The 21st Century, The Leaders, The Future

The leaders of the 21st Century in The United States are a combination of inept, corrupt, and vacillating people, who are letting the country wander directionless into the future. They spend their time trying to offend the least amount of people and throwing those people bones so that they can continue to get elected, so that they and their families will get special treatment and perks. Some are less overt than others, but in general they do not think, or do things that do not have immediate results. Long term planning has given way to quick fixes.
The price of oil has skyrocketed and investors are taking advantage of the rise in oil prices by buying oil, holding it, then selling it. The leaders in The United States are getting huge donations of cash from the oil companies, so they refuse to take any action that might anger those companies. The future has become grim for our children. Because of the long distances people have to travel in this country to get to work, school, and the store the price of gasoline lowers their income. This trend is likely to continue, since the government excludes fuel costs from the inflation index, which means they don’t have to account for it. With even less oil a car may become a luxury again and since this country has a very poor mass transit system, they will have to find alternative means to commute.
The high price of Gasoline and diesel fuel pushes the prices of goods higher and higher and will continue to do so. The effect on the price of goods has only just begun. There will be a long time increase in the price of all goods over the 21st century as oil becomes more expensive. Anything with plastic in it, on it or made from it will steadily rise and we all know that almost everything falls into one of those categories. The true impact of the oil crisis has been hidden from us bye politicians and the press, because it will be devastating. Things could triple in price over the next 20 years and the reality is, that peoples incomes do not rise that fast. Nevertheless the actual poverty level will rise to unprecedented levels. A salary of thirty thousand dollars may be below the actual poverty level for a single person quite soon and since more and more jobs are leaving the country rapidly, there may be few employment opportunities in the future for people. More and more people are likely to find themselves without work or prospects of work.
The future of this country is literally at stake now. This country could become as economically dysfunctional as Mexico, because of the inaction of politicians. A country that no longer makes product can be completely omitted from the world economy when the peoples gross income declines dramatically. People only need to look at The great Depression to realize that there is no guarantee of jobs or income in this country and the government which has put this country so deep in debt will have no means to alleviate the suffering. This country is at the brink of the deepest depression it has ever seen and it is being ignored or underestimated by the government, economists, and the press. The problem may be complicated by inflation that is out of control, because of energy prices and the rising price of imported goods. Taxes could skyrocket as the government struggles to stabilize the situation. The wealthy may begin to migrate to other countries to escape the increased taxes and no doubt many businesses will close.
This scenario may seem unreal, but at this very moment, Great Britain is beginning to see the beginning of this situation itself. The oil is running out in the North Sea and that income will not be available to the British Government. Oil Income has sustained Great Britain and its economy since its discovery. Now that money will no longer be available and England has moved away from manufacturing. They haven’t got a large Gross National Product to offset the loss of oil, so other countries will be less inclined to do business with them. The government there has not come to grips with this situation yet and no solution is in sight. The government has no ability to offset the rising price of oil and the rising cost of services and the general obligations it has. The medical system in England has begun to make the choice between treating cancer patients and keeping services for other patients. These choices will begin to affect people with other patients with other illnesses as the government tries to do more with less. Americans will be able to watch as their own future plays out in Great Britain.
Green Jobs will not save The United States, because the market is not there to buy the products. Solar panels cost 5 to 10,000 dollars a piece and making homes energy efficient could cost as much as the house is worth. In some cases there will be no win situations, where a house is not worth the cost of making it energy efficient and the cost of building a new energy efficient house is beyond the owners means. These people will have no choice but to live with the house they have and these people make up the majority of home owners. It is just impractical to believe that green technology is practical for the average American. Green Technology is more likely to be large projects to produce electricity and power machinery. The jobs that this creates will be short term and will not require many employees when they are completed. The fantasy of millions of Green jobs will most likely not materialize and those jobs that are created are decades away. A nuclear Plant takes a minimum of ten years to complete and it can cost billions of dollars. The process of building enough of these facilities in a short period of time would take several decades at a minimum, because of the regulations involved in building them and the fact that there are very few companies who have the expertise to build one.
Solar power is impractical for many parts of the country, because winters are long and cloud filled and other parts of the country have short days. Wind has to be placed in areas that get a breeze year round or at least the majority of the year.
The reality is that natural gas promises to be the long term solution to energy problems in The United States, but the cost will not be small. Complete industries will have to change to accommodate gas in the quantities it will be needed to power the country. Cars will have to be built that are affordable and efficient and it will not be a slow process to filter down through the general population. Fuel stations will have to be replaced or renovated all through the country and the cost will not be small. Natural gas will have to be handled far more safely than gasoline. The whole process will take decades and may have to be repeated, because natural gas is a limited resource.
The Future of this country will depend more on the American People than it’s leader and it always has. Politicians get credit for the work of inventors and laborers, that have changed the face of this country and the world. It is only the past couple decades that people have given their power to change The United States over to politicians and begged for help. Yes there was FDR, but his vision was to build America to save it, not sell it to the Chinese. It was Americans working hard for very low wages that changed the country and made a future for everyone in this country.
Thanks to a anonymous source for today's blog entry.