let it be

I guess I'm a fly fishing blogger. I write these incredible blogs in my head, but they always get away. Here comes a spattering of pieces I can remember. Let's require all cell phones to use the same charger. It's a gross waste of resources created with toxic processes to throw out the charger every time you have to change cell phones. Our over consumption is the greatest threat to national security. We're consuming into a massive debt that is damaging our economy, we're sucking up resources and spewing out toxic waste that's damaging our ecology. We can survive without the economy, but we're goners without the ecosystem. President Barak Obama is another politician. Likely the most decent one we've had in a long time, perhaps ever...I sincerely believe that he is a decent and sincere man, and that's rare for that occupation...but he's President of the same bunch of yo yos that watch fox news, think Paris Hilton is big news, and want a toy in every happy meal. I'm obsessed with the notion that we are 6% of the world's population consuming 24% of the world's resources. I would like to know how much money Americans spend on soda pop, and how that amount compares to the cost of providing national healthcare. I'm off to google. I'll be back.

Ok, I found something that gives some perspective. From this article comes this quote from the American Beverage Association:

...the beverage industry accounts for 160,000 jobs that generate $6.7 billion in wages and $25 billion in economic activity in New York State each year.

This quote is telling in 2 ways. That's 25 billion in economic activity in New York State alone. That's a lot of money for sugar water, especially in a nation where childhood obesity and diabetes are serious problems. How's about that 25 billion and the activity it represents being expended on youth programs promoting skills? The other telling aspect of this quote is the 160,000 jobs the Association mentioned. Oh, if people stop drinking soda pop, all these jobs will be lost. And we need to keep having wars so the weapons industry jobs are secure. This is the bigger issue, and the primary topic of my cereberal blogs that rarely get written outside my skull. We need a new economic model.

I'll wrap this up with a quick list of ideas I'm trying to develop and articulate. Create a maximum wage. Create a minimum standard of living for every human on the planet with ready easy access to safe drinking water and by extension a good toilet as the foundation. Provide work for every person willing to get up and go to work each day. Provide incentive to get up and go to work each day. A company's profit should increase the longer their product remains in use; planned obsolescene must be eliminated. Let's all learn to enjoy simpler things like sunsets and each other's company. Like how much coal was burnt so I could sit at my fan churning machine to produce this blog?