Though the topline numbers in the Obama administration’s national security budget for 2010 may not make headlines, there’s a lot of newsworthy moving and shaking happening beneath the surface. The budget gives the Defense Department $533.7 billion, $20.4 billion more than last year but only a two percent jump when adjusted for inflation. However, President Obama has said several programs are on the chopping block, warning just days ago he would cut “Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use.” The White House also claims the budget has absorbed some programs funded for the last five years in the wartime supplementals, such as security support for foreign governments and some medical programs. Another $75.5 billion supplemental was also released today, bringing Fiscal Year 2009’s war spending tab to more than $142 billion when combined with the $66 billion supplemental passed last fall. Another $130 billion war funding boost is penciled in for 2010, but the administration says supplementals will eventually be phased out altogether.
The Energy Department’s budget flatlines at $26.3 billion, though nuclear weapons spending is not broken out. Green energy initiatives get a big increase, according to the White House. Nuclear nonproliferation and cleanup programs also get more money, as do programs to extend the life of existing warheads. The Reliable Replacement Warhead—a Bush administration program to rebuild nuclear warheads—is singled out for elimination.
Homeland Security also stays relatively flat at $42.7 billion—only $500 million more than 2009—but the budget brags about more than $100 million in new spending on Transportation Department and Transportation Security Administration programs. The real winner is the State Department, which gets $51.7 million—a 40 percent increase from 2009. Foreign aid is “on a path” to double in size, and global health, USAID and the Foreign Service will all grow. The budget also funds the launch of a new “multi-year counterterrorism and law enforcement assistance program.”
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Now that ARRA has passed, and wise minds are trying to tackle the rest of the mess: the message is out - Help is on the way. Take a minute and breathe that in. It's not hopeless anymore, the 8 year treadmill of the downward spiral for the common person in this country is over.
There are two major problems confronting ordinary people now. One is to get the "talking heads" to broadcast positive news - start affirming hope. Heaven knows, it took 'em long enough to see we were drowning out here. Write your local news station and thank them for every positive news story they air. Suggest other places where ordinary people are making a difference -despite- what's going on. As long as the big news story is Bad News, the rest of the world will believe we are never going to recover. I think we can. I think we will.
The second is that ordinary people are going to have to learn to tread water until the help gets to them. For some folks it won't take long, for others it may take a while. Take a look at your life, see how you can make do, see what you can do smarter - get a bucket and start bailing!
Here's an example. When bread hit 2.50 a loaf here, I decided that I was not going to pay extortion prices. Flour hadn't gone up that much, neither had gas - not enough to cover a 3 times price raise in something as basic as bread. So I went searching for the Bread Thrift store. The one in my area had closed! Right across the street from that shuttered business, however, was an Aldi's Grocery store. I had never been in one - it's not a "major" supermarket. I was delighted to find bread at 79 CENTS a loaf. Not only that, but everything else was 30-40% cheaper than the supermarket stores. Milk, eggs, cheese - 1/3rd or more off from what I had been paying.
Here's another example: I found a food co-op called SHARE. It's a food co-op that is for people who volunteer their time in the community. You volunteer 2 hours of your time (doing whatever you want to do in your community) and you can purchase 20 lbs of food for $19 through the co-op. The same basket of food would cost you $50 in the supermarket. I have a family of 3 - we get 6 orders a month and each put 4 hours a piece into the community doing volunteer work. We've done everything from picking up trash to visiting at a retirement home. Other people will help an elderly neighbor with their yardwork or help assemble care packages for our troops overseas. No one organizes these efforts - the co-op members each look for things that need doing and jump in and do them.
And yet one more example: I sold both of my cars in 2004. Gas had hit $1.89 a gallon and I just couldn't afford the expense of all that goes in to owning 2 cars. It was an experiment to be sure - could we survive on mass-transit, an occasional taxi fare and a once in a while car rental? If not, we could always buy another car, so we put the money from the car sales in the bank and gave it a try.
Once we wrapped our heads around it taking longer to get places - it turned out not to be so bad. We adjusted our schedules and learned to cope. As a consequence, when gas got to $4.00 a gallon - our cost of getting to work and other places stayed nearly the same. This was a lucky experiment and not one everyone nation-wide can do it. But for those who can - give it a try. Park your car and figure out other ways to get around. In 3 months you'll be surprised at how much extra you have in your budget (and if you can walk to places like the gorcery store - how much better you feel). If you have plenty and this "extra" is just extra find someone who is in need and lend them a hand.
So cut the budget, find someone else worse off than you to help, find something that needs doing in your community and do it - take the power and use it to make your world a better place.
The bottom line is "It's up to us".
Let me introduced a vital issue related to Transportation safety.
I'm advocating a massive latest tech electrical mass transit system throughout the country as inter and intra community connecting scheme, moving population, goods and services. Beyond increased safety factor, this means much wider allocation of human minds and labor than the much mentioned "roads, bridges, govt building and schools".
Massive is the word to be used in connection with my proposal. In addition this idea also supports massive electrical grid modernization and distribution, again in massive scale of solar, wind, etc. sources to build and tap. Renewed concept of cities could also be done in a"massive" extent; a no-vehicular traffic concept that is not really new but only few places are available on the planet.
There are so many new ideas around, but it seems to me that all may get buried in bureucracy, Washington politics, etc. Please Mr. President & VP, consider our ideascoming from here, "level #1" With all the respect and concern for our great country.
Thank you
The infrastructure investment piece of the economic plan should result in a 21st century transportation system and not just a repaired and refurbished 1950s system. Yes, evaluate the safety of our bridges and levies, repair the unsafe ones nationwide, but for domestic transportation, develop a two-part solution that will consist of (1) a new MAGLEV train system along the high use corridors of the nation, and (2) highway repairs in states that will not be included in the first phases of the train system.
One might suggest phase one routes down the eastern corridor (Boston – Mobile), one down the western corridor (Seattle – Phoenix), and one down the central corridor (Minneapolis – Houston). Phase two routes might link the original routes with east – west routes (NYC - Chicago, Dallas - Phoenix).
At present, there are mature high-speed MAGLEV systems running in Germany, Japan, China, and Korea. Systems are planned or have already been proposed for the U.K., India, Venezuela, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, and the Netherlands. Furthermore, Japan, China, and Germany have plans to expand their existing systems.
High-speed MAGLEVs are expensive to build, but they are less expensive to operate and maintain than traditional high-speed trains, planes or even intercity buses! Additionally, MAGLEV systems provide ultra-high levels of operational reliability and introduce little noise and zero air pollution in urban settings. Furthermore, as maglev systems are deployed, experts expect construction costs to drop as new construction methods are innovated along with economies of scale, allowing the national system to become and remain profitable within several years.
In our country, this technology will be basically a new industry with new careers and new high paying employment opportunities. This solution will provide nationwide employment opportunities immediately through research, design, engineering, and construction. Building train cars, the construction of vehicle guide ways, and master control systems to operate a Maglev railway will create thousands of jobs. New employment opportunities will emerge in high-tech, manufacturing and construction. Some of the new industries that will grow to support required new technologies include electromagnetic or electrodynamic suspension technologies, stabilized permanent magnet suspension, propulsion, guidance, evacuated tube applications, development of new alloys. New manufacturing techniques will be required, and the option for a new future in power generation will be upon us.
Envision new contracts awarded for building passenger cars, GM contracted to supply train car interiors, and lots of demand for American steel. There would obviously be a large increase in local employment in corridors as construction begins, providing opportunities through the spawning of new supportive industries, like construction of Park-and-Ride lots, shops and businesses at train stations, etc.
The American MAGLEV system should be powered by a three-tier power structure consisting of a front line of regional hydrogen fuel cell power stations, complimented by solar array power grids (both of these energy technologies have already been successfully implemented in our nation). The national electricity grid would provide backup for these new power sources. Imagine the employment opportunities that will be generated through the expansion and implementation of the two new clean energy initiatives.
We should use our collective imagination and American ingenuity to leap frog into a 21st century national transportation infrastructure. An interstate magnetic levitation (MAGLEV) rail system might be the answer.
Colville for Change met on February 8, 2009 to discuss ways our group could help bring needed change to Colville and Stevens County. After a bit of brainstorming and discussion, we agreeded to initially focus our energies in the areas of transportation and alternative energy.
Stevens County has one of the highest (if not the highest) unemployment rates in the State of Washington. Besides a lack of good jobs, there is also an issue with transporation in getting to a job site. Some in our group are going to contact STA to investigate what barriers there are to bringing busses from Spokane to Colville, or even to Kettle Falls. We are going to investigate any possible grants there might be for bringing in transportation that operates and runs off of alternative energy.
We will be contacting our state representatives for more information on what Stevens County can hope for from the stimulus bill.
Some in the group are going to investigate what Avista is doing, and plans to do, to help bring more affordable energy into our community. We also want to investigae ways to bring alternative energy jobs to Stevens County, possibly wind power, biodiesel, etc.
Come join us and help us grow a greener, more economically sound, Colville, WA!
Mr. President! Help us drive our golf carts to work!
A year ago, when gas prices started getting completely out of hand, my employer and I began talking about ways to save on gas. I began researching electric vehicles, and emailed him an Ebay ad featuring a used electric Ford Ranger. These were fully designed by Ford to be sturdy, practical, long-life utility vehicles, and were leased to utility companies mainly in California in the late 90's and early 2000's.
To my surprise, he bought it and had it shipped to Nashville. It has been 100% reliable and trouble free, and costs about $30 a month in power. Yes, thirty bucks a month to fuel a freeway-capable, 80 mile range, 80mph, air-conditioned pickup truck.
When I was forced to sell my own pickup due to high gas prices, I really wanted to join my boss' electric ranks, but just didn't have the budget. Researching more, I found that only 10,000 people in the entire nation own and drive electric cars. It wasn't hard to discover why. Since the dawn of the automobile, the one Achilles' heel of th electric car has been battery technology. In recent years, NiMh and lithium-ion batteries have supplied the long lasting energy reserves so badly needed to the electric car. However, any battery capable of making the grade currently costs more than any of my gas powered cars are worth.
Then I turned my focus to the transportation plight of people living in the South. In Nashville, workers suffer from the longest commutes in the nation, with very little public transportation. As a former Seattle resident accustomed to an efficient bus system, I discovered firsthand that a mechanical breakdown which might constitute a minor headache in my home town would mean the loss of a job here. No car, no job. No job, no money. No money, no car.
Worse yet, in September '08 the South suffered from a month long gas shortage which crippled local economies and shuttered businesses. This gas shortage received almost no media coverage on a national level, but trust me, it was more than an inconvenience. The entire southern economy cycled through transportation blackouts, as the shortage rampaged from state to state.
I was fed up with the oil industry, angry with the oil lobby's stranglehold on Washington, and found myself determined to find an immediate solution to help Southern families keep more of their very hard-earned dollars. My answer? LEV's. Yes, I mean driving your golf cart to work.
Researching even further, I found there are companies in California and North Carolina who manufacture, or convert, golf cart-based vehicles for street legal use. They start with the plentiful and mechanically reliable platforms, such as Club Car, Yamaha, and EZ-Go. They add higher speed controllers, more batteries, suspension lifts, seatbelts, turn signals and headlights. Some companies even add prefabricated solid bodies to the frames of the golf carts, transforming them into miniturized Hummer or Jeep lookalikes. These vehicles are very popular in golfing, retirement, and beach communities. Most owners never have to spend much on maintenance, other than changing batteries every 3 or 4 years.
These were formally limited to roads posted with a 25mph speed limit, but last summer's gas crisis prompted the Southern states to raise this to 35mph, and that includes my own state of Tennessee. Still, because of fewer imminent domain laws and the aforementioned lenghty work commutes, driving through Nashville requires the use of "blue" highways whose speed limits are, out of necessity, posted far too high for LSV use.
The road restrictions are of course a must. The kind of accidents we would see when an F-150 collides head on with a Club Car would rival the worst horror movie scenes. But something has to be done about our gasoline dependency. The Southern economy already languishes behind the rest of the nation, and as the economy as a whole slides downward, good hardworking people here are being pushed into poverty. No group of people are more affected by gas prices than the working poor. As electric vehicles cost next to nothing in fuel, and require very little maintenance or upkeep, they would be the ideal choice for American families trying to save a little money. But the purchase price, and availability, are prohibitive.
The president and congress are helping us get around easier, and get back to work, by initiating infrastructure maintenance. But until electric cars are more affordable, this only perpetuates our oil dependancy. It would have been my preference to see much more money invested in monorails and subways.
However, in fairness to our government, building a subway for Nashville commuters would be impossible. Nashville, and many other southern cities, suffers from suburban sprawl and gigantic downtown core vacancies. Despite this, I see a great way for us to create thousands, if not millions of new jobs in road construction, all aimed at drastically lowering our collective carbon footprints and monthly expenses.
Instead of solely building or repairing freeways, let's look at a little known transportation avenue back in my hometown of Seattle, Washington. It's called the Burke-Gilman trail. Built along former rail lines, the Burke-Gilman trail runs through Seattle and several neighboring cities, and has been designed with safe intersections with regular street traffic. Since my childhood, I used this trail to commute to school, to work, to my friend's houses. I walked on it, used rollerblades, used bicycles. The number of daily Seattle commuters who use this paved, well-upkept trail number in the tens of thousands.
Why can't we do this in EVERY CITY??????
Nashville has numerous dormant rail lines. And the current attempt at a light commuter rail project is a disaster. Why not follow Seattle's lead, and blaze paved trails connecting suburban areas with downtown cores? Rather than a walking/bike trail, we should designate these for bicycles and LSV's. Charging stations could be stationed at every mile marker, and cities could issue prepaid "charging passes". Thus, the users of these new commuter lanes would help to offset the cost of construction and upkeep!
A good used golf cart can be had for $1,000. For $2500 you could have one street legal, complete with high quality Trojan batteries. There are even solar charging roof kits to help increase range. A low speed highway like the Burke Gilman trail is almost devoid of serious transportation injuries, because there are fewer intersections and less traffic.
Presto. The road crews get jobs. The golf cart retailers/upfitters hire new employees in droves. The battery, motor, and parts suppliers have a gigantic rush of business.
We can drastically reduce our oil dependance right now. I'd appreciate feedback and ideas.
Jeremy
Putting people back to work is not going to fix the economy, when people have a common goal all over the country and all around world something wonderful happens we come in unity to fix every problem that we have. I want to let everyone know there is a project called The Venus Project you can watch the video on this post. I have a petition for 3,000,000 signatures for this project to become the forefront of all projects and to be funded and seriously considered a s a solution to all our problems not just in our country but around the world.
IF you all still love that monetary system and still believe we can keep patching this system up over and over and belive it will stay fixed your wrong. The monetary system will collapse no matter what Obama and Joe Biden does. You can't fix a system that can't be fixed. You must replace it with a new system, and that will be A resource based system. The Venus project is one of the most innovative ideas that has come out and you will know why from the videos i'm going to post. I would rather work my but off for a common of all mankind to make life better than to work my but off just to pay my bills and pay off more debt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YM1gjz7LYg&feature=channel
This is video 1 watch 2-5 on youtube, very important so important that i don't know how long this post will stay up on here. They might take this down
Sign my petition here
http://thepetitionsite.com/1/the-future-that-humanity-deserves
My other blog
http://timewave2012.blogspot.com
In Obama's press conference Monday, he once again mentioned investing in several of our infrastructures. I agree this is essential to the health of the country. I would like to discus some of the investments I want included.
1) Transportation: The biggest challenge with electric vehicles is battery life. What if we could power these vehicles wirelessly. I am talking about technology similar to that used to charge your electric tooth brush and is being used to power appliances in homes today. The technology is referred to as wireless resonant induction and can be used to effectively transmit electrical power over distances of several feet. If this technology was incorporated in to road construction, cars and large trucks, they could travel cross country without the need of batteries. T. Boone Pickens could keep his natural gas.
The power for this system could be supplied by a system of solar and wind generaters constructed along the road way and tied into the grid. In urban and suburban areas the sound walls could be resurfaced with Nanosolar's CIGSS photovoltaic film. Numerous small, high wind resistant turbines would be visually less intrusiveand capable of operating a greater percentage of the time. As more power is needed, additional units of these system could be added.
2) Energy: Invest in making each residence a net producer of electricity. This land is currently being used solely for habitation. The exterior surface already exists, but is sitting idlw. This property should be put to dual use. By switching the current roofing and siding materials to photovoltaic shingles and siding each house would be generating more electricity than it uses on average. To help on extremely overcast days and at night a system of 6 foot wind turbines should be included at up to 30 feet above the ground. All of these units are incorporated into the grid to supply electricity demanding industries and occasional calm, cloudy days and calm nights in nearby communities. All of this is tied into a smart grid.
3) Automanufacturing: Purchase controlling interest in any automaker needing financial assistance. Split the company into 3 or 4 smaller companies. Fire the current top management and boards. Replace them with new management based on their commitment to future technologies and let them compete for the best ideas.
4) Credit crisis: Add credit insurance to unemployment insurance. This does not reward poor borrowing. It protects the economy and American citizens from the unforseen loss of employment and the credit damage that results during a slow economy. It doesn't allow for more credit, but does prevent default on credit cards and home foreclosure. The causes of today's economic meltdown. Itreduces the prospect of working families becoming homeless through no fault of their own. When the person is gainfully reemployed the benefit ends. It is cheaper and more humane than what we are going through today. Ask the 56,000 former employees of Citigroup.
5) Insurance reform: Make mandated insurance "not for profit". To require people to have auto insurance, home owners insuranc, and health insurance while insurance companies goal is to make a profit from it is corporate socialism. The companies should be allowed to cover their expenses and maintain a responsible reserve. They should not be able to make exhoritant profits when the consumer is forced to purchase their product or service. Any voluntary insurance can be for profit.
6) Flood Control: The current approach to flood control should be scrapped. Commercial areas that require proximity to waterways should be controlled. Rural farm related buildings and infrastructure should be protected. Farmland itself should be allowed to flood. Residential buildings in general should be built out of the flood plain. No more houses on the river bank. This will allow the flooding of the farmlands that was responsible for their initial fertility and give the flood waters some place to go instead of up. This will protect the vital shipping infrastructue during floods and save the futile spending of billions trying to contain flooding rivers.
Digital HistoryIn January 1935, Congress created the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Roosevelt's program employed 3.5 million workers at a "security wage"--
Harry Hopkins, one of Roosevelt's most trusted advisors, asked why the federal government could not simply hire the unemployed and put them to work. Reluctantly, Roosevelt agreed. [Source]
If you ask the feds, they'll quote you a figure of 8.7 million people, for an almost-respectable unemployment rate of 5.9 percent. But let's add in all the people who are working part time because they can't find fulltime work, and the ones who've given up on trying to find a job. When you add these 6.4 million people to the ones counted in the official numbers, you get a pretty dismal unemployment rate of 9.7 percent. [Source]
I suggest that President-Elect Obama revisit the WPA program to establish jobs to create a NATIONAL RAILWAY SERVICE that would connect cities in all states across America and into Canada and Mexico. Since our borders are already breaking down, this would create jobs in many different fields: construction, building engineers, train engineers, porters, ticket takers, border control officers, ticket sales, public relations. Of course, this is a HUGE endeavor, but it would also reduce pollution from auto emissions, cars on the road, the need for fuel, while uniting our nation.
Instead of pumping money into the auto industry, that lump sum could be applied to improving transit systems across the nation. I know, from experience that the Metro System in South Florida really needs improvement. AMTRAK is as expensive as some airlines, which is way off-base, but probably due to the lack of patronage. The transit system in New York is always in need of repair, but I found the Long Island Railroad to be efficient, when I used it from JFK to Penn Station, in October 2008.
The Japanese and French have "fast trains" that get people from point A to point B in a minimal amount of time. The Bullet Train in Japan, one of the first countries to realise the problems of the car. Created the bullet train, which lead to Europe taking interest in making trains go fast. The fares are affordable. For eight years, I traveled throughout Europe in the nineties and it was a pleasure to ride the trains in UK, France, Switzerland and Italy.
Obama should appoint a delegate of advisors to work with transit authorities in these countries to create the best possible solution to a growing crisis in the United States, transportation, thus, developing a means of employing even more than the 9.7% of people out of work, today, and providing a means of continual employment for generations to come.
Sincerely,
Joan Cartwright
Fort Lauderdale, FL
This past Saturday I stood on line for two hours to vote early in Indiana.
This past Sunday I located the Obama/Biden field office near my home, stopped in, and volunteered.
On ELECTION DAY, I am going to be a DRIVER for this office. I signed up for two consecutive shifts, and will be ready to take people who need transportation to the polls when the calls come in.
As good as Barack and Joe's polling numbers look today, we can't take any chances that this win is assured until it is actually won and in the books.
C'mon, won't someone out there match my time commitment on Election Day?
I am in school and currently live away from home, so I have had an absentee ballot sitting on my desk now for a few days. Everytime I have looked at it, I have been reminded that I need to vote, which has meant figuring out who to vote for. Seeing as I lead a very busy life, trying to balance classes and homework, as well as two jobs, I really have not had any time to sit down and read the newspaper or watch TV, so I have felt a bit out of the loop on the election news. With that in mind, feeling a bit blind in a rather big descision, I knew I would have to research a bit to make a smart vote. That seemed more like a chore to me than anything else, and I really was not looking forward to it. I had a little free time this afternoon, and decided to start the process, and it took me here, which is not a surprise. I knew I would be checking out news reports and the websites of Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain, to try to decide who to vote for. Based on the basic information that I had, I was already leaning more the Obama direction, but I was not sure. Well, after visiting both websites and doing a few Google News searches, the balance tipped, and I found someone who supports some of the things I believe in.
The two defining musical influences of my life are Prince and Public Enemy; that perhaps gives you a framework - a lens - through which to view my thoughts. The more hopeful side - the side that sees the issues we face today but believes we can surpass them on the way to a brighter future, just sent the below series of thoughts - on themes I have posted about before - to the Obama/Biden campaign as part of that survey they distributed earlier this week. Herewith, my attempt to define the future:
I believe Energy & Transportation must be the core focus area for this upcoming Obama/Biden Administration. A focus here would yield benefits in to many other areas, that it announcing plans on a scale even greater than Eisenhower with his interstate highway program, should form the tent pole of your first 100 Days.
We as a nation received some pretty harsh financial news in a statement from a secretary of Bush's cabinet to the media released over the weekend (when bad economic news is always released) that will drastically affect our already-slumping economy. I'm not talking about the government's takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I speak of course about the highway trust fund. Transportation secretary Mary Peters announced on Friday that the government will run out of money this month to pay for highway projects all around the nation, and states like Oklahoma are scrambling to defer payments for projects already bid, postponing upcoming bids, and basically grinding existing construction to a halt. So a disaster, right?Well, from my own selfish perspective, absolutely! One of my company's projects was scheduled to bid this month, and now it won't. But the reason for the shortage in federal monies is because revenue from the federal gas tax has decreased, but the need for road projects has not. In other words, people are driving more miles while buying less gas. This is an effect of good fuel efficiency! We've been wanting it for years, and we're finally seeing what the effects are on our economy. So, should anything be done? Of course! The federal gas tax, unlike a sales tax, stays at a constant rate of 18.4 cents per gallon no matter how much that gallon of fuel costs. When gas was at about $1.30 per gallon, it resulted in a 14% de-facto sales tax. Now that gas costs somewhere around $3.40 per gallon, the de-facto sales tax has decreased to around 5%. Having a gas tax that stays at a constant rate makes sense in a very narrow and theoretical way: the physical damage to highways comes from the number of user-miles driven on them, and not by the price of the gas burned to drive on them. But with improving fuel economy, more user-miles can be driven on highways for the same cost. Plus the cost of materials for construction has risen dramatically, partially because the cost of fuel has gone up so much. It would make much more sense for the road-building business if the revenue from the gas tax could be tied to the cost of the fuel since the cost of new construction of roads is going to rise right along with the cost of fuel anyways. The way things work right now is that the government runs out of money, large numbers of private contractors run out of work, people lose construction jobs, and drivers are stuck in more traffic.Now, the trouble is getting a politician to agree to an increase in the gas tax. It will never happen. But like so many things, what's best for our economy is also just about the least popular idea ever. As it happens, most economists see the gas tax as way too low and think the gas tax should raise dramatically (at least a dollar per gallon). But politicians want to suspend the gas tax because lowering taxes is always a popular idea. Unfortunately, popular ideas always trump smart ideas. P.S. Expect to see more earmarks because of this too.
(Cross posted at quibblingpotatoes.blogspot.com)
It is time to put the offshore drilling debate to an end. This is a bad idea on so many fronts; it is difficult to know where to begin. First, it will solve nothing. It will not reduce gas prices in the near term due to supply or by reducing speculation. It might reduce price by a few cents ten years from now but by then, it could be several dollars higher than it is now anyway.
Second, with Exxon reporting yet another record quarterly profit, adding supply to oil reserves will only give them increased inventories to make money on. If you think big oil will give you and I a break just because they own more land, think again. The only winners from offshore drilling are oil companies and the Republicans that invest in them.
This is my big idea for today. Ironically, I thought of it driving to work with just me in the car. And I'm just blocks away from public trans. But I was really tired and need to run errands after work. Lame excuse, yes. And yes, I know that the whole 'cap and trade' thing has a conservative ring to it but hear me out.
Here's the idea in a nutshell. If you drive a car, truck, SUV, motorcycle, scooter, Segway, ride a bike, walk or take public transportation you would be given a measurement device for each of your modes of transportation. For cars, it would be based on the gas mileage, weight and the number of people in your car. Each car would have thumbprint reading device for each passenger. Being a passenger versus rider would give the user a different amount of points. The tracking device would also assign points based on congestion and the efficiency of the driver's navigation. If the route they chose is easily traveled via public transportation, they get additional waste points.
You could even get really specific. If the driver owns a bike and drives on a day where the weather is absolutely perfect, you could also tack on some additional waste points. That might be a bit difficult to track though. Basically, the real measurement would be the more people in the car, the better gas mileage and the best route to work gets the lowest points. A person who drives a Hummer to work by lonesome, right next to the subway line during the busiest, smogiest time of the day get the most waste points. A person in an electric car filled with car-poolers who charges his car at night and goes to work at times to avoid rush-hour gets the least amount of points (or might even get credits).
Even though public transportation burns fuel and uses electricity, they would be exempt from those negative points. They would get a certain number of credits for each ride. Walkers and cyclists would get a higher number of credits.
A website would keep track of all the transportation credits and debits. If you were running a deficit, you could buy credits from a cyclist or public transportation user. Otherwise, it would function like any other tax. The procedes of this tax would go to public transportation and grants for businesses that provide energy reduction services.
Systems like this would also be rife with corruption and cheating. To discourage this, there would be a very large fine for those who tampered with their devices. To make sure it really works as a discouragement, it should be based on a sliding scale. To a person on disability or welfare, a $100 fine causes severe pain. To a millionaire, it's nothing. So if you used a percentage like 0.01% a person making $10,000 a year would need to pay $100. $90,000/yr would pay $900. Bill Gates would need to pay something over $4,000,000. Actually, that's how all fines should work. But that's a rant for another time.
In closing, a system like this would encourage people to use less energy and would reduce congestion and pollution. And people who actually use little energy and create little pollution would reap the rewards. Responsible people would actually get paid for doing the right thing. It would also provide a great funding source for public transportation. The technology would be complicated but it definitely wouldn't be impossible.
There would also need to be some exceptions. Like for rural areas with no public transportation of any kind. Using trucks for what they were originally designed, hauling stuff, would also get an exemption. But if they live in middle of nowhere and drive 30 miles in giant GMC truck to pick up some clothes at the nearest Walmart, they shouldn't immediately get a pass. They still have the option of driving a smaller car. But it definitely isn't the same behavior as someone doing that in an urban environment.
That's it. Would it work? I guess it could get a little too 'Big Brother' for some people.
Read a fascinating article by Thomas L. Friedman on the Danes, their energy challenges and how they've become independent of Middle East oil. And they didn't become energy independent "by Danish politicians making their people stupid by telling them the solution was simply more offshore drilling."Here are some highlights with the full story here. While you're reading ask ... "We're an innovative bunch here in the United States of America. Why don't we do (or at least try) that here?" We should also note that the cards are stacked against the people from various powerful forces that include politicians beholden to special interests, interest groups [sometimes corporate sponsored] 'claiming to represent' the interests of the people/nation, corporations [especially Oil and Auto], corporations that stand to 'lose profits' with the emergence of a clean energy industry, and possibly the financial industry that benefits from the turmoil in oil prices.* "If I lived in a city that had dedicated bike lanes everywhere, including one to the airport, I’d go to work that way, too. It means less traffic, less pollution and less obesity." Rain doesn't bother them either ... "The Danes simply donned rain jackets and pants for biking. If only we could be as energy smart as Denmark!"* "Denmark today gets nearly 20 percent of its electricity from wind. America? About 1 percent."* Through taxes on CO2, higher taxes on gasoline, and becoming energy efficient, the Danes have actually 'grown' their economy. So much so they have one of the most competitive clean-energy industries in the world.* “The cure is not to reduce the price, but, on the contrary, to raise it even higher to break our addiction to oil."* Here's an ingenious idea the Danes plan to introduce. The additional taxes (gasoline, CO2, etc.) would be used to cut personal taxes so as to "improve incentives to work and improve incentives to save energy and develop renewable energy.”
Cross posted here.
Why are we not focussing on Public transportation? We are behind Europe, Asia and South America in this one stance. Of course many Americans do not get to go out and see it for themselves, but it is not a secret. Why can we not focus on big cities and then go down to mid-size cities. Many argue, that Americans are not yet ready for this culture change. Sure they are. When they pump 60-80 dollars for one tank fill up, sure they are ready for other options. This 60-80 dollar could very well be a Bus Pass for a whole month for some. In cities like Houston, this worked. Especially with woes and cost of parking in Downtown, it was a huge success.
Why is this not a huge election year issue? Is this not a BIG CHANGE?
I would like to see Obama bring it up.
Have you noticed something odd about the Republican solution for lowering gas prices? They always start out the right way: "Well, the problem is one of supply and demand." The first sentence is always some variation on that theme. Okay! Supply and demand. Got it. Makes sense.
Then, the solution they offer is always the same, which bears little resemblance to the basic reality: "Let's drill for more oil, and invest everything else we can invest into ethanol."
So from the Republican solutions, I gather what they really believe is that the real problem here is one of SUPPLY!!!!! and demand. Does that make sense? No. Are the Republicans in touch with reality? Of course not.
We need a policy that acknowledges that the real issue here is, indeed, an issue of both supply and demand. But not simply the supply and demand of oil. The real issue here is the supply and demand of energy.
Let's not put all our energy investments in one basket. We can either invest more in renewable sources of energy now, or pay a lot more for energy later. By focusing most of our dollars on more oil drilling, we're condemning ourselves to a future where the next oil shortage will come sooner, and we'll be less prepared for it.
And that's not to mention how we use what energy we have. Why should the federal government continue to encourage more sprawl in all our communities? Our land use and transportation policies both at the federal and local levels need serious reform.
It's past time to invest more in rail technology and transit-oriented development, which would give everyone a tool we could use to lower our energy demand. That's real change I can believe in.
