand firm on my prediction that by 2016, we may have 2-3 new nukes coming on line because you and I will have subsidized them in spite of their cost overruns; and their electricity will be so expensive (20-30 cents/kwh) that it will take even more subsidies to make anyone buy and use it...or we will really sock it to all the wonderful consumers in Georgia who are already paying higher rates for their construction today. We will be stuck with a few more partially built reactors shuttered up like the old ones at Satsop, WA because of bankruptcies, defaults, etc. We will still have no idea what to do with the 80,000 tons of spent fuel...we may politically decide to waste more of our money to study burying it in a hole in Nevada...but we probably will not have moved one single rod by then. Meanwhile the sun will shine, the wind will blow, hydrogen will be on the verge of being the new carrier of energy, and we will be making great strides towards being a more efficient and sustainable society.
Renewable power to the people!
http://sunpluggers.com/news/solar-pv-now-cheaper-than-nuclear-power-in-north-carolina-report-says-0703
I've been saying this for years...nice to start seeing some verification...just wait until 2016......the nuke industry is going to need way more subsidies to even build 5-10 reactors, let alone 100. Right now, those subsidies are about $18 billion to build three reactors. The industry is definitely pushing for more...$140 billion total nuclear subsidies in Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act.
http://www.examiner.com/x-50672-SF-Solar-Energy-Examiner~y2010m7d7-Nuclear-opponents-fight-140-billion-total-nuclear-subsidies-in-KerryLieberman-American-Power-Act
We currently have some 100 nukes producing about 18% of the electricity in the US. These plants will reach their life's end in the next 10-30 years and will have to be decommissioned (very expensive...for a lot of the older plants, it's running more to dismantle them than it cost to build them; and it will cost even more if we extend their life)) and their wastes (both high level spent fuel..we really have no idea how to deal with this, let alone how much that will cost; and low level waste..maybe we will eventually dig up the entire state of Utah and bury it all there)
I cannot comprehend how the "fiscal conservatives" support nuclear power; just from an economic point of view it goes against everything they preach. I can see them not buying into the safety, proliferation, terrorist, and moral respect to future generations arguments. It's all about the money...big business buying and running our politicians (Democrats and Republicans) and using their wealth and control of the media to brainwash the public. The free market...get government out of regulating industry, let them do what they want! Right!
Great hypocrisies...don't help out the poor slobs with subsidized health care, but make sure you subsidize "cheap" electricity for them! And pass on the real costs to their future descendents.
Gee, we need nuclear power because it doesn't produce any CO2....not totally true... less than coal, oil, and natural gas, but not zero...lots produced in the massive construction and in fuel processing. But wait, aren't these the same people who don't believe that CO2 is causing climate change?????
We need the "base load" electricity that renewables can't produce...that's if you're stuck thinking like the old school dinosaur energy engineers. Study after study has shown that new technology, an upgraded electricity grid, and a diverse generation system will provide a more reliable grid than what we have today.
Conservation isn't an option...within five years, you won't be able to buy an incandescent light bulb...the new LED and compact florescents are 5-8x more efficient. New technology will let us use all the energy we need more efficiently...from residential use to transportation to industrial and commercial use.
In spite of the skeptics, the world is not flat, apples fall to the ground because of gravity, and yes, the wonderful sun does revolve around us all!
I stand firm on my prediction that by 2016, we may have 2-3 new nukes coming on line because you and I will have subsidized them in spite of their cost overruns; and their electricity will be so expensive (20-30 cents/kwh) that it will take even more subsidies to make anyone buy and use it...or we will really sock it to all the wonderful consumers in Georgia who are already paying higher rates for their construction today. We will be stuck with a few more partially built reactors shuttered up like the old ones at Satsop, WA because of bankruptcies, defaults, etc. We will still have no idea what to do with the 80,000 tons of spent fuel...we may politically decide to waste more of our money to study burying it in a hole in Nevada...but we probably will not have moved one single rod by then. Meanwhile the sun will shine, the wind will blow, hydrogen will be on the verge of being the new carrier of energy, and we will be making great strides towards being a more efficient and sustainable society.
Renewable power to the people!
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