Sunday, October 25, 2009

EPA: Climate bill could cost family $100 annually? Several other sources site a much larger cost to consumers.

Saturday an article was published on Yahoo stating "EPA: Climate bill could cost family $100 annually." For the past few months I have been hearing on the Radio and from various energy companies that it will, in fact, cost us much more than that. To quote an article from a local Energy Cooperative there are "Difficult challenges ahead" not only for consumers but producers as well. The new "Cap and Trade" bill may cost us closer to 3,900 a year or more according to a study recently conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The costs of this controversial legislation are far reaching, and reaches into every aspect of our lives. For instance it is estimated that the grocery bill alone for an average family in the U.S will be doubled by 2015. Electricity prices are expected to increase from between 5-15%, gasoline prices are expected to increase expotentially from 9-145%, and the price of natural gas is expected to increase as well to between 12-50%. Not to mention the number of jobs lost in addition to these huge price increases are expected to range well within the hundreds of thousands. While I agree that something needs to be done about pollution I don't think this bill is going to help by draining the wallets of the citizens of this country. If you'd like to read some of the articles cited here, the article on the climate change bill is http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091024/ap_on_go_co/us_climate_bill , http://www.ourenergy.coop/ and offline in a special energy report published by Snapping Shoals EMC 14750 Brown Bridge Rd Covington, Ga 30016 .

Friday, October 23, 2009

Unemployed losing benefits

This article really brings the economic state of some of our fellow citizens into the spotlight. I read an article yesterday that really weighed upon me. The article was featured on Yahoo Finance and it states "7,000 unemployed Americans lose their lifeline every day." Well I don't know about you, but I know the numbers are becoming quite significant. That ends up being alot of people at the end of the month, somewhere along the lines of 217,000! On top of these numbers you have to think that self-employed people who have lost their jobs do not qualify for unemployment insurance, so there is no way to even begin to estimate those numbers. So if you take into consideration the 217,000 per month that did qualify but are losing benefits and multiply it by 12 months you get 2,604,000. That is alot of people that within the last 12 months have become very desperate for help, and there is no end in sight with the economic crisis our country is in. Not only are many of our people bankrupt but so is our country. How long can we continue to prop up our economy with money we don't have to begin with? We need a solution, real jobs, not a handout. But how do you create jobs when the current economic enviroment is so unhealthy? The path we are on is not viable, but there doesn't seem to be any relief to be found.
The article can be found here: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/7000-unemployed-Americans-cnnm-1829229455.html?x=0 .

An Enlightening Article

"The Next Housing Bubble is already underway" the article states and brings to light several interesting points. Here is a link to the article: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-next-housing-bubble-is-here-2009-10#it-starts-with-cheap-money-1 . The article was published October 20, 2009 and is featured on the Business Insider website.

The Reason for Being...

My reasons behind creating this blog are simple. There is a great need not only in my state but also in my country right now. Our country and the principles on which it was founded are crying for its countrymen to stand up and open their eyes. In our country we have enjoyed many decades of prosperity as a whole. We have transformed over the years from a manufacturing based economy to a consumer based economy. We cannot continue on this path, it simply isn't sustainable as the recent economic problems have shown us. All of the "stimulus" in the world cannot fix a system that is broken at it's very core. Like a diseased fruit with a rotten core, our country has begun to rot from within. Our people have began to argue amongst ourselves that it is this party or that party that is to blame. The system itself is to blame, without an upheaval of this system we cannot maintain prosperity. Yes each party has contributed to the demise of our country as we know it but none is entirely to blame. Somewhere along the way we lost the ideals our country was founded upon. Somewhere along the way, we lost our values and the knowledge we needed to be a sustainable nation. We need to stop the bickering, and stand together as a whole nation. I know total unity is impossible in this country, there are too many battle lines drawn. But at least working together on the subjects on which we can agree would be a step in the right direction.

~ A nation divided cannot stand, and a nation united cannot fall.