I've already addressed this. Clearly the UK is doing something wrong but the problem is NOT solely based on energy price. Other countries with as many vulnerable people as the UK cope with as high or higher energy costs.
If they need help, help them. It's not rocket science. But that doesn't justify given the able-bodied & well-off a free ride.
There are good ways & bad ways to give someone a helping hand. And before you start trotting out Mitt Romney's 47% irresponsible, worthless, lazy, shiftless parasites, try to remember that MOST of the people receiving some form of social assistance in America HAVE JOBS, some more than one.
And that "1/2 pay no income tax" is a very nice way to lie with the apparent truth - if you're working, you're paying PAYROLL taxes. So yes, they have - to use a term I've frequently heard from the radical right wing - "skin in the game" and are as "entitled" to vote as anyone else.
Except for that horrible SCOTUS decision on Citizens United that means that really rich folks can subvert the will of the people with the judicious use of megabucks. It's past time that the elections were publicly funded and corporate donations curtailed.
And Obamacare? It's better than the old status quo but far worse than the universal alternatives. A public option would be good; single-payer even better. Why he didn't simply pitch & implement a Medicare-for-all plan boggles the mind.
Here's something else from the article - "Norway can afford to make the joke because there, people don’t tend to die of the cold. In Britain, we still do"
There are many places far colder than Britain with far fewer deaths - the issue isn't necessarily energy prices as Norwegian pricing for both petrol & electricity is much higher than the UK. And I've lived in civilized countries where, no matter how much you owe, your heat doesn't get cut in dangerously cold weather. Why would the UK be so barbaric?
Subsidizing the legitimately poor is not at all the same as keeping them dependent and with some effort, you can curb abuses of the system. You might as well argue that public libraries and discounted books are keeping people illiterate.
So add subsidies for the needy - and use some fucking decent building standards, for fuck's sake. I've never lived in the UK but I do have many friends who have or grew up there - far too many homes are drafty and leaky beyond description. Building better homes or patching up the crappy ones would be a great infrastructure project with lots of local employment, something Britain needs. In civilized countries, you're not allowed to cut off someone's electricity during the winter months.
I'm not opposed to "inexpensive energy" but to subsidize fossil fuels for those who can easily afford it when it's the cause (or major factor) of conflict, pollution, death, and global warming.
There's also the tally of death & suffering, war & political instability that the West has caused in countries that they wouldn't give a flying fuck about, if there wasn't any oil buried under them.
We had inexpensive energy for a long time and it didn't fix all of society, so it's only one factor. And if every poor person could drive a car, traffic would be so slow that it would be quicker to walk. Raise the cost or taxes on fuel and use it to build much better mass transit and subsidize the price of fruit & veggies, milk & meat produced domestically. That will do more for the poor - with universal, single-payer, healthcare than simply having cheap gasoline.
It's definitely very easy to be the wrong race in the wrong place - and that place can easily be where you live and where you are in the MAJORITY and even in your own home, whether you're a street kid or a distinguished professor.
Just to give an idea of the stark difference between America and its closest peers, the incarceration rate per 100,000 population for most of the G20 countries, almost all of Europe and the advanced Western nations is from 50 - 150. There are a few outliers around 200 - 300 but none can encroach on the prowess of the lone superpower, coming in at over 700 prisoners (not incl juvenile delinquents) per 100,000 population.
So you want a full accounting of New York's stop-and-frisk program over its lifetime in order to be convinced?
"Why don't you move someplace else?" - I can't speak for those individuals but some refuse to be forced to leave what they consider their homes, even if there's better elsewhere. And there's no guarantee that things will be better. After the Civil War, there was a Great Migration of African-Americans out of the old South, numbering in the millions but until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there were plenty of places within a couple hours drive of the Canadian border where segregation was a fact of life. For over 20 yrs, we in North Am have been hearing stories about the racist resurgence in Europe. When Jean-Marie Le Pen advanced to the 2nd round in 2002, friends of mine from France who'd been living over here for a long time were embarrassed and exhorted their relatives back home to vote against him. I suppose they could try moving to Canada but while that's considerably more tolerant than most places, there's an undercurrent of hostility there also and the current government appears to be VERY choosy towards certain kinds of immigrants.
You might be careful enough to not carry around anything that might incriminate you but cops who are out to get you don't need evidence and they don't need even to plant it or manufacture it. In too many places, even in the land of the free, they can act with impunity as Earl Sampson of Florida has learned.
"At least once a week for the last four years, Earl Sampson, 28, has been stopped by Miami Gardens police — and searched more than 100 times, jailed 56 times and arrested for trespassing 62 times, records show. They created this record," Sampson's boss and the owner of 207 Quickstop, Alex Saleh, told the Daily News Friday. "He's a good guy, a humble guy, a quiet guy. He's not a convicted felon."
This may not be your experience but it's the daily & lifelong experience of MILLIONS. Those pieces of paper you think protect you only carry weight because a great many, over the course of centuries, made the ultimate sacrifice for your benefit - but not everyone has benefited to the same degree, not even today.
Earl Sampson of Florida has been questioned 250 times, searched 100 times - and jailed over 50 times, for trespassing WHERE HE WORKS. His true offense appears to be what, fortunately for him is no longer a capital crime, being egregiously "black in public".
The ruling is not phone-specific; the purpose was to search for a video that may show the defendant trying to strangle his girlfriend. If that video was suspected to be on his tablet or laptop and those were protected by biometrics, the ruling would be the same. In fact, at this point, the cops don't even know if the fingerprint will unlock the phone or not but armed with this ruling, nothing the accused owns that's locked with biometrics is safe.
How can you be charged with that? The knowledge of WHICH fingerprint is the correct one ( or combination of fingerprints) is, just like your passcode, stored in your brain. They may be able to force you to swipe any or all fingers but, following the logic of the ruling, not to tell them which will work or what's the outcome of using the wrong one or wrong combination.
Are you saying there's absolutely nothing on your PHONE that could possibly incriminate you? Or does that extend also to all your electronic devices or to your entire life?
You can still be arrested, fingerprinted, processed and held. The prosecutor will probably decide that pursuing it any further is a waste of time but you've still been arrested, are still in the system and have enjoyed a relaxing weekend with some of society's finest who will be oh-so-understanding when you tell them that you've been hauled in for totally innocent photos of your kids.
There's a heck of a lot of renewable energy potential across the lower South especially if you run in the other direction - Florida is sunny but wind onshore wind is quite mild whereas the stretch from Houston to LA is high for both, with some geothermal,too. If the Tres Amigas Superstation is up & running by 2020, that'll be a huge boost to intermittent & renewable generation sources.
There are many kinds of "energy storage" - some vastly cheaper than other, especially if you don't need very high efficiency or rapid response. Denmark & Sweden both use Thermal Energy Storage that's essentially time-shifting demand that's been on heating water in reservoirs, aquifers or boreholes.
Not necessarily. Denmark's wind production is very good and they've been using district heating reservoirs as energy storage. Sweden is doing something similar with boreholes & aquifers; google thermal energy storage.
But I think that 10 years seems VERY optimistic, and probably unachievable.
They got rid of legroom and seat space or rather, turned them into expensive luxuries. I can have them back for an extra $900 on a crosscountry flight.
"By virtually every measure - per capita living space, number of bathrooms, number of cars, air conditioning, heating, gasoline cost, number of tvs, indoor plumbing, hot water, disposable income, cost of food"
The gasoline cost in the Europe is because of taxes, same for the VAT on cars. But in most places, public transport is so good that most don't really need to drive, let alone own more than 1 car. US building standards, while getting better, have been shite for a long time and leaky buildings cost a lot to heat or cool. All those gas guzzlers that Americans have enjoyed driving since forever hasn't helped. And it's put a lot of money in the hands of people who'd just as soon see it wiped off the map.
"This is especially true for the poor with people whom the U.S. government defines as below the poverty line enjoying a standard of living that is comparable to a middle class standard of living in Europe"
For any one of the advanced Euro nations, it's nearly the opposite. Also there are a lot of EMPLOYED Americans who are deathly afraid of asking for a vacation whereas any working European can happily take 3-5 weeks off. A couple places even pay your MORE during your vacation to help defray vacation-related expenses http://www.forbes.com/sites/ta... http://www.cepr.net/documents/...
And don't even try to bring up parental leave & childcare.
"America is about the cleanest producer in the world, much cleaner than Europe. The key measure is emission per unit of industrial production, not the total emissions" ""the U.S. has only 4% of the world's population, but it produces 25% of greenhouse gases". What the educators leave out is that the U.S. produces 35% of the world's GNP so actually the U.S. is a very clean producer"
Have a look at this graph In terms of CO2 emissions per purchasing power parity of GDP, it's well behind France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Germany...... If you don't like that graph, you can try sorting this table
".....but the U.S. is still virtuous in its production and the way it guards the environment. The U.S. has nothing to be ashamed of on that front"
Only because a lot of people put their asses on the line to change the way things used to be - and still are. There are still many oil spills and much coal sludge contamination to this day. Not to mention the fuckton of elected officials, mostly in "business-friendly" states who would change all that in a heartbeat and continually work to undermine the virtuous stewardship of the environment.
I'm pleased to have given you the chance to rant & rag about NY & CA but the truth is both have been very good at keeping down the per-capita energy use for several decades. As to your point about the USA raising it's standard of living, so has everyone else - but no other advanced country in the G20 has done so by making workers find an extra 160 hours per year ( effectively adding a 13th month of full-time work ) since the 70s. In some, they work fewer hours than they did 40 yrs ago.
And number of TVs?? Really? Why not add cellphones to the list? Except there are lots of other places where the phones & service are better & cheaper, right?
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I've already addressed this. Clearly the UK is doing something wrong but the problem is NOT solely based on energy price. Other countries with as many vulnerable people as the UK cope with as high or higher energy costs.
If they need help, help them. It's not rocket science. But that doesn't justify given the able-bodied & well-off a free ride.
There are good ways & bad ways to give someone a helping hand.
And before you start trotting out Mitt Romney's 47% irresponsible, worthless, lazy, shiftless parasites, try to remember that MOST of the people receiving some form of social assistance in America HAVE JOBS, some more than one.
And that "1/2 pay no income tax" is a very nice way to lie with the apparent truth - if you're working, you're paying PAYROLL taxes. So yes, they have - to use a term I've frequently heard from the radical right wing - "skin in the game" and are as "entitled" to vote as anyone else.
Except for that horrible SCOTUS decision on Citizens United that means that really rich folks can subvert the will of the people with the judicious use of megabucks.
It's past time that the elections were publicly funded and corporate donations curtailed.
And Obamacare? It's better than the old status quo but far worse than the universal alternatives. A public option would be good; single-payer even better.
Why he didn't simply pitch & implement a Medicare-for-all plan boggles the mind.
Here's something else from the article - "Norway can afford to make the joke because there, people don’t tend to die of the cold. In Britain, we still do"
There are many places far colder than Britain with far fewer deaths - the issue isn't necessarily energy prices as Norwegian pricing for both petrol & electricity is much higher than the UK. And I've lived in civilized countries where, no matter how much you owe, your heat doesn't get cut in dangerously cold weather.
Why would the UK be so barbaric?
Subsidizing the legitimately poor is not at all the same as keeping them dependent and with some effort, you can curb abuses of the system.
You might as well argue that public libraries and discounted books are keeping people illiterate.
If that's your conclusion from what I wrote, your bird dog will do as all a favor by using your for target practice.
So add subsidies for the needy - and use some fucking decent building standards, for fuck's sake.
I've never lived in the UK but I do have many friends who have or grew up there - far too many homes are drafty and leaky beyond description.
Building better homes or patching up the crappy ones would be a great infrastructure project with lots of local employment, something Britain needs.
In civilized countries, you're not allowed to cut off someone's electricity during the winter months.
I'm not opposed to "inexpensive energy" but to subsidize fossil fuels for those who can easily afford it when it's the cause (or major factor) of conflict, pollution, death, and global warming.
There's also the tally of death & suffering, war & political instability that the West has caused in countries that they wouldn't give a flying fuck about, if there wasn't any oil buried under them.
We had inexpensive energy for a long time and it didn't fix all of society, so it's only one factor. And if every poor person could drive a car, traffic would be so slow that it would be quicker to walk.
Raise the cost or taxes on fuel and use it to build much better mass transit and subsidize the price of fruit & veggies, milk & meat produced domestically.
That will do more for the poor - with universal, single-payer, healthcare than simply having cheap gasoline.
It's definitely very easy to be the wrong race in the wrong place - and that place can easily be where you live and where you are in the MAJORITY and even in your own home, whether you're a street kid or a distinguished professor.
Just to give an idea of the stark difference between America and its closest peers, the incarceration rate per 100,000 population for most of the G20 countries, almost all of Europe and the advanced Western nations is from 50 - 150. There are a few outliers around 200 - 300 but none can encroach on the prowess of the lone superpower, coming in at over 700 prisoners (not incl juvenile delinquents) per 100,000 population.
So you want a full accounting of New York's stop-and-frisk program over its lifetime in order to be convinced?
"Why don't you move someplace else?" - I can't speak for those individuals but some refuse to be forced to leave what they consider their homes, even if there's better elsewhere. And there's no guarantee that things will be better. After the Civil War, there was a Great Migration of African-Americans out of the old South, numbering in the millions but until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there were plenty of places within a couple hours drive of the Canadian border where segregation was a fact of life.
For over 20 yrs, we in North Am have been hearing stories about the racist resurgence in Europe. When Jean-Marie Le Pen advanced to the 2nd round in 2002, friends of mine from France who'd been living over here for a long time were embarrassed and exhorted their relatives back home to vote against him.
I suppose they could try moving to Canada but while that's considerably more tolerant than most places, there's an undercurrent of hostility there also and the current government appears to be VERY choosy towards certain kinds of immigrants.
You might be careful enough to not carry around anything that might incriminate you but cops who are out to get you don't need evidence and they don't need even to plant it or manufacture it. In too many places, even in the land of the free, they can act with impunity as Earl Sampson of Florida has learned.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new...
"At least once a week for the last four years, Earl Sampson, 28, has been stopped by Miami Gardens police — and searched more than 100 times, jailed 56 times and arrested for trespassing 62 times, records show.
They created this record," Sampson's boss and the owner of 207 Quickstop, Alex Saleh, told the Daily News Friday. "He's a good guy, a humble guy, a quiet guy. He's not a convicted felon."
This may not be your experience but it's the daily & lifelong experience of MILLIONS. Those pieces of paper you think protect you only carry weight because a great many, over the course of centuries, made the ultimate sacrifice for your benefit - but not everyone has benefited to the same degree, not even today.
If the cops are assholes and you live in the wrong part of the country, you don't even have to have anything incriminating.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/201...
Earl Sampson of Florida has been questioned 250 times, searched 100 times - and jailed over 50 times, for trespassing WHERE HE WORKS.
His true offense appears to be what, fortunately for him is no longer a capital crime, being egregiously "black in public".
The ruling is not phone-specific; the purpose was to search for a video that may show the defendant trying to strangle his girlfriend.
If that video was suspected to be on his tablet or laptop and those were protected by biometrics, the ruling would be the same.
In fact, at this point, the cops don't even know if the fingerprint will unlock the phone or not but armed with this ruling, nothing the accused owns that's locked with biometrics is safe.
How can you be charged with that?
The knowledge of WHICH fingerprint is the correct one ( or combination of fingerprints) is, just like your passcode, stored in your brain. They may be able to force you to swipe any or all fingers but, following the logic of the ruling, not to tell them which will work or what's the outcome of using the wrong one or wrong combination.
YOU did not destroy evidence - THEY did.
Are you saying there's absolutely nothing on your PHONE that could possibly incriminate you? Or does that extend also to all your electronic devices or to your entire life?
You can still be arrested, fingerprinted, processed and held. The prosecutor will probably decide that pursuing it any further is a waste of time but you've still been arrested, are still in the system and have enjoyed a relaxing weekend with some of society's finest who will be oh-so-understanding when you tell them that you've been hauled in for totally innocent photos of your kids.
Getting your energy out of fossil fuel sources is only 25%-45% efficient,
Google TES ( thermal energy storage) or look as what Isentropic UK is doing or the advancements in CAES, especially adiabatic.
There's a heck of a lot of renewable energy potential across the lower South especially if you run in the other direction - Florida is sunny but wind onshore wind is quite mild whereas the stretch from Houston to LA is high for both, with some geothermal,too.
If the Tres Amigas Superstation is up & running by 2020, that'll be a huge boost to intermittent & renewable generation sources.
There are many kinds of "energy storage" - some vastly cheaper than other, especially if you don't need very high efficiency or rapid response. Denmark & Sweden both use Thermal Energy Storage that's essentially time-shifting demand that's been on heating water in reservoirs, aquifers or boreholes.
Not necessarily. Denmark's wind production is very good and they've been using district heating reservoirs as energy storage.
Sweden is doing something similar with boreholes & aquifers; google thermal energy storage.
But I think that 10 years seems VERY optimistic, and probably unachievable.
They got rid of legroom and seat space or rather, turned them into expensive luxuries. I can have them back for an extra $900 on a crosscountry flight.
A plane without Windows?? Sounds like a dream come true but will it run Unity?
he can apply for amnesty, change his name to General Lardass and asked to be put in charge of Cyber Command.
The gasoline cost in the Europe is because of taxes, same for the VAT on cars. But in most places, public transport is so good that most don't really need to drive, let alone own more than 1 car. US building standards, while getting better, have been shite for a long time and leaky buildings cost a lot to heat or cool.
All those gas guzzlers that Americans have enjoyed driving since forever hasn't helped. And it's put a lot of money in the hands of people who'd just as soon see it wiped off the map.
For any one of the advanced Euro nations, it's nearly the opposite. Also there are a lot of EMPLOYED Americans who are deathly afraid of asking for a vacation whereas any working European can happily take 3-5 weeks off. A couple places even pay your MORE during your vacation to help defray vacation-related expenses
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ta...
http://www.cepr.net/documents/...
And don't even try to bring up parental leave & childcare.
Have a look at this graph
In terms of CO2 emissions per purchasing power parity of GDP, it's well behind France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Germany......
If you don't like that graph, you can try sorting this table
Only because a lot of people put their asses on the line to change the way things used to be - and still are.
There are still many oil spills and much coal sludge contamination to this day. Not to mention the fuckton of elected officials, mostly in "business-friendly" states who would change all that in a heartbeat and continually work to undermine the virtuous stewardship of the environment.
I'm pleased to have given you the chance to rant & rag about NY & CA but the truth is both have been very good at keeping down the per-capita energy use for several decades.
As to your point about the USA raising it's standard of living, so has everyone else - but no other advanced country in the G20 has done so by making workers find an extra 160 hours per year ( effectively adding a 13th month of full-time work ) since the 70s. In some, they work fewer hours than they did 40 yrs ago.
And number of TVs?? Really? Why not add cellphones to the list? Except there are lots of other places where the phones & service are better & cheaper, right?
Here's some reports of flashbang causing harm, damage & death - http://www.washingtonpost.com/...