[quote=gandalf]Aecetia, what’s your take on reducing our dependence on foreign oil? Is it achievable? Combination of conservation, domestic drilling, clean coal and development of renewables such as wind, solar, biofuels, micro-generation, etc.? The electrical grid underpinning it all? Ten years out? 20 years out?
Where does the money come from? Given the state of things?
Do you view this energy issue as connected to foreign policy? Does it give us a better strategic position vis-a-vis the middle east (and others)?[/quote]
I think we need to use every means available to wean us from foreign oil dependency to quit feeding hostile regimes. I would like to see more drilling, more refineries built and more alternative energy use encouraged by grants to innovators, tax breaks for taxpayers who use solar panels, etc. (here in San Diego) we need them to pay for all the energy the home or business system generates.
Where will the money come from? Get rid of some of those bloated bureaucracies like education. Use vouchers. In one generation you would have smarter citizens and better teachers. Ending the war (which
I am sure is one the horizon) will save money. Cutting taxes will encourage spending and innovation. Let people invest their own social security money. Prosecute government fraud in all areas- Medicare both fraudulent recipients and abusers in the medical delivery system. Maybe Congress should be part time. The less they do, the better off we are. I would like to decentralize and debureaucratize all aspects of government. FEMA comes to mind, as does CalFire. Ask yourself if we were better of before such and such and be honest. I can appreciate the war on terror, but who wants to travel by air now a days, thanks to those bufoons at TSA? I think people who submit money saving ideas to State and Federal government should be rewarded for those ideas by a cut of the savings with some kind of cap on the highest “reward” you would get for saving the money.
Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head and I did not have time to go to any sites to get that input. These are just my crazy ramblings.
