Past Election or Future Economy/Environment - which is more important?

There seems to be no one talking about our future, just our past, so does anyone want to talk about what we can do to better our economy/environment, to give us a better future?

Please leave the other garbage for the other threads and only discuss economy/environment issues here. And the economy includes what are you doing to make your life better, because if your life is better that makes for a better economy.

Ribbit

 

I see the Obama bashers didn't have any input. Why does that not surprise me? The purpose of this post has been fulfilled and their true nature has been revealed . . . they have no answers, just complaints.

Ribbit

 

Something I have said for quite a while we do have to focus on other methods of power and not just oil and coal, I know I will get slated again for talking about alternative energy but what the heck someone has to LOL I do include nuclear power in this as well if we can harness it safely then we should use it. Electric cars for cities yeh why not, start using the rivers and canals to transport non perishables again why not And of course the big bug bear LOL Bio fuels, wave power, wind power, solar power

 

We could all become hunter/gatherers again. It would help the environment, eliminate the problems with the economy and get our overpopulation problem under control.

 

What about Hydro-electric development? It's safe, clean, and does not harm the environment. Plus, it would create jobs!

Ribbit

 

Lets see. Economy, environment and our future.

I anticipate the economy is going to tank since it is a false, inflated economy that can't be supported and propped up by government bail outs, stimulus checks and unending credit forever.
Just because a person is born, lives 18 years and then gets a piece of plastic sent to them with 10k dollars of spending power, doesn't mean there's a new 10k in the economy. But that's how it is viewed and that's how it has to work for the perpetual growth that we expect.
The retailer doesn't care where the actual money that goes back to the bank comes from or when. Or how much that purchase will end up costing that person. It just pads the books for that fiscal year for the retailer. Or for that holiday season.
Once that's over and said person has maxed out 10k on their card, they are no longer of any use. That person is enslaved. The bank theoretically becomes wealthier for the life of that person. The person loses wealth.
Next season, the retailers need a new 18 year old with a fresh new 10k card to use. We aren't relying on what people saved up from the past year! lol That'd be impossible. It'd be a depression!

It would be bad enough if we were only using their monopoly money. But every individual person has the right to use made up money on credit that doesn't exist yet, just like the government. In some cases, it was needed and used to be reasonably controlled. Homes, cars, etc. But is now far out of control.

If you really expect the economy to turn around and keep growing for the next 500 years, you're crazy. It'll never happen with what we have in place now. There has to be a breaking point. Maybe we won't have to deal with it in our lifetimes but somebody will have to deal with it some day.
Don't expect Obama, or any other dem or republican to magically fix this. It's going to take a huge crash, total default, and fresh start from scratch with a whole new national philosophy to ever think about putting something together again that's actually feasible. The economy's on borrowed time.


As for energy and the environment. I foresee an energy crisis developing that nobody wants to come to grips with. The utility companies have warned us, but there's nothing anyone will or can do. Their hands are tied.

I highly doubt anyone on this board is qualified enough to even speculate on what kind of feasible impact renewable energy can have vs. nuclear or coal energy. I'm all for wind generators. The fact of the matter is though, they take up a lot of room, people don't want them in their back yards, they often come down with mechanical problems and have to be serviced at high costs.

Solar panels are highly inefficient right now and expensive. Most any solar panel you see is only capable of converting energy from the red wavelength only! The rest bounce off or simply create heat. They are getting better, but I don't know how fast this technology is coming along.

Nuclear power plants work. They create a lot of power. They're safer, but they have bi-product so nobody wants that. Coals too dirty so nobody wants that. In the end, some combination of everything is going to have to be implemented to meet demand. All methods will put people to work, building, servicing and employing. Nothing should be off the table and not be highly invested in, in order to further development.

As for global warming and the environment..... I'm still waiting for somebody to prove how exactly this is happening AND THEN prove how we can possibly do anything about it! AND THEN prove what the Chinese are going to do about it.
In the 50s, there was concern that the planet was cooling. Some scientists say that the planet is cooling now. I predict some days we're still going to have record highs, we're still going to have record lows, and the overall average temperature of the planet won't make a damn bit of difference to what's going on in our lives.

Antarctica as an entire land mass thaws in the summer and re-freezes in the winter, doubling it's land mass annually. I watched the change on 1-year, satellite time lapsed images with my own eyes on a National Geographic special about Antarctica. The vast majority of icebergs are underwater, therefore already displacing water. Frozen water expands so I would guess the liquid form of water from an iceberg will take up less space than the frozen form did.
If glaciers are indeed melting and *never* growing back in size ever, than maybe that is raising ocean levels.

As for our future..... The standard of living is going to have to come down significantly. The American dream is going to have to be adjusted back down to a realistic goal and in the end, people would probably be happier and more content. Oh yeah. If we can retain some semblance of freedom for another 100 years it will be a miracle and it won't be by the people standing up for it.