On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 12:54 PM, Scott Stroz <[email protected]> wrote: > > So, paying for smoking cessation now so we see a payoff in the future is > good. But drilling offshore now so we see a payoff in the future is bad. I > don't get it. >
It's an issue of opportunity cost. Money put into energy conservation has a greater return than money put into oil exploration. Money put into renewable energy sources has a greater return than money put into non-renewable energy sources. If something goes wrong with off shore drilling, the consequences really blow goats. If something goes wrong with switching from incandescent bulbs to compact florescent, well, I'm not entirely sure how that goes wrong honestly. But I think it would not be as bad as an oil spill. I'm not against oil exploration, honestly. As the worldwide supplies diminish and the larger economies modernize (India, China, etc) oil stands to be an increasingly valuable commodity. The problem I had with offshore drilling as proposed is that it was pimped as a solution to our energy needs and that's just stupid. To the extent that we can do safe exploration in areas that aren't overly threatened, I think oil exploration is a worthwhile private endeavor. And it likely holds some future payoff for the country. It just isn't a solution to the energy problems our country faces either in the short term or the long term. We need to become an exporter rather than importer though before it becomes a useful tool. As for smoking cessation, the money will be spent now or later. Now, hopefully it goes to getting people to quit. If they don't quit, then the money comes out later in terms of health care costs and lost productivity. Since health care continues to get more expensive and the productivity of the American worker has been steadily improving it would seem to make sense to try and spend the money now and defer future costs and increase future productivity gains. Judah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:287412 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
