@edgarblythe,
edgarblythe wrote:
We have a teetering economy and you want to remove billions of dollars and many thousands of jobs from it without even giving the workers advance notice their careers have gone with the wind. I just don't see it and I don't think very many others will either. I agree wholeheartedly with the goal you are pushing, but we have to disagree on how to get to it.
The economy can't be used as an excuse not to take action, because the economy will NEVER be deemed 'good enough' to deal with systemic change. There is a lot of money tied up in oil interests, money at the very tip top of that pyramid o' wealth in America, and they will fight tooth and nail to stop any serious transition away from it. Just think, if the economy recovered and we were ticking mostly okay, what would you say about a radical new plan to reshape the economy? I think you'd easily argue that we shouldn't change things and put the economy in a nosedive.
I think the opposite is true - this is the BEST time to transition to something new. It is cheaper to do it now than later, because we are already having to spend vast amounts of money to build our economy back up; we should simply spend that money to build it in a more positive direction.
Gotta take the economic impact of oil, all the way it hurts us and costs us money, into account as well when you do the equations, too.
Cycloptichorn