We are the third largest country in the world.. We have the third largest population in the world.
We have a beautiful climate for growing things and compared to Europe, China, Japan, Korea etc. we barely use our land letting it function as forests. And unlike Brazil where the rain forest has terrible land once the trees are cut, America has fertile land beneath the forests. Immensely productive land. The breadbasket of the world. America is like a rich baron with a manor house filled with art and antiques and thousands of acres who is having a temporary cash crisis. Because he can't bear to part with any of the paintings, or antiques and won't invite the public in as tourists (for cash) and refuses to till the soil he will die of starvation. Instead of learning about the systems of his estate and developing them through logical growth, he thinks himself poor because he doesn't have petroleum or coal to exploit and destroy the land and poison the waters of his neighbor's estates for cash. So he just sits and speaks of his poverty and cuts back. The questions are this: Where is the poverty? Is it in the estate or is it between his ears? He is the poor little rich kid that doesn't seem to know how wealth happens aside from "striking it rich." The Private Sector is worshiped by the Right wing, but: 1. if it's so efficient, why does the American people, through their government, give it so many tax breaks and outright funding sources? 2. Why do we give public lands to the private sector for a pittance. 3. Why is the private sector so inadequate at developing so many important things like education, health care, cultural resources, research science? 4. Why is the private sector so inept at coming up with obvious answers to energy problems like Sun, wind and water which are plentiful? In fact the private sector can't make a profit on "Plenty" they need scarcity to do that. Economics is not about dispensing plentiful resources but scarce resources. Just look at the front page of most economics texts if you don't believe me. For example: "Economics is the study of how people choose among alternative uses of their scarce resources." "Economics" by Walter Jessell, Barron's Business Review Series. To worship the private sector is as stupid as worshiping government. In either case, to a genuinely religious person, such action would be idolatry. Only the spiritually shallow tie their religion, or lack of it, to the private market or the government which is from the people itself. It seems one CAN make an idol of one's people. A real society requires careful planning and developmental strategies that have real guts. Mere economic contraction is like anal retention in the body. It will just make you constipated. REH http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/opinion/sunday/the-jobs-crisis.html?_r=1 An homage to my parents: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/opinion/blow-an-ode-to-teachers.html?src=I SMR_AP_LO_MST_FB
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