JD-not sure what you are talking about. What incident? Where?

slamfist

I was just responding to Mr. Browns statement about me in post # 14.

Caseyville is in Illinois,not too far from the 159 and 64 interchange, where there was a proposal for a million dollar interchange beautification near the mall exit.I think they dropped the idea, but I think a low cost rain garden or prairie restoration would work well there,or at least plant more trees to reduce the air pollution and rainwater runoff.I believe switchgrass is a native prairie grass(I have been visiting the “grow native” websites) that probably would have covered this area in the 1800’s.I like what the city has done along Hwy.40 with the daffodils in the spring, I think they could go a lot farther with the idea and maybe get some gardening clubs to volunteer labor and some plants.If they introduced some drought-tolerant wildflowers, it might even help with the colony collapse disorder affecting so many honeybees,too.That could get to be a problem for food supplies in the future, adding to the higher prices.Anyway, there are lots of ideas that could help overall, but big business and government doesn’t stand to profit from it, so nothing changes.I love ideas that have maximal impact for minimal effort.

There have been some interesting ideas posted for alternative energy sources. However, I think a key point is being missed. Government involvement should be kept to a minimum. There is not a person on this earth who is smart enough to know what the next source of energy will be and when it will be available. The great news is that it is not necessary for this to be known.

The free market will take care of that. Resources are developed and allocated through a great system of prices and voluntary transactions entered into by millions of people. The government can subsidize a desired activity in the hope of speeding development. The major fallacy is that government can predict which activities should be subsidized (witness the corn based ethanol debacle). It is the height of arrogance to assume we can see into the future and make decisions for everyone that are better than they can make for themselves. The chances are that they government will be subsidizing the wrong idea at the expense of other ideas which are far better but which have trouble competing with the government subsidized activities.

The best thing the government can do for our long term energy independence is to repeal the farm bill and energy bill and restrictions on domestic production on our natural sources of energy. I understand that this is very hard to accept by those of you that believe that you are so smart that you should be making life changing decisions for the rest of us.

One way to reduce the price of gasoline, would be to suspend the EPA’s and the various states blending requirements. Not completely suspend, but blend only the cleanest one that is available, and require all states to burn it. This would probably reduce refinery down time, if down time is required for the conversion to different blends. It may be only a few cents per gallon, but worth looking into.

David H.

No offense guy, I’m sure you believe in what you say, but there ain’t no such thing as a free market. Markets are always influenced by the government that creates them, because in civilized society government makes the rules that govern the marketplace. And believe me you need rules in the marketplace otherwise you get the Trusts of the gilded age. We’re very close to that now. Think Enron, Tycho, the savings and loan debacle, I mean the list is endless. Every time someone calls for deregulation of the market, it ends in disaster. Look at all the stuff that was deregulated in England under Maggie Thatcher. Know any Brits? Ask them, don’t take my word for it. The closest thing to a free market is the barter system. It doesn’t work in a society of our scale. That’s why government intervention (odious as it sometimes can be), is vital. The best we can do is get the best available info to the officials in gov’t. and demand that they act on it, and then hope some idealogue doesn’t mess with the data like has happened in EPA, and FDA under the Bushies rule. Let em know you’re watching, and blow the whistle on the corruption as you find it. It’s inefficient to work that way, but it’s still the best answer to the greed is good mentality of unfettered capitalism. It’s why health care belongs in the hands of government and not in the private sector and almost every other developed nation in the world understands this. The Free Market is a myth man, get over it.

Mr. Brown,

I will not take offense because I believe you views are based on ignorance not malice, I am sure you believe what you say. The ancient Greeks had a perfect word to describe it – hubris. It is the epitome of arrogance to believe you can plan an economy. It is also supremely immoral to force you preferences on the rest of us. Any system that has to be enforced at the end of a gun is not moral. Any planned economy such as the former Soviet Union is doomed to fail. You can sit around wishing for a Marist and/or fascist system, but I am confident that my fellows Americans with not tolerate it.

Mr. Brown

You are a left wing fool, and know-it-all. Put government in charge of health care, and you are asking for a disaster. Look at medicare, medicaid and social security as examples. The only thing government is good for, is defending the great nation.

Mr. Brown

An arrogant bastard.

Rich,
You forgot to mention the the mess created by deregulation of the electrical utilities in Illinois.While it didn’t hurt my family too badly due to all the energy-efficient improvements we made to our house,it has been very bad for a lot of others, especially those on fixed incomes and many small businesses.I am not a big fan of too much government,but until greed(as opposed to profit motive) is no longer as big a motivator as it is,someone has to say “Enough”.I know business is to and should be allowed to profit, but certain businesses seem unable to be satisfied with a reasonable profit.Certainly, oil companies come to mind That is when regulation becomes a necessary evil.

While I understand and share David’s reluctance to depend on the government, making life-changing decisions for the rest of us IS what they do.They certainly need to do a better job of it,though.They seem to create as many problems as they solve.Ethanol comes to mind here. I think one of the biggest problems this country will face is an inability to reach a reasonable consensus on what is the appropriate action to take and how quickly to do it.No surprise there.I mean, it is hard enough to reach an agreement within one’s own family,much less city,state,or country.My husband used to play devil’s advocate over any energy-saving idea I suggested that he wasn’t already familiar with.That stopped with an insulating paint additive and spray foam insulation.I haven’t told him yet about the DIY solar heat panels he/we’ll be installing in the fall :)Ha Ha-He’ll argue just on principle, then we’ll bounce ideas back and forth until we have a workable plan, then they’ll be installed by October. Our government is too big/inefficient to make the changes that need to be done that quickly, and they’re too pre-occupied with the coming election to worry too much about the little guys, anyway. I’ll just continue to hope for the best, but prepare for worst, like a lot of other people are doing.