This will scare you.

[valmom]

. . . Doesn't matter who's in the WH. It will all come out the same . . .

OMG!!! It may be this kind of thinking that has us in today's predicament.

But it's true. The bureaucracy is so bloated and imoveable that it really doesn't matter- these events have been on the road so long that getting it out of the ruts it has made is almost impossible.

 

[Dunkopf]

The point is that yes solar and wind are still very expensive. Why, because they haven't had enough research done on them. Everything that has bettered our lives has been subsidized in one form or another by the Fed. The initial research and development is too expensive for corporations to want to venture out. If Ronny had left the solar panels on the WH and pushed for further research, we would have been 30 years ahead of where we are now. I know the Gov is full of bloat. They can supply places like MIT with funding for research and get the stuff developed. Then some mega corporation can jump in and produce it and then another and another. Next thing you know prices are at a reasonable level and we are wasting less oil and coal.

Nuclear is not cheap by any means. It will be our only alternative though because of short sighted politicians who's base don't think about the future and only care that they may have to pay an extra 1% in taxes to make the entire countries future more secure.

It really doesn't matter who's in the WH. If you remember, Obama was touted as being very liberal and was going to get us headed in a good direction. Instead he is very centralist and has had very little effect on where the country is going. At this point in time he has virtually no effect at all. I know people still say he is liberal. Fact is that the right has just gone very far to the right and so left is now center. Our country is very badly out of alignment and wants to drive into the ditch again.

Oil is nowhere near as high per barrel as it was in 2007 when it got to 160 a barrel. Yet the prices at the pump are getting real close to what they were. Just like when Bush was in charge, Obama has no control over gas prices. The people responsible for making the laws of the land are a completely different party than Obama is. Not a chance they would cooperate with anything that would take money away from the big oil companies. As the old saying goes " The market will take care of itself." All we can do is grin and bear it.

 

[KevsFarm]

I agree, makes little or no difference at this point, who's in the WH.All former and present WH residents have shared to some degree in putting America on the fast track to becoming a third world country.It's like trying to stop an out of control 50 ton locomotive running out of control down the tracks..
In America, there is no united front for most anything that will make a difference to save us. We are a nation of peoples going in 100,000 different directions, each with its own special interest.
The only united peoples i see in the US are the Amish, in the way they operate as a community, shunning big oil and most of the traps that are getting main stream America in a mess...I don't know how these Amish vote, if they vote at all.I don't think one would call them liberals..lol
Anyway, one can't blame the present state of affairs on, Ronny, Billy,George or anyone else in the WH.We the people,let it happen, and most of us don't like looking at that.

 

[Boogity]

Wouldn't it be a wonderful miracle if we could find a group of leaders who want to close the chasm between the right and the left? We have such a rich and powerful and yes, loving nation but our differences are so extreme and over powering that we are moving backwards.

It's no secret, I'm a Tea Party Conservative but I absolutely hate people like Rush Limbaugh, Rachael Madow, Randi Rhodes, Montel Williams and Sean Hannity. I personally think these clowns have done more to damage our nation than the previous three presidents have. And our last three POTUS have been real losers. I think our current administration is, without a doubt, the worst. Ever.

I do like Glenn Beck because he only presents facts that have been thoroughly researched. He gets ridiculous with his theatrics sometimes but I have investigated him and his team of researchers and they are diligent in they're efforts to be factual. I think he is doing our nation a great service. However I do wish he would expose more of the creeps on the right. I'm the kind of person who questions EVERYONE and EVERYTHING. I'm very skeptical of everyone in the media and I think most are BS peddlers.

Some may be reading this and wondering what this has to do with self sufficiency. My way of thinking is that if we would all pull together the need for survival preparations would decrease.

 

[FarmerChick]

Oil will always be a global problem. those countries that control big oil ---it is gold to them and basically their only true great stronghold on the world. believe me, never will it be an easy product to ever deal with for any country.

 

[bornthrifty]

If I were made Queen of America tomorrow (scary thought eh? LOL) I would be opening nuclear plants like mad ala France . We already have a place to store the waste. (Yucca Flats)

The funny thing I when I first start taking solar classes I was VERY anti-nuke. I quickly changed my mind. Funny with math can do

The main thing the gvnmt can do is allow individual homeowners to be more energy diverse. If you were to build a home tomorrow using passive solar with a wood stove back up, and PVC panels on the roof off grid, you could not get a home loan. Even with a big down payment, they will not let you NOT be on the grid.

"replacing efficient energy with inefficient sources will no more advance the economy than replacing trucks with horses."
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/21780/

I was anti nuke too..but of course I was just young and dumb and was anti anything I was told to be by the culture, lol

actually you aren't the first person who I have "met" who was anti nuke, and eventually realized it's value...that very same story I heard a few years ago,and it really got me thinking that if an "expert" converts there must be something to it...

I think his main point was that it was reliable, and could produce so much more energy than the other alternatives available...(no if's and hoping and wishing into the future...the technology was ready not that the other things don't have potential...but that this is ready now...) he also gave some staggering statistics on how many windmills you need to support a small community..I seem to recall it was a a very high number

?

anyhow thanks for sharing

 

[FarmerJamie]

panem et circenses

As long as this continues, we will need strive to be more and more self-sufficient.

Backyard nuke plants? Like the Back-to-the-Future household fusion reactor in the Delorian at the end of the first movie? Love it!

 

[Icu4dzs]

panem et circenses

As long as this continues, we will need strive to be more and more self-sufficient.

Thus, bread and circuses, is a phrase now used to deplore a population so distracted with entertainment and personal pleasures (sometimes by design of those in power) that they no longer value the civic virtues and bow to civil authority with unquestioned obedience. Bread and Circuses has also become a general term for government policies that seek short-term solutions to public unrest.

Touche` FarmerJamie!

You have succinctly described a) the predominant group of folks in this country who voted Obama into office
b) the current failed state of our deteriorating nation
c) The method by which those currently in the offices of government will try to "get out of this one", but unfortunately I forsee a grim prognosis.

In the words of the Dalai Lama (or close to them) "I do not forsee a safe journey nor a safe return"

This one isn't funny folks. As the bus in Harry Potter said, "clench your buttocks, it's going to be a bumpy ride!"

 

[Wifezilla]

It isn't funny, but you have to laugh. We can see what is coming. We try to prepare ourselves and our friends. We KNOW there will be poop and rotating blades.

I don't know about your thoughts but the world is just going to get wackier. I will be laughing and saying "I told you so!". Otherwise I would just be screaming

 

[Dunkopf]

Another day and just more of the same. People blaming whatever ills the country is suffering from on the current person in charge. It's always amusing to watch. Don't worry. Only 6 more years.