- Energy - Oil is now at $100 a barrel. That is a 33 gallon barrel and less than a third of the oil is gas so you can see that gasoline is headed to $3.50 to $4.00 a gallon soon. (By Christmas?) Where is the experimentation on alternate sources of energy and why are we letting the NIMBY crowd keep us from developing new sources. (NIMBY is the acronym for "Not in My Back Yard" and is applied to those people that say we can't drill for new oil, build new coal fired plants and that windmills are ugly) If there is an issue that should be on the front burner of every candidate for the president in 2008 it is this one. Don't hear much about it do you?
- The Border - I for the life of me can't figure out why this is a big issue. If it is the dollars going to Mexico I say OK but I think it is a symbolic thing and not worth the effort it would take to plug it up. Get control of who is here by making everyone have an ID card and if you don't have one you can't make/spend or send money. I heard that there are over 3,000,000 bogus social security numbers out there. Where is the policing on that one. Yes, it is a source of revenue that causes Billions of dollars to flow to the Soc Sec Administration. Follow the Dollars!
- Water - There is a real bru-ha-ha going on here about the 345 million gallons of water a proposed Ethanol plant would require. The story makes the point that about 3/4th of that would be recycled and reused and only 1/4th or 86 million gallons would be new each year. The truth is that our typical golf course requires 82 million gallons a year. Now you tell me, what is the most important thing for us to use the water for?
- Does the number 10 trillion mean anything to you? That is our new National Debt ceiling. What is that number as a part of the Gross Domestic Product. (As if most people have a clue what that is in dollars) What does it mean in terms of life right here at Rabbit Run? Unless someone figures out how to make the debt something people recognize as a problem there is just no way anything is going to be done to fix it.
- Truth - So long as there are ways to obfuscate (lie in a way that seems normal) what the truth is, we will continue to have people doing their best to lie to us in ways that sound believable. Yesterday on of the talk shows spent over an hour talking about "Dog the Bounty Hunter" as if it were a topic that should have been important. Sheesh, I could have told you that he uses the N, f, and lot more words that aren't political correct. I wouldn't recommend you watch his program on A&E but the few times I have watched it they have to bleep out about every third word. DUH!
- Politics - Strange bed fellows are about. Senator San Brownback threw his support to Senator McCain. Talk about too little too late. I am not sure that if I was in third place I would want the sixth (or lower) placed person to support me. Just for the moment I will not talk about Hillary running for President and not running as a woman. (That just makes my head ache when Bill comes out ans says the guys shouldn't pile on because she's a woman)
- People who Don't Care - The real problem is there is so much on the plates of people out there they just don't care enough to make our Government do the right things, first. (Hell I would be glad if they do the right things right even if they don't do them first) People don't spend their money wisely, they run out and buy things they don't need with money they don't have and then wonder how they got under this bus. Just today I read that there is a new grenade contract let to Israel for 52 million to blow down doors. Jesus Christ, don't they have size 12 boots? I know they have C-4 and blasting caps but that just isn't good enough.
MUD
You've got some really good points here, especially about the energy crisis and the national debt.
ReplyDeleteWith this housing loan crisis and huge credit card debt that so many are facing, I just keep thinking that if our government can't keep from digging themselves in deeper, I don't know why anyone would expect the average financially illiterate American to do better. Materialism has been so built up in our culture and I think we need to really start pulling in the reins on that and some of the bad habits that go along with it. The school system needs to add financial education--and not just your 1/2 credit economics class (which I learned nothing from) or balancing a checkbook--to the curriculum. Maybe someday we'll have average Americans and leaders who can balance a budget whether individual or national.
As far as the election goes, I'm just so worn out listening to all the bull blown from both sides. I care, but it's hard not to despair and just give up hope and stay home on election day. I have no clue who to vote for. There are some I like better than others, but mostly there are some I hate more than the rest. I'd like to vote for someone because I really believe in them, not vote against a candidate.