A simple solution to everything.

What would 200 nuclear plants and a whole bunch of elevated towers do for America?  How about eliminating dependence on foreign oil for starters?  Add elimination of the trade deficit and throw in a huge manufacturing stimulus and those are just the beginning.

 

What I am talking about is the same thing I’ve been pushing for 20 years but now a few people may actually be listening.  All we need to do to get our country back under control is to string a bunch of high speed, elevated trains over the interstate highways.  We already have the technology and we already own the land.  Power the system with some environmentally friendly nuke stations and we have an easy solution to nearly all of our major problems.

 

I can see a network of electric trains moving at tremendous speed connecting all of our major cities with feeder lines connecting smaller towns along the way.  I can see a series of electric busses and transport vehicles moving people and goods throughout our cities.  I can see us building this complete transportation network in 10 years with benefits starting immediately and gobs of money in the treasury to address our social problems.

 

Benefits? Let’s start with a 75% reduction in diesel fuel usage.  Add nearly the same reduction in aviation fuel usage then top it off with a 50% reduction in automobile fuel.  This eliminates ALL oil importation.  Throw in a reduction of money sent to Japan for their vehicles (a few $million every day) and the trade deficit becomes an overnight surplus.  Now compute the advantages of cheap plentiful transportation for manufacturers and you suddenly have a very big incentive to relocate plants in the US with all of the associated benefits. Put in an incredible strengthening of the dollar and you have the tip of the iceberg.

 

How do we implement this?  We push the political people until they think it is their idea.  We unite for a “Hero” project like the Interstate Highway System. We talk about it until everyone sees the plan for what it is – a simple solution to almost all of our current problems. Then we just do it.

 

Geo.

Why is Congress apologizing to Black Americans?

H. Res. 194 issues an apology “From the American People” for slavery.  If you read the full apology you will note that white Americans are apologizing for every ill known to the black population.  I, for one, fail to see all of those problems caused by slavery being evidenced today.  My children were educated by many black teachers.  One of my doctors is black and I use a black attorney.  Black politicians are important in my city government.  Black police control crime all across the country and professional sports are filled with black athletes. Color is irrelevant in today’s society.

 

I do not own slaves.  None of my family ever owned a slave.  My ancestors fought and some died to free slaves and end the practice of slavery. I do not condone slavery in any form.  I do not ask for an apology for the death of my ancestors who died in the civil war fighting for the abolition of slavery and I do not apologize for slavery – I had nothing to do with it and I resent the idea of congress attempting to make me feel guilty for the sins of some long dead southern plantation owners. 

 

Apologizing for actions committed long ago has lately become popular among certain elements of our society.  Generally, the apology is meaningless and serves only to make a photo op for the apologizing individual. I suppose that, in the end, I am tired of other people trying to make me feel bad for the actions of someone else.  To tell a group of people that the white people of today are responsible for the actions committed by those in the past is way beyond believability.

 

Americans need to stop pandering to a few grandstanders and look around – our next president may be black.

 

Geo.

 

Airline management pays off.

In these days of high fuel costs the major airlines are absolutely screaming about the cost involved and are frantically seeking ways to add revenue without hiking ticket prices. Charging for luggage, snacks, aisle seats, window seats – the list will eventually end up with pay toilets.  Unfortunately for the airlines, nothing will work.  The sooner they go away the better off the flying public will be.  Southwest may well be the only survivor.

 

Back in the days of plenty, flying was fun.  People were well behaved, dressed nice and were pleasant to be with for a trip.  Airlines were a prestigious business and, thanks to government regulation, made a great return for their owners.  I say thanks to regulations because the airlines were generally run poorly from a business standpoint.  Salaries were generous and pensions and benefits were great. 

 

Along came deregulation and the majors failed to adopt prudent business practices.  Tickets were priced below cost and flying became similar to the old days on a bus.  Ticket prices fluctuated from minute to minute and the odds were that no two people on a flight paid the same price.  Costs remained high and revenue plummeted.  Eastern, Pan Am, TWA and others – great aviation names – gone due to mismanagement and excesses spent by management for perks and benefits.  The time had come for better managers.

 

Instead of improved management practices and managers the existing airline management looked at expenses and halfheartedly tried to reduce them.  When that didn’t work, they brought in the legal hit men who suggested bankruptcy to break the employee contracts.  That underhanded strategy did work but the underlying bad practices and bad managers remained.

 

Airlines, in the name of security, instituted ID checks.  This was only a ruse to prevent people from reselling tickets.  This so called security measure was exposed for the scheme that it really was on 9/11 and the traveling public has since been paying billions in money and days of lost time simply because airlines touted security but were really watching for the person who dared to buy a ticket from someone else.

 

Add higher energy cost and real security costs to poor management and you will get the result you expect.  With the exception of a few well run airlines like Southwest and without massive government intervention, they will all go away and that really is a shame.

 

Geo.

Hate income taxes?

Taxes will always be with us. Someone needs to pay for roads, police, fire departments, schools and giant Senate Office Buildings. My argument is not with taxes, my argument is 1) how our representatives play with our money and 2) how the money is collected.

This is about the latter, how our Government collects the taxes, specifically income taxes. Our tax code is a bewildering array of legalese with enough holes in the premise to make it almost (if not entirely) impossible to completely obey, let alone understand. The tax code has created an army of tax accountants, tax lawyers and other such people/firms designed to handle the chore of paying our taxes without us going to jail.

The simplest solution to the entire mess is to do away with the income tax and institute a revenue neutral sales tax. Charge the States with collecting the money and Billions of dollars will magically appear as a sales tax is nearly impossible to avoid. The more you make the more you will spend and the more taxes you will pay. This even addresses the liberal’s fixation on “fair share”.

We could cut the cost of the IRS by about 70% with the added benefit of being able to see at a glance what our representatives are taking out of our pocket. We would immediately save HUGE amounts of money currently being spent on income tax form preparation. We would make the tax system fair to all and make it easier to pay.

Downside? To the people, NONE. To the politician, transparency. The current crop of people feeding at the taxpayer funded trough will never even consider the option. The only way to institute a National sales tax is to elect people who run on a sales tax platform. Are YOU interested?

Geo.

Energy supply solution really IS simple.

In the 50+ years of nuclear power plants we have had 1 severe problem – Three Mile Island. And THAT problem was really nothing as the safety control devises worked to perfection, human error didn’t. Compare that to the string of disasters involving oil – not just the beaches.

The solution to this country’s energy problem is dependable and locally produced energy. Nuclear energy. Clean, renewable, easy to manufacture and made in America.

Energy to run an elevated railroad over the nation’s interstate highways utilizing existing technology and government owned land without using a drop of costly imported oil. (The airlines hate this one). With the payoff of reduced aircraft, truck and automobile usage.

Energy to charge the growing number of electric vehicles. The technology is here, we need to use it.

Energy to run manufactories and turn the balance of trade around. We CAN return to a net exporting country and enjoy again all of the associated benefits.

All we need to do is DO IT. Solving most of our problems really IS simple. Run for office on that kind of ticket and I will vote for you or vote for the person that does – OK?

Geo.