June 2011 to March 2015, so far….
We purchased our Nissan LEAF in June of 2011 for $23,500 after rebates and tax credits. There is virtually no maintenance, no oil and no gas for this car. Of the estimated 60,000 miles we have driven in the last 3 years and 8 months, 54,500 of those miles have been in the LEAF, 5,500 in our hybrid.
Most people do not realize how practical electrics are but usually, once they think through how they drive, over 90% of Americans would have no problem driving an EV or a PHEV.
Most days I drive our LEAF close to or over 100 miles a day, many times closer to 150 miles. There is usually always a charge during the day as we have a charger at home and the Phoenix area has hundreds of chargers that show up on my navigation system.
Electric vehicles, along with their obvious zero emissions advantage have another amazing attribute. They pay for themselves over time. EV’s are literally the only cars on earth that have an ROI, as opposed to the ever increasing cost of owning and operating a gas car.
A gas car that cost what our LEAF cost us, will need at least double the purchase price over the first 8 years of operation. So you’re not buying a 23,000.00 car at all. You’re buying a 50,000.00 car, much of which goes to the oil companies. Kind of leaves people broke when they need their next car, and the cycle goes on and on for life, until you decide to break that cycle by choosing to drive electric.
The average cost of driving a gas car is now 60.8 cents per mile, (source, AAA).
The average cost of driving an electric vehicle is 3.3 cents per mile, (source, Idaho National Labs), and that does not take into account charging with solar like we do much of the time. Our real cost with solar charging is about 1.8 cents per mile.
Even assuming we paid the 3.3 cents per mile, we are saving 57.5 cents a mile when we drive our LEAF, which is most of the time. That is a theoretical savings of 31,337.50 in less than four years.
Gas, oil and maintenance out of pocket cost for an equivalent gas car would run around 12,000.00 for the same four-year period that we have owned our LEAF. Add back the cost of electricity and miles to operate cost of 3.3 cents and that’s about 1,800.00 putting our overall savings at 10,200.00, almost half the cost of the car. In five years the car will have paid for itself.
When we got our LEAF, Nissan was taking a loss on every car because the batteries cost 16,500.00. We just had a warranty replacement of our original battery, with a new battery chemistry built to hold up better in the heat. The cost of that battery? 6,500.00. That 10,000.00 drop in price in less than 4 years is a result of mass manufacturing economies of scale. They are predicted to drop another 3,000.00 by the time we need a new even longer range battery in 10 years or so.
When we were looking into purchasing our LEAF we had the opportunity to question Nissan engineers at an Electric Car Conference in San Jose. They confirmed the projected battery cost drop and the new improved batteries as battery chemistries improved. Once they did that, I knew we were going to buy our “forever car” as I already knew electric motors tend to last a million miles or more.
When this new electric car revolution restarted in 2011, there were at most a few thousand electrics on the road. That has mushroomed to an amazing 300,000 in the U.S. and over 700,000 worldwide! There were over 120,000 sold in the U.S. in 2014. The growth rate is exponential and destined to take off even more, as more and more of us come to realize how great it is to drive without polluting and without supporting the fossil fuel industries any longer.
The growth of the charging infrastructure is surprising even me, (the ultimate optimist in these areas) with 23,000 EV charging stations installed now, (up from next to nothing 4 years ago). There are thousands more coming from utilities like PG&E in California ($654 million for 25,000 charging stations), Volkswagen ($10 million), Nissan (no charge to charge program), Tesla (free charging for life) and multiple Charging network administrators nationwide. Japan just announced they now have more charge points than gas stations! 40,000 charge points, 34,000 gas stations! The U.S. will have more charge points than gas stations by 2016 if this growth rate continues. That’s hundreds of thousands of charge points. The more charge points, especially rapid chargers where an EV can be charged in 30 minutes, the more electric vehicles.
The great thing about this is the big players like Tesla and BMW are demanding 100% renewables sources for their stations, forcing utilities to comply if they want the business.
Now back to our current reality. Imagine only buying gas a few times a year. That is our reality now. We hope to move to the next dream by replacing our hybrid with a long-range electric as soon as we can so we can be totally gas free for life.
Are we unusual? Not really. We are middle class people who are keenly aware of the political and climate crisis we are in right now. We know that not everyone can afford what we have done and what we plan to do, but things are getting closer to everyone being able to join us. In the meantime, we are compelled to act with everything we have and beyond if need be.
Regarding availability, the used LEAF fleet is starting to build. There is an independent dealership in Phoenix that sells used LEAF’s for 12,000.00 – 16,000.00
For those who can’t get an EV because they only have one car, they can get a PHEV like a Ford Fusion, Chevy Volt, Via Motors Truck, BMW extended range i3. These cars are all electric for 40 miles or so, then the small gas engine kicks in when they need to go on a longer trip. I have a friend with a Volt who has had his car 3 ½ years and he is still averaging over 200 mpg.
We move closer every day to freedom from fossil fuels for personal transportation.
One by one, that’s how this is working.
It’s all about awareness. As my grandson was unplugging our LEAF some time ago he looked up at me and said, “grandpa, why to people put gas in their cars?” I said, “I don’t know buddy but by the time you’re driving, you never will”.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015
Why Clean Energy Technologies Will Win Over Dirty Fossil Fuels
Distributed generation is the perfect disruptive technology solution. It facilities the completion of displacing fossil fuels as an energy source. Whether the utilities embrace this or not, disruptive technologies always win in the long run.
For now, Arizona utilities have chosen the unfortunate path of resistance. Instead of continuing to embrace DG to allow them to clean their grid, abandon fossil fuels and clean our environment, they have decided to portray their proactive clean DG customers as the problem rather than the solution. They do this at their own economic peril.
Clean DG providers like myself will take the next steps to force emissions free power creation.
Step One is to get as efficient as possible. As a result, our solar powered homes will push ever more, cheap, clean power onto the grid. Hopefully after step one, the utilities will wake up and realize that the growing DG grid is becoming more and more of a force in their overall production.
If the utilities choose to continue to fight technology, in the interest of keeping their fossil fuel sector going, Step Two will kick in.
Step Two is, existing solar adopters will initiate solar plus storage with energy management load balancers. Solar plus storage plus on-site load balancers will protect us from unfair Demand Charges imposed on us by rigid backwards thinking utilities. This is simple, inevitable technology growth
Solar installers will benefit as they can help integrate these systems.
Once Step Two begins to take hold in mass, the utility has another decision point. They will have to ask themselves two questions. Do I keep these highly efficient, near invisible energy users of my grid and clean energy providers on my grid? Or do I double down against them in my inaccurate and unfair demonizing of them, as some kind of made up problem?
If the utilities choose to accept our presence on the grid as a clean part of their portfolio, allowing them to begin to ratchet back their dependence on fossil fuel sources, specifically coal, than all Arizonan's win, including the utilities.
If the utilities decide to continue their old school model and insistence on burning coal for power at the expense of all of us, then we will have no choice. We will be forced to drop off their grid, taking with us our clean power, the revenue we still do provide to the utility and all we contribute to the overall clean DG power delivery system.
This will not hurt us and in the long run, it will not hurt the utilities, as their demand will begin to decrease sharply and their portfolio will shift again.
The people who will feel hurt are the people inside the utilities, whose model insist on ever increasing demand, for ever increasing profits at the expense of the consumer. These people will suffer significantly as their model has changed. The ground has shifted under them. Their consumer has spoken. Should they continue to decide to turn deaf ears during every step of this technological transition, they will force themselves and their parent companies into an early and messy demise. If that happens, We the People will be more than happy to take over, transition them to true municipalities that are responsive to the customer and quick on their feet when technology advances.
For now, Arizona utilities have chosen the unfortunate path of resistance. Instead of continuing to embrace DG to allow them to clean their grid, abandon fossil fuels and clean our environment, they have decided to portray their proactive clean DG customers as the problem rather than the solution. They do this at their own economic peril.
Clean DG providers like myself will take the next steps to force emissions free power creation.
Step One is to get as efficient as possible. As a result, our solar powered homes will push ever more, cheap, clean power onto the grid. Hopefully after step one, the utilities will wake up and realize that the growing DG grid is becoming more and more of a force in their overall production.
If the utilities choose to continue to fight technology, in the interest of keeping their fossil fuel sector going, Step Two will kick in.
Step Two is, existing solar adopters will initiate solar plus storage with energy management load balancers. Solar plus storage plus on-site load balancers will protect us from unfair Demand Charges imposed on us by rigid backwards thinking utilities. This is simple, inevitable technology growth
Solar installers will benefit as they can help integrate these systems.
Once Step Two begins to take hold in mass, the utility has another decision point. They will have to ask themselves two questions. Do I keep these highly efficient, near invisible energy users of my grid and clean energy providers on my grid? Or do I double down against them in my inaccurate and unfair demonizing of them, as some kind of made up problem?
If the utilities choose to accept our presence on the grid as a clean part of their portfolio, allowing them to begin to ratchet back their dependence on fossil fuel sources, specifically coal, than all Arizonan's win, including the utilities.
If the utilities decide to continue their old school model and insistence on burning coal for power at the expense of all of us, then we will have no choice. We will be forced to drop off their grid, taking with us our clean power, the revenue we still do provide to the utility and all we contribute to the overall clean DG power delivery system.
This will not hurt us and in the long run, it will not hurt the utilities, as their demand will begin to decrease sharply and their portfolio will shift again.
The people who will feel hurt are the people inside the utilities, whose model insist on ever increasing demand, for ever increasing profits at the expense of the consumer. These people will suffer significantly as their model has changed. The ground has shifted under them. Their consumer has spoken. Should they continue to decide to turn deaf ears during every step of this technological transition, they will force themselves and their parent companies into an early and messy demise. If that happens, We the People will be more than happy to take over, transition them to true municipalities that are responsive to the customer and quick on their feet when technology advances.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Neanderthals in a Truck
Posted under the category of, Tailgated Again by Neanderthals in a Truck
I'm driving from Phoenix to Gilbert, Arizona this morning in our Nissan LEAF. I'm headed south on 101 going with the flow of traffic at about 70 or so in the commute lane.
I look into my rear view mirror and what do I see? The grill of an older pick up truck filling my mirror indicating a special closeness to the rear of my car.
I speed up to 75 and the truck catches up and gets closer. Up to 80, same thing only closer. Now we’re at 85 and we’re closer yet. Now he’s flashing his headlights and high beams, like I'm going to pull over, because you know, 85 is just too slow.
That's when I decide I'm foolishly facilitating stupidity because of my own stubbornness and ego.
I slow down to 65. Now this idiot is practically on top of my rear bumper at 65 mph. Right around the transition to 202 San Tan, he finally breaks off and crosses all lanes of traffic to exit the freeway.
He nicely gives me the single finger salute before almost driving right into the freeway exit sign because he's looking at me.
Genius.
I reflect.
What is it that sets these mindless morons off that they would put me, themselves and everyone around us, in significant physical danger? How do they go from presumably just driving to work at 7:00AM, to literally picking a fight with other random vehicles at high speed on the freeway?
How does a mind work, or not work that causes them to flip off a total stranger for simply driving down the freeway?
A car that looks different, that has a YGETGAS license plate driving in the commute lane... legally?
How is it that this has happened to me so many times?
How are so many people so stuck on stupid? Are they so brainwashed by the fossil fuel industry that any option other than gas is an affront to them?
Do they ever consider their undying support of gas as a propulsion system for their ancient technology vehicles is providing direct support to oil rich nations that seek the destruction of America?
Clearly not.
Do they ever consider that by purchasing gas over their entire lifetimes that they are directly funding both sides of the war on terror?
Clearly not.
I'm starting to think the Model X may not be the option for us I was hoping it would be, (just kidding, that’s the electric vehicle that’s perfect for us if we can afford it someday).
But if I had the money, I'm starting to think a giant all electric pickup truck with ELECTRIC POWERED plastered all over the side would be the way to go to help people understand electrics are not threatening to their tender sensibilities.
Maybe I could add signage that says, DRIVING ELECTRIC USES DOMESTICALLY PRODUCED, NON-POLLUTING FUEL.
Perhaps, DRIVING ELECTRIC STARVES OIL NATIONS WHO HATE US would work.
Maybe, DRIVING ELECTRIC IS THE MOST PATRIOTIC THING YOU CAN DO would break through.
Do you think any of those statements would get the point across?
If I had that spare money, I'd build a big electric truck starting today, maybe with ALL those messages on it.
Of course our Neanderthal friends would find even those statements somehow offensive, as it doesn't fit into the "gas guzzling ditto's Rush" crowds broken ideologies.
It’s all gas all the time or something is wrong in their minds.
How sad.
The upside? In 50 years, we’ll all be gone and our kids and grandkids will be wondering what we were thinking when we used highly toxic, dangerously flammable, ridiculously polluting liquid fuels to get ourselves around.
I'm driving from Phoenix to Gilbert, Arizona this morning in our Nissan LEAF. I'm headed south on 101 going with the flow of traffic at about 70 or so in the commute lane.
I look into my rear view mirror and what do I see? The grill of an older pick up truck filling my mirror indicating a special closeness to the rear of my car.
I speed up to 75 and the truck catches up and gets closer. Up to 80, same thing only closer. Now we’re at 85 and we’re closer yet. Now he’s flashing his headlights and high beams, like I'm going to pull over, because you know, 85 is just too slow.
That's when I decide I'm foolishly facilitating stupidity because of my own stubbornness and ego.
I slow down to 65. Now this idiot is practically on top of my rear bumper at 65 mph. Right around the transition to 202 San Tan, he finally breaks off and crosses all lanes of traffic to exit the freeway.
He nicely gives me the single finger salute before almost driving right into the freeway exit sign because he's looking at me.
Genius.
I reflect.
What is it that sets these mindless morons off that they would put me, themselves and everyone around us, in significant physical danger? How do they go from presumably just driving to work at 7:00AM, to literally picking a fight with other random vehicles at high speed on the freeway?
How does a mind work, or not work that causes them to flip off a total stranger for simply driving down the freeway?
A car that looks different, that has a YGETGAS license plate driving in the commute lane... legally?
How is it that this has happened to me so many times?
How are so many people so stuck on stupid? Are they so brainwashed by the fossil fuel industry that any option other than gas is an affront to them?
Do they ever consider their undying support of gas as a propulsion system for their ancient technology vehicles is providing direct support to oil rich nations that seek the destruction of America?
Clearly not.
Do they ever consider that by purchasing gas over their entire lifetimes that they are directly funding both sides of the war on terror?
Clearly not.
I'm starting to think the Model X may not be the option for us I was hoping it would be, (just kidding, that’s the electric vehicle that’s perfect for us if we can afford it someday).
But if I had the money, I'm starting to think a giant all electric pickup truck with ELECTRIC POWERED plastered all over the side would be the way to go to help people understand electrics are not threatening to their tender sensibilities.
Maybe I could add signage that says, DRIVING ELECTRIC USES DOMESTICALLY PRODUCED, NON-POLLUTING FUEL.
Perhaps, DRIVING ELECTRIC STARVES OIL NATIONS WHO HATE US would work.
Maybe, DRIVING ELECTRIC IS THE MOST PATRIOTIC THING YOU CAN DO would break through.
Do you think any of those statements would get the point across?
If I had that spare money, I'd build a big electric truck starting today, maybe with ALL those messages on it.
Of course our Neanderthal friends would find even those statements somehow offensive, as it doesn't fit into the "gas guzzling ditto's Rush" crowds broken ideologies.
It’s all gas all the time or something is wrong in their minds.
How sad.
The upside? In 50 years, we’ll all be gone and our kids and grandkids will be wondering what we were thinking when we used highly toxic, dangerously flammable, ridiculously polluting liquid fuels to get ourselves around.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
The Earthquake Under the Feet of the Fossil Fuel Industry
The ground continues to shift under the feet of the fossil fuel industry with the U.S. / China deal having a massive impact.
What the fossil fuel people have refused to consider for over a century is, people have used their products in the past for percieved convenience, in spite of the cost and the obvious pollution.
Now that the Chinese people are experiancing some of the highest rates of cancer of all types in the world, and are virtually not able to breathe thanks to over reliance on coal power, they are past starting to wake up to the dangers of fossil fuels as an energy source.
Combine that with their ability to process scientific data in regards to climate change, and their openess to act when presented with the opportunity to do so, by a phenomincal leader like President Obama, results in initiating a drastic change in energy policy. This becomes a sudden reality the fossil fuel industry finds they are unable to control.
The fossil fuel business is so used to being the only game in town that they don’t know how to compete. Worse yet for them, clearly they are loosing their ability to fool people through advertizing, that their technology is anything but old, dirty, dangerours and unmarketable to the truly informed consumer.
This is the second leg of the stool the fossil fuel monster has counted on that is collapsing under them, the consumer leg, the government leg being the first.
When the informed consumer unites with the worlds largest governments to leave the fossil fuel paridigm by adopting solar, energy efficiency and electric vehicles, the monster goes into high gear to buttress the first leg.
Attempting to strengthen the ever present, historically powerful first leg involves the outright purchasing of politicians to suppress competition. These overt actions are a futile attempt to prop up fossil fuels declining market share.
That will only work, with limited results, for a little while longer, as more and more people suffer at the hands of mass polluters.
Consider Nebraska’s rejection of the KXL pipeline and West Virginia’s recent victory against Peabody's (MTR) Mountain Top Removal coal mining.
These are both extremely conservative red states, who are waking up to the environmental havoc and destruction the fossil fuel beast has imposed on them for so long.
It turns out West Virginian's, who are desperately poor in many cases, and have lived off the land for hundreds of years, don't like seeing their entire ecosystems, that they have literally relied on to support their families, blown off the face of the earth by big coal.
Nor do Nebraskan's have any desire to see one of the nations largest and most pristine water tables subjected to oil spills from a pipeline that will surely leak. A spill from KXL would permanently destroy drinking water for a massive section of the United States mid-west and western states.
Now we are seeing the degredation of the third leg the fossil fuel industry that has been used to wield it’s dominance world wide, the finnancial leg.
When finannce figures out the fossil fuel industry represents the physical destruction of the earth, and they have as detailed in the link below, it’s just a matter of time before the monster falls.
Along with all of the fossil fuel industries challenges, they now find themselves in a battle against former allies.
With Saudi Arabia's recent decision to continue production at current rates, in spite of the price per barrel impact, shale and tar sands oil producers in the U.S. are now in the fight of their lives.
With current prices at 68.00 a barrel and dropping and 80.00 a barrel being the minimum price required for profitability in the mining of shale and tar sands, the Saudi's have initiated what they obviously feel is a production / price war shale and tar sands cannot win.
I'm sure oil commodity brokers see what's going on and are looking very seriously at Citi's Global Commodities reports.
Last year it was Barkley's warning investors about over exposure in the fossil fuels business.
This article is too good to just provide a snippet. I highly recommend reading the entire post.
http://bit.ly/1rXx8nX
What the fossil fuel people have refused to consider for over a century is, people have used their products in the past for percieved convenience, in spite of the cost and the obvious pollution.
Now that the Chinese people are experiancing some of the highest rates of cancer of all types in the world, and are virtually not able to breathe thanks to over reliance on coal power, they are past starting to wake up to the dangers of fossil fuels as an energy source.
Combine that with their ability to process scientific data in regards to climate change, and their openess to act when presented with the opportunity to do so, by a phenomincal leader like President Obama, results in initiating a drastic change in energy policy. This becomes a sudden reality the fossil fuel industry finds they are unable to control.
The fossil fuel business is so used to being the only game in town that they don’t know how to compete. Worse yet for them, clearly they are loosing their ability to fool people through advertizing, that their technology is anything but old, dirty, dangerours and unmarketable to the truly informed consumer.
This is the second leg of the stool the fossil fuel monster has counted on that is collapsing under them, the consumer leg, the government leg being the first.
When the informed consumer unites with the worlds largest governments to leave the fossil fuel paridigm by adopting solar, energy efficiency and electric vehicles, the monster goes into high gear to buttress the first leg.
Attempting to strengthen the ever present, historically powerful first leg involves the outright purchasing of politicians to suppress competition. These overt actions are a futile attempt to prop up fossil fuels declining market share.
That will only work, with limited results, for a little while longer, as more and more people suffer at the hands of mass polluters.
Consider Nebraska’s rejection of the KXL pipeline and West Virginia’s recent victory against Peabody's (MTR) Mountain Top Removal coal mining.
These are both extremely conservative red states, who are waking up to the environmental havoc and destruction the fossil fuel beast has imposed on them for so long.
It turns out West Virginian's, who are desperately poor in many cases, and have lived off the land for hundreds of years, don't like seeing their entire ecosystems, that they have literally relied on to support their families, blown off the face of the earth by big coal.
Nor do Nebraskan's have any desire to see one of the nations largest and most pristine water tables subjected to oil spills from a pipeline that will surely leak. A spill from KXL would permanently destroy drinking water for a massive section of the United States mid-west and western states.
Now we are seeing the degredation of the third leg the fossil fuel industry that has been used to wield it’s dominance world wide, the finnancial leg.
When finannce figures out the fossil fuel industry represents the physical destruction of the earth, and they have as detailed in the link below, it’s just a matter of time before the monster falls.
Along with all of the fossil fuel industries challenges, they now find themselves in a battle against former allies.
With Saudi Arabia's recent decision to continue production at current rates, in spite of the price per barrel impact, shale and tar sands oil producers in the U.S. are now in the fight of their lives.
With current prices at 68.00 a barrel and dropping and 80.00 a barrel being the minimum price required for profitability in the mining of shale and tar sands, the Saudi's have initiated what they obviously feel is a production / price war shale and tar sands cannot win.
I'm sure oil commodity brokers see what's going on and are looking very seriously at Citi's Global Commodities reports.
Last year it was Barkley's warning investors about over exposure in the fossil fuels business.
This article is too good to just provide a snippet. I highly recommend reading the entire post.
http://bit.ly/1rXx8nX
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
The Never Ending Battle Against Enemies of the Social Safety Net
Social Security is NOT going broke!
Social Security has a surplus of 2.76 trillion dollars and can pay out benefits to all eligible Americans until 2033.
Passing legislation that I wrote, which would lift the cap on taxable income above 250,000.00, would extend Social Security solvency for 47 years. And that is exactly what we MUST do!
- Senator Bernie Sanders ( I-VT)
I have several observations to share on this but before I start I have to say this.
My Father was a wonderful, loving man, but like all of us, he was complicated and in retrospect, not right about a number of things. I suspect my kids will say the same of me when I'm gone and that is fine as I'm human, far more human than my Dad ever was.
That said, being raised by a republican man who had a very low opinion of FDR, it was drilled into me at an early age that Social Security was a pyrimid scheme that would never be there for him when he retired. It would especially not be there for me as the pyramid would collapse around itself due to it's wishful thinking design.
So that’s the meme conservatives started since the inception of Social Security in 1935, 79 years ago!
To repeat, that simple but now proven false meme, has carried the day in conservative republican circles for nearly 80 years in spite of literally millions of lives being saved and millions more kept out of abject poverty in their retirement years.
Let that fact sink in for a minute.
Now consider what it takes to debunk that simple, devastating falsehood, to try to get people to understand the importance of this program and the non-stop threat it has been under by republicans across generations since 1935.
This false meme, forwarded as "enlightened thought" came in spite of my Dad actually witnessing old people dying, literally from poverty, during the 3rd great depression starting in 1929. The first being in the 1780’s, and the second in the 1850’s.
In my development as a man, many times I heard this meme repeated over and over again, “Social Security will never be there when I retire”.
I heard it as a child, then watched while my Dad received his social security checks on a regular basis with no problems.
We all heard from Ronald Reagan how Social Security was going broke, then watched as payroll withholding was increased to cover the future of the program. These increases were projected at the establishment of social security but great fanfare was made by the republicans when they actually just did what was projected as the responsible thing to do in the ongoing management of the program.
How long did Social Security last for my Dad?
21 years and he never a missed check! He retired at 58 and passed away just short of his 86th birthday. He collected his first Social Security check at age 65.
So my Dad worked for 40 years and collected Social Security for 21 years. That’s wonderful and great for him. He was blessed with a long healthy life. The system he predicted would never be there for him, was there, consistantly and solidly as it was designed to.
My Mom just turned 90. She's still collecting a percentage of my Dad's Social Security 9 years later. So make that 30 years of payouts to my parents without a glitch.
Here's the really sad thing. Every time she votes, she votes republican all the way down the ticket. If they have an (R) behind their name, that's all she needs to know. And yet, she literally has FDR (D) to thank for the check she gets automatically deposited into her checking account every month. My mind can hardly process this as I write it.
So in the 1980's republicans carried the torch for FDR's enemies but ultimately gave in and administered the program the way they were supposed to. In the 1990's, I still had it embedded in my consciousness that I would never see a dime of social security. All the way into the early 2000's I bought into this made up myth, propogated by descendants of FDR's enemies.
Then I started to realize I had not seen the predicted collapse of the system in the '70's, '80's, 90's or 2000's.
I started to wonder, with forty years of evidence in front of me to the contrary, the enemies of social security were still spewing their venom about its demise... and yet social security was starting to look like a real possibility, even for me! Imagine that.
That's when I finally looked into the details. I may be a bit slow but even I’m able to see when something is working decades beyond when it’s critics predicted it’s downfall.
I ran across Thom Hartmann's brilliant analysis of the 80 year war on everything FDR worked and fought for, simply because FDR thought of it and they didn’t.
Sound familiar?
Yes, this nonsensical partisanship has tormented us for a lot longer than most people imagine.
I started to listen to Bernie Sanders, a Congressman at the time, that the program was fully funded but was being undermined by an inexplicable cap on income.
I learned that those with incomes above 100,000.00 of yearly income actually didn't pay a dime into social security beyond this crazy cap!
Really?
A cap?
Why?
The people who can most afford it, are somehow given a pass beyond a certain income level while the rest of us pay on our entire incomes?
So the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, Bill Gates and many others pay their “fair share” into social security in the first few minutes of their earning year, then pay nothing for the next 364 days because, what? They can’t afford it? Are you kidding me?
Who came up with this and why? Well it was actually built into the system from the start to limit the introduction of volatility. The risk of that volatility disapeared decades ago, hence the ever increasing cap to cover the cost of managing payouts.
Since I learned all this, I go way beyond where even Senator Sanders is.
I say eliminate the cap! Completely!
If you make a billion dollars or even millions, you can handle the 7%, or 14% if you’re self employed. I say, if you make that much, it's your patriotic duty to build and grow this program for everyone in the pool. So what if you won't get out of it what you put into it. You'll get to sleep better at night knowing you still have your billions, while your tens of millions goes to help older Americans live comfortably in their retirement years. And if you’re so greedy that the thougt of that bothers you, I actually find myself feeling sorry for you and your inexplicable levels of greed.
Let's talk about why is Social Security not a pyramid scheme. I thought this through and the answer came to me clear as day.
When my Dad retired he was considered solidly middle class. What was that in the early '70's? 20,000.00 That's right, 20 grand. Now go back and figure out what his contribution to the system was over his working life with his income being somewhere around a dollar an hour in 1938 and 10.00 an hour in 1978. . Did he put into the system what he got out of it over his 21 year retirement? No way and the creators of the system knew he would never be able to.
Now let's look at one more very important fact. One generation later when I retired what was I making? Nearly 5 times what my Dad made. Was I rich? Not by a long shot. I did well but I lived in the Silicon Valley in a 1,240 sq. ft. home. Middle class like my parents but my contributions, along with all in my economic strata, were contributing at a far higher rate than my parents did. That is just great in my view as I feel quite privileged to have done so.
So that's the dirty little secret the FDR haters never want you do know. The program is not funded exclusively by the recipients. They put some money in and it earns interest exponentially beyond what a personal retirement plan would due to the sheer size of the pot.
The real secret is the new workforce contibuting to the pool plays a much more significant role that continually builds and grows the system.
In a healthy democracy, every generation does a little better, simply due to the way western economies with progressive tax codes grow.
Ironically, where the whole thing can come under tremendous stress is when the super wealthy suppress wages, especially the way they have in the last 20 – 30 years.
Even with wage suppression, removal of the cap, or increasing it significantly like Senator Sanders proposes, fixes things for a long time.
Remove the cap altogether and it's fixed permanently in my opinion.
What's it going to take for everyone to wake up the way I did?
I don't know.
Are they going to have to see another great depression with elder Americans dying in the cold and in the streets like they were in the 1930's, to bring people back to reality and revolt against the oligarchs that have taken over our democracy?
I sure hope not….
Social Security has a surplus of 2.76 trillion dollars and can pay out benefits to all eligible Americans until 2033.
Passing legislation that I wrote, which would lift the cap on taxable income above 250,000.00, would extend Social Security solvency for 47 years. And that is exactly what we MUST do!
- Senator Bernie Sanders ( I-VT)
I have several observations to share on this but before I start I have to say this.
My Father was a wonderful, loving man, but like all of us, he was complicated and in retrospect, not right about a number of things. I suspect my kids will say the same of me when I'm gone and that is fine as I'm human, far more human than my Dad ever was.
That said, being raised by a republican man who had a very low opinion of FDR, it was drilled into me at an early age that Social Security was a pyrimid scheme that would never be there for him when he retired. It would especially not be there for me as the pyramid would collapse around itself due to it's wishful thinking design.
So that’s the meme conservatives started since the inception of Social Security in 1935, 79 years ago!
To repeat, that simple but now proven false meme, has carried the day in conservative republican circles for nearly 80 years in spite of literally millions of lives being saved and millions more kept out of abject poverty in their retirement years.
Let that fact sink in for a minute.
Now consider what it takes to debunk that simple, devastating falsehood, to try to get people to understand the importance of this program and the non-stop threat it has been under by republicans across generations since 1935.
This false meme, forwarded as "enlightened thought" came in spite of my Dad actually witnessing old people dying, literally from poverty, during the 3rd great depression starting in 1929. The first being in the 1780’s, and the second in the 1850’s.
In my development as a man, many times I heard this meme repeated over and over again, “Social Security will never be there when I retire”.
I heard it as a child, then watched while my Dad received his social security checks on a regular basis with no problems.
We all heard from Ronald Reagan how Social Security was going broke, then watched as payroll withholding was increased to cover the future of the program. These increases were projected at the establishment of social security but great fanfare was made by the republicans when they actually just did what was projected as the responsible thing to do in the ongoing management of the program.
How long did Social Security last for my Dad?
21 years and he never a missed check! He retired at 58 and passed away just short of his 86th birthday. He collected his first Social Security check at age 65.
So my Dad worked for 40 years and collected Social Security for 21 years. That’s wonderful and great for him. He was blessed with a long healthy life. The system he predicted would never be there for him, was there, consistantly and solidly as it was designed to.
My Mom just turned 90. She's still collecting a percentage of my Dad's Social Security 9 years later. So make that 30 years of payouts to my parents without a glitch.
Here's the really sad thing. Every time she votes, she votes republican all the way down the ticket. If they have an (R) behind their name, that's all she needs to know. And yet, she literally has FDR (D) to thank for the check she gets automatically deposited into her checking account every month. My mind can hardly process this as I write it.
So in the 1980's republicans carried the torch for FDR's enemies but ultimately gave in and administered the program the way they were supposed to. In the 1990's, I still had it embedded in my consciousness that I would never see a dime of social security. All the way into the early 2000's I bought into this made up myth, propogated by descendants of FDR's enemies.
Then I started to realize I had not seen the predicted collapse of the system in the '70's, '80's, 90's or 2000's.
I started to wonder, with forty years of evidence in front of me to the contrary, the enemies of social security were still spewing their venom about its demise... and yet social security was starting to look like a real possibility, even for me! Imagine that.
That's when I finally looked into the details. I may be a bit slow but even I’m able to see when something is working decades beyond when it’s critics predicted it’s downfall.
I ran across Thom Hartmann's brilliant analysis of the 80 year war on everything FDR worked and fought for, simply because FDR thought of it and they didn’t.
Sound familiar?
Yes, this nonsensical partisanship has tormented us for a lot longer than most people imagine.
I started to listen to Bernie Sanders, a Congressman at the time, that the program was fully funded but was being undermined by an inexplicable cap on income.
I learned that those with incomes above 100,000.00 of yearly income actually didn't pay a dime into social security beyond this crazy cap!
Really?
A cap?
Why?
The people who can most afford it, are somehow given a pass beyond a certain income level while the rest of us pay on our entire incomes?
So the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, Bill Gates and many others pay their “fair share” into social security in the first few minutes of their earning year, then pay nothing for the next 364 days because, what? They can’t afford it? Are you kidding me?
Who came up with this and why? Well it was actually built into the system from the start to limit the introduction of volatility. The risk of that volatility disapeared decades ago, hence the ever increasing cap to cover the cost of managing payouts.
Since I learned all this, I go way beyond where even Senator Sanders is.
I say eliminate the cap! Completely!
If you make a billion dollars or even millions, you can handle the 7%, or 14% if you’re self employed. I say, if you make that much, it's your patriotic duty to build and grow this program for everyone in the pool. So what if you won't get out of it what you put into it. You'll get to sleep better at night knowing you still have your billions, while your tens of millions goes to help older Americans live comfortably in their retirement years. And if you’re so greedy that the thougt of that bothers you, I actually find myself feeling sorry for you and your inexplicable levels of greed.
Let's talk about why is Social Security not a pyramid scheme. I thought this through and the answer came to me clear as day.
When my Dad retired he was considered solidly middle class. What was that in the early '70's? 20,000.00 That's right, 20 grand. Now go back and figure out what his contribution to the system was over his working life with his income being somewhere around a dollar an hour in 1938 and 10.00 an hour in 1978. . Did he put into the system what he got out of it over his 21 year retirement? No way and the creators of the system knew he would never be able to.
Now let's look at one more very important fact. One generation later when I retired what was I making? Nearly 5 times what my Dad made. Was I rich? Not by a long shot. I did well but I lived in the Silicon Valley in a 1,240 sq. ft. home. Middle class like my parents but my contributions, along with all in my economic strata, were contributing at a far higher rate than my parents did. That is just great in my view as I feel quite privileged to have done so.
So that's the dirty little secret the FDR haters never want you do know. The program is not funded exclusively by the recipients. They put some money in and it earns interest exponentially beyond what a personal retirement plan would due to the sheer size of the pot.
The real secret is the new workforce contibuting to the pool plays a much more significant role that continually builds and grows the system.
In a healthy democracy, every generation does a little better, simply due to the way western economies with progressive tax codes grow.
Ironically, where the whole thing can come under tremendous stress is when the super wealthy suppress wages, especially the way they have in the last 20 – 30 years.
Even with wage suppression, removal of the cap, or increasing it significantly like Senator Sanders proposes, fixes things for a long time.
Remove the cap altogether and it's fixed permanently in my opinion.
What's it going to take for everyone to wake up the way I did?
I don't know.
Are they going to have to see another great depression with elder Americans dying in the cold and in the streets like they were in the 1930's, to bring people back to reality and revolt against the oligarchs that have taken over our democracy?
I sure hope not….
Thursday, March 13, 2014
How to Manipulate Corrupt Governments to Restrict Competition
To preface this post, many if not most things that happen around us, happen in the realm of politics. I have heard from several people recently of their weariness regarding politics and I completely understand that. The petty, corrupt nature of what goes on in the world of politics wears on peoples souls and causes many to just conclude, it’s not worth it, and walk away from involvement at any level or reduced levels at a best. The problem with that is, that is exactly the intent of the petty and the corrupt.
When good people decide they have had enough and they turn away in disgust, the people perpetrating the wrongs on society through their bad actions are left that much more free to do so. Hence, it is important to acknowledge one’s weariness, then put that weariness aside and engage the bad actors. It is critical in that engagement to send a loud message that we as citizens have had enough!
With that premise set, New Jersey just joined Arizona and Texas to ban non-dealership car sales in their states. The laws in all three states were written by the car dealership associations and given to state legislators in these states to dutifully sign. Arizona was first, Texas next and now New Jersey with other states considering these restrictive laws in their states. While these laws may not have been specifically aimed at an American car company, Tesla Motors, (in most recent cases, they are), the net effect impacts Tesla’s ability to compete fairly in these markets.
Tesla manufactures their award winning, highly recognized, technologically advanced Model S sedans in Fremont, California. They employ American workers and are committed to continuing to do so with a new 5 billion dollar battery factory in one of four western states currently under consideration.
Keep in mind, this will not stop sales of Tesla’s in these states. It will only make it more difficult for Tesla to compete in what is supposed to be an open, free market environment. The car dealership associations have no interest in an open free market and have demonstrated their ability to influence corrupt politicians in stacking the deck against Tesla and anyone else who would dare to sell their personal transportation products on-line.
Following this logic, one could imagine computer and electronics manufacturers who sell on line having laws written against them, effectively banning sales through anyone other than a local store. The same could just as easily apply for books and music. I would think Apple, Amazon, Yahoo and others might have something to say about that. Perhaps Tesla should approach Apple to consider a partnership. I’d love to see the car dealership groups take on Apple.
My question is, how can these blatantly non competitive, seemingly illegal practices be allowed in 2014?
This is the uncomfortable politics part. Republicans and Libertarians, stay with me while I review a bit of history. I would submit this all started when President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980's announced he was no longer going to enforce the Sherman Anti-trust Act. The result of ignoring this legislation resulted in the wholesale destruction of the family farm by the rapid development of what has become a massive infrastructure of modern Agri-business monopolies.
The destruction of Sherman, introduced in 1890 to combat Standard Oil and the Robber Barons of the 19th century also resulted in the devastation of small business all across America over the last three decades. Just look at any small town main street to see what I’m talking about. Your can get your building supplies, as long as you want to shop at Lowes or Home Depot. The same is true with groceries. Most stores are owned by giant distribution businesses that come under the umbrella of one or two companies. Look at what Wal-Mart has done to local businesses in every community they have entered. The same applies regarding where you buy your gas, there are basically five oil companies on earth controlling all oil and gas distribution. The examples go on and on. If you don’t agree with this summation, that is fine, it’s just my opinion demonstrating how this trend toward monopolies controlling willing politicians is comfortably dangerous to free markets. That’s my only point here.
Regulations implemented in years past as a result of terrible abuses by super wealthy “businessmen” had a purpose. Part of the purpose of these controls was to de-couple the influence monopolist felt, and clearly still feel, they have a right to exercise in concert with elected officials to accomplish their unfair business practices. Instead of operating legitimately in the free market system, they simply get legislators to write laws making it difficult or impossible for their competition to operate. By demonizing regulations, those who want to act on behalf of those powerful forces who have influence over them feel free to remove the regulations. The net affect is, the monopolists come right back to more than willing legislators to do their bidding, at the expense of the consumer.
My hope is to coordinate with people of all political stripes to combat this illegal behavior and reinstitute rules of business that are both constitutional and fair to all who would legitimately participate in a truly free market.
This is a formal call to my Republican, Libertarian and Democratic affiliated friends to join me is raising our voices in opposition to these clearly corrupt actions, committed by dealership associations across the county, who have lined up against free markets as they should exist. I look forward to hearing from you.
When good people decide they have had enough and they turn away in disgust, the people perpetrating the wrongs on society through their bad actions are left that much more free to do so. Hence, it is important to acknowledge one’s weariness, then put that weariness aside and engage the bad actors. It is critical in that engagement to send a loud message that we as citizens have had enough!
With that premise set, New Jersey just joined Arizona and Texas to ban non-dealership car sales in their states. The laws in all three states were written by the car dealership associations and given to state legislators in these states to dutifully sign. Arizona was first, Texas next and now New Jersey with other states considering these restrictive laws in their states. While these laws may not have been specifically aimed at an American car company, Tesla Motors, (in most recent cases, they are), the net effect impacts Tesla’s ability to compete fairly in these markets.
Tesla manufactures their award winning, highly recognized, technologically advanced Model S sedans in Fremont, California. They employ American workers and are committed to continuing to do so with a new 5 billion dollar battery factory in one of four western states currently under consideration.
Keep in mind, this will not stop sales of Tesla’s in these states. It will only make it more difficult for Tesla to compete in what is supposed to be an open, free market environment. The car dealership associations have no interest in an open free market and have demonstrated their ability to influence corrupt politicians in stacking the deck against Tesla and anyone else who would dare to sell their personal transportation products on-line.
Following this logic, one could imagine computer and electronics manufacturers who sell on line having laws written against them, effectively banning sales through anyone other than a local store. The same could just as easily apply for books and music. I would think Apple, Amazon, Yahoo and others might have something to say about that. Perhaps Tesla should approach Apple to consider a partnership. I’d love to see the car dealership groups take on Apple.
My question is, how can these blatantly non competitive, seemingly illegal practices be allowed in 2014?
This is the uncomfortable politics part. Republicans and Libertarians, stay with me while I review a bit of history. I would submit this all started when President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980's announced he was no longer going to enforce the Sherman Anti-trust Act. The result of ignoring this legislation resulted in the wholesale destruction of the family farm by the rapid development of what has become a massive infrastructure of modern Agri-business monopolies.
The destruction of Sherman, introduced in 1890 to combat Standard Oil and the Robber Barons of the 19th century also resulted in the devastation of small business all across America over the last three decades. Just look at any small town main street to see what I’m talking about. Your can get your building supplies, as long as you want to shop at Lowes or Home Depot. The same is true with groceries. Most stores are owned by giant distribution businesses that come under the umbrella of one or two companies. Look at what Wal-Mart has done to local businesses in every community they have entered. The same applies regarding where you buy your gas, there are basically five oil companies on earth controlling all oil and gas distribution. The examples go on and on. If you don’t agree with this summation, that is fine, it’s just my opinion demonstrating how this trend toward monopolies controlling willing politicians is comfortably dangerous to free markets. That’s my only point here.
Regulations implemented in years past as a result of terrible abuses by super wealthy “businessmen” had a purpose. Part of the purpose of these controls was to de-couple the influence monopolist felt, and clearly still feel, they have a right to exercise in concert with elected officials to accomplish their unfair business practices. Instead of operating legitimately in the free market system, they simply get legislators to write laws making it difficult or impossible for their competition to operate. By demonizing regulations, those who want to act on behalf of those powerful forces who have influence over them feel free to remove the regulations. The net affect is, the monopolists come right back to more than willing legislators to do their bidding, at the expense of the consumer.
My hope is to coordinate with people of all political stripes to combat this illegal behavior and reinstitute rules of business that are both constitutional and fair to all who would legitimately participate in a truly free market.
This is a formal call to my Republican, Libertarian and Democratic affiliated friends to join me is raising our voices in opposition to these clearly corrupt actions, committed by dealership associations across the county, who have lined up against free markets as they should exist. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Big Oil's Feet of Clay
I had a vision last night after learning of yet another burst tar sands pipeline, this time in Texas. That’s five major pipeline failures this week alone.
I was also reminded of the obscene profits and seemingly unchecked power multinational oil companies currently enjoy; Exxon/Mobil, 122 million dollars a day in profit. Imagine the corruption that is available when companies exceed the GDP of a majority of countries on earth.
Before going to bed I saw another photo of what the Canadian’s are doing to their pristine forest in Alberta just to mine tar sands. I have seen these visuals before and you can too. Just Google, Alberta Tar Sands. Let me prepare you, if it doesn’t make you physically sick, it will most likely give you nightmares. That’s what happened to me last night.
My vision goes something like this. There is a giant standing in the middle of a vast wasteland that was once pristine forest.
As I approached the giant, I noticed the feet and lower legs of the beast were a different, grayish color. Getting closer, I saw in this grey area what looked like millions of tiny moving creatures. When I was finally close enough to view what these creatures were, I was aghast when I recognized them as us! A billion little humans holding up this giant as it wreaked destruction to land, air and sea.
At the mid-point of this grey mass I saw people dying and falling off with new young people near the bottom being integrated into believing their new role as part of the massive grey foundation was critical to everyone's existence. Their participation was critical because of the "freedom" oil provided to everyone and all the wonderful jobs that were bestowed by this "benevolent giant".
These new additions to the massive grey feet drove huge SUV's and giant pickup trucks. They seemed to ignore the tiny voices crying out from the ground around the feet of the giant about the destruction they were a part of. They drove huge vehicles like Hummers, many times a single occupant per vehicle because somehow they were convinced that, to be able to do so was an exercise of their “freedoms”, instead of what it was, slavery to the oil giant and pollution to the earth and sky.
These new people were so blinded they refused to even acknowledge the poisonous air they were breathing, the dirty water all around them, and the diseases they were dying from.
So the destruction continued to all things living at the hands of the giant.
Then I saw something amazing. People who were once part of this giant were leaving the grey mass because they had suddenly become aware that, what they were a part of was evil. They came to understand there was a way to be free from their enslavement to the giant.
Parts of the feet of clay were starting to disappear.
The giant knew what was going on but was so convinced of its mass global, near universal influence that it just kept stomping on.
My vision flashed forward to a time that must have been a hundred years later with a view of a massive mountain range. I was flying above it, my body suspended just below the outer atmosphere of a stunning green planet. The shape of the mountain range seemed strange in its size and shape. As I flew along, it struck me how the mountain range did not have a natural shape like the normal spine like configuration of all the mountain ranges around it.
Suddenly, when I was far enough away, the shape became clear. The mountain range I was looking at with such curiosity was the beast! It had fallen face down with no legs below the knees with no grey mass where the legs and feet had once been. The shape was covered with trees and snow, with beautiful large lakes in its hollow's and rolling mist in its meadows.
The beast had fallen when its feet and lower legs disappeared and the earth had reclaimed it. The people lived in it, and around it, with clean air and water in its upper regions and vast low lying adjacent lands.
My vision was changing. I wanted to know more. Almost as if I could move by my will, I began to descend. After feeling my feet touch the earth, I approached the people and asked them what happened. They told me the story of how their ancestors had suddenly become aware of what they had been a part of and how they decided they would abandon their roles as pieces of the monster.
Along with committing to cease their involvement as the foundation and feet of this destructive force they discovered two distressing but ultimately enlightening things.
First, not only were they the feet and legs as they first thought but they also made up the entirety of the beast. Millions who did not just buy and use the products produced but also worked for and depended on the giant for their livings and sustenance. In the upper levels were complicit governments who worked at the direction of the beast and its vast wealth and power. Even at the top, the head, were the leaders who managed and directed feeding this all consuming force.
The monster was us, through and through, bottom to top.
Second, the monster could be toppled, one soul at a time. But the souls who mattered most were the masses in the feet. These were the hardest to convince as they just wanted to live their lives in as “normal” a fashion as possible. Life, after all was hard and oil, so it seemed, made everything so much more convenient as long as they could ignore all the devastation it wreaked on them and everyone around them.
We were all warned back in the late 1990’s they told me. We were warned about peak oil. We were told when the oil companies started claiming tar sands and oil shale was the answer to the claims of peak oil, that they had come very near to the end of cheap easily recoverable oil.
The monster had to dispel the reality of peak oil, or die. The people at the head of the beast knew that the reality of non-renewable resource recovery was upon them and they had to convince us all it was not really true.
They hid the destruction as long as they could before the word got out about what they were doing. The traditional reserves had hit their breaking point and the destruction of the earth to recover these unimaginable dirty forms of oil had now been transformed to the new normal. They didn’t even bother to contend that tar sands were far dirtier to process, took far more water and energy to produce and left exponentially more waste than any other form of oil recovery in history. They thought they could dangle the temptation of money and economic security to the world and continue to tell the world that we just could never do without oil, no matter how dirty it was to make, or how risky it was to transport.
It worked at first. Having been hit by the Great Recession, states and countries who had these substances within their borders, were eager to attract and encourage these companies to come to their districts and dig up their lands in the interest of economic security.
But the truth could not be hidden forever. Pipelines burst on a regular basis, unable to handle the extreme pressures needed to push the highly corrosive, asphalt like tar sands through without rupturing time and time again. Picture after picture of vast areas of unspoiled land poisoned by the toxic sludge kept flooding into the public consciousness and literally flooding into many people’s streams, rivers, lakes, streets and even their yards.
First a few, then hundreds, then thousands began to see there were technologies that did not require oil for transportation at all. Electric vehicles, many literally charged with solar panels, began to surface all around us. By early 2013, 75,000 plug-in vehicles had been sold in just two years since their re-introduction. It had taken Toyota nearly 5 years to reach the 50,000 unit level with hybrids when they had been introduced a decade earlier. Now nearly all the major car companies were producing or working on electric vehicle technologies.
The auto industry had changed. Before the great recession they were complicit with the oil companies in every way. But then came the crash. When the auto companies needed help from the beast the beast ignored them and left them to die. The tie that kept the beast alive was broken in the minds of the new car industry and it would never be the same again.
The more people talked to those who converted to electric over gas the more they were amazed to hear how many were not going to the gas station at all anymore. It started to hit people. Why am I going to the gas station once or twice a week spending thousands and thousands of dollars every year on gas, oil and maintenance when my electric vehicle counterparts are not shouldering those cost at all anymore? Plus, electric vehicle drivers don’t pollute at all. They couldn’t if they wanted to, they didn’t even have tailpipes! They actually owned cars that had a return on investment, a first in the auto industry.
The imaginations of the gas drivers started to look at the smog filled sky’s over their cities, with a hope that this possibly wasn’t a permanent condition after all. Their imaginations started to challenge them as the evidence began to present itself right in front of them every time they were passed on the freeway by a car that did not use gas. They started to question whether we just needed to live with poisons in the air from a billion cars and trucks producing emissions from burning gas. They started to wonder if so many needed to die in the cases of those who suffered from lung and heart diseases brought on and exacerbated by the poisonous air.
The final blows came as millions and millions turned to the disruptive clean technologies that would ultimately bring down the beast. Natural gas in large trucks, then eventually hydrogen, taking commercial transport completely off gas and oil for good. Solar powered High Speed Rail cutting short hop air travel to near zero levels. Air travel became what it was intended to be, long range flights of 1,500 to 12,000 miles and even that would be done with hydrogen powered aircraft. Hypersonic flight was now possible due to new fuels and technologies that did not pollute while super fast, clean aircraft cruised through the upper atmosphere.
But the beginning of a new era was birthed through the feet. The average person coming to understand that polluting transportation technologies were not only against their best environmental interest but also not in their best economic interest.
They saw that they had been fooled into thinking they were chained to the ever increasing cost of fuel, creating a constant stress on their personal finances. The sacrifice was so great and yet the super wealthy corporations who always demanded more from them had a never-ending lust for more of their hard earned dollars.
Worst of all, they came to realize this giant monster was directing the most powerful military on earth, through oil men in powerful political positions, to send their daughters and sons off to be maimed for life, or killed in wars waged on behalf of the oil monster. Massive escalating wars that served one purpose and one purpose alone, to keep the flow of the lifeblood of an industrialized society flowing unabated, oil.
It wasn’t until the wars paused long enough for people of every political stripe to realize that, had the countries their children were fighting in not had oil, the monster would not have cared on whit about, “threats to the region”.
The trillions of dollars spent on behalf of the monster, the lives changed and lost forever was all to feed the monsters veracious appetite. The monster could never tolerate talk of “the end of oil”. That was the monsters lifeblood that kept the cash flowing that it had to have in ever increasing quantities.
After the last Great War in the desert sands in the early 2000’s the monster had turned it’s attention to tearing up the earth in places where it knew it would only have to wage war on the earth itself, without use of a military. The monster had become somewhat self-aware that the injured and wounded knew why they had been in the desert and it had nothing to do with “protecting anyone’s freedoms”.
Veterans began to drive cars that used very little gas or no gas at all. They told their children to never again fight for any corporation and to always adamantly demand their government never commit its people to war on behalf of a business.
The children’s eyes were opened when they saw the destruction in their families and in the families of those far away in the desert. They saw that the people who were installed in place of a dictator had turned out just as bad or worse than the man their parents were sent to oust.
They saw the determination on their parent’s faces to be free from the blood and structure of the monster…… and the feet accelerated in their disintegration.
Before all the High Speed Rail, the hydrogen planes, the natural gas trucks, it was the millions and millions of people, who like tiny specs of sand, fell from the feet of the monster. It was the individuals who put solar on their homes, demanded and purchased electric cars and trucks by the millions, that brought the monster down.
The monster tried to fight back by cutting the price of oil to all time lows, but the people had seen this trick before and knew the inevitable rise would come once the monster became assured as many people were convinced of it’s inevitability as it took to keep it standing and stomping through the earth.
My vision was coming to a close now. As I reflected I came to understand the strength and determination of the people to never let this happen again.
They committed together that any future technology that came along would be closely scrutinized and evaluated. Careful analysis would be conducted to make sure that new technologies would never be adopted if they were determined to be destructive to the earth or to its occupants, no matter how great the creature comforts they would claim to afford.
Innovation and creativity was encouraged and supported, as long as new endeavors met the simple parameters of not being destructive to life and the lessons of the past were never forgotten.
I was also reminded of the obscene profits and seemingly unchecked power multinational oil companies currently enjoy; Exxon/Mobil, 122 million dollars a day in profit. Imagine the corruption that is available when companies exceed the GDP of a majority of countries on earth.
Before going to bed I saw another photo of what the Canadian’s are doing to their pristine forest in Alberta just to mine tar sands. I have seen these visuals before and you can too. Just Google, Alberta Tar Sands. Let me prepare you, if it doesn’t make you physically sick, it will most likely give you nightmares. That’s what happened to me last night.
My vision goes something like this. There is a giant standing in the middle of a vast wasteland that was once pristine forest.
As I approached the giant, I noticed the feet and lower legs of the beast were a different, grayish color. Getting closer, I saw in this grey area what looked like millions of tiny moving creatures. When I was finally close enough to view what these creatures were, I was aghast when I recognized them as us! A billion little humans holding up this giant as it wreaked destruction to land, air and sea.
At the mid-point of this grey mass I saw people dying and falling off with new young people near the bottom being integrated into believing their new role as part of the massive grey foundation was critical to everyone's existence. Their participation was critical because of the "freedom" oil provided to everyone and all the wonderful jobs that were bestowed by this "benevolent giant".
These new additions to the massive grey feet drove huge SUV's and giant pickup trucks. They seemed to ignore the tiny voices crying out from the ground around the feet of the giant about the destruction they were a part of. They drove huge vehicles like Hummers, many times a single occupant per vehicle because somehow they were convinced that, to be able to do so was an exercise of their “freedoms”, instead of what it was, slavery to the oil giant and pollution to the earth and sky.
These new people were so blinded they refused to even acknowledge the poisonous air they were breathing, the dirty water all around them, and the diseases they were dying from.
So the destruction continued to all things living at the hands of the giant.
Then I saw something amazing. People who were once part of this giant were leaving the grey mass because they had suddenly become aware that, what they were a part of was evil. They came to understand there was a way to be free from their enslavement to the giant.
Parts of the feet of clay were starting to disappear.
The giant knew what was going on but was so convinced of its mass global, near universal influence that it just kept stomping on.
My vision flashed forward to a time that must have been a hundred years later with a view of a massive mountain range. I was flying above it, my body suspended just below the outer atmosphere of a stunning green planet. The shape of the mountain range seemed strange in its size and shape. As I flew along, it struck me how the mountain range did not have a natural shape like the normal spine like configuration of all the mountain ranges around it.
Suddenly, when I was far enough away, the shape became clear. The mountain range I was looking at with such curiosity was the beast! It had fallen face down with no legs below the knees with no grey mass where the legs and feet had once been. The shape was covered with trees and snow, with beautiful large lakes in its hollow's and rolling mist in its meadows.
The beast had fallen when its feet and lower legs disappeared and the earth had reclaimed it. The people lived in it, and around it, with clean air and water in its upper regions and vast low lying adjacent lands.
My vision was changing. I wanted to know more. Almost as if I could move by my will, I began to descend. After feeling my feet touch the earth, I approached the people and asked them what happened. They told me the story of how their ancestors had suddenly become aware of what they had been a part of and how they decided they would abandon their roles as pieces of the monster.
Along with committing to cease their involvement as the foundation and feet of this destructive force they discovered two distressing but ultimately enlightening things.
First, not only were they the feet and legs as they first thought but they also made up the entirety of the beast. Millions who did not just buy and use the products produced but also worked for and depended on the giant for their livings and sustenance. In the upper levels were complicit governments who worked at the direction of the beast and its vast wealth and power. Even at the top, the head, were the leaders who managed and directed feeding this all consuming force.
The monster was us, through and through, bottom to top.
Second, the monster could be toppled, one soul at a time. But the souls who mattered most were the masses in the feet. These were the hardest to convince as they just wanted to live their lives in as “normal” a fashion as possible. Life, after all was hard and oil, so it seemed, made everything so much more convenient as long as they could ignore all the devastation it wreaked on them and everyone around them.
We were all warned back in the late 1990’s they told me. We were warned about peak oil. We were told when the oil companies started claiming tar sands and oil shale was the answer to the claims of peak oil, that they had come very near to the end of cheap easily recoverable oil.
The monster had to dispel the reality of peak oil, or die. The people at the head of the beast knew that the reality of non-renewable resource recovery was upon them and they had to convince us all it was not really true.
They hid the destruction as long as they could before the word got out about what they were doing. The traditional reserves had hit their breaking point and the destruction of the earth to recover these unimaginable dirty forms of oil had now been transformed to the new normal. They didn’t even bother to contend that tar sands were far dirtier to process, took far more water and energy to produce and left exponentially more waste than any other form of oil recovery in history. They thought they could dangle the temptation of money and economic security to the world and continue to tell the world that we just could never do without oil, no matter how dirty it was to make, or how risky it was to transport.
It worked at first. Having been hit by the Great Recession, states and countries who had these substances within their borders, were eager to attract and encourage these companies to come to their districts and dig up their lands in the interest of economic security.
But the truth could not be hidden forever. Pipelines burst on a regular basis, unable to handle the extreme pressures needed to push the highly corrosive, asphalt like tar sands through without rupturing time and time again. Picture after picture of vast areas of unspoiled land poisoned by the toxic sludge kept flooding into the public consciousness and literally flooding into many people’s streams, rivers, lakes, streets and even their yards.
First a few, then hundreds, then thousands began to see there were technologies that did not require oil for transportation at all. Electric vehicles, many literally charged with solar panels, began to surface all around us. By early 2013, 75,000 plug-in vehicles had been sold in just two years since their re-introduction. It had taken Toyota nearly 5 years to reach the 50,000 unit level with hybrids when they had been introduced a decade earlier. Now nearly all the major car companies were producing or working on electric vehicle technologies.
The auto industry had changed. Before the great recession they were complicit with the oil companies in every way. But then came the crash. When the auto companies needed help from the beast the beast ignored them and left them to die. The tie that kept the beast alive was broken in the minds of the new car industry and it would never be the same again.
The more people talked to those who converted to electric over gas the more they were amazed to hear how many were not going to the gas station at all anymore. It started to hit people. Why am I going to the gas station once or twice a week spending thousands and thousands of dollars every year on gas, oil and maintenance when my electric vehicle counterparts are not shouldering those cost at all anymore? Plus, electric vehicle drivers don’t pollute at all. They couldn’t if they wanted to, they didn’t even have tailpipes! They actually owned cars that had a return on investment, a first in the auto industry.
The imaginations of the gas drivers started to look at the smog filled sky’s over their cities, with a hope that this possibly wasn’t a permanent condition after all. Their imaginations started to challenge them as the evidence began to present itself right in front of them every time they were passed on the freeway by a car that did not use gas. They started to question whether we just needed to live with poisons in the air from a billion cars and trucks producing emissions from burning gas. They started to wonder if so many needed to die in the cases of those who suffered from lung and heart diseases brought on and exacerbated by the poisonous air.
The final blows came as millions and millions turned to the disruptive clean technologies that would ultimately bring down the beast. Natural gas in large trucks, then eventually hydrogen, taking commercial transport completely off gas and oil for good. Solar powered High Speed Rail cutting short hop air travel to near zero levels. Air travel became what it was intended to be, long range flights of 1,500 to 12,000 miles and even that would be done with hydrogen powered aircraft. Hypersonic flight was now possible due to new fuels and technologies that did not pollute while super fast, clean aircraft cruised through the upper atmosphere.
But the beginning of a new era was birthed through the feet. The average person coming to understand that polluting transportation technologies were not only against their best environmental interest but also not in their best economic interest.
They saw that they had been fooled into thinking they were chained to the ever increasing cost of fuel, creating a constant stress on their personal finances. The sacrifice was so great and yet the super wealthy corporations who always demanded more from them had a never-ending lust for more of their hard earned dollars.
Worst of all, they came to realize this giant monster was directing the most powerful military on earth, through oil men in powerful political positions, to send their daughters and sons off to be maimed for life, or killed in wars waged on behalf of the oil monster. Massive escalating wars that served one purpose and one purpose alone, to keep the flow of the lifeblood of an industrialized society flowing unabated, oil.
It wasn’t until the wars paused long enough for people of every political stripe to realize that, had the countries their children were fighting in not had oil, the monster would not have cared on whit about, “threats to the region”.
The trillions of dollars spent on behalf of the monster, the lives changed and lost forever was all to feed the monsters veracious appetite. The monster could never tolerate talk of “the end of oil”. That was the monsters lifeblood that kept the cash flowing that it had to have in ever increasing quantities.
After the last Great War in the desert sands in the early 2000’s the monster had turned it’s attention to tearing up the earth in places where it knew it would only have to wage war on the earth itself, without use of a military. The monster had become somewhat self-aware that the injured and wounded knew why they had been in the desert and it had nothing to do with “protecting anyone’s freedoms”.
Veterans began to drive cars that used very little gas or no gas at all. They told their children to never again fight for any corporation and to always adamantly demand their government never commit its people to war on behalf of a business.
The children’s eyes were opened when they saw the destruction in their families and in the families of those far away in the desert. They saw that the people who were installed in place of a dictator had turned out just as bad or worse than the man their parents were sent to oust.
They saw the determination on their parent’s faces to be free from the blood and structure of the monster…… and the feet accelerated in their disintegration.
Before all the High Speed Rail, the hydrogen planes, the natural gas trucks, it was the millions and millions of people, who like tiny specs of sand, fell from the feet of the monster. It was the individuals who put solar on their homes, demanded and purchased electric cars and trucks by the millions, that brought the monster down.
The monster tried to fight back by cutting the price of oil to all time lows, but the people had seen this trick before and knew the inevitable rise would come once the monster became assured as many people were convinced of it’s inevitability as it took to keep it standing and stomping through the earth.
My vision was coming to a close now. As I reflected I came to understand the strength and determination of the people to never let this happen again.
They committed together that any future technology that came along would be closely scrutinized and evaluated. Careful analysis would be conducted to make sure that new technologies would never be adopted if they were determined to be destructive to the earth or to its occupants, no matter how great the creature comforts they would claim to afford.
Innovation and creativity was encouraged and supported, as long as new endeavors met the simple parameters of not being destructive to life and the lessons of the past were never forgotten.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Hammering our Swords into Plowshares
Following is my proposal to Federal and State Governments to help mitigate post war job loss and avoid the inevitable economic impact of such losses as experienced in past years as a result of defense cuts.
Phase I
My proposal is we begin to transform our defense industry to design, develop and build modern infrastructure now and for future generations.
The rational is simple. Not only do we have the opportunity to literally transform and modernize America's infrastructure, we also have the chance for the first time in the last 100 years to avoid a drastic post war defense industry and aerospace reduction. These reductions always hit our economy hard as we have thousands upon thousands of Americans depending on military contractors for their living.
We have lived through many of these, bust and boom cycles. Each cycle seems to get more severe after each war and also drive us to a permanent state of war in the interest of making sure all our new surveillance, military hardware and killing machines work in real world applications. As we know, this is just the madness President Eisenhower warned us of regarding the self perpetuating and ever growing "military industrial complex".
We start with the obvious. Move military contractors to the design, development and production of the fastest most efficient high speed rail systems on earth. With all the existing technological and intellectual infrastructure already in place within our defense contractor base, there is no reason we ever have to buy high speed rail systems from France, Germany, Canada or China.
Would it not be far more advantages in helping to mitigate loss of defense jobs to instead fast track Boeing, Lockheed/Martin, Raytheon, Honeywell along with their extensive supply bases to develop and build HSR instead of Siemens, Bombardier, TGV, or CRH? We can do it all right here and right now and protect American workers at the same time.
Parallel Phase II
Electrification of all existing rail, including commercial, freight and non HSR passenger lines can be done in parallel with HSR development. The annual cost savings on diesel fuel alone would be in the billions of dollars and the savings in diesel emissions (some of the worst due to their heavy particulate) would be in the millions of tons annually.
As a National priority this program could be called the Weapons to Transportation Modernization Act of 2013.
It could take a long time to build a HSR network in the United States that would criss-cross our Nation, it all depends on our national will to do so. In the end, whether it took years or decades the positive effects would last for many generations. How satisfying it would be to picture our grandchildren riding clean, fast rail around our country with their kids and thinking back to those days in the early 2010's when their grandparents had the vision to facilitate travel on this amazing network. I can see in my mind, Seth and Avalyn with their kids, looking out the window of a train blazing across the great plains to where ever they are going while telling them stories about our Nations history and how visionary's of the past made wonderful things happen like the train they were riding on.
Blazing into history...
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
It's all About Intentions, Credibility and the Truth!
The media matters article, "Fox and Friends Deceptively Edits Obama's Comments on Small Business" by Remington Shepard shares the details of Fox's "selective editing".
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/07/16/fox-amp-friends-deceptively-edits-obamas-commen/187146
For anyone to give Fox News a single shred of credibility after their years of hack "reporting" continues to amaze me. The hatchet job Fox did Monday as detailed by Remington, resulted in an outright misrepresentation of the truth on President Obama's remarks on why small business, or anyone else for that matter, does not achieve success solely by themselves. This whole incident only confirms for me again that Fox watchers must be intentionally blinding themselves to the truth due to their extreme hatred for liberals and the President. This hatred is whipped up by years and years of rumors and outright falsehoods, presented by Fox to both shelter the bad behavior of the right, and constantly bash efforts of the left to make our country whole again after the disastrous Bush, Cheney, Rove debacle.
By the way, if you're going to hate a liberal, by proxy you hate me. Just for the record, if you are on the right, I do not hate you in any way. I'm completely confused by your apparent hateful, humorless, bitter, aggressive behavior but I do not hate you. To most accurately describe how I feel toward you would be to say, I miss you. I long for the days we can sit together and talk and debate and ultimately work together to solve our nation’s issues, but I do not hate you. I truly do wish we could talk. We should make it a priority to stop emulating the non-productive behavior of those in Washington who refuse to talk or work together unless or until they get their way regarding whatever policy is being discussed or regain the majority they aspire to. In my opinion their behavior is exactly why George Washington strongly warned against political parties in his farewell letter to a young nation of states. His main concerns were that people would become more allegiant to their political parties than they would be to their country. Look at us, it seems we have not heeded Washington’s advice and that is very sad. It’s time we take matters into our own hands and start talking more and shouting less.
The hatred many of us have observed has been fostered by years of people submitting themselves to the propaganda from Limbaugh, Beck, Savage, Gaffney, Fox and many others for decades. Remember Frank Gaffney? He's the one who accused the Obama administration of redesigning the missile defense program logo to claim that this new logo was smoking gun evidence of Barack Obama's submission to Sharia law. When he found out the logo was from the Bush administration, he quietly retracted his claim. Any guess how many right wing bloggers are still running with that bit of complete nonsense? Remember Michael Savage? He's the one who wrote a book titled, "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder", a title so off the scale offensive to both those who suffer from mental illness and to liberals, that it's only real enlightenment is to the right wings total disregard for civility and honest and open discourse. From the rights perspective, in America today, unless you agree with them you can't possibly be sane or American. Even your legitimacy as a person, who knows anything, or about what it takes to "understand America", as John Sununu stated earlier this week, plays into the dog whistle politics challenging the Presidents legitimacy and citizenship. This is the same John Sununu who was born in Havana, Cuba, the son of Victoria and John Saleh Sununu. He is of Palestinian and Greek descent. His father grew up in Jerusalem and his mother was born in San Salvador. No one, including me is challenging Sununu's right to an opinion or is questioning his citizenship. He is a citizen of the U.S. in spite of actually being born in a foreign country. John, on the other hand feels quite comfortable highlighting President Obama's "otherness" and excoriating the President for being born in Hawaii, (last I checked that was a State within the United States) and living abroad as a child. This is yet another amazing example of complete and total hypocrisy from someone who is a leader of the right and carries considerable baggage from his past position of political power himself.
As White House Chief of Staff, Sununu reportedly took personal trips, for skiing and other purposes, and classified them as official, for purposes such as conservation or promoting the Thousand Points of Light. The Washington Post wrote that Sununu's jets "took him to fat-cat Republican fund-raisers, ski lodges, golf resorts and even his dentist in Boston. Sununu had paid the government only $892 for his more than $615,000 worth of military jet travels. Sununu said that his use of the jets was necessary because he had to be near a telephone at all times for reasons of national security. Sununu worsened the situation shortly afterwards when, after leaking rumors of financial difficulties in his family, he traveled to a rare stamp auction at Christie's auction house in New York City from Washington in a government limousine, spending $5,000 on rare stamps. Sununu then sent the car and driver back to Washington unoccupied while he returned on a corporate jet. In the course of one week, 45 newspapers ran editorials on Sununu, nearly all of them critical of his actions.
Sununu repaid over $47,000 to the government for the flights on the orders of White House counsel C. Boyden Gray, with the help of the Republican Party. However, the reimbursements were at commercial rates, which are about one-tenth the cost of the actual flights; one ski trip to Vail, Colorado alone had cost taxpayers $86,330.
Now this very same man is held up as a representative of Governor Romney. We are expected to listen to him as if he were the paradigm of truth and justice. All I see is a bitter, hateful, hypocritical, divisive person who presents nothing positive in the political discourse.
I will say again as I have said many times before, my father very specifically warned me to keep a wary eye on someone once I discovered that person or institution had been exposed in a lie. This was especially this case when the discovered lie was intentional. Dad would say and I paraphrase, their tendency to continue to be a false source of information is high, and you should never trust anything else they say unless when presented with the truth they correct themselves. This is in keeping with who my father was, a man of grace.
For those of you who may feel compelled to come back at me with "everyone lies", keep it to yourself. I already know that oft used defense mechanism. It only serves to muddy the waters and cover the bad deeds being presented. Inaccuracies are out there, we all know that. I try to follow sources that when they state something that turns out to be wrong, they as quickly as possible take the time to, in detail, correct themselves. In the case of folks who get "over the top passionate" and say offensive things, I watch to see if they humbly and assuredly apologize for their misconduct and or misstatements. I believe I am following my father’s advice when I do this. It has served me well in determining who is really trying to make sure they present the facts as honestly as they can.
To reiterate, I am talking about intentional bold faced misrepresentations of what a person said, i.e., a group of Fox editors sitting in a room with the entire context of what the President said, and intentionally taking 30 or so words out of hundreds to willfully misrepresent what he said and then repeating it on national T.V.
My God, is it asking too much to acknowledge your source of information is corrupt?
Much to my embarrassment I admit that I was a Fox watcher for years, until 2004 right after the re-election of President Bush. The day after the election I turned Fox News on and much to my dismay there was just as much shouting and discontent as ever. I felt sick inside. They got their guy in office didn't they? What were they so unhappy about? Was there never a time that they would just lighten up and at least try to look like they were happy about something, anything?
The image of that day stuck with me for a long time. I stopped turning on Fox when I got home and immediately noticed a marked difference in my disposition. I wasn't up tight and full and angst all the time. My life was more peaceful. With the help of my lovely wife I started doing the research and found what I had already suspected for years, Fox had an agenda, and the truth be damned in their pursuit of it. I am so grateful to be free from that and the constant state of anxiety I felt. I let those professional agitators keep me locked into a permanent state of discontent.
Then one day I turned on the local news and there was this young man standing on a platform, positive and vibrant and talking about the injustice of job migration overseas as a result of corrupt tax and trade policies. I'll never forget that moment! I had turned the T.V. on and started to walk down the hall and was stopped in my tracks by this man’s words. I had lived and worked in manufacturing for 30 years at the time, and had experienced and seen the effects of outsourcing first hand for 25 of those years. I spun on my heels and ran to the living room and shouted to my wife, FINALLY! A politician who is defining the problem and showing the will to put forth and work on the solution!
My life changed that day when I saw Barack Obama for the first time. It has never been the same since as I have learned to listen to people and watch what they actually do after they have staked out their positions. I don't agree with every position Barack Obama takes but one thing occurred to me on this matter. If we are honest, there is no politician we agree with on 100% of the issues. In fact we may disagree on some pretty significant things, even core issues, but we are compelled to identify what a political leader represents in terms of what is best for America overall and move from there. I find this man to be honest and genuine and free from malice. He shows a real willingness to stay away from the politics of personal destruction. Does he highlight his opposition to his political opponents point of view and ask the electorate to make a decision based on the differences? Absolutely. That is as it should be. What I have seen to this point is a man who has an amazing ability to take the high road even in the midst of strongest political disagreements. That is what I consider to be a leader and that is the man I support to lead our Nation.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
America the Fickle - How a Flip-Flopping Electorate Constrains Progress - November 3, 2010
Political turmoil, and American citizens willingness to be at each others throats, reveals the now urgent need to draw the stark contrast between our grandparent's and parent's generations, and many of the offspring of those generations. I happen to be a member of that "offspring generation" who approaches things from a different perspective.
During the Great Depression President Roosevelt led the beginning of the building of modern America. In spite of tremendous hardship the generations of the Great Depression built:
- The Golden Gate Bridge
- Hoover Dam
- Most of the Canal System in the United States
- Most of our existing, electric power delivery system
- Trolley car systems in every major city, (later torn down as revealed in the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car”)
- The continuation and expansion of the New York, Chicago and Washington D.C. subway systems
- The first major city airports from coast to coast
- and a myriad other major undertakings by our Government, much of which we benefit from, to this day
All this happened during the hardest economic times our Country has seen in a hundred years, while the Great Depression was at it's peak.
How did they do this in the most challenging of times? The answer is, strong silent resolve. Gritty determination to pull together, and do whatever they could to get through impossible times, together. They did this with Government playing a major role as facilitator, encourager and implementer. Franklin Roosevelt led with a fearless determination, highlighted by his challenge during his first inaugural address that, "the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."
In stark contrast, many of the children of the Franklin Roosevelt generations live their lives in constant fear. As a result they build virtually nothing. They have no vision of the future, other than wanting to live by the original Constitution. The original Constitution, which does not allow women the right to own property, effectively blocking them from voting. The original Constitution which only counts three fifth's of blacks as people, and specifically in writing, did not allow American Indians rights of any kind, (Article I, Section II, Paragraph III).
These "original constitutionalist" are clearly able to be frightened by whatever talk show host they subject themselves to, on a daily basis, that feeds them a steady diet of untruths. "Obama's a Muslim, he’s a really bad Christian, he's not a citizen, he's a Marxist, Sharia law is taking over America, the new Black Panther's are coming to get you, (all two of them)". "Valerie Plame was just a secretary, Obama's spending 200 million dollars a day to go to India", and on and on and on. These gullible souls gulp these lies down like little birds, with their mouths open wide, eating worms from their mother’s beaks, all the while not realizing the relevance of who they are listening to. 400 million dollar Rush Limbaugh, 200 million dollar Sean Hannity and 40 million dollar Glenn Beck and many others. They never correlate the agenda's these wealthy people have, that work directly against their own best interest.
They whine about electric cars. When they call into Rush he has them programmed to greet him with, "gas guzzling ditto's Rush", without understanding or caring about the irresponsibility of such a comment. They rail on about the evils of clean power, high speed rail, infrastructure improvements and anything else that would get our Nation back on track, and help restore our National pride.
It seems to me the only time these people are proud is when they are building terrible weapons of war at the multitude of factories that make up our military industrial complex, (by far our largest social program in history). How sad that we have become so adept at killing on a mass scale in so many different ways.
To me, it is sad to see these folks in action, overwhelmed by fear, whipped into a frenzy over what they see as "threats to their freedoms". Most of the Tea Party people we see on T.V. are in their fifties, sixties and older. They claim they don't want big government, but they take advantage of our largest, Roosevelt created social programs, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. They are completely clueless regarding all the government facilities they use as a simple matter of living their lives. Things like airports, train stations, highways, mass transit systems (however old they may be), and sewage and water treatment plants, all built by the government.
Unemployment in 1929 was 23%. Ten years later in 1939 it was still a staggering 19%..... and yet the American public saw the importance of supporting a leader who represented new ideas to turn things around. They continued to elect President Roosevelt over and over again through it all, in spite of the extended pain of the Great Depression.
They knew he stood for them, and they were willing to give him the freedom and the time to fix things in whatever ways he could. Some of what he tried failed, so he discontinued programs that did not work, but much of what he introduced through the New Deal saved America, and continues on to this day.
That generation did not forget the disastrous effects of the Coolidge and Hoover administrations. That generation’s memories were fully functional. They knew it would take time to fix the mess they were in. As a result they did not let their immediate pains result in shortsightedness, which could have deteriorated into backbiting, discontent and ill advised change of direction.
Spring forward eighty years, America finds itself in another economic catastrophe as a result of policies from a previous administration. So we elect a new President, by a large majority in 2008, who has new ideas and who promises change.
He gets two major pieces of historic legislation passed in record time in spite of the obstructionist republicans, Health Care and Financial Reform. The stock market nearly doubles in under two years and many people see their 401k’s partially recover from the abyss of the 2008 crash as a result. There are 15 strait months of economic growth, but many Americans live in constant fear. Why? As a result of the crashing economy he was left with in 2009, including the 750,000 jobs a month that were being lost, unemployment was quickly rising towards double digits. He has since been able to arrest that free fall, and actually turn the job loss numbers into gains over the last nine months, but he has only moved unemployment down slightly since it's peak in January 2009.
Due to big business refusal to stop off shoring jobs in the middle of the Great Recession, and people who have been off the roles of job seekers re-entering the workforce as job growth starts, it has been challenging to move the actual percentages significantly.
In spite of these gains, many of those in the electorate live their lives watching Fox "News", whining about whatever they are told to whine about, and fearing whatever they are told to fear.
Somehow, we have gone from a bold fearless people, to a bunch of chicken little's. Many of us are now showing a shocking willingness to follow right wing pundits off the cliff of economic ruin. They are doing this by actually believing, that the crisis created by the right’s disastrous low tax and war without pay policies, is now to be fixed only by far right wing shock and awe austerity implementation. The insanity of this reasoning can only be explained by the total effectiveness of mass fear mongering.
As much as it pains me to draw this conclusion, America may need another Great Depression. We may need times to get so bad, due to Hooveristic austerity and Rand Paul Libertarianism, that we hit another all time, self imposed, economic disaster. We may need a crisis that makes us so desperately poor at the hands of the new, ultra rich, ultra powerful Robber Barons, that we find ourselves so busy working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week just to feed ourselves, that we finally learn, once and for all, the hard lessons we have not been willing to learn from a history that begs to teach us.
I am 55. Believe it or not, I have been known as eternally optimistic. When I travel, I see the progress other countries have made. High speed rail, that we built in Japan. More HSR in China, Germany, Spain, Italy and Taiwan to name just a few. Clean energy growing exponentially in China. Solar continuing to expand in Germany, Spain and Italy.
Today, two days after a disastrous, fear driven, mid-term 2010 election result, my eternal optimism has taken a blow. The Tea-Party folks showed up and carried the day. Many who supported Obama less than two short years ago could not find it within themselves to continue their support of a man they suppossedly were crazy about in late 2008. Somehow people's desire for instant gratification took over and they decided that when all wasn't made right in 20 months than it wasn't worth their time to heed the storm we all saw coming on the news every night. Now the storm is here, the Republicans are back in power ready to repeat what they did to us for nearly a decade. As a result, I am down, but only for a short while. I will bounce back by this afternoon.
My wife and I will be taking delivery of our Nissan LEAF all electric car in early 2011. We are truly thrilled about the prospect of being that much closer to freedom from oil.
We will continue to promote clean transportation and clean energy. We will do this in spite of the dirty, corrupt oil and energy giants that continually, and now in almost complete secrecy thanks to Citizens United, plot against us to destroy our health and our planet so they can make unfathomable amounts of money.
We refuse to have our hope crushed. We stand with our President, a good, honest and highly capable man. He is not perfect by any means, as we are not, but his intentions are to lead us out of a deep crisis, created by his opponents.
Whether we have economic prosperity, or economic ruin, it will not change us. We will not whine, we will not cry. We will lift up our fellow citizens with the message that hope is the light that will always eliminate darkness.
As our grandparents and parents learned, overcoming darkness during the Great Depression, and then during World War II, takes incredible sacrifice and determination. It takes consistent resolve, unity, strength of mind, body, soul and spirit.
Their sacrifices were unimaginable to most of us today. Their capacity to overcome hardship seems forgotten. They were not perfect, but in spite of their failings, we aspire to their greatness, to be victors in the tradition of Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt. We aspire to assist others in a vision of the future like Dr. King’s and Bobby Kennedy’s, to sharpen and hone the content of our individual and National character.
May our hope soar to heights far above our fears, so we too can leave a better world to our children and grandchildren.
Ken Muir
During the Great Depression President Roosevelt led the beginning of the building of modern America. In spite of tremendous hardship the generations of the Great Depression built:
- The Golden Gate Bridge
- Hoover Dam
- Most of the Canal System in the United States
- Most of our existing, electric power delivery system
- Trolley car systems in every major city, (later torn down as revealed in the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car”)
- The continuation and expansion of the New York, Chicago and Washington D.C. subway systems
- The first major city airports from coast to coast
- and a myriad other major undertakings by our Government, much of which we benefit from, to this day
All this happened during the hardest economic times our Country has seen in a hundred years, while the Great Depression was at it's peak.
How did they do this in the most challenging of times? The answer is, strong silent resolve. Gritty determination to pull together, and do whatever they could to get through impossible times, together. They did this with Government playing a major role as facilitator, encourager and implementer. Franklin Roosevelt led with a fearless determination, highlighted by his challenge during his first inaugural address that, "the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."
In stark contrast, many of the children of the Franklin Roosevelt generations live their lives in constant fear. As a result they build virtually nothing. They have no vision of the future, other than wanting to live by the original Constitution. The original Constitution, which does not allow women the right to own property, effectively blocking them from voting. The original Constitution which only counts three fifth's of blacks as people, and specifically in writing, did not allow American Indians rights of any kind, (Article I, Section II, Paragraph III).
These "original constitutionalist" are clearly able to be frightened by whatever talk show host they subject themselves to, on a daily basis, that feeds them a steady diet of untruths. "Obama's a Muslim, he’s a really bad Christian, he's not a citizen, he's a Marxist, Sharia law is taking over America, the new Black Panther's are coming to get you, (all two of them)". "Valerie Plame was just a secretary, Obama's spending 200 million dollars a day to go to India", and on and on and on. These gullible souls gulp these lies down like little birds, with their mouths open wide, eating worms from their mother’s beaks, all the while not realizing the relevance of who they are listening to. 400 million dollar Rush Limbaugh, 200 million dollar Sean Hannity and 40 million dollar Glenn Beck and many others. They never correlate the agenda's these wealthy people have, that work directly against their own best interest.
They whine about electric cars. When they call into Rush he has them programmed to greet him with, "gas guzzling ditto's Rush", without understanding or caring about the irresponsibility of such a comment. They rail on about the evils of clean power, high speed rail, infrastructure improvements and anything else that would get our Nation back on track, and help restore our National pride.
It seems to me the only time these people are proud is when they are building terrible weapons of war at the multitude of factories that make up our military industrial complex, (by far our largest social program in history). How sad that we have become so adept at killing on a mass scale in so many different ways.
To me, it is sad to see these folks in action, overwhelmed by fear, whipped into a frenzy over what they see as "threats to their freedoms". Most of the Tea Party people we see on T.V. are in their fifties, sixties and older. They claim they don't want big government, but they take advantage of our largest, Roosevelt created social programs, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. They are completely clueless regarding all the government facilities they use as a simple matter of living their lives. Things like airports, train stations, highways, mass transit systems (however old they may be), and sewage and water treatment plants, all built by the government.
Unemployment in 1929 was 23%. Ten years later in 1939 it was still a staggering 19%..... and yet the American public saw the importance of supporting a leader who represented new ideas to turn things around. They continued to elect President Roosevelt over and over again through it all, in spite of the extended pain of the Great Depression.
They knew he stood for them, and they were willing to give him the freedom and the time to fix things in whatever ways he could. Some of what he tried failed, so he discontinued programs that did not work, but much of what he introduced through the New Deal saved America, and continues on to this day.
That generation did not forget the disastrous effects of the Coolidge and Hoover administrations. That generation’s memories were fully functional. They knew it would take time to fix the mess they were in. As a result they did not let their immediate pains result in shortsightedness, which could have deteriorated into backbiting, discontent and ill advised change of direction.
Spring forward eighty years, America finds itself in another economic catastrophe as a result of policies from a previous administration. So we elect a new President, by a large majority in 2008, who has new ideas and who promises change.
He gets two major pieces of historic legislation passed in record time in spite of the obstructionist republicans, Health Care and Financial Reform. The stock market nearly doubles in under two years and many people see their 401k’s partially recover from the abyss of the 2008 crash as a result. There are 15 strait months of economic growth, but many Americans live in constant fear. Why? As a result of the crashing economy he was left with in 2009, including the 750,000 jobs a month that were being lost, unemployment was quickly rising towards double digits. He has since been able to arrest that free fall, and actually turn the job loss numbers into gains over the last nine months, but he has only moved unemployment down slightly since it's peak in January 2009.
Due to big business refusal to stop off shoring jobs in the middle of the Great Recession, and people who have been off the roles of job seekers re-entering the workforce as job growth starts, it has been challenging to move the actual percentages significantly.
In spite of these gains, many of those in the electorate live their lives watching Fox "News", whining about whatever they are told to whine about, and fearing whatever they are told to fear.
Somehow, we have gone from a bold fearless people, to a bunch of chicken little's. Many of us are now showing a shocking willingness to follow right wing pundits off the cliff of economic ruin. They are doing this by actually believing, that the crisis created by the right’s disastrous low tax and war without pay policies, is now to be fixed only by far right wing shock and awe austerity implementation. The insanity of this reasoning can only be explained by the total effectiveness of mass fear mongering.
As much as it pains me to draw this conclusion, America may need another Great Depression. We may need times to get so bad, due to Hooveristic austerity and Rand Paul Libertarianism, that we hit another all time, self imposed, economic disaster. We may need a crisis that makes us so desperately poor at the hands of the new, ultra rich, ultra powerful Robber Barons, that we find ourselves so busy working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week just to feed ourselves, that we finally learn, once and for all, the hard lessons we have not been willing to learn from a history that begs to teach us.
I am 55. Believe it or not, I have been known as eternally optimistic. When I travel, I see the progress other countries have made. High speed rail, that we built in Japan. More HSR in China, Germany, Spain, Italy and Taiwan to name just a few. Clean energy growing exponentially in China. Solar continuing to expand in Germany, Spain and Italy.
Today, two days after a disastrous, fear driven, mid-term 2010 election result, my eternal optimism has taken a blow. The Tea-Party folks showed up and carried the day. Many who supported Obama less than two short years ago could not find it within themselves to continue their support of a man they suppossedly were crazy about in late 2008. Somehow people's desire for instant gratification took over and they decided that when all wasn't made right in 20 months than it wasn't worth their time to heed the storm we all saw coming on the news every night. Now the storm is here, the Republicans are back in power ready to repeat what they did to us for nearly a decade. As a result, I am down, but only for a short while. I will bounce back by this afternoon.
My wife and I will be taking delivery of our Nissan LEAF all electric car in early 2011. We are truly thrilled about the prospect of being that much closer to freedom from oil.
We will continue to promote clean transportation and clean energy. We will do this in spite of the dirty, corrupt oil and energy giants that continually, and now in almost complete secrecy thanks to Citizens United, plot against us to destroy our health and our planet so they can make unfathomable amounts of money.
We refuse to have our hope crushed. We stand with our President, a good, honest and highly capable man. He is not perfect by any means, as we are not, but his intentions are to lead us out of a deep crisis, created by his opponents.
Whether we have economic prosperity, or economic ruin, it will not change us. We will not whine, we will not cry. We will lift up our fellow citizens with the message that hope is the light that will always eliminate darkness.
As our grandparents and parents learned, overcoming darkness during the Great Depression, and then during World War II, takes incredible sacrifice and determination. It takes consistent resolve, unity, strength of mind, body, soul and spirit.
Their sacrifices were unimaginable to most of us today. Their capacity to overcome hardship seems forgotten. They were not perfect, but in spite of their failings, we aspire to their greatness, to be victors in the tradition of Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt. We aspire to assist others in a vision of the future like Dr. King’s and Bobby Kennedy’s, to sharpen and hone the content of our individual and National character.
May our hope soar to heights far above our fears, so we too can leave a better world to our children and grandchildren.
Ken Muir
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Gulf Oil Disaster Blame Game - Time to Look in the Mirror
The APEX News Network on-line posted a short article titled, “Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill 2010 – Sparks Debates on Energy Production”.
http://apexnewsnetwork.com/2824/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-2010-sparks-debates-on-energy-production/
At the beginning of the article was a comment regarding politicians "driving gas guzzling SUV’s or traveling in private jets" while promoting clean energy. This seems to me to be the first of two key points in this article. It not only highlights politicians hypocrisy but as you will read later, it points to ours as well.
The second key point states that "As American politicians bicker about the proper policies, American citizens will continue to hope and pray for a solution that solves our country’s energy problems and protects our environment as well."
These two comments bring us to the apex of the problems we face. Hypocrisy versus hopes and prayers are in direct opposition to each other and doom all of us to repeating a never ending cycle of drilling, refining, burning and polluting indefinitely.
Hopes are good and it is healthy for us to all have a hopeful vision of the future. As a person of faith I believe prayer is never a bad thing either, but hope and prayer on their own without aggressive action relegate us to the dusty closet of sameness. For those familiar with the Christian faith the prime example is the lives of the disciples. They had more hope than most and I am sure they prayed a lot but they gave their entire lives in devotion to the actions necessary to spread the Gospel at the behest of the One they loved.
When we step back and objectively observe what is going on in modern times, the responsibility for the tragic events we are now witnessing in the Gulf of Mexico does not ultimately rest with a broken political system. Most of us know that system is corrupt, and in the end will never turn against the big money interest that keep its’ wholly owned politicians in power.
Waiting for a broken political system to fix things like oil spill disasters is like a solar manufacturing company counting on government subsidies to make solar technology profitable. That is madness in the real world of business and competition. Government policies constantly change between the blowing winds of populism and lobbyist manipulation. The solar industry found this to be painfully true when Germany and Spain reversed their generous solar subsidy programs at the beginning of the great recession. The industry has been trying to recover with varied results ever since. Solar does make sense as it's clean and limitless. Big coal and oil receive massive on-going, seemingly permanent subsidies in spite of the billions and billions of dollars in profits they make. For now solar does need subsidies but long term it must and should stand on its own.
When you really drill down on who is ultimately responsible for oil as the dominating, focal commodity in our world we must get brutally honest.
The responsibility to end our indefinite dependence on oil resides wholly with us, the consuming public. What is needed is not only a sea change in our thinking but a complete reversal of actions we have taken and continue to take, day after day for nearly a hundred years now.
Of course these mind sets and behavioral changes will never be easy as we are fighting trillion dollar multi-national corporations, but…. these corporations desperately need two things, money and millions, even billions of consumers to provide that steady flow of cash that keeps their record profits and polluting practices in constant motion.
That’s where we come in. We can change our minds and as a result there are actions we can take that when multiplied millions of times over can have a real positive impact on reducing our dependence on oil.
We have a bumper sticker our 15 year old Toyota Avalon that says, “My Next Car, No Plug, No Deal”. That bumper sticker has been there for years. Our Avalon has over 200,000 miles on it. It passes smog every time and still gets 30 miles per gallon because we faithfully and meticulously maintain it. Our ultimate goal is to pressure the auto companies to move away from their 100 year old internal combustion engine technology.
We are dead serious about not buying another car unless it is significantly cleaner than our existing one. The closer to zero emissions it is and the less oil it uses, the better.
Late last year we purchased a hybrid that is rated a Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle, (SULEV). Yes they really do have that designation. It exists to encourage people to think about what we drive and how we pollute. We plan to convert this car to a plug-in hybrid as soon as we can afford it, bringing it even closer to no gas and no emissions.
We are taking personal responsibility to eliminate old dirty polluting technologies from our lives overall. In March we installed solar panels on our home, (yes we did take advantage of government incentives while they are still available) and in December we are taking delivery of our Nissan LEAF all electric vehicle that we will someday charge with power directly from the sun.
It occurred to me after 9/11 just how personally responsible I was as a direct major contributor to the OPEC nations. I’m talking quite literally here. I sat down and started to add up just how much of my hard earned money goes into the pockets of people and nations who hate America. I was stunned to discover that if I lived an average lifespan, at least100,000.00 of my money was going to the Hugo Chavez’s’ and King Saud’s of the world.
Using every method I could think of I determined that’s a pretty accurate number and maybe even quite a bit lower than the actual amount.
Here’s the real stunner, multiply that by hundreds of millions of my fellow Americans and in our lifetimes the amount of wealth we directly transfer out of our Nation with our use of oil is beyond 23 trillion dollars.
Now I ask you, what businessman of any persuasion, honest or otherwise would not aggressively pursue that market?
So my next question is somewhat rhetorical. Whose fault is it really when the extraction of oil pollutes our planet?
Walk into your bathroom like I have and take a good long hard look into the mirror or better yet, look at yourself in your side view mirror the next time you are filling your car up with gas. Then turn around and walk or drive away with a commitment to do something about it. If we don’t, all of our descendants are going to have to.
Those who need big trucks can plan to replace them with hybrids, or natural gas burners. It doesn’t have to happen instantaneously but your mind can change and start to plan for a better future now. There is nothing wrong with using a more efficient or as some call it a “bridge fuel” vehicle until a more advanced technology comes along.
Most people don’t realize that diesel engine locomotives are actually giant hybrids that are not propelled by their diesel engines but instead by huge electric axle motors. The diesel engines are only there as weighs to keep the trains wheels from spinning when pulling incredible loads and as electricity generators. Train designers discovered a long time ago that you could not build a diesel engine big enough to fit in a locomotive that could pull a heavy train. They did find out electric motors have maximum torque at 1 rpm and up. If you don’t believe me, look it up. You will be as amazed as I was. This technology has been out there for 60 years. Do you really doubt that with American inventiveness we cannot do similar things for long haul truckers and people who need and prefer large format vehicles?
There are tons of exciting technologies out there today, like the 30 ton container hauler that the port of Los Angeles has been using for years. It’s all electric! Check it out.
http://www.portoflosangeles.org/newsroom/2008_releases/news_051608_et.asp
There is Smith Electrics producing electric trucks of all sizes. FedEx and UPS are already embracing these technologies. Not only do they reduce their pollution output, it just makes economic sense to try to lower their fuel cost as much as possible.
http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com/
I strongly encourage you not to be negative about these technologies. I have heard all the arguments. They don’t have enough range, they look like golf carts, they take forever to charge and on and on. Ranges are improving and electric cars and trucks are starting to hit the market that look every bit as good, if not better than their ICE counterparts. Don’t be fooled by the myth EV’s are underpowered and slow. Look at Tesla with their roadster hitting 60 miles per hour off the line in under 4 seconds? People who have driven the Nissan LEAF are always commenting on the quickness and power of the car. Rapid charging as quick as 10 minutes is becoming a reality. Battery swapping technologies are now out of the bag as evidenced by Project Better Places’ building of Israel’s’ nation wide battery swap infrastructure for the new Renault / Nissan cars coming out in 2011 and beyond. Israel gets it. Being dependant on the Middle East for oil simply does not make sense.
In spite of all the new technologies I still hear the detractors. Why? What happened to Americans saying we are going to swim against the tide and do what’s in our best interest? Why can’t we be inventors and innovators and builders again? You know the answer to that question and it is, absolutely we can!
Remember, in our time off after work in the evenings, we have been watching Auto Company and oil conglomerates marketing campaigns every few minutes for our entire lifetimes! Do you honestly think that has not biased you in any way? Please be honest with yourself. When it hits you like it did me, the freedom you experience from coming to know there is a better way is quite transformative.
One plus hundreds of millions can have an incredible impact. Let’s get serious and get this done. I don’t want our kids and grandkids to have to deal with a polluted Gulf or a polluted earth. I am going to follow my Fathers instructions to me when I was a kid. He used to say, “Kenny, when you use something, clean up after yourself and leave it better then you found it.” Good advise Dad, I’m going to do just that.
http://apexnewsnetwork.com/2824/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-2010-sparks-debates-on-energy-production/
At the beginning of the article was a comment regarding politicians "driving gas guzzling SUV’s or traveling in private jets" while promoting clean energy. This seems to me to be the first of two key points in this article. It not only highlights politicians hypocrisy but as you will read later, it points to ours as well.
The second key point states that "As American politicians bicker about the proper policies, American citizens will continue to hope and pray for a solution that solves our country’s energy problems and protects our environment as well."
These two comments bring us to the apex of the problems we face. Hypocrisy versus hopes and prayers are in direct opposition to each other and doom all of us to repeating a never ending cycle of drilling, refining, burning and polluting indefinitely.
Hopes are good and it is healthy for us to all have a hopeful vision of the future. As a person of faith I believe prayer is never a bad thing either, but hope and prayer on their own without aggressive action relegate us to the dusty closet of sameness. For those familiar with the Christian faith the prime example is the lives of the disciples. They had more hope than most and I am sure they prayed a lot but they gave their entire lives in devotion to the actions necessary to spread the Gospel at the behest of the One they loved.
When we step back and objectively observe what is going on in modern times, the responsibility for the tragic events we are now witnessing in the Gulf of Mexico does not ultimately rest with a broken political system. Most of us know that system is corrupt, and in the end will never turn against the big money interest that keep its’ wholly owned politicians in power.
Waiting for a broken political system to fix things like oil spill disasters is like a solar manufacturing company counting on government subsidies to make solar technology profitable. That is madness in the real world of business and competition. Government policies constantly change between the blowing winds of populism and lobbyist manipulation. The solar industry found this to be painfully true when Germany and Spain reversed their generous solar subsidy programs at the beginning of the great recession. The industry has been trying to recover with varied results ever since. Solar does make sense as it's clean and limitless. Big coal and oil receive massive on-going, seemingly permanent subsidies in spite of the billions and billions of dollars in profits they make. For now solar does need subsidies but long term it must and should stand on its own.
When you really drill down on who is ultimately responsible for oil as the dominating, focal commodity in our world we must get brutally honest.
The responsibility to end our indefinite dependence on oil resides wholly with us, the consuming public. What is needed is not only a sea change in our thinking but a complete reversal of actions we have taken and continue to take, day after day for nearly a hundred years now.
Of course these mind sets and behavioral changes will never be easy as we are fighting trillion dollar multi-national corporations, but…. these corporations desperately need two things, money and millions, even billions of consumers to provide that steady flow of cash that keeps their record profits and polluting practices in constant motion.
That’s where we come in. We can change our minds and as a result there are actions we can take that when multiplied millions of times over can have a real positive impact on reducing our dependence on oil.
We have a bumper sticker our 15 year old Toyota Avalon that says, “My Next Car, No Plug, No Deal”. That bumper sticker has been there for years. Our Avalon has over 200,000 miles on it. It passes smog every time and still gets 30 miles per gallon because we faithfully and meticulously maintain it. Our ultimate goal is to pressure the auto companies to move away from their 100 year old internal combustion engine technology.
We are dead serious about not buying another car unless it is significantly cleaner than our existing one. The closer to zero emissions it is and the less oil it uses, the better.
Late last year we purchased a hybrid that is rated a Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle, (SULEV). Yes they really do have that designation. It exists to encourage people to think about what we drive and how we pollute. We plan to convert this car to a plug-in hybrid as soon as we can afford it, bringing it even closer to no gas and no emissions.
We are taking personal responsibility to eliminate old dirty polluting technologies from our lives overall. In March we installed solar panels on our home, (yes we did take advantage of government incentives while they are still available) and in December we are taking delivery of our Nissan LEAF all electric vehicle that we will someday charge with power directly from the sun.
It occurred to me after 9/11 just how personally responsible I was as a direct major contributor to the OPEC nations. I’m talking quite literally here. I sat down and started to add up just how much of my hard earned money goes into the pockets of people and nations who hate America. I was stunned to discover that if I lived an average lifespan, at least100,000.00 of my money was going to the Hugo Chavez’s’ and King Saud’s of the world.
Using every method I could think of I determined that’s a pretty accurate number and maybe even quite a bit lower than the actual amount.
Here’s the real stunner, multiply that by hundreds of millions of my fellow Americans and in our lifetimes the amount of wealth we directly transfer out of our Nation with our use of oil is beyond 23 trillion dollars.
Now I ask you, what businessman of any persuasion, honest or otherwise would not aggressively pursue that market?
So my next question is somewhat rhetorical. Whose fault is it really when the extraction of oil pollutes our planet?
Walk into your bathroom like I have and take a good long hard look into the mirror or better yet, look at yourself in your side view mirror the next time you are filling your car up with gas. Then turn around and walk or drive away with a commitment to do something about it. If we don’t, all of our descendants are going to have to.
Those who need big trucks can plan to replace them with hybrids, or natural gas burners. It doesn’t have to happen instantaneously but your mind can change and start to plan for a better future now. There is nothing wrong with using a more efficient or as some call it a “bridge fuel” vehicle until a more advanced technology comes along.
Most people don’t realize that diesel engine locomotives are actually giant hybrids that are not propelled by their diesel engines but instead by huge electric axle motors. The diesel engines are only there as weighs to keep the trains wheels from spinning when pulling incredible loads and as electricity generators. Train designers discovered a long time ago that you could not build a diesel engine big enough to fit in a locomotive that could pull a heavy train. They did find out electric motors have maximum torque at 1 rpm and up. If you don’t believe me, look it up. You will be as amazed as I was. This technology has been out there for 60 years. Do you really doubt that with American inventiveness we cannot do similar things for long haul truckers and people who need and prefer large format vehicles?
There are tons of exciting technologies out there today, like the 30 ton container hauler that the port of Los Angeles has been using for years. It’s all electric! Check it out.
http://www.portoflosangeles.org/newsroom/2008_releases/news_051608_et.asp
There is Smith Electrics producing electric trucks of all sizes. FedEx and UPS are already embracing these technologies. Not only do they reduce their pollution output, it just makes economic sense to try to lower their fuel cost as much as possible.
http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com/
I strongly encourage you not to be negative about these technologies. I have heard all the arguments. They don’t have enough range, they look like golf carts, they take forever to charge and on and on. Ranges are improving and electric cars and trucks are starting to hit the market that look every bit as good, if not better than their ICE counterparts. Don’t be fooled by the myth EV’s are underpowered and slow. Look at Tesla with their roadster hitting 60 miles per hour off the line in under 4 seconds? People who have driven the Nissan LEAF are always commenting on the quickness and power of the car. Rapid charging as quick as 10 minutes is becoming a reality. Battery swapping technologies are now out of the bag as evidenced by Project Better Places’ building of Israel’s’ nation wide battery swap infrastructure for the new Renault / Nissan cars coming out in 2011 and beyond. Israel gets it. Being dependant on the Middle East for oil simply does not make sense.
In spite of all the new technologies I still hear the detractors. Why? What happened to Americans saying we are going to swim against the tide and do what’s in our best interest? Why can’t we be inventors and innovators and builders again? You know the answer to that question and it is, absolutely we can!
Remember, in our time off after work in the evenings, we have been watching Auto Company and oil conglomerates marketing campaigns every few minutes for our entire lifetimes! Do you honestly think that has not biased you in any way? Please be honest with yourself. When it hits you like it did me, the freedom you experience from coming to know there is a better way is quite transformative.
One plus hundreds of millions can have an incredible impact. Let’s get serious and get this done. I don’t want our kids and grandkids to have to deal with a polluted Gulf or a polluted earth. I am going to follow my Fathers instructions to me when I was a kid. He used to say, “Kenny, when you use something, clean up after yourself and leave it better then you found it.” Good advise Dad, I’m going to do just that.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
High Speed Rail - Moving Quietly into the Future
Rod Diridon is a legend and visionary who has inspired me to work to get High Speed Rail in California done. Rod came to my place of employment recently to show his remarkable presentation on the California High Speed Rail system. This is the second time I have seen Rod give this presentation. What strikes me the most is just how far behind America is in relation to the clean transportation sector. Whether it is electrifying our current rail system, producing electric vehicles or implementing High Speed Rail, especially in one of our most populist states, we are followers instead of leaders.
Some Americans seem to love to run around bragging to everyone how we live in the “greatest Country in the world” but it’s usually these same braggadocios who insist on holding us back into the dark ages of coal and oil as our main sources of power and transportation.
I am in Taiwan now on business working with two suppliers whose facilities are 100 - 200 meters from Taiwan's HSR. Do you know what you hear when they go by at 300 km/h /186 mph? Nothing if you are inside the building and whoosh, if you’re standing out front. That's it! Whoosh! No blaring diesel horns, no ding, ding, ding of road crossing barriers, no violent shaking of the earth like what happens when Caltrains goes by, just a whoosh.
All of California's High Speed Rail system will be what's called "grade separated". That means the trains will not cause cross traffic to stop ever again! The trains will either go over or under all intersections. Brilliant! The only place they will stop is in beautiful new stations.
http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/
In addition, the existing rail corridor on the peninsula will accommodate both HSR and a "converted to all electric" Caltrain. Imagine that, complete elimination of the existing pollution bellowing behemoths Caltrain currently operates, to the nearly silent version, and High Speed Rail running along side of it in the same corridor.
There is one big problem though. The same people who stopped BART from coming down the peninsula 40 years ago are once again fighting to stop HSR. The difference now is that they aren’t only depriving the millions of people of San Francisco and the South Bay from using clean rapid transit, they are now using their weapons of backwardness and ignorance to keep the entire State of California from building a clean energy, clean transportation future. They are the only ones in the entire State taking legal action to stop High Speed Rail operating between two of Northern California's biggest cities, San Francisco and San Jose.
These cities are Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto. My understanding is the majority of the folks living in these cities are for HSR and the Caltrain conversion, but there are a few very wealthy, very powerful, visionless, backward thinking people pulling out all the stops to ruin moving into the future for everyone in California.
Outside of complete and total disregard for their fellow Bay Area residents they steadfastly insist on keeping a noisy, dirty, diesel, inefficient, road blocking system in place. Why? All I can think of is, sheer ignorance and/or selfishness beyond imagination.
The new system will be cleaner, quieter, faster and more efficient. It will facilitate business growth in the Bay Area at levels not seen in 20 years. It will drastically reduce another one of the dirtiest forms of transportation, short hop air travel. It will reduce traffic on 101 and 280 running up and down the peninsula as well as far less traffic on Interstates 5 and 99.
When going to Southern California what appeals to you more, fighting the airports or the roadways or smoothly riding along High Speed Rail while visiting with your friends or family, reading a book or newspaper and getting to your destination in far less time than it takes to drive and even less time than it takes to fly when taking into consideration getting in and out of two airports.
So here is the challenge. Flood the cities of Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto with letters and emails. Show up at their City Council meetings and make them answer these questions. Demand that they give us real answers for their stubbornness so the light of day can be fully shinned on their darker more selfish motives.
Being the eternal optimist, I know in my heart High Speed Rail in California will not be stopped. Not this time. This is too important to turn back the clock and watch the rest of the world continue to speed ahead without us. It’s time we lead again. It’s time we show that we are still capable of innovating and building and making things better for future generations.
Some Americans seem to love to run around bragging to everyone how we live in the “greatest Country in the world” but it’s usually these same braggadocios who insist on holding us back into the dark ages of coal and oil as our main sources of power and transportation.
I am in Taiwan now on business working with two suppliers whose facilities are 100 - 200 meters from Taiwan's HSR. Do you know what you hear when they go by at 300 km/h /186 mph? Nothing if you are inside the building and whoosh, if you’re standing out front. That's it! Whoosh! No blaring diesel horns, no ding, ding, ding of road crossing barriers, no violent shaking of the earth like what happens when Caltrains goes by, just a whoosh.
All of California's High Speed Rail system will be what's called "grade separated". That means the trains will not cause cross traffic to stop ever again! The trains will either go over or under all intersections. Brilliant! The only place they will stop is in beautiful new stations.
http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/
In addition, the existing rail corridor on the peninsula will accommodate both HSR and a "converted to all electric" Caltrain. Imagine that, complete elimination of the existing pollution bellowing behemoths Caltrain currently operates, to the nearly silent version, and High Speed Rail running along side of it in the same corridor.
There is one big problem though. The same people who stopped BART from coming down the peninsula 40 years ago are once again fighting to stop HSR. The difference now is that they aren’t only depriving the millions of people of San Francisco and the South Bay from using clean rapid transit, they are now using their weapons of backwardness and ignorance to keep the entire State of California from building a clean energy, clean transportation future. They are the only ones in the entire State taking legal action to stop High Speed Rail operating between two of Northern California's biggest cities, San Francisco and San Jose.
These cities are Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto. My understanding is the majority of the folks living in these cities are for HSR and the Caltrain conversion, but there are a few very wealthy, very powerful, visionless, backward thinking people pulling out all the stops to ruin moving into the future for everyone in California.
Outside of complete and total disregard for their fellow Bay Area residents they steadfastly insist on keeping a noisy, dirty, diesel, inefficient, road blocking system in place. Why? All I can think of is, sheer ignorance and/or selfishness beyond imagination.
The new system will be cleaner, quieter, faster and more efficient. It will facilitate business growth in the Bay Area at levels not seen in 20 years. It will drastically reduce another one of the dirtiest forms of transportation, short hop air travel. It will reduce traffic on 101 and 280 running up and down the peninsula as well as far less traffic on Interstates 5 and 99.
When going to Southern California what appeals to you more, fighting the airports or the roadways or smoothly riding along High Speed Rail while visiting with your friends or family, reading a book or newspaper and getting to your destination in far less time than it takes to drive and even less time than it takes to fly when taking into consideration getting in and out of two airports.
So here is the challenge. Flood the cities of Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto with letters and emails. Show up at their City Council meetings and make them answer these questions. Demand that they give us real answers for their stubbornness so the light of day can be fully shinned on their darker more selfish motives.
Being the eternal optimist, I know in my heart High Speed Rail in California will not be stopped. Not this time. This is too important to turn back the clock and watch the rest of the world continue to speed ahead without us. It’s time we lead again. It’s time we show that we are still capable of innovating and building and making things better for future generations.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Feeding our Enemies - Ending the Madness
Feeding our Enemies – Ending the Madness
Kenneth Muir
Have you ever wondered what you can do to positively and dramatically change things for the better? After all, you are just one of 6,800,000,000 on this earth. The answer may be far simpler than you think but it involves thinking differently. It also involves taking your own simple actions and duplicating them over and over again to turn your “one drop” action into a massive wave that helps to quite literally leave this earth in better shape than we found it.
Of course you know that starting with the number one, who is you, and convincing another person to take the same simple actions you propose is astonishingly challenging. The secret is to make a simple, rational, reasoned case showing that what you propose is fully in the best interest of not only the person you are trying to convince, but also in the best interest of everyone else. If you were to convince one and the two of you were able to convince four and those four, eight and so on, you would only have to repeat that process 34 times to cover the population of the entire planet. This is very likely where every multi level marketer starts, and where a vast majority of people who have considered the MLM process stop dead in their tracks. It’s never easy convincing just one person, let alone billions. That’s why giant corporations spend billions of dollars every year on marketing and advertising. Appealing to the masses through saturation advertising is the best way to peddle what you’re selling, whether what you’re selling is good as in healthy food, or bad as in cigarettes.
My take is not unique as I am just another blogger with opinions like the rest of us. My hope is that my message will resonate with enough of you to encourage you to take the same actions I have, to make things better. There is simplicity in this message. My hope is that simplicity helps clear away all the muck that’s out there and allows you to see why what I am proposing makes so much sense. Here we go.
Think about this, there are close to a billion cars on earth today. Lined up end to end, that is a line of cars 2,462,121 miles long. That’s a solid string of cars stretching to the Moon and back 10 times. Every one of those cars has a tailpipe which is used to exhaust the pollution from the internal combustion engine it’s attached to. Imagine all those tailpipes put together. Is that a tailpipe you would want to live near? Now for the sad reality; you do, we all do. Those tailpipes and their engines are spread from coast to coast and beyond our borders all over the planet. Developing nations like India and China are adding them as fast as they can. Now remind me why that would not have a devastating effect on our planets breathable atmosphere?
I’m not talking climate change here because I am not a scientist, but seeing a picture in our minds of all those tailpipes surrounding the earth should give us cause to consider the incredible volume of pollution that would certainly seem to have more than just one negative outcome on our planets ecosystems, especially the air, and the water. Remember, the air pollution is washed onto the surface of the earth and into its oceans on a regular basis.
How can we possibly not see with just common sense alone, that we must take actions to begin to reverse this trend and come up with a better way to transport ourselves from point A to point B?
Now think about this. Every time you buy a car you have less than a day or so of driving before you start to have the feed that car with fuel and money to keep it moving. Try to look at it this way, the very first time you pull up to the pump, remove the gas cap, swipe your credit card, grab the hose and insert the gas nozzle into the tank, when you pull the trigger on the nozzle imagine the clicking sound on the pump meter also creating a negative clicking sound in your bank account. Of course you know this but take it a step further.
Picture the smiling face of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud while a refined product of his oil flows into your tank and your money flows directly from your bank account into his bank account. Of course the oil can be coming from many sources including Hugo Chavez and many others who would love to see the land you are standing on one day becoming theirs. The bottom line is the transfer may not be direct but having middle men getting a piece of your pie should not make you one bit feel better.
This is just the first time you will feed and invest in your shinny new internal combustion engine vehicle. You will repeat 30 to 50 times a year for the rest of the life of the vehicle. How much money is that and what are you really doing?
What you are really doing is spending 1 ½ to 2 times the cost of the vehicle over the life of the vehicle on gas, oil and maintenance alone. If you spent 25,000.00 to purchase that vehicle you will spend another 35,000.00 to 50,000.00 gassing it up, getting oil changes and maintaining it, making the total cost of operating your 100 year old technology internal combustion engine vehicle 65,000.00 to 75,000.00. What you are also really doing is literally burning what you are buying, complete with putting the emissions from that burned product permanently into the air you and your kids breath, then coming back for more when it’s gone and doing it all over again, time and time and time again on an indefinite basis.
We all know what we are doing, but we are lazy and afraid to think about it enough for it to change what we are doing. Filling the gas tank is easy, we think, but we are afraid to confront the increasingly costly ways we are bleeding ourselves dry. Paying for one tank at a time is fine because it’s only 40.00 – 80.00 a pop, then we don’t have to think about it for another week or so.
We never consider that each and every one of us who drives in America sends 100,000.00 dollars each during of our lifetimes to foreign lands that we are making wealthy beyond imagination. That’s money out of our pockets and out of our country, into the pockets of those who hate us and seek our demise. What do we have to show for it? Other than the pollution we’ve created, exactly nothing! We burned what we purchased, remember? They still have our money don’t they? They buy our banks and businesses, they lobby our politicians and work very hard to keep this madness going year after year while we stand at the fancy new gas pump and watch shorts and commercials on monitors while we do ourselves in. I almost hate to make you aware of this but in my generation; America will have sent over 23 trillion dollars to oil countries and oil companies to keep our little habit going. That’ almost as stunning as the giant one billion car exhaust pipe. The scale is stunning but the reality is, we must face it. Facing it together as a Nation united would be so much easier. Together we can bring about the required change as rapidly as possible.
We are not only fighting wars halfway around the world to make sure the oil keeps flowing, literally spending trillions of dollars and wasting thousands of young American lives, as well as countless lives lost by our allies and of the citizens of the countries we are fighting in, but we are actively participating in the most massive transfer of wealth from the most powerful nation on earth ever witnessed. We are responsible for our actions and it is far past time to put a stop to this madness. The next time you hear, “drill baby drill” go back to the numbers and realize the madness of a phrase like that.
We burn lots of things we buy. We burn natural gas or worse, oil to heat our homes. Some of us burn wood in our fireplaces or woodstoves and when that’s gone we go chop up more wood and burn some more. We burn coal for our electricity and do that on an indefinite basis as well. If you’d like to see how well mass implementation of coal fired power plants works I suggest you go to Shanghai, China. I was just there in March of 2010. It’s a city of 25 -30 million people. They are choking on their coal dust and now they’re adding millions of cars at an astonishing rate. China has seven of the most polluted rivers in the world, so polluted the water can’t even be used as non-potable. They now lead the world in respiratory illness and Shanghai is the new leader in lung cancers. It is very sad to see China did not learn from the West very painful lessons regarding unchecked industrialization. There is hope as they are now moving as quickly as possible to convert to sustainable forms of energy.
I say there is another way, a better way, a cleaner way and a more secure way to meet our energy needs. At some level every single one of us can start to move in that direction.
Believe me when I tell you, it is not easy, or cheap to start changing. My wife and I have been trying to buy an electric vehicle for over 10 years. For one reason or another we have just missed small windows of opportunity to join the small but growing number of people seeking to drive pollution and oil free.
These forward thinking EV drivers have a mantra; “charge baby charge”, and most of the folks we know are charging their cars with solar panels making them as efficient and clean a technology as possible.
In the long run it is the right thing to do and unlike what we are doing now, every one of these new actions do not have the perpetual madness of burning and paying for the rest of our lives. On the contrary these new things actually have many benefits. Near the top of that benefits list is that they provide what every businessman urgently seeks on a daily basis, return on investment.
Imagine a small company who installs solar panels on homes operating a fleet of trucks charged by solar power. The savings in not having to provide gas for a fleet of vehicles would be dramatic and would create a leg up on every one of their competitors. Their cost would be lower and their profits higher. Their competition would have to continue to adjust prices of installs every time gas prices spike. Just like the sun rising, you can count on gas prices spiking right during the time a business can afford it the least.
Now let’s look at a new way.
http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com/
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/03/fords-electric-transit-connect-purrs-for-drive-on/1
That’s right, electric trucks are real as in right now, today!
With electric the charging is cheap, (1 - 2 cents a mile to operate), and much cheaper when charging with solar. There is no internal combustion engine to maintain, (electric motors can last 1 million miles in Electric Vehicles), no oil changes, no transmission, no fuel system, no exhaust system and zero pollution! Even brakes last 5 - 10X longer because electric vehicles are designed to brake with the electric motors before you even have to touch the brake pedal. Even if the electric truck was twice or three times as much in initial coast, you are not pouring thousands of dollars into it over the life of the vehicle like you do with dirty internal combustion trucks. Plus, there are government incentives that help businesses cover the initial cost. Believe me, I have done the analysis and the money saved is dramatic. The first business that starts driving all electric vehicles around with no fuel or maintenance cost will catch the attention of their competitors very quickly and the whole thing will snowball.
So what are we doing to help make things better?
1. We have purchased a Hybrid that we hope to convert to a bio-fuel plug-in vehicle in the future. It will fun on electricity most of the time and when it needs to re-charge while driving it will use bio-fuel to do so.
2. We have had solar panels installed on our home to help reduce the load on the grid and help charge our cars. As solar technology improves and incentives grow, we may be able to upgrade this system to cover all our electricity needs for our home and our cars.
3. We hope to purchase an all electric Nissan LEAF in the fall of 2010 and use that car for our primary source of transportation.
http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/?dcp=ppn.39666654.&dcc=0.216878497
4. We are installing super efficient LED lighting in our home to implement the conservation piece of this plan
5. We have committed to replacing all our appliances with the most efficient possible units as they fail. This way we can spread the cost over the years.
6. Our ultimate goal is to not burn oil, imported or otherwise. Electricity or bio-fuels only. Hopefully we will be able to completely phase bio-fuels out too as battery technologies continue to advance.
We feel these plans are the patriotic to do. Taking these actions not only benefits us in reducing our cost but helps our Neighbors, our Nation and our World by leaving less of an energy impact and getting our pollution output to as near to zero as possible.
We also feel these actions will help us with fixed cost during out retirement. We don’t want to have to deal with higher energy prices and skyrocketing gas prices when we can least afford it.
The bottom line is, we want to be able to look at our children and grandchildren and tell them we did the right thing, not just for us but for them too. We want to be able to tell them we had their health in mind when we made these decisions so we could be an example for them and their kids. We want to be able to sit with our family and watch a sunset over whatever city we are living near and enjoy a beautiful pollution free view.
Kenneth Muir
Have you ever wondered what you can do to positively and dramatically change things for the better? After all, you are just one of 6,800,000,000 on this earth. The answer may be far simpler than you think but it involves thinking differently. It also involves taking your own simple actions and duplicating them over and over again to turn your “one drop” action into a massive wave that helps to quite literally leave this earth in better shape than we found it.
Of course you know that starting with the number one, who is you, and convincing another person to take the same simple actions you propose is astonishingly challenging. The secret is to make a simple, rational, reasoned case showing that what you propose is fully in the best interest of not only the person you are trying to convince, but also in the best interest of everyone else. If you were to convince one and the two of you were able to convince four and those four, eight and so on, you would only have to repeat that process 34 times to cover the population of the entire planet. This is very likely where every multi level marketer starts, and where a vast majority of people who have considered the MLM process stop dead in their tracks. It’s never easy convincing just one person, let alone billions. That’s why giant corporations spend billions of dollars every year on marketing and advertising. Appealing to the masses through saturation advertising is the best way to peddle what you’re selling, whether what you’re selling is good as in healthy food, or bad as in cigarettes.
My take is not unique as I am just another blogger with opinions like the rest of us. My hope is that my message will resonate with enough of you to encourage you to take the same actions I have, to make things better. There is simplicity in this message. My hope is that simplicity helps clear away all the muck that’s out there and allows you to see why what I am proposing makes so much sense. Here we go.
Think about this, there are close to a billion cars on earth today. Lined up end to end, that is a line of cars 2,462,121 miles long. That’s a solid string of cars stretching to the Moon and back 10 times. Every one of those cars has a tailpipe which is used to exhaust the pollution from the internal combustion engine it’s attached to. Imagine all those tailpipes put together. Is that a tailpipe you would want to live near? Now for the sad reality; you do, we all do. Those tailpipes and their engines are spread from coast to coast and beyond our borders all over the planet. Developing nations like India and China are adding them as fast as they can. Now remind me why that would not have a devastating effect on our planets breathable atmosphere?
I’m not talking climate change here because I am not a scientist, but seeing a picture in our minds of all those tailpipes surrounding the earth should give us cause to consider the incredible volume of pollution that would certainly seem to have more than just one negative outcome on our planets ecosystems, especially the air, and the water. Remember, the air pollution is washed onto the surface of the earth and into its oceans on a regular basis.
How can we possibly not see with just common sense alone, that we must take actions to begin to reverse this trend and come up with a better way to transport ourselves from point A to point B?
Now think about this. Every time you buy a car you have less than a day or so of driving before you start to have the feed that car with fuel and money to keep it moving. Try to look at it this way, the very first time you pull up to the pump, remove the gas cap, swipe your credit card, grab the hose and insert the gas nozzle into the tank, when you pull the trigger on the nozzle imagine the clicking sound on the pump meter also creating a negative clicking sound in your bank account. Of course you know this but take it a step further.
Picture the smiling face of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud while a refined product of his oil flows into your tank and your money flows directly from your bank account into his bank account. Of course the oil can be coming from many sources including Hugo Chavez and many others who would love to see the land you are standing on one day becoming theirs. The bottom line is the transfer may not be direct but having middle men getting a piece of your pie should not make you one bit feel better.
This is just the first time you will feed and invest in your shinny new internal combustion engine vehicle. You will repeat 30 to 50 times a year for the rest of the life of the vehicle. How much money is that and what are you really doing?
What you are really doing is spending 1 ½ to 2 times the cost of the vehicle over the life of the vehicle on gas, oil and maintenance alone. If you spent 25,000.00 to purchase that vehicle you will spend another 35,000.00 to 50,000.00 gassing it up, getting oil changes and maintaining it, making the total cost of operating your 100 year old technology internal combustion engine vehicle 65,000.00 to 75,000.00. What you are also really doing is literally burning what you are buying, complete with putting the emissions from that burned product permanently into the air you and your kids breath, then coming back for more when it’s gone and doing it all over again, time and time and time again on an indefinite basis.
We all know what we are doing, but we are lazy and afraid to think about it enough for it to change what we are doing. Filling the gas tank is easy, we think, but we are afraid to confront the increasingly costly ways we are bleeding ourselves dry. Paying for one tank at a time is fine because it’s only 40.00 – 80.00 a pop, then we don’t have to think about it for another week or so.
We never consider that each and every one of us who drives in America sends 100,000.00 dollars each during of our lifetimes to foreign lands that we are making wealthy beyond imagination. That’s money out of our pockets and out of our country, into the pockets of those who hate us and seek our demise. What do we have to show for it? Other than the pollution we’ve created, exactly nothing! We burned what we purchased, remember? They still have our money don’t they? They buy our banks and businesses, they lobby our politicians and work very hard to keep this madness going year after year while we stand at the fancy new gas pump and watch shorts and commercials on monitors while we do ourselves in. I almost hate to make you aware of this but in my generation; America will have sent over 23 trillion dollars to oil countries and oil companies to keep our little habit going. That’ almost as stunning as the giant one billion car exhaust pipe. The scale is stunning but the reality is, we must face it. Facing it together as a Nation united would be so much easier. Together we can bring about the required change as rapidly as possible.
We are not only fighting wars halfway around the world to make sure the oil keeps flowing, literally spending trillions of dollars and wasting thousands of young American lives, as well as countless lives lost by our allies and of the citizens of the countries we are fighting in, but we are actively participating in the most massive transfer of wealth from the most powerful nation on earth ever witnessed. We are responsible for our actions and it is far past time to put a stop to this madness. The next time you hear, “drill baby drill” go back to the numbers and realize the madness of a phrase like that.
We burn lots of things we buy. We burn natural gas or worse, oil to heat our homes. Some of us burn wood in our fireplaces or woodstoves and when that’s gone we go chop up more wood and burn some more. We burn coal for our electricity and do that on an indefinite basis as well. If you’d like to see how well mass implementation of coal fired power plants works I suggest you go to Shanghai, China. I was just there in March of 2010. It’s a city of 25 -30 million people. They are choking on their coal dust and now they’re adding millions of cars at an astonishing rate. China has seven of the most polluted rivers in the world, so polluted the water can’t even be used as non-potable. They now lead the world in respiratory illness and Shanghai is the new leader in lung cancers. It is very sad to see China did not learn from the West very painful lessons regarding unchecked industrialization. There is hope as they are now moving as quickly as possible to convert to sustainable forms of energy.
I say there is another way, a better way, a cleaner way and a more secure way to meet our energy needs. At some level every single one of us can start to move in that direction.
Believe me when I tell you, it is not easy, or cheap to start changing. My wife and I have been trying to buy an electric vehicle for over 10 years. For one reason or another we have just missed small windows of opportunity to join the small but growing number of people seeking to drive pollution and oil free.
These forward thinking EV drivers have a mantra; “charge baby charge”, and most of the folks we know are charging their cars with solar panels making them as efficient and clean a technology as possible.
In the long run it is the right thing to do and unlike what we are doing now, every one of these new actions do not have the perpetual madness of burning and paying for the rest of our lives. On the contrary these new things actually have many benefits. Near the top of that benefits list is that they provide what every businessman urgently seeks on a daily basis, return on investment.
Imagine a small company who installs solar panels on homes operating a fleet of trucks charged by solar power. The savings in not having to provide gas for a fleet of vehicles would be dramatic and would create a leg up on every one of their competitors. Their cost would be lower and their profits higher. Their competition would have to continue to adjust prices of installs every time gas prices spike. Just like the sun rising, you can count on gas prices spiking right during the time a business can afford it the least.
Now let’s look at a new way.
http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com/
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/03/fords-electric-transit-connect-purrs-for-drive-on/1
That’s right, electric trucks are real as in right now, today!
With electric the charging is cheap, (1 - 2 cents a mile to operate), and much cheaper when charging with solar. There is no internal combustion engine to maintain, (electric motors can last 1 million miles in Electric Vehicles), no oil changes, no transmission, no fuel system, no exhaust system and zero pollution! Even brakes last 5 - 10X longer because electric vehicles are designed to brake with the electric motors before you even have to touch the brake pedal. Even if the electric truck was twice or three times as much in initial coast, you are not pouring thousands of dollars into it over the life of the vehicle like you do with dirty internal combustion trucks. Plus, there are government incentives that help businesses cover the initial cost. Believe me, I have done the analysis and the money saved is dramatic. The first business that starts driving all electric vehicles around with no fuel or maintenance cost will catch the attention of their competitors very quickly and the whole thing will snowball.
So what are we doing to help make things better?
1. We have purchased a Hybrid that we hope to convert to a bio-fuel plug-in vehicle in the future. It will fun on electricity most of the time and when it needs to re-charge while driving it will use bio-fuel to do so.
2. We have had solar panels installed on our home to help reduce the load on the grid and help charge our cars. As solar technology improves and incentives grow, we may be able to upgrade this system to cover all our electricity needs for our home and our cars.
3. We hope to purchase an all electric Nissan LEAF in the fall of 2010 and use that car for our primary source of transportation.
http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/?dcp=ppn.39666654.&dcc=0.216878497
4. We are installing super efficient LED lighting in our home to implement the conservation piece of this plan
5. We have committed to replacing all our appliances with the most efficient possible units as they fail. This way we can spread the cost over the years.
6. Our ultimate goal is to not burn oil, imported or otherwise. Electricity or bio-fuels only. Hopefully we will be able to completely phase bio-fuels out too as battery technologies continue to advance.
We feel these plans are the patriotic to do. Taking these actions not only benefits us in reducing our cost but helps our Neighbors, our Nation and our World by leaving less of an energy impact and getting our pollution output to as near to zero as possible.
We also feel these actions will help us with fixed cost during out retirement. We don’t want to have to deal with higher energy prices and skyrocketing gas prices when we can least afford it.
The bottom line is, we want to be able to look at our children and grandchildren and tell them we did the right thing, not just for us but for them too. We want to be able to tell them we had their health in mind when we made these decisions so we could be an example for them and their kids. We want to be able to sit with our family and watch a sunset over whatever city we are living near and enjoy a beautiful pollution free view.
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