Because they are evil? No. Because they are not "American"? No. Because they hate this country? No. Why, then?
Because businesses are in business to MAKE MONEY.
And if moving to Chindia is the way to "make money" then that's what businesses will DO.
No reason to whine or moan about it. It's just reality.
Now, is that "killing our economy??
Absolutely not.
This is just the Great Recession.
Things will improve. Already most of the companies in the USA who issued pay reductions to their employees have returned the salary to normal. People will adapt. If 10-12% unemployment is the New Reality, then so be it. The economy will adapt to that number. People who want work will move to places where there is work to be had.
Go Google "economy improving" and you get a ton of stories of just that.
Don't be so Gloom and Doom all the time, dude. That just wears on ya.
Go Google "economy improving" and you get a ton of stories of just that.
Don't be so Gloom and Doom all the time, dude. That just wears on ya.
Upbeat stories on the economy are only from the wealthy elite and the politicians trying to save their jobs. The G&D is all around you. How many 1000s of homes near you are in foreclosure. Each one represents a failure to fulfill the dream.
Already most of the companies in the USA who issued pay reductions to their employees have returned the salary to normal.
Where did you read that? I don't see any move to make up for lost wages. Only a continuing downward spiral from printing more worthless paper. I admit I am not very optimistic. Maybe not quite as cynical as fintail, but darn close. There is corporate improvement as companies move headquarters to tax haven countries and factories to slave nations. So yes GE is doing well, now that they don't have to pay Union wages to get light bulbs manufactured. And they have the government forcing US all to buy their new cheaper made Chinese products. I don't see that as Progress. Unless you have some GE stock, which I do. So I guess that is good. I did not have to pay any corporate tax on my share of the $billions in profit.
Gary says, "Each one represents a failure to fulfill the dream."
Um, AAAAIIIIIIIKKKKKKK!! (that's the sound of the "incorrect" Buzzer)
Each one of them, or many of them, represent a failed mortgage lending model started under Bill "Baby-Got-Her-Blue-Dress-Blue-Dress-Blue-Dress-Baby-Got-Her-Blue-Dress-Stained" Clinton.
And foreclosures are falling. Google it.
Did you do as I asked you and Google "economy improving" and see what shows up? Lots.
Is that to say we are out of the woods yet? HECK NO !!
But I feel the worst is behind us.
On where I read the "wages restored" thing - it was a radio news story on a local trusted news source, KTAR in Phoenix a few days ago.
I think you better fix your googler. It is broken for sure.
updated 1/13/2011 1:38:58 PM ET
NEW YORK — The bleakest year in foreclosure crisis has only just begun.
Lenders are poised to take back more homes this year than any other since the U.S. housing meltdown began in 2006. About 5 million borrowers are at least two months behind on their mortgages and more will miss payments as they struggle with job losses and loans worth more than their home's value, industry analysts forecast.
"2011 is going to be the peak," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc.
I don't "FEEL" THE PAIN either. I have a good steady retirement and no real worries. That is not the case for at least 20% of the workforce in the Nation that either have NO JOB or a job that does not pay the bills. So if you have a good job you should FEEL GOOD about the economy I understand. You are only looking at your own situation. By the way did you know you and I can Google the same phrase and get an entirely different response from Google or Yahoo or whatever?
Foreclosure activity in the United States has fallen to a 40-month low, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.
Filings in Minnesota also plummeted, falling 20.5 percent from March -- the ninth-biggest drop in the country -- and 19 percent from last April.
Nationwide, RealtyTrac reported a 9 percent decrease in foreclosure filings from March and a 34 percent decrease from April 2010.
Unfortunately, the slowdown is not the result of an improvement in the market, executives said. "This slowdown continues to be largely the result of massive delays in processing foreclosures rather than the result of a housing recovery that is lifting people out of foreclosure," RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio said in a release.
My daughter works for a Law firm that handles foreclosures. They are so far backed up they have no idea when it will slow down. An example is the house I am watching down the street. Chase has not received a payment on the $600k+ mortgage since 2008. No one has lived in the house since 2009. Yet it has not gone up for auction. Plus BAC was told to stop foreclosures which only moves it out further. There are 1000s of homes being lived in where no payments are being made for several years.
Remember the banks are not worried about all the empty homes they own. We bailed them out and gave the executives BIG BONUSES for a job well done. :sick:
“Loan servicers (that process mortgage paperwork, and decide who gets loan modifications or face foreclosure) have been saying that once all of the paperwork problems were worked out, foreclosure filings would come roaring back,” said Ryan McMaken, the division spokesman who released the report and analyzed the data, which was covered earlier by InsideRealEstateNews.
"The Republican-led House of Representatives is currently working on the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, which would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon dioxide emissions to mitigate climate change."
Gary says, "Remember the banks are not worried about all the empty homes they own."
Oh, don't make a mistake there, my friend. They ARE worried. Because each home not being paid for is money they are losing. 100,000 new mortgages at $1200 a month means about $90,000,000 (that's 90 MILLION) PER MONTH they are losing in interest payments.
I knew you'd incorrectly jump on the "paperwork backlog" feature. IT WAS A TRAP !!
They are so backlogged not because foreclosures are still happening at the rates they were before - but because of the boondoggle of the paperwork fraud issues from last year.
Fewer people are losing their homes right now - that's the bottom line.
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2011 (Reuters) — Heavy rains, deep snowfalls, monster floods and killing droughts are signs of a "new normal" of extreme U.S. weather events fueled by climate change, scientists and government planners said on Wednesday.
"It's a new normal and I really do think that global weirding is the best way to describe what we're seeing," climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University told reporters.
"We are used to certain conditions and there's a lot going on these days that is not what we're used to, that is outside our current frame of reference," Hayhoe said on a conference call with other experts, organized by the non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists.
An upsurge in heavy rainstorms in the United States has coincided with prolonged drought, sometimes in the same location, she said, noting that west Texas has seen a record-length dry period over the last five years, even as there have been two 100-year rain events.
Some will not accept that what you see is what we get. Whether man made or natural. We have to learn to live with and adapt. I don't think anything we do is going to stop a Tornado or the flooding Mississippi.
That link of the biased editorial opinion, didn't sound like reality. Here's the actual bill from the House. I don't see anything in it that denies there could be GW. In fact if you read the last part "Sense of Congress" you'll see that they agree that GW is a concern.
The House however does not appear ready to act on a concern, especially if GW is only suspected to be casued by mankind; and most importantly the House will not act unilaterally on a global issue, especially when it further hurts this country. Also - the House is asserting its Constitutional authority and mandate - that it creates legislation, and issues taxes. Executive branch appointees such as the EPA, should not be infringing on the elected reps. of the Congress.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that--
(1) there is established scientific concern over warming of the climate system based upon evidence from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level;
(2) addressing climate change is an international issue, involving complex scientific and economic considerations;
(3) the United States has a role to play in resolving global climate change matters on an international basis; and
(4) Congress should fulfill that role by developing policies that do not adversely affect the American economy, energy supplies, and employment.
From your Natural Capitalism link, I found this most interesting and humorous:
According to the authors, the "next industrial revolution" depends on the espousal of four central strategies: "the conservation of resources through more effective manufacturing processes, the reuse of materials as found in natural systems, a change in values from quantity to quality
So if we consider something as basic as water, has it been a success when the market/public has focused on quality over quantity? I mean the quantity would be the general tap water which is certified by all communities to be safe and clean. But what has our society done but focused on quality - bottled water. Has the higher quality bottled water been better for the environment? how full are the landfills of those bottles and wrappers? how much fuel is burned trucking all that water to stores, and then for consumers to get it home? It seems to me that in this most prevalent example, the environmental cost of a high quality good to the environment is much worse. :P
how much fuel is burned trucking all that water to stores, and then for consumers to get it home?
For several years we filled our jugs at the Water Store. We made that trip about once a week along with other shopping. When we moved to our new home about 13 miles from the water store I got a reverse osmosis system installed under the sink. It still costs about $150 every year for the filters to be changed. I think the water is better than what we were getting at the water store. No more hauling and filling jugs. We do keep about a dozen gallon jugs filled for emergencies. I keep a couple sport bottles filled in the frig as I like cold water to drink. So we have eliminated plastic bottles and do not drink soda, so no aluminum cans to waste time and money recycling. Just doing our part for the environment.
U.S. grants $737 million to solar ‘rocket science’ power plant By David Worthington | May 19, 2011, 8:40 PM PDT
Daytime solar energy is stored using molten salts to power turbines at night. The U.S Department of Energy announced today a US$737 million conditional loan guarantee to a solar power company for the construction of a power plant that will generate electricity 24 hours a day.
SolarReserve is building a 110-megawatt facility in Nevada on 2,250 acres of land leased from the Bureau of Land Management. The DOE says the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project will generate 500,000 megawatt hours of clean energy annually - enough electricity to power over 43,000 homes.
The technology is literally rocket science: SolarReserve’s founders — who hail from United Technology subsidiary, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne — combined their molten salt handling expertise with liquid rocket engine heat transfer technology to build a thermal storage “tower.”
Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project will feature a hulking 640-foot tall solar power structure to house the molten salt-based collection and storage system. The tower can capture as many as 17,500 heliostats of solar energy, the DOE says.
Solar energy is utilized to heat the molten salts during the daytime, which in turn generate heat that spin turbines at night. SolarReserve is the exclusive license holder for the technology. Download a process diagram here.
Federal permitting approvals for the site were granted in Dec. 2010, and the private equity firm US Renewables Group is a founding partner. Also in December, Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory unveiled solar cells that are more adept at harvesting infrared radiation to collect power at night.
The DOE’s loan guarantee program was created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and received additional funding through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The Crescent Dunes project is expected to create over 600 jobs for Nevada.
“Innovative companies like SolarReserve are helping ensure that Nevada can lead the nation in clean energy production, putting people back to work and pushing America toward energy independence. They deserve all the public and private support we can muster,” said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The DOE has granted over $30 billion to support 29 clean energy projects to date; $8 billion in loan guarantees went to solar generation projects.
If you call that good news, I would hate to see what you consider bad news. $737 million to power 43,000 homes is hardly good news. If that money takes care of all the maintenance and operation for the next 19.34 years it will match what I am paying for electricity. Some day you will understand how corporate welfare works. This is a prime example. I would not consider it green. It is golden for those raping the tax payers.
And of course Dingy Harry is all for dumping nearly a $billion into his NV economy. Just another Pork Barrel project. That is how you get re-elected time and again.
Documents just released from the Nixon admin., dating back to 1970 show that Nixon was warned that if we did not impose CO2 regulations immediately that by the year 2000 temps would rise by 7 degrees, sea levels would rise by 10 feet and New York and Washington D.C. would be under water.
Fortunately Nixon, despite his shortcomings, was a pretty smart fellow.
So that's why he hired those plumbers. I thought it was just to keep tabs on Daniel Ellsberg. :shades:
I miss Nixon. He signed off on the Clean Air Act, NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Ocean Dumping Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Federal Insecticide, Fungide, Rodenticide Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act and added more than 80,000 acres to the National Park system. Plus he had a hand in Earth Day and standardizing Arbor Day.
He did misfire on an early version of CAFE/emissions standards and a few other things, but overall he has to be right up there with Teddy Roosevelt when it comes to the ecological concerns. The political equation was behind all of it (this is Tricky Dick we're talking about after all), but Nixon seized the moment after the Santa Barbara oil spill. Watergate kept him from backtracking as the environmental movement became less of the fad of the day.
I can tell you in Calyforinya it has been an economic disaster. We found out what you get when you elect a RINO as governator. He blows with the wind listening to every eco nut that comes along. Will the state ever recover from the devastation the AGW cult has rendered on us? :sick:
Will our feeble attempts to save energy and prevent GW, Kill US? What is the EPA doing???
China’s Toxins Invade Our Air
Thursday, May 19, 2011 4:19 PM
The April issue of Discover magazine carries articles that should make our hair stand on end. Science reporter Jeremy Jacquot describes a new worldwide study by a marine research group called Geotraces, which is busy testing the waters of the world for environmental contaminants.
Geotraces found that the levels of mercury in the North Pacific Ocean have increased 30 percent over the past 20 years, meaning greater risk of mercury-contaminated seafood.
Another article by David Kirby describes how environmental sleuths traced the source of a number of airborne contaminants invading our shores to China, where industrial growth over the past decade has been unprecedented.
Reports of smog-filled cities, heavily polluted rivers and lakes, and growing health problems among the Chinese population are legendary. Heavy industry, especially metal smelters and coal-burning facilities, are pouring tons of mercury into the atmosphere.
A study conducted in 1999 by Dr. David Streets, a senior energy and environmental policy scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory, determined that in that year the communist giant poured 590 tons of mercury emissions into the atmosphere. That compared to 117 tons produced by the United States.
By 2003, that number jumped to 767 tons of mercury, and the most recent estimates suggest China is churning out as much as 1,400 tons of mercury per year and is increasing toxic emissions 6 percent to 7 percent each year.
Atmospheric scientists have discovered that this mercury has risen into a series of plumes 20,000 feet up and is carried by air currents all the way to the United States. Rather than dispersing evenly so that the levels are diluted, the mercury appears to remain concentrated in these plumes.
Neuroscientist and researcher Dan Laks analyzed data on 6,000 American women collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and found that the concentration of mercury in them closely followed the passage of atmospheric mercury from China.
Few realize that atmospheric mercury is a major source of mercury contamination. It is ironic that Laks is quoted as saying, “Mercury’s neurotoxicity is irrefutable — and is linked to Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS.”
Something to think about when you buy a CFL made in China. I won't be eating any fish caught or raised in the Pacific Northwest.
Also unlike tap water there're no regulations governing the quality of bottled water. The quality is not necessarily there either and the chemicals in the plastic can leech out too, so really it is the illusion of quality that people are paying for.
The radiation from Japan will probably dissipate. And it was an act of nature that caused the damage. The mercury floating in the atmosphere is directly related to our appetite for all things green. CFLs, Hybrid batteries & Motors, Windmill generators, iPods, iPhones, iPads, and solar panels. We are directly at fault for the mercury pollution that is coming over to bite US in the butt.
Probably doesn't have a chance, but I sure like him and hope that he catches fire. He is the only candidate that backs the "fair tax".
Just imagine what the U.S. could accomplish if we could essentially get EVERYONE to pay their fair tax by way of a national sales tax and get rid of the IRS completely. It would also do away with all the lobbyists, etc. because Congress could no longer sell their votes.
I like Cain as well. Probably too smart for the average voter. And he won't tell em what he is gonna gimme. Not going to pay the rent or buy all the brothers a new car.
Is it our fault that a corrupt abusive nation is willing to sacrifice the environment for short term profits? We don't have a gun to their heads.
The technology exists to contain those pollutants, but in China, the politically connected oligarch sweatshop owning class (who our so called self-made "capitalists" adore) simply doesn't have to.
Is it our fault that a corrupt abusive nation is willing to sacrifice the environment for short term profits?
Look at the USA 100 years ago. We were doing exactly the same thing to provide goods to the World. It is our DEMAND for iPhones etc that puts a gun to China's head. I don't think it will take them as long to realize they are being exploited as it took US.
The real question? Can we produce the products we want using our own resources and labor under the much stricter environmental controls we enforce on this country? I don't think we can. I could be surprised when and if it happens. So far it is just talk.
Carbon warming too minor to be worth worrying about
By David Evans
The debate about global warming has reached ridiculous proportions and is full of micro-thin half-truths and misunderstandings. I am a scientist who was on the carbon gravy train, understands the evidence, was once an alarmist, but am now a skeptic. Watching this issue unfold has been amusing but, lately, worrying. This issue is tearing society apart, making fools out of our politicians.
Let’s set a few things straight.
The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s. But the gravy train was too big, with too many jobs, industries, trading profits, political careers, and the possibility of world government and total control riding on the outcome. So rather than admit they were wrong, the governments, and their tame climate scientists, now outrageously maintain the fiction that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant.
Let’s be perfectly clear. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and other things being equal, the more carbon dioxide in the air, the warmer the planet. Every bit of carbon dioxide that we emit warms the planet. But the issue is not whether carbon dioxide warms the planet, but how much.
Most scientists, on both sides, also agree on how much a given increase in the level of carbon dioxide raises the planet’s temperature, if just the extra carbon dioxide is considered. These calculations come from laboratory experiments; the basic physics have been well known for a century.
I am sure you can find those that will refute Evan's claims. Why not/ it is their livelihood that is at stake? It comes down to who do you want to believe. I prefer scientists that are not being paid to put forth an agenda.
You say you don't believe Dr Evans claims. Here is the deal. Prove him wrong and get $10,000.
Money offered to prove CO2 effect
BELIEVERS in the science of global warming, you now have the chance to spread the word and at the same time make yourself $10,000 richer.
This has to be really simple, as almost everyone from PM Julia Gillard down, including much of our mainstream media, has been telling us it’s a fact – the science says so, anybody who thinks otherwise is a fringe-dwelling extremist, a denier who won’t accept the evidence and doesn’t deserve to be heard.
According to Ms Gillard, climate change is happening and the time is right for a carbon tax.
This could cost Australian families $863 a year, according to a Treasury forecast, but then you might still end up making a profit.
If all this sounds too confusing, that’s when the lazy $10k prize on offer could really come in handy. All you have to do is come up with empirical evidence that “increasing atmospheric CO2 from fossil fuel burning drives global warming”.
Victorian locomotive engineman Peter Laux has pledged the prize in a statutory declaration witnessed by a police officer, and the challenge is open for 20 years .
Ms Gillard says the overwhelming evidence of “climate change” (I think she means the human-caused variety) is “accepted by every reputable climate scientist in the world”, so just hop on to Google and track that evidence down.
But wait, there are just a few apparent “disreputables” who don’t accept it, so perhaps you should check them out too: international scientists Prof. Richard Lindzen, Henrik Svensmark, John Christy, Dr Ferenc Miskolczi, Dr Miklos Zagoni, our own Prof. Bob Carter, Ian Plimer, Dr David Evans and many others including more than 30,000 scientists who signed a petition in the US stating that CO2 was not causing dangerous climate change.
Prof. Carter and Dr Evans have written numerous articles on the topic, including one in Quadrant Online co-authored by Alan Moran, an economist specialising in energy policy. They debunk the government’s case for human-induced climate change and a carbon tax, point by point.
But don’t be put off, surely with the overwhelming scientific consensus we keep hearing about, the truth really is out there? Peter Laux just wants you to find it.
He describes himself as a “militant trade unionist” – a member of the oldest rail union in the world, the Locomotive Division of the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU), and vice-president of his local branch. He says:
“I have watched over the past couple of decades as the so-called left side of politics has been easily duped, co-opted and corralled by the Northern Hemisphere elite over the issue of the Greenhouse Effect or Global warming or Climate Change or Climate Chaos or whatever new slick PR advertising spin they need to use today.”
AGW proponents constantly claim “overwhelming evidence” and yet incredibly never show any
“For those who despise the source of their prosperous lives and wish to burden those who can least afford it with carbon taxes and cripple the development in the Third World, I offer you $10,000 (AUS) for a conclusive argument based on empirical facts that increasing atmospheric CO2 from fossil fuel burning drives global climate warming.”
That won’t be as easy as we first thought, but are you up to the challenge?
I'd rather live in 1911 USA than 2011 China, if I was to be an ordinary working person. Nobody forces them to fill that demand, they could take a stand and refuse, implement environmental controls, and adjust prices accordingly. But they won't, as the short term profits are simply too attractive. It's also a system that doesn't hold much value for intellectual property or human life in general. The leaders don't care that they are being used. China will only jump forward into the real world once its masses of peasants realize they are being exploited and abused by a very select few.
I don't see what is made there that couldn't be made here. Of course it wouldn't be as cheap, but the sweatshop ideal isn't progress or justifiable at all. And it is just talk indeed, won't become even close to reality until punitive actions are taken against the offshoring traitors.
And it is just talk indeed, won't become even close to reality until punitive actions are taken against the offshoring traitors.
That is where we disagree. It is not the capitalist that are looking to maximize their profits that are to blame. It is our federal government. They could level the playing field with tariffs as many on my side of the aisle have tried pushing through for decades. Just like the solar panel manufacturer that takes our alternative energy money and builds his factory in China. Why do we allow that? $25 million down the toilet and NO jobs created.
I think you have a very distorted view of China. If you think it is bad under Communism, it would be a disaster as a Democracy.
Truth is we owe China too much money and the Feds want more to pander to the welfare voters. The leeches living off the rest of US do not care where the TV is built. He does not want a job anyway. That requires the four letter word he hates "WORK".
Hunter's son is carrying the torch on fair trade. No help from the Democrats.
Throughout his nearly thirty years in Congress, Rep. Hunter (R-CA) has been a prominent voice on national defense and military issues. A Vietnam veteran, Hunter previously chaired the House Armed Services Committee and has long supported increased defense spending. He is the co-chair of the House National Security Caucus and supports the Bush administration’s efforts in Iraq.
Hunter has pressed for the construction of a fence on the U.S.-Mexican border, which borders his district. Under his leadership, nearly sixty miles of fencing along the border in San Diego County have been constructed. A member of the Congressional Jobs and Fair Trade Caucus, Hunter made fair trade one of the central issues of his platform and has often pointedly criticized the U.S.-China trade relationship as unfair.
It's the self-titled "capitalists" who have opened up the Pandora's Box of "free trade" and globalization, salivating over short term profits while never thinking about sustainability. American business as a whole proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that our beloved corporate leadership simply can't think in the long term. "Capitalists" hate tariffs and want none of them, as they can hedge themselves and make money from the imbalance and injustice.
There's no "democracy" on this planet, never has been, never will be. On what point exactly am I wrong about China?
Anyone like Hunter, who dares to challenge the grave mistake we have made, will remain at most a beloved fringe player.
It's the self-titled "capitalists" who have opened up the Pandora's Box of "free trade"
It would not happen without Federal approval. Remember Clinton signed NAFTA and pandered to the Chinese. Even got his and Hillary's hand slapped for taking Chinese campaign contributions. It also would not happen without Unions convincing high school dropouts they are worth $30 an hour and an enormous retirement. You like to pin the blame on capitalism. It is greed on every level from the bottom of the welfare cesspool to the richest guy Bill Gates. And you and I in the middle pay the bills. That is not China's fault. They are doing what they feel is best for their people. Feeding a billion and a half Chinese is no small feat. They were starving when I was a kid. Don't hear that anymore so something must be getting better. We have been brought up with the notion that slavery is evil. Says who? Where is that mandated? Who's moral code dictates that ideology.
The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulafft, at Bergen, Norway. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters, and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes. Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared. Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds. Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.
==================
Oops !
I apologize, I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922, as reported by the AP and published in THE WASHINGTON POST . . . over 88 YEARS AGO ! !
Climate is from MAMA Nature's menstrual cycles - the sun and water vapor.
Corporations control government, not the other way around.
NAFTA is a prime example, along with our "most favored" red China.
The [non-permissible content removed] did what they thought was best for their people, along with the Soviets, and other crazy movements. So what? By your ideals, why were they ever to be challenged, and not just blindly supported and aided like we do China?
Has China tried to take over other countries by force as Germany and Russia did?
I see China's human rights and environmental abuses as a direct result of our insatiable desire for cheap goods. Same as the problems caused during the Clinton administration that pushed the drug trade up through Mexico, making it a war zone. You buy cheap Chinese goods or illegal Drugs you are part of the problem.
China was a social and environmental criminal long before our treacherous old neocons decided to bend over for them. We hold zero blame. They didn't have to do business with us. Blaming us for their problems is like someone with a 40K income who got a 400K mortgage in 2005 for a house now worth 200K blaming the banks for their woes. Nobody had a gun to their heads.
You are just so wrong on China. We are the buyers they are the sellers. We are just as responsible as they are for their human rights violations and environmental abuses. No one held a gun to our head and said buy these cheap Chinese junk iPods and iPhones. If people quit buying they will stop manufacturing. That is how it works.
Gary's right about ONE thing here: someone's wrong. But it ain't FinFin.....
It's neither reasonable nor possible to execute a national boycott on Chinese goods.
That's just talking complete fantasy.
Apple did 3.2 BILLION DOLLARS in sales in their brick-and-mortar stores ONLY in the 1st quarter.
EVEN IF it were at ALL POSSIBLE (which it's not,) stopping Chinese imports would not only be impossible, it would be stupid, too. China would just find other markets, and keep polluting.
And it would require a GUVMINT MANDATE, Gary, that which you so detest.
And it would require a GUVMINT MANDATE, Gary, that which you so detest
No government mandates. Just education that makes it clear to our children that every iPod, iPhone or iPad we buy creates pollution that DOES cross the ocean and rest on US soil. That all those beautiful Windmills are polluting the earth much more than the government is telling US.
That is too simple. We always buy the ones made in USA. There are great toys made here. Just google them. I cannot remember the last time we bought a toy made in China for any of the grandkids or poor children. That is hardly a good thing to do. Unless they are children of your enemies.
Comments
Why do companies move to China?
Because they are evil? No.
Because they are not "American"? No.
Because they hate this country? No.
Why, then?
Because businesses are in business to MAKE MONEY.
And if moving to Chindia is the way to "make money" then that's what businesses will DO.
No reason to whine or moan about it. It's just reality.
Now, is that "killing our economy??
Absolutely not.
This is just the Great Recession.
Things will improve.
Already most of the companies in the USA who issued pay reductions to their employees have returned the salary to normal.
People will adapt.
If 10-12% unemployment is the New Reality, then so be it. The economy will adapt to that number.
People who want work will move to places where there is work to be had.
Go Google "economy improving" and you get a ton of stories of just that.
Don't be so Gloom and Doom all the time, dude. That just wears on ya.
Would really kick the butt of the treacherous and criminal offshoring movement, though.
Don't be so Gloom and Doom all the time, dude. That just wears on ya.
Upbeat stories on the economy are only from the wealthy elite and the politicians trying to save their jobs. The G&D is all around you. How many 1000s of homes near you are in foreclosure. Each one represents a failure to fulfill the dream.
Already most of the companies in the USA who issued pay reductions to their employees have returned the salary to normal.
Where did you read that? I don't see any move to make up for lost wages. Only a continuing downward spiral from printing more worthless paper. I admit I am not very optimistic. Maybe not quite as cynical as fintail, but darn close. There is corporate improvement as companies move headquarters to tax haven countries and factories to slave nations. So yes GE is doing well, now that they don't have to pay Union wages to get light bulbs manufactured. And they have the government forcing US all to buy their new cheaper made Chinese products. I don't see that as Progress. Unless you have some GE stock, which I do. So I guess that is good. I did not have to pay any corporate tax on my share of the $billions in profit.
Um, AAAAIIIIIIIKKKKKKK!! (that's the sound of the "incorrect" Buzzer)
Each one of them, or many of them, represent a failed mortgage lending model started under Bill "Baby-Got-Her-Blue-Dress-Blue-Dress-Blue-Dress-Baby-Got-Her-Blue-Dress-Stained" Clinton.
And foreclosures are falling. Google it.
Did you do as I asked you and Google "economy improving" and see what shows up? Lots.
Is that to say we are out of the woods yet? HECK NO !!
But I feel the worst is behind us.
On where I read the "wages restored" thing - it was a radio news story on a local trusted news source, KTAR in Phoenix a few days ago.
I think you better fix your googler. It is broken for sure.
updated 1/13/2011 1:38:58 PM ET
NEW YORK — The bleakest year in foreclosure crisis has only just begun.
Lenders are poised to take back more homes this year than any other since the U.S. housing meltdown began in 2006. About 5 million borrowers are at least two months behind on their mortgages and more will miss payments as they struggle with job losses and loans worth more than their home's value, industry analysts forecast.
"2011 is going to be the peak," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41051419/ns/business-personal_finance/t/banks-reposs- essed-million-homes-last-year-will-be-worse/
We can only hope it is the peak. AZ is second worst with 1 out of every 30 homes in some part of the Foreclosure process.
Top 10 Highest Foreclosure States For First Half of 2010
Rank State Total 1/every X HU
_______________________________________________
-- U.S. 1,654,634 78
1 Nevada 64,429 17
2 Arizona 91,484 30
3 Florida 277,073 32
4 California 340,740 39
5 Utah 18,058 52
6 Georgia 71,949 56
7 Michigan 78,509 58
8 Idaho 10,799 59
9 Illinois 85,223 62
10 Colorado 30,177 71
But I feel the worst is behind us.
I don't "FEEL" THE PAIN either. I have a good steady retirement and no real worries. That is not the case for at least 20% of the workforce in the Nation that either have NO JOB or a job that does not pay the bills. So if you have a good job you should FEEL GOOD about the economy I understand. You are only looking at your own situation. By the way did you know you and I can Google the same phrase and get an entirely different response from Google or Yahoo or whatever?
http://www.wimp.com/filterbubbles/
Google this phrase:
foreclosures falling
Foreclosure activity in the United States has fallen to a 40-month low, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.
Filings in Minnesota also plummeted, falling 20.5 percent from March -- the ninth-biggest drop in the country -- and 19 percent from last April.
Nationwide, RealtyTrac reported a 9 percent decrease in foreclosure filings from March and a 34 percent decrease from April 2010.
Unfortunately, the slowdown is not the result of an improvement in the market, executives said. "This slowdown continues to be largely the result of massive delays in processing foreclosures rather than the result of a housing recovery that is lifting people out of foreclosure," RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio said in a release.
My daughter works for a Law firm that handles foreclosures. They are so far backed up they have no idea when it will slow down. An example is the house I am watching down the street. Chase has not received a payment on the $600k+ mortgage since 2008. No one has lived in the house since 2009. Yet it has not gone up for auction. Plus BAC was told to stop foreclosures which only moves it out further. There are 1000s of homes being lived in where no payments are being made for several years.
Remember the banks are not worried about all the empty homes they own. We bailed them out and gave the executives BIG BONUSES for a job well done. :sick:
http://www.startribune.com/business/121717934.html
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~cba/news/story/5-13-11goldmansddt.pdf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/12/foreclosures-fall-to-40-m_n_861010.html-
“Loan servicers (that process mortgage paperwork, and decide who gets loan modifications or face foreclosure) have been saying that once all of the paperwork problems were worked out, foreclosure filings would come roaring back,” said Ryan McMaken, the division spokesman who released the report and analyzed the data, which was covered earlier by InsideRealEstateNews.
http://insiderealestatenews.com/2011/05/foreclosures-falling-lull-or-trend/
But lets get back to the main topic please.
"The Republican-led House of Representatives is currently working on the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, which would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon dioxide emissions to mitigate climate change."
House Repubs Vote That Earth Is Not Warming (Scientific American)
Oh, don't make a mistake there, my friend. They ARE worried. Because each home not being paid for is money they are losing. 100,000 new mortgages at $1200 a month means about $90,000,000 (that's 90 MILLION) PER MONTH they are losing in interest payments.
I knew you'd incorrectly jump on the "paperwork backlog" feature. IT WAS A TRAP !!
They are so backlogged not because foreclosures are still happening at the rates they were before - but because of the boondoggle of the paperwork fraud issues from last year.
Fewer people are losing their homes right now - that's the bottom line.
"It's a new normal and I really do think that global weirding is the best way to describe what we're seeing," climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University told reporters.
"We are used to certain conditions and there's a lot going on these days that is not what we're used to, that is outside our current frame of reference," Hayhoe said on a conference call with other experts, organized by the non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists.
An upsurge in heavy rainstorms in the United States has coincided with prolonged drought, sometimes in the same location, she said, noting that west Texas has seen a record-length dry period over the last five years, even as there have been two 100-year rain events.
Some will not accept that what you see is what we get. Whether man made or natural. We have to learn to live with and adapt. I don't think anything we do is going to stop a Tornado or the flooding Mississippi.
"Are automobiles a major cause of GLOBAL WEIRDING?"
Fabulous. :shades:
The House however does not appear ready to act on a concern, especially if GW is only suspected to be casued by mankind; and most importantly the House will not act unilaterally on a global issue, especially when it further hurts this country. Also - the House is asserting its Constitutional authority and mandate - that it creates legislation, and issues taxes. Executive branch appointees such as the EPA, should not be infringing on the elected reps. of the Congress.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that--
(1) there is established scientific concern over warming of the climate system based upon evidence from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level;
(2) addressing climate change is an international issue, involving complex scientific and economic considerations;
(3) the United States has a role to play in resolving global climate change matters on an international basis; and
(4) Congress should fulfill that role by developing policies that do not adversely affect the American economy, energy supplies, and employment.
Passed the House of Representatives April 7, 2011.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h112-910
According to the authors, the "next industrial revolution" depends on the espousal of four central strategies: "the conservation of resources through more effective manufacturing processes, the reuse of materials as found in natural systems, a change in values from quantity to quality
So if we consider something as basic as water, has it been a success when the market/public has focused on quality over quantity? I mean the quantity would be the general tap water which is certified by all communities to be safe and clean. But what has our society done but focused on quality - bottled water. Has the higher quality bottled water been better for the environment? how full are the landfills of those bottles and wrappers? how much fuel is burned trucking all that water to stores, and then for consumers to get it home? It seems to me that in this most prevalent example, the environmental cost of a high quality good to the environment is much worse. :P
For several years we filled our jugs at the Water Store. We made that trip about once a week along with other shopping. When we moved to our new home about 13 miles from the water store I got a reverse osmosis system installed under the sink. It still costs about $150 every year for the filters to be changed. I think the water is better than what we were getting at the water store. No more hauling and filling jugs. We do keep about a dozen gallon jugs filled for emergencies. I keep a couple sport bottles filled in the frig as I like cold water to drink. So we have eliminated plastic bottles and do not drink soda, so no aluminum cans to waste time and money recycling. Just doing our part for the environment.
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/us-grants-737-million-to-sola- r-8216rocket-science-8217-power-plant/6484?tag=nl.e660
U.S. grants $737 million to solar ‘rocket science’ power plant
By David Worthington | May 19, 2011, 8:40 PM PDT
Daytime solar energy is stored using molten salts to power turbines at night.
The U.S Department of Energy announced today a US$737 million conditional loan guarantee to a solar power company for the construction of a power plant that will generate electricity 24 hours a day.
SolarReserve is building a 110-megawatt facility in Nevada on 2,250 acres of land leased from the Bureau of Land Management. The DOE says the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project will generate 500,000 megawatt hours of clean energy annually - enough electricity to power over 43,000 homes.
The technology is literally rocket science: SolarReserve’s founders — who hail from United Technology subsidiary, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne — combined their molten salt handling expertise with liquid rocket engine heat transfer technology to build a thermal storage “tower.”
Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project will feature a hulking 640-foot tall solar power structure to house the molten salt-based collection and storage system. The tower can capture as many as 17,500 heliostats of solar energy, the DOE says.
Solar energy is utilized to heat the molten salts during the daytime, which in turn generate heat that spin turbines at night. SolarReserve is the exclusive license holder for the technology. Download a process diagram here.
Federal permitting approvals for the site were granted in Dec. 2010, and the private equity firm US Renewables Group is a founding partner. Also in December, Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory unveiled solar cells that are more adept at harvesting infrared radiation to collect power at night.
The DOE’s loan guarantee program was created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and received additional funding through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The Crescent Dunes project is expected to create over 600 jobs for Nevada.
“Innovative companies like SolarReserve are helping ensure that Nevada can lead the nation in clean energy production, putting people back to work and pushing America toward energy independence. They deserve all the public and private support we can muster,” said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The DOE has granted over $30 billion to support 29 clean energy projects to date; $8 billion in loan guarantees went to solar generation projects.
And of course Dingy Harry is all for dumping nearly a $billion into his NV economy. Just another Pork Barrel project. That is how you get re-elected time and again.
Fortunately Nixon, despite his shortcomings, was a pretty smart fellow.
Looks like the "warmists" miscalculated.
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So that's why he hired those plumbers. I thought it was just to keep tabs on Daniel Ellsberg. :shades:
I miss Nixon. He signed off on the Clean Air Act, NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Ocean Dumping Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Federal Insecticide, Fungide, Rodenticide Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act and added more than 80,000 acres to the National Park system. Plus he had a hand in Earth Day and standardizing Arbor Day.
He did misfire on an early version of CAFE/emissions standards and a few other things, but overall he has to be right up there with Teddy Roosevelt when it comes to the ecological concerns. The political equation was behind all of it (this is Tricky Dick we're talking about after all), but Nixon seized the moment after the Santa Barbara oil spill. Watergate kept him from backtracking as the environmental movement became less of the fad of the day.
What is the EPA doing???
China’s Toxins Invade Our Air
Thursday, May 19, 2011 4:19 PM
The April issue of Discover magazine carries articles that should make our hair stand on end. Science reporter Jeremy Jacquot describes a new worldwide study by a marine research group called Geotraces, which is busy testing the waters of the world for environmental contaminants.
Geotraces found that the levels of mercury in the North Pacific Ocean have increased 30 percent over the past 20 years, meaning greater risk of mercury-contaminated seafood.
Another article by David Kirby describes how environmental sleuths traced the source of a number of airborne contaminants invading our shores to China, where industrial growth over the past decade has been unprecedented.
Reports of smog-filled cities, heavily polluted rivers and lakes, and growing health problems among the Chinese population are legendary. Heavy industry, especially metal smelters and coal-burning facilities, are pouring tons of mercury into the atmosphere.
A study conducted in 1999 by Dr. David Streets, a senior energy and environmental policy scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory, determined that in that year the communist giant poured 590 tons of mercury emissions into the atmosphere. That compared to 117 tons produced by the United States.
By 2003, that number jumped to 767 tons of mercury, and the most recent estimates suggest China is churning out as much as 1,400 tons of mercury per year and is increasing toxic emissions 6 percent to 7 percent each year.
Atmospheric scientists have discovered that this mercury has risen into a series of plumes 20,000 feet up and is carried by air currents all the way to the United States. Rather than dispersing evenly so that the levels are diluted, the mercury appears to remain concentrated in these plumes.
Neuroscientist and researcher Dan Laks analyzed data on 6,000 American women collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and found that the concentration of mercury in them closely followed the passage of atmospheric mercury from China.
Few realize that atmospheric mercury is a major source of mercury contamination. It is ironic that Laks is quoted as saying, “Mercury’s neurotoxicity is irrefutable — and is linked to Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS.”
Something to think about when you buy a CFL made in China. I won't be eating any fish caught or raised in the Pacific Northwest.
Just imagine what the U.S. could accomplish if we could essentially get EVERYONE to pay their fair tax by way of a national sales tax and get rid of the IRS completely. It would also do away with all the lobbyists, etc. because Congress could no longer sell their votes.
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The technology exists to contain those pollutants, but in China, the politically connected oligarch sweatshop owning class (who our so called self-made "capitalists" adore) simply doesn't have to.
Look at the USA 100 years ago. We were doing exactly the same thing to provide goods to the World. It is our DEMAND for iPhones etc that puts a gun to China's head. I don't think it will take them as long to realize they are being exploited as it took US.
The real question? Can we produce the products we want using our own resources and labor under the much stricter environmental controls we enforce on this country? I don't think we can. I could be surprised when and if it happens. So far it is just talk.
By David Evans
The debate about global warming has reached ridiculous proportions and is full of micro-thin half-truths and misunderstandings. I am a scientist who was on the carbon gravy train, understands the evidence, was once an alarmist, but am now a skeptic. Watching this issue unfold has been amusing but, lately, worrying. This issue is tearing society apart, making fools out of our politicians.
Let’s set a few things straight.
The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s. But the gravy train was too big, with too many jobs, industries, trading profits, political careers, and the possibility of world government and total control riding on the outcome. So rather than admit they were wrong, the governments, and their tame climate scientists, now outrageously maintain the fiction that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant.
Let’s be perfectly clear. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and other things being equal, the more carbon dioxide in the air, the warmer the planet. Every bit of carbon dioxide that we emit warms the planet. But the issue is not whether carbon dioxide warms the planet, but how much.
Most scientists, on both sides, also agree on how much a given increase in the level of carbon dioxide raises the planet’s temperature, if just the extra carbon dioxide is considered. These calculations come from laboratory experiments; the basic physics have been well known for a century.
The disagreement comes about what happens next.
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/04/07/climate-models-go-cold/
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2011/05/18/from-global-warming-alarmi- st-to-skeptic/
http://nation.foxnews.com/global-warming/2011/05/16/scientist-flips-blows-global- -warming-bits
I am sure you can find those that will refute Evan's claims. Why not/ it is their livelihood that is at stake? It comes down to who do you want to believe. I prefer scientists that are not being paid to put forth an agenda.
Money offered to prove CO2 effect
BELIEVERS in the science of global warming, you now have the chance to spread the word and at the same time make yourself $10,000 richer.
This has to be really simple, as almost everyone from PM Julia Gillard down, including much of our mainstream media, has been telling us it’s a fact – the science says so, anybody who thinks otherwise is a fringe-dwelling extremist, a denier who won’t accept the evidence and doesn’t deserve to be heard.
According to Ms Gillard, climate change is happening and the time is right for a carbon tax.
This could cost Australian families $863 a year, according to a Treasury forecast, but then you might still end up making a profit.
If all this sounds too confusing, that’s when the lazy $10k prize on offer could really come in handy. All you have to do is come up with empirical evidence that “increasing atmospheric CO2 from fossil fuel burning drives global warming”.
Victorian locomotive engineman Peter Laux has pledged the prize in a statutory declaration witnessed by a police officer, and the challenge is open for 20 years .
Ms Gillard says the overwhelming evidence of “climate change” (I think she means the human-caused variety) is “accepted by every reputable climate scientist in the world”, so just hop on to Google and track that evidence down.
But wait, there are just a few apparent “disreputables” who don’t accept it, so perhaps you should check them out too: international scientists Prof. Richard Lindzen, Henrik Svensmark, John Christy, Dr Ferenc Miskolczi, Dr Miklos Zagoni, our own Prof. Bob Carter, Ian Plimer, Dr David Evans and many others including more than 30,000 scientists who signed a petition in the US stating that CO2 was not causing dangerous climate change.
Prof. Carter and Dr Evans have written numerous articles on the topic, including one in Quadrant Online co-authored by Alan Moran, an economist specialising in energy policy. They debunk the government’s case for human-induced climate change and a carbon tax, point by point.
But don’t be put off, surely with the overwhelming scientific consensus we keep hearing about, the truth really is out there? Peter Laux just wants you to find it.
He describes himself as a “militant trade unionist” – a member of the oldest rail union in the world, the Locomotive Division of the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU), and vice-president of his local branch. He says:
“I have watched over the past couple of decades as the so-called left side of politics has been easily duped, co-opted and corralled by the Northern Hemisphere elite over the issue of the Greenhouse Effect or Global warming or Climate Change or Climate Chaos or whatever new slick PR advertising spin they need to use today.”
AGW proponents constantly claim “overwhelming evidence” and yet incredibly never show any
“For those who despise the source of their prosperous lives and wish to burden those who can least afford it with carbon taxes and cripple the development in the Third World, I offer you $10,000 (AUS) for a conclusive argument based on empirical facts that increasing atmospheric CO2 from fossil fuel burning drives global climate warming.”
That won’t be as easy as we first thought, but are you up to the challenge?
http://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/story/2011/04/26/money-offered-to-prove-co2-- effect-science/
I don't see what is made there that couldn't be made here. Of course it wouldn't be as cheap, but the sweatshop ideal isn't progress or justifiable at all. And it is just talk indeed, won't become even close to reality until punitive actions are taken against the offshoring traitors.
That is where we disagree. It is not the capitalist that are looking to maximize their profits that are to blame. It is our federal government. They could level the playing field with tariffs as many on my side of the aisle have tried pushing through for decades. Just like the solar panel manufacturer that takes our alternative energy money and builds his factory in China. Why do we allow that? $25 million down the toilet and NO jobs created.
I think you have a very distorted view of China. If you think it is bad under Communism, it would be a disaster as a Democracy.
Truth is we owe China too much money and the Feds want more to pander to the welfare voters. The leeches living off the rest of US do not care where the TV is built. He does not want a job anyway. That requires the four letter word he hates "WORK".
Hunter's son is carrying the torch on fair trade. No help from the Democrats.
Throughout his nearly thirty years in Congress, Rep. Hunter (R-CA) has been a prominent voice on national defense and military issues. A Vietnam veteran, Hunter previously chaired the House Armed Services Committee and has long supported increased defense spending. He is the co-chair of the House National Security Caucus and supports the Bush administration’s efforts in Iraq.
Hunter has pressed for the construction of a fence on the U.S.-Mexican border, which borders his district. Under his leadership, nearly sixty miles of fencing along the border in San Diego County have been constructed. A member of the Congressional Jobs and Fair Trade Caucus, Hunter made fair trade one of the central issues of his platform and has often pointedly criticized the U.S.-China trade relationship as unfair.
http://www.cfr.org/experts/world/duncan-hunter/b13302
There's no "democracy" on this planet, never has been, never will be. On what point exactly am I wrong about China?
Anyone like Hunter, who dares to challenge the grave mistake we have made, will remain at most a beloved fringe player.
It would not happen without Federal approval. Remember Clinton signed NAFTA and pandered to the Chinese. Even got his and Hillary's hand slapped for taking Chinese campaign contributions. It also would not happen without Unions convincing high school dropouts they are worth $30 an hour and an enormous retirement. You like to pin the blame on capitalism. It is greed on every level from the bottom of the welfare cesspool to the richest guy Bill Gates. And you and I in the middle pay the bills. That is not China's fault. They are doing what they feel is best for their people. Feeding a billion and a half Chinese is no small feat. They were starving when I was a kid. Don't hear that anymore so something must be getting better. We have been brought up with the notion that slavery is evil. Says who? Where is that mandated? Who's moral code dictates that ideology.
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The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulafft, at Bergen, Norway. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters, and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes. Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared.
Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds. Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.
==================
Oops !
I apologize, I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922, as reported by the AP and published in THE WASHINGTON POST . . . over 88 YEARS AGO ! !
Climate is from MAMA Nature's menstrual cycles - the sun and water vapor.
I guess if religious and scientific leaders make enough predictions, 1 day one of them will be right.
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NAFTA is a prime example, along with our "most favored" red China.
The [non-permissible content removed] did what they thought was best for their people, along with the Soviets, and other crazy movements. So what? By your ideals, why were they ever to be challenged, and not just blindly supported and aided like we do China?
I see China's human rights and environmental abuses as a direct result of our insatiable desire for cheap goods. Same as the problems caused during the Clinton administration that pushed the drug trade up through Mexico, making it a war zone. You buy cheap Chinese goods or illegal Drugs you are part of the problem.
China was a social and environmental criminal long before our treacherous old neocons decided to bend over for them. We hold zero blame. They didn't have to do business with us. Blaming us for their problems is like someone with a 40K income who got a 400K mortgage in 2005 for a house now worth 200K blaming the banks for their woes. Nobody had a gun to their heads.
Pshaw.
It's neither reasonable nor possible to execute a national boycott on Chinese goods.
That's just talking complete fantasy.
Apple did 3.2 BILLION DOLLARS in sales in their brick-and-mortar stores ONLY in the 1st quarter.
EVEN IF it were at ALL POSSIBLE (which it's not,) stopping Chinese imports would not only be impossible, it would be stupid, too. China would just find other markets, and keep polluting.
And it would require a GUVMINT MANDATE, Gary, that which you so detest.
No government mandates. Just education that makes it clear to our children that every iPod, iPhone or iPad we buy creates pollution that DOES cross the ocean and rest on US soil. That all those beautiful Windmills are polluting the earth much more than the government is telling US.
Heads in the sand will not make it go away.
As will not also "head in the clouds" attitudes of thinking Americans could be "educated" into not buying Chinese goods.
Overheard at WallyWorld:
Man: "Look at this toy right here. Made in China, $1.75. This one over here, the SAME TOY, Made in the U.S.A., $2.50. Which one should we buy, honey?"
http://www.myamericantoys.com/default.asp