[blahblahblah]

Again, I think people need to stop getting taken in by the “GW is real/GW is not real” sideshow and keep their eyes on the ball. This is a textbook 3-card monty play to get us all to accept a horrible regressive tax. TBTB are gearing up to tax us on our carbon output and they’ll use that money to pay bureaucrats instead of doing a damn thing to clean up or fix our environment. If you make $25K a year and you drive a car and run your air conditioner, you will pay the same carbon tax as the guy who makes $500K a year and drives a car and runs his air conditioner. The rich guy will pay a little more of course because his house and car are nicer, but the carbon taxes will basically be consumption taxes — regressive and unfairly burdensome on those least able to afford them while leaving the super-rich untouched.

All of these supposed solutions like making a “cap&trade” market and adding new regressive taxes are not going to magically make the problems go away. Again, if we were serious about this problem we would be funding solar energy, wind energy, even nuclear energy, we’d be building public transport systems, we’d be giving incentives for people to live closer to work, but again we’re not hearing any of those ideas.

Think of it like social security. The government added a tax so that we would all be able to survive old age without starving but now it is of course bankrupt and we’re told that we’ll be lucky to receive any benefits at all when we’re old. Yet they keep taking the tax out of our paychecks and they always will. GW is being used to scare everyone into accepting a new carbon tax, but this time it will be even worse because it’s not a progressive tax based on income like SSDI but rather a regressive consumption tax. It is a wicked parlor trick, and the best thing about it is that no one will ever be able to say whether it’s working or not. The government will just release reports saying “We’re putting 10% less carbon into the environment!” and we’ll all ooh and aah and feel good about ourselves and meanwhile the hurricanes will keep coming and the ice will keep melting.

Just my $0.02…

[blahblahblah]

Again, I think people need to stop getting taken in by the “GW is real/GW is not real” sideshow and keep their eyes on the ball. This is a textbook 3-card monty play to get us all to accept a horrible regressive tax. TBTB are gearing up to tax us on our carbon output and they’ll use that money to pay bureaucrats instead of doing a damn thing to clean up or fix our environment. If you make $25K a year and you drive a car and run your air conditioner, you will pay the same carbon tax as the guy who makes $500K a year and drives a car and runs his air conditioner. The rich guy will pay a little more of course because his house and car are nicer, but the carbon taxes will basically be consumption taxes — regressive and unfairly burdensome on those least able to afford them while leaving the super-rich untouched.

All of these supposed solutions like making a “cap&trade” market and adding new regressive taxes are not going to magically make the problems go away. Again, if we were serious about this problem we would be funding solar energy, wind energy, even nuclear energy, we’d be building public transport systems, we’d be giving incentives for people to live closer to work, but again we’re not hearing any of those ideas.

Think of it like social security. The government added a tax so that we would all be able to survive old age without starving but now it is of course bankrupt and we’re told that we’ll be lucky to receive any benefits at all when we’re old. Yet they keep taking the tax out of our paychecks and they always will. GW is being used to scare everyone into accepting a new carbon tax, but this time it will be even worse because it’s not a progressive tax based on income like SSDI but rather a regressive consumption tax. It is a wicked parlor trick, and the best thing about it is that no one will ever be able to say whether it’s working or not. The government will just release reports saying “We’re putting 10% less carbon into the environment!” and we’ll all ooh and aah and feel good about ourselves and meanwhile the hurricanes will keep coming and the ice will keep melting.

Just my $0.02…

[blahblahblah]

There are many huge environmental issues caused by humans. We have a tremendous impact on the environment. Exhaust gases and particulates from burning fossil fuels, genetically modified foods that are infecting and crossing with natural plants, pesticide and heavy metal pollution in groundwater, the overabundance of plastic waste that is clogging and choking the oceans, runoff from huge factory farms that spoils freshwater supplies, nuclear waste and of course nuclear weapons (including DU munitions), you can find hundreds of serious ecological issues with human causes with a couple of quick web searches.

Now ask yourself why the ONLY ISSUE we are being told that is important is that carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is going to heat up the planet and flood New York City so we must immediately act to become “carbon neutral”. Replace your lightbulbs that use less electricity but contain mercury and then feel good about yourself when you throw them in the trash.

While their may be some truth that increased CO2 has an impact on the climate, the real reason that governments are excited to do something about this is that it involves TAXING YOU, the serfs. The guys that really run the show, the guys who manufacture the plastics and pesticides and GMO foods and DU munitions and “earth-friendly” mercury lightbulbs will continue poisoning the planet and starting more wars while the rest of us lucky enough to survive their poisons and bombs will have to pay more taxes, possibly even to a global taxing authority.

This is a huge wealth confiscation scam, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t big environmental problems, it just means that TBTB are exploiting one of them to enrich themselves at your expense. That said, you can bet on them succeeding with this con and we’ll all have another line on our paycheck stubs for our “carbon” tax in a few years. We’ll continue polluting and poisoning our environment and things will keep getting worse and worse.

If politicians were actually serious about your health and keeping the earth safe, they would be providing incentives for people to live closer to work, they’d be starting public transportation initiatives, they’d be outlawing GMO foods, they’d be going after the huge polluters, they’d be trying to slow down the generation of the mountains of plastic trash we produce, they’d be banning DU munitions. Instead they’re promising that if they can just add another tax that will fix everything. Just like all that social security tax you’ve been paying your whole life is going to help take care of you in your old age. Except of course that now they tell us that social security is bankrupt and that we won’t actually receive any benefits — funny, I haven’t noticed any reduction in the amount of social security tax I pay. You can expect similar accounting curiosities with the new “carbon” tax.

I do think that we all have a responsibility to consume less resources, by the way. Drive only when you have to, take public transport when it is available, don’t buy water in little plastic bottles, drive the wheels off of your car before replacing it, and when you do consider a hybrid, etc… Just don’t expect that giving the government the ability to tax and regulate you further is going to do anything to help solve these very big problems.

Just my $0.02…

[blahblahblah]

There are many huge environmental issues caused by humans. We have a tremendous impact on the environment. Exhaust gases and particulates from burning fossil fuels, genetically modified foods that are infecting and crossing with natural plants, pesticide and heavy metal pollution in groundwater, the overabundance of plastic waste that is clogging and choking the oceans, runoff from huge factory farms that spoils freshwater supplies, nuclear waste and of course nuclear weapons (including DU munitions), you can find hundreds of serious ecological issues with human causes with a couple of quick web searches.

Now ask yourself why the ONLY ISSUE we are being told that is important is that carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is going to heat up the planet and flood New York City so we must immediately act to become “carbon neutral”. Replace your lightbulbs that use less electricity but contain mercury and then feel good about yourself when you throw them in the trash.

While their may be some truth that increased CO2 has an impact on the climate, the real reason that governments are excited to do something about this is that it involves TAXING YOU, the serfs. The guys that really run the show, the guys who manufacture the plastics and pesticides and GMO foods and DU munitions and “earth-friendly” mercury lightbulbs will continue poisoning the planet and starting more wars while the rest of us lucky enough to survive their poisons and bombs will have to pay more taxes, possibly even to a global taxing authority.

This is a huge wealth confiscation scam, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t big environmental problems, it just means that TBTB are exploiting one of them to enrich themselves at your expense. That said, you can bet on them succeeding with this con and we’ll all have another line on our paycheck stubs for our “carbon” tax in a few years. We’ll continue polluting and poisoning our environment and things will keep getting worse and worse.

If politicians were actually serious about your health and keeping the earth safe, they would be providing incentives for people to live closer to work, they’d be starting public transportation initiatives, they’d be outlawing GMO foods, they’d be going after the huge polluters, they’d be trying to slow down the generation of the mountains of plastic trash we produce, they’d be banning DU munitions. Instead they’re promising that if they can just add another tax that will fix everything. Just like all that social security tax you’ve been paying your whole life is going to help take care of you in your old age. Except of course that now they tell us that social security is bankrupt and that we won’t actually receive any benefits — funny, I haven’t noticed any reduction in the amount of social security tax I pay. You can expect similar accounting curiosities with the new “carbon” tax.

I do think that we all have a responsibility to consume less resources, by the way. Drive only when you have to, take public transport when it is available, don’t buy water in little plastic bottles, drive the wheels off of your car before replacing it, and when you do consider a hybrid, etc… Just don’t expect that giving the government the ability to tax and regulate you further is going to do anything to help solve these very big problems.

Just my $0.02…

[blahblahblah]

There are many huge environmental issues caused by humans. We have a tremendous impact on the environment. Exhaust gases and particulates from burning fossil fuels, genetically modified foods that are infecting and crossing with natural plants, pesticide and heavy metal pollution in groundwater, the overabundance of plastic waste that is clogging and choking the oceans, runoff from huge factory farms that spoils freshwater supplies, nuclear waste and of course nuclear weapons (including DU munitions), you can find hundreds of serious ecological issues with human causes with a couple of quick web searches.

Now ask yourself why the ONLY ISSUE we are being told that is important is that carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is going to heat up the planet and flood New York City so we must immediately act to become “carbon neutral”. Replace your lightbulbs that use less electricity but contain mercury and then feel good about yourself when you throw them in the trash.

While their may be some truth that increased CO2 has an impact on the climate, the real reason that governments are excited to do something about this is that it involves TAXING YOU, the serfs. The guys that really run the show, the guys who manufacture the plastics and pesticides and GMO foods and DU munitions and “earth-friendly” mercury lightbulbs will continue poisoning the planet and starting more wars while the rest of us lucky enough to survive their poisons and bombs will have to pay more taxes, possibly even to a global taxing authority.

This is a huge wealth confiscation scam, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t big environmental problems, it just means that TBTB are exploiting one of them to enrich themselves at your expense. That said, you can bet on them succeeding with this con and we’ll all have another line on our paycheck stubs for our “carbon” tax in a few years. We’ll continue polluting and poisoning our environment and things will keep getting worse and worse.

If politicians were actually serious about your health and keeping the earth safe, they would be providing incentives for people to live closer to work, they’d be starting public transportation initiatives, they’d be outlawing GMO foods, they’d be going after the huge polluters, they’d be trying to slow down the generation of the mountains of plastic trash we produce, they’d be banning DU munitions. Instead they’re promising that if they can just add another tax that will fix everything. Just like all that social security tax you’ve been paying your whole life is going to help take care of you in your old age. Except of course that now they tell us that social security is bankrupt and that we won’t actually receive any benefits — funny, I haven’t noticed any reduction in the amount of social security tax I pay. You can expect similar accounting curiosities with the new “carbon” tax.

I do think that we all have a responsibility to consume less resources, by the way. Drive only when you have to, take public transport when it is available, don’t buy water in little plastic bottles, drive the wheels off of your car before replacing it, and when you do consider a hybrid, etc… Just don’t expect that giving the government the ability to tax and regulate you further is going to do anything to help solve these very big problems.

Just my $0.02…

[blahblahblah]

There are many huge environmental issues caused by humans. We have a tremendous impact on the environment. Exhaust gases and particulates from burning fossil fuels, genetically modified foods that are infecting and crossing with natural plants, pesticide and heavy metal pollution in groundwater, the overabundance of plastic waste that is clogging and choking the oceans, runoff from huge factory farms that spoils freshwater supplies, nuclear waste and of course nuclear weapons (including DU munitions), you can find hundreds of serious ecological issues with human causes with a couple of quick web searches.

Now ask yourself why the ONLY ISSUE we are being told that is important is that carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is going to heat up the planet and flood New York City so we must immediately act to become “carbon neutral”. Replace your lightbulbs that use less electricity but contain mercury and then feel good about yourself when you throw them in the trash.

While their may be some truth that increased CO2 has an impact on the climate, the real reason that governments are excited to do something about this is that it involves TAXING YOU, the serfs. The guys that really run the show, the guys who manufacture the plastics and pesticides and GMO foods and DU munitions and “earth-friendly” mercury lightbulbs will continue poisoning the planet and starting more wars while the rest of us lucky enough to survive their poisons and bombs will have to pay more taxes, possibly even to a global taxing authority.

This is a huge wealth confiscation scam, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t big environmental problems, it just means that TBTB are exploiting one of them to enrich themselves at your expense. That said, you can bet on them succeeding with this con and we’ll all have another line on our paycheck stubs for our “carbon” tax in a few years. We’ll continue polluting and poisoning our environment and things will keep getting worse and worse.

If politicians were actually serious about your health and keeping the earth safe, they would be providing incentives for people to live closer to work, they’d be starting public transportation initiatives, they’d be outlawing GMO foods, they’d be going after the huge polluters, they’d be trying to slow down the generation of the mountains of plastic trash we produce, they’d be banning DU munitions. Instead they’re promising that if they can just add another tax that will fix everything. Just like all that social security tax you’ve been paying your whole life is going to help take care of you in your old age. Except of course that now they tell us that social security is bankrupt and that we won’t actually receive any benefits — funny, I haven’t noticed any reduction in the amount of social security tax I pay. You can expect similar accounting curiosities with the new “carbon” tax.

I do think that we all have a responsibility to consume less resources, by the way. Drive only when you have to, take public transport when it is available, don’t buy water in little plastic bottles, drive the wheels off of your car before replacing it, and when you do consider a hybrid, etc… Just don’t expect that giving the government the ability to tax and regulate you further is going to do anything to help solve these very big problems.

Just my $0.02…

[blahblahblah]

There are many huge environmental issues caused by humans. We have a tremendous impact on the environment. Exhaust gases and particulates from burning fossil fuels, genetically modified foods that are infecting and crossing with natural plants, pesticide and heavy metal pollution in groundwater, the overabundance of plastic waste that is clogging and choking the oceans, runoff from huge factory farms that spoils freshwater supplies, nuclear waste and of course nuclear weapons (including DU munitions), you can find hundreds of serious ecological issues with human causes with a couple of quick web searches.

Now ask yourself why the ONLY ISSUE we are being told that is important is that carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is going to heat up the planet and flood New York City so we must immediately act to become “carbon neutral”. Replace your lightbulbs that use less electricity but contain mercury and then feel good about yourself when you throw them in the trash.

While their may be some truth that increased CO2 has an impact on the climate, the real reason that governments are excited to do something about this is that it involves TAXING YOU, the serfs. The guys that really run the show, the guys who manufacture the plastics and pesticides and GMO foods and DU munitions and “earth-friendly” mercury lightbulbs will continue poisoning the planet and starting more wars while the rest of us lucky enough to survive their poisons and bombs will have to pay more taxes, possibly even to a global taxing authority.

This is a huge wealth confiscation scam, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t big environmental problems, it just means that TBTB are exploiting one of them to enrich themselves at your expense. That said, you can bet on them succeeding with this con and we’ll all have another line on our paycheck stubs for our “carbon” tax in a few years. We’ll continue polluting and poisoning our environment and things will keep getting worse and worse.

If politicians were actually serious about your health and keeping the earth safe, they would be providing incentives for people to live closer to work, they’d be starting public transportation initiatives, they’d be outlawing GMO foods, they’d be going after the huge polluters, they’d be trying to slow down the generation of the mountains of plastic trash we produce, they’d be banning DU munitions. Instead they’re promising that if they can just add another tax that will fix everything. Just like all that social security tax you’ve been paying your whole life is going to help take care of you in your old age. Except of course that now they tell us that social security is bankrupt and that we won’t actually receive any benefits — funny, I haven’t noticed any reduction in the amount of social security tax I pay. You can expect similar accounting curiosities with the new “carbon” tax.

I do think that we all have a responsibility to consume less resources, by the way. Drive only when you have to, take public transport when it is available, don’t buy water in little plastic bottles, drive the wheels off of your car before replacing it, and when you do consider a hybrid, etc… Just don’t expect that giving the government the ability to tax and regulate you further is going to do anything to help solve these very big problems.

Just my $0.02…

[blahblahblah]

A more appropriate question than “should I sell?” is “CAN I sell”? There are not a lot of people these days who are able to pay $900K for a house in North Park, no matter how nice it is. Loans are much harder to come by than when you bought in 2005, so you’ll need a buyer with a lot of cash. Buyers with lots of cash are usually wealthy, and of course wealthy people usually become wealthy by being careful with their money. Paying $900K for a house in one of the US markets most at risk for further price declines is pretty risky. My guess is that few wealthy people would want to do it, especially considering what else they could do with their cash and still afford to rent a similar place for less money. You might get lucky and find a buyer that has just inherited some money, won the lottery, or closed a big drug deal, but such people are pretty rare. If you can afford the house, I would say hunker down, enjoy it, and stay in for the long haul. That is a nice neighborhood and it sounds like a nice house too!

[blahblahblah]

A more appropriate question than “should I sell?” is “CAN I sell”? There are not a lot of people these days who are able to pay $900K for a house in North Park, no matter how nice it is. Loans are much harder to come by than when you bought in 2005, so you’ll need a buyer with a lot of cash. Buyers with lots of cash are usually wealthy, and of course wealthy people usually become wealthy by being careful with their money. Paying $900K for a house in one of the US markets most at risk for further price declines is pretty risky. My guess is that few wealthy people would want to do it, especially considering what else they could do with their cash and still afford to rent a similar place for less money. You might get lucky and find a buyer that has just inherited some money, won the lottery, or closed a big drug deal, but such people are pretty rare. If you can afford the house, I would say hunker down, enjoy it, and stay in for the long haul. That is a nice neighborhood and it sounds like a nice house too!

[blahblahblah]

A more appropriate question than “should I sell?” is “CAN I sell”? There are not a lot of people these days who are able to pay $900K for a house in North Park, no matter how nice it is. Loans are much harder to come by than when you bought in 2005, so you’ll need a buyer with a lot of cash. Buyers with lots of cash are usually wealthy, and of course wealthy people usually become wealthy by being careful with their money. Paying $900K for a house in one of the US markets most at risk for further price declines is pretty risky. My guess is that few wealthy people would want to do it, especially considering what else they could do with their cash and still afford to rent a similar place for less money. You might get lucky and find a buyer that has just inherited some money, won the lottery, or closed a big drug deal, but such people are pretty rare. If you can afford the house, I would say hunker down, enjoy it, and stay in for the long haul. That is a nice neighborhood and it sounds like a nice house too!

[blahblahblah]

A more appropriate question than “should I sell?” is “CAN I sell”? There are not a lot of people these days who are able to pay $900K for a house in North Park, no matter how nice it is. Loans are much harder to come by than when you bought in 2005, so you’ll need a buyer with a lot of cash. Buyers with lots of cash are usually wealthy, and of course wealthy people usually become wealthy by being careful with their money. Paying $900K for a house in one of the US markets most at risk for further price declines is pretty risky. My guess is that few wealthy people would want to do it, especially considering what else they could do with their cash and still afford to rent a similar place for less money. You might get lucky and find a buyer that has just inherited some money, won the lottery, or closed a big drug deal, but such people are pretty rare. If you can afford the house, I would say hunker down, enjoy it, and stay in for the long haul. That is a nice neighborhood and it sounds like a nice house too!

[blahblahblah]

A more appropriate question than “should I sell?” is “CAN I sell”? There are not a lot of people these days who are able to pay $900K for a house in North Park, no matter how nice it is. Loans are much harder to come by than when you bought in 2005, so you’ll need a buyer with a lot of cash. Buyers with lots of cash are usually wealthy, and of course wealthy people usually become wealthy by being careful with their money. Paying $900K for a house in one of the US markets most at risk for further price declines is pretty risky. My guess is that few wealthy people would want to do it, especially considering what else they could do with their cash and still afford to rent a similar place for less money. You might get lucky and find a buyer that has just inherited some money, won the lottery, or closed a big drug deal, but such people are pretty rare. If you can afford the house, I would say hunker down, enjoy it, and stay in for the long haul. That is a nice neighborhood and it sounds like a nice house too!

[blahblahblah]

I gotta come to Allan’s aid here. The Clinton bombing of Iraq and Yugoslavia was horrific and most of us didn’t notice because we were too busy watching our Cisco stock climb. We were all gonna be millionaires! The current Iraq occupation is bad for a whole host of reasons and has only recently surpassed the Clintonian death toll in Iraq from the sanctions and bombing. But we need to look beneath the partisan game that we have been tricked into playing and start asking the deeper questions, like — should we be dropping bombs on these countries? Who is profiting as a result of this activity? Should we be occupying other countries and attempting to “westernize” them? Is it fair for transnational corporations to use our military and private contractors like Blackwater as their Pinkerton men to rough up the locals as they extract resources from other nations? What kind of government do we want? Who are we as a people? What kind of country do we want to be?

Until we start honestly discussing those kinds of things we are just gonna get more of the same. Don’t count on either one of these guys to change much. That said I will still probably vote for Obama but if my friends vote for McCain I won’t be mad at them or try to convince them not to.

[blahblahblah]

I gotta come to Allan’s aid here. The Clinton bombing of Iraq and Yugoslavia was horrific and most of us didn’t notice because we were too busy watching our Cisco stock climb. We were all gonna be millionaires! The current Iraq occupation is bad for a whole host of reasons and has only recently surpassed the Clintonian death toll in Iraq from the sanctions and bombing. But we need to look beneath the partisan game that we have been tricked into playing and start asking the deeper questions, like — should we be dropping bombs on these countries? Who is profiting as a result of this activity? Should we be occupying other countries and attempting to “westernize” them? Is it fair for transnational corporations to use our military and private contractors like Blackwater as their Pinkerton men to rough up the locals as they extract resources from other nations? What kind of government do we want? Who are we as a people? What kind of country do we want to be?

Until we start honestly discussing those kinds of things we are just gonna get more of the same. Don’t count on either one of these guys to change much. That said I will still probably vote for Obama but if my friends vote for McCain I won’t be mad at them or try to convince them not to.

[blahblahblah]

I gotta come to Allan’s aid here. The Clinton bombing of Iraq and Yugoslavia was horrific and most of us didn’t notice because we were too busy watching our Cisco stock climb. We were all gonna be millionaires! The current Iraq occupation is bad for a whole host of reasons and has only recently surpassed the Clintonian death toll in Iraq from the sanctions and bombing. But we need to look beneath the partisan game that we have been tricked into playing and start asking the deeper questions, like — should we be dropping bombs on these countries? Who is profiting as a result of this activity? Should we be occupying other countries and attempting to “westernize” them? Is it fair for transnational corporations to use our military and private contractors like Blackwater as their Pinkerton men to rough up the locals as they extract resources from other nations? What kind of government do we want? Who are we as a people? What kind of country do we want to be?

Until we start honestly discussing those kinds of things we are just gonna get more of the same. Don’t count on either one of these guys to change much. That said I will still probably vote for Obama but if my friends vote for McCain I won’t be mad at them or try to convince them not to.

[Author]

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