Ted,
OT
I think $$$ is wasted on all levels of gov't and industry. There is waste in the operation of airports just as there is waste in the operation of Amtrak. Maybe the control of waste per se should not be the prime objective. Maybe it should be measured in the context of the overall good.
You have to look at both sides of the balance sheet. The costs of achieving the the "overall good" can suck all the "good" out of the equation in this process. If the resources are deployed inefficiently, it means that these same resources are withheld from achieving some other "good" somewhere else, probably more good more efficiently.
Even with small subsidies, is that not better than out and out wasting of irreplaceable oil?
But the oil is not irreplaceable! In fact, it will be replaced by another source of energy within our lifetimes. There are so many possibilities out there. Fission is here, today, fusion will be here within our lifetimes. Once you have cheap source of electricity, you can make hydrogen to fuel our transportation, you can make a greenhouse that is 100 stories high and grow plants 3 times per per, resulting in 300 times the food production from the same area of farmland. The rest of the old unused farmland can become woods, parks, meadows or suburbs. You can bring water to deserts etc.
Just consider how quickly US managed to develop and drop the bomb. If the needed, the development of fusion could be greatly accelerated.
We do not have the right to be wastefully consuming such a large percentage of the earth's resources in the name of free enterprise. At some point we need to consider future generations and what their needs will be. But like I said in a much earlier post, we act like indulgent children.....we need our toys. It looks to me like something will have to give....and I hope its not too painful.
Nothing is being "used up". Everything can be recycled. What may be too expensive to recover from "garbage" today may be a piece of cake tomorrow. The modern garbage dumps will be future "gold mines". Our present "toys" drive the economy. Imagine the economic collapse if everybody just consumed the minimum, just to survive.
Development of these "toys" is driving the economy, it is paying for the accumulation of vast knowledge and technologies. A side benefit of these technologies is that one day the trains may run on time and efficiently.
I think your view is way too fatalistic, especially considering that you invest in technology stocks, and many of the companies you invest in are developing technologies that people did not even dream about just a few years ago.
I am a lot more pessimistic about people than technology / environment. I am more concerned about increasingly polluted human minds.
Joe |
