Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 08/13/2008 7:43:17 AM PDT by shrinkermd
...High energy prices also have an unforeseen bright side, forcing the nation to reduce its carbon emissions and delivering the encouraging message that, although we might not regain the freewheeling way of life that came with cheap gasoline, we have more ability to shape our fates than the caricature of the soft, spoiled American implied.
The first sign was when SUVs went from being the belles of the freeway to oversized wallflowers. Thirteen miles per gallon isn't just expensive; it's no longer chic. As U.S. automakers gear up for a new motoring sensibility, we can look forward to a more gas-thrifty future.
Then, a handful of manufacturers with overseas operations found that the costs of global shipping outweighed the cheap labor, and moved their factories back to the United States. It's not easy to abandon an expensive plant, so the movement of factory jobs has been more a trickle than a rush, but it can be expected to grow as companies consider their options for new facilities.
...Now supermarkets are cutting down on shipping costs as well, by buying more local produce. Wal-Mart has announced that it will spend $400 million on local produce this year, with plans to expand such purchases in the future. The markets are finding a convenient match in cost reduction and consumer tastes. In addition, locally grown fruits and vegetables are less likely to go through the giant processing plants where produce from throughout this country and others is commingled, occasionally spreading food-borne illnesses such as salmonella and E. coli.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
The ideal is Europe where $9-10 gasoline has resulted in only a minority being able to afford a car.
Exactly who is making these changes besides those least able to afford to?
I doubt nanny Peloser is bothered by high prices, or fuel for her government plane. She will probably get a bill passed to buy the leftover books and give them to homeless people.
No car, no freedom, stay home, save the planet. Isn’t that how it goes.
China will make what you need with their enslaved labor, here is your monthly stipend — and oh yeah, your grey ballcap they made extras in Chaina.
Let the energy savings begin: We can start with closing down the LA Times and it’s mammoth carbon foot print. Consider all the gas used in delivering this recycle bin fodder across LA.
“Inside every silver lining, there’s a dark cloud.”
Libs love high gas prices. It empties the highways and airports for the limo set.
There is no silver lining or positive change here. Only regression.
FORCING CHANGE is what the dems are all about.
The ‘silver lining’ might be for Nancy Pelosi and Boone Pickens for their financial investments in non-oil sources of energy.Michele Malkin has a great column on this today.
Castrating rapist would be painful but it would force positive chages.
Preventing Liberals from voting would be painful (for them) but would force positive changes.
See how easy one person positive change can be someone else’s worst nightmare?
Yep, with high energy prices, only the Al Gore’s and the limo liberals can afford to waste all the resources they want while the rest of us must concede to living in 500 sq ft shacks and ride bicycles. At least, the liberal tyrants will be able to better control the little people.
Forcing you to comply with their superior will is what leftists are all about.
That’s why they LOVE government -
the only entity with the legal ability to use or threaten to use deadly force to impose its will on you.
You nailed it. That’s what it’s all about - so that the elites can separate themselves from the masses.
A real shortage of current energy supplies may happen someday.
But so far the only energy crises I’ve lived through have been entirely unnecessary and entirely caused by politicians, either domestic or foreign, who are only interested in controlling behavior.
These are the words of a fool. At any time in history, the key to an increase in prosperity is the harnessing and utilization of energy. Whether it be the use of fire for heat and to provide light, extending the workday, to later forging steel for the plow, the hammer and the saw, steam for locomotives, gasoline for cars, trucks and tractors, or electricity for computers, harnessing energy to amplify the yield from brain and muscle power is the key to prosperity. A decline in energy utilization means a decline in prosperity, period. Demand for energy is down because the country is in a recession, recognized or not, and without a significant increase in available energy, the world is headed for a depression.
The soft spoiled American is vital to the world economy. Just as the thousand people working at the Waldorf Astoria depend on the decadent clientele for their jobs, the developing economies of the world depend on American consumption to drive the growth in their economies.
The future is straight forward. Increase the supply of available economic energy or watch the world fall into a global depression.
“Inside every silver lining, there’s a dark cloud.”
That would probably be the drug addicts who are being forced to wean themselves off drugs they can no longer afford the ‘gas’ to go get.
Prosperity allows everyone to live in the (nearly/relatively) same luxury and comfort as the elites,
and this p’s them off to no end.
There is no upside to cutting our energy consumption - energy is the ability to do positive work. There is advantage in being able to increase our efficiency. Paradoxically, what we want to end up with (more energy being used more usefully) may be accelerated by the false crisis we are now in. We will likely end up with more oil AND nuclear AND coal AND Solar!
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