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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
JohnnyMM
Published Letters: 230 Editor's Choice: 11
Since you brought it up ddrew2u... does anybody else think this is kind of a stupid idea? Not the technology of course, that sounds like a crucial part of making electric cars viable. But rather the idea of a giveaway of money to someone who just invented a can't miss money maker? This is like trying to encourage betting in a casino by giving an extra prize to someone who just won a $1 million jackpot.
What they need to encourage is the basic research that leads up to the eventual successful invention. I am going to check out the links you included in a second, I'm just saying the whole idea of rewarding the grand prize winner with an additional tax payer financed extra bonus prize is kind of stupid.
This $300 million prize idea is so incredibly stupid it begs for some underlying conspiracy theory to justify it. Maybe they know the idea won't see the light of day due to upcoming plans and this is to compensate a friend? Maybe just payback for some favor in the past? Maybe it is just a nice big number to dazzle the masses with? I know these sound crazy but this idea is just do damn dumb, you gotta wonder.
Reading the columns and letters around biofuels/peak oil/electric cars that have been popping up lately I had a small epiphany. It occurred to me that the big petroleum companies would get completely cut out of the picture if we switched to electric cars where the batteries get recharged from plugin-type outlets, since the electric companies already have/own the grid that distributes the "fuel". But if we switch to any type of liquid fuel where you pull into your friendly corner filling station to refuel, then the petroleum companies simply need to do some upgrading to equipment to be able to distribute and sell that new fuel.
I suppose this might have already occurred to some of you, but to me this seems a bit of a revelation. The oil companies (which usually do refining and distribution too) are NOT going to just quietly fade into the sunset. They are going to do everything they can to push us into using some type of liquid fuel for cars, and from their point of view if it is petroleum based, then the upgrading might not even need to happen (oil from shale or coal or algae or plants).
I forgot to make one of my points (I might be a little drunk too...). I kind of bought into the feel good ads that BP did about "we are an energy company, and we will evolve to provide the energy of the future, blah, blah, ...". Well there are a few scenarios where delivering the energy of the future doesn't include any role for BP or the other big petroleum companies, and I'll bet that scares the hell out of them. So I think since their very survival depends on being part of the picture (whatever the "energy of the future" picture looks like) they will fight like any beast does when faced with the possibility of it's own demise - no holds barred.
I think there are 2 aspects to the speculation driven markets that come into play when politicians discuss them. Lying and ignorance. Ignorance on the part of so many politicians when clearly they don't even understand how the system works (how could they when it has been deliberately manipulated to obscure how it actually works). And lying when they just parrot whatever lobbyists have told them is the truth. When so many people in economics/finance are unable to predict what will happen or even to clearly explain what did happen after the fact, it indicates that the whole system is flawed and lacks transparency. It can't possibly be managed in a sensible way that benefits society.
It seems like a crime when we have an economic system that allows so much wealth to be extracted without actually doing anything productive, and it is not an abstract thing either since this effects us all at the grocery store and when we buy or sell a home. I'm not saying capitalism is the problem, just that we have allowed some really clever people to set up rules for the game that very few people understand and that allow those who do to make money from doing nothing, or worse doing something that actually undermines the value built by the hard work of everyone else. This has to stop, and it does not make me anti-capitalist to say that I am tired of getting screwed like this.
Since the economic system is set up for us and by us (well should be anyways) it should be something that we at least have a chance to manage in a way that benefits our long term goals as a society. Time to do a little tinkering to get the system to support long term thinking that leads towards a sustainable future and diminishes the casino night that we have allowed it to turn into.
I have been following your discussion of the FISA legislation in your recent columns, and found a bit of inspiration to do something civic-mined. Your clear and compelling analysis (along with a little reflection over the 4th of July weekend) inspired me to make a contribution to the ActBlue campaign (Blue America PAC vs Retroactive Immunity).
Our soldiers past and present have risked dying to defend this country and our freedoms, so anyone who reads about these infringements on our constitutional freedoms and is not compelled to do *something* (contribute to ActBlue, write an editorial for your local newspaper, contact your congressmen/senators to tell them that you care about how they vote on this issue, something) is an American only in name. Show a little courage and do something, all I did was give up a dinner at Red Lobster to help buy an ad that hopefully brings this issue to more people's attention.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
