Slashdot Mirror
The World Remains Five Minutes From Midnight
Lasrick writes "The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announces whether their Doomsday Clock has been moved with this open letter to President Obama, outlining progress on a number of fronts, but also detailing what still needs to be done to avoid various threats to humanity."
From the article: "2012 was a year in which the problems of the world pressed forward, but too many of its citizens stood back. In the U.S. elections the focus was "the economy, stupid," with barely a word about the severe long-term trends that threaten the population's well-being to a far greater extent: climate change, the continuing menace of nuclear oblivion, and the vulnerabilities of the world's energy sources."
We need more entitlements. I would be very happy if every man woman and child in America was guaranteed a minimum standard of living. I think to start free healthcare, food stamps, and housing vouchers plus about 30k per year per adult, would be about right. And I want the wealthy and the corporations to pay for all of it.
The wealthy simply have more to loose than the poor. In exchange for allowing them to milk this country for everything it is worth, and have the children of poor people take bullets in the face to defend the property of the rich they should shoulder the lions share of the tax burden. This is not a new idea, in the roman republic the richest roman's fought in the very front line of the legion, because they had the most to loose if Rome fell. All we poor Americans are asking for from our rich is money, we are happy to supply the blood.
The really great thing is that the more the tea baggers moan and fragment the rapidly shrinking conservative base the faster this will happen. I hope you are young enough to watch our country turn into a modern and civilized society.