Jed - >> 2. It promotes economic growth according to Keynesian theory.
Let's agree to disagree on that point. We agree on the intrinsic value of volcano and other environmental monitoring for well being and safety I 'm sure, and even further to wide ranging basic research, etc. --- except perhaps when rolled in as part of #2 above. What if it had a few hundred million earmarked for LENR research? I'd have a terrible time going against it, but I know I should. It's supposed to be an emergency stimulus response. Let all the other stuff be considered the usual way, with appropriate planning and forethought (hey, at least read the danged thing!) before voting on it. - Rick _____ From: Jed Rothwell [mailto:jedrothw...@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 12:42 PM To: vortex-L@eskimo.com Subject: RE: [Vo]:The key to self-sufficient Energy Let me emphasize again that I am talking here only about volcano monitoring. Rick Monteverde and Jindal may be correct about the overall recovery plan. I have not looked at it. For all I know, it could be 90% "pork" and wasted money on unnecessary functions of government. Naturally I understand that some people favor government investment in things wind energy and others oppose it. These are complicated issues. What is not complicated is that volcano monitoring is not pork or waste. It is an essential function of government. Many other functions of government sound like a farfetched waste of money to people unfamiliar with modern technology. Rick wrote: But first, handle the HUGE economic emergency facing us with appropriate action. Obama and I think that the most appropriate action is to make vital repairs to the national infrastructure. This serves two purposes: 1. It saves lives and money -- it saves much more money than it costs. 2. It promotes economic growth according to Keynesian theory. Perhaps we are wrong about #2. I do not know enough about economics to judge the validity of Keynesian theory. I do know about technology, and things like bridges, volcano monitoring, salmonella and food safety, and what the people at CDC do. Salmonella monitoring by the government at peanut factories is a good example. It costs practically nothing. It adds a tiny fraction of one penny to a kilogram of peanuts. And what happens when it is not done properly? Salmonella breaks out, hundreds of people get sick, dozens of people die, billions of dollars worth of food must be thrown away, companies go out of business, and the public raises hell. Decades ago we lived with this kind of risk because we had to. People will not put up with it today! Obviously we cannot trust the factory owners to monitor themselves. As one of the innocent factory managers explained: "most people will follow the rules but it only takes one or two to destroy the industry." As for the supposedly horrendous cost of government and the economic disaster we face, I think we should tax the wealthiest top 10% of the country to pay for this mess, just as we taxed them for the First and Second World Wars. Just raise their taxes back up to 80% or so for a few years until the problems blow over and the economy recovers. They can easily afford it, believe me. I am in the top 10%. (Not in income but in net assets.) I know a lot of other people who are. Wealthy people get far more benefits from government than the rest of society. Also, note that wealthy people caused this mess on Wall Street, and benefited from the policies that led up to it. Not all of us, of course! I do not oppose wealth and I am certainly no socialist. Wealth allows me to promote cold fusion pretty much full time, which is a good thing. But there are times when rich people have to fork over and make sacrifices proportional to their wealth and circumstances in life. You need not feel sorry for them. Except when they are drafted to serve in war, they are never called upon to make the kind of sacrifices poor people make every day of their lives. - Jed
