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Total number of comments: 9 (since 2013-11-28 16:32:59)

Foraker

Showing comments 9 - 1
Page: 1

  • Detroit's Bankruptcy and America's Future: Robots, Race, Globalization and the 1%
    • Foraker 07/19/2013 at 11:22 am with 2 replies

      As for reforming our economy, I'm not sure that there is an easy way to define what is automation that should be a national asset. And certainly no corporation will want to give up their automation assets.

      Higher corporate taxes would serve a similar function of transferring wealth.

      Perhaps in conjunction with reduced taxes that would benefit the co-op movement, such as the Zingerman's businesses in Michigan, the Green co-ops in Cleveland, and the Mondragon businesses in Spain provide a model for a more humane capitalism.

      link to inc.com

      link to time.com

    • Foraker 07/19/2013 at 10:54 am with 1 replies

      An excellent review of Detroit's situation.

      Although we are not all suffering the changes in manufacturing to the same degree as Detroit, our auto-centric cities are all suffering from poor planning. By that I mean planning that isn't financially viable. We have more roadway lanes and more water and sewer lines than we can afford. The sooner we realize that and start to deal with not just the initial construction expense but the ongoing maintenance costs, the better off we'll be.

      I recommend checking out the following short video.
      link to streetfilms.org

  • Changing Iran's Nuclear Calculation with Green Energy: Buonomo
    • Foraker 03/12/2012 at 10:50 am

      My understanding is that Iran doesn't want a nuclear reactor powerful enough for energy use, but a lower level reactor to produce nuclear isotopes for medical purposes.

      Alternative energy sources, such as solar/wind/hydro/wave, might bring great benefits to the Iranian people, but none of them will produce medical nuclear isotopes.

      Iran has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, by which they are permitted to have a peaceful nuclear capacity such as the planned medical isotope reactor. The US violates that treaty (and US law) by forbidding Iran from having any nuclear capacity whatsoever.

      This bothers no one? War is the inevitable result?

  • Repression Fails as Thousands Demand Mubarak Departure
    • Foraker 02/04/2011 at 10:44 am

      The Right in the US fears that even if the Muslim Brotherhood is not the cause of the demonstrations, that they will hijack the revolution and take a controlling interest in the new government. The fear may be overblown, but the American Right relies on fear in deciding how to act.

  • Obama fails to Galvanize the Youth on Daily Show
    • Foraker 10/28/2010 at 9:22 am with 1 replies

      and if he doesn't veto a few crazy tea party bills?

  • On Juan Williams' Firing for Islamophobia and how Most European Terrorism is by European Separatists
    • Foraker 10/22/2010 at 11:40 am

      Moreover, NPR's ethics policy prohibits their journalists from opinionating -- Mr. Williams was warned previously that providing opinions on FOX violated that policy, but he continued to do so. He chose to breach NPR's ethical guidelines, and now he has a much bigger paycheck to continue opinionating on FOX. This is not a free speech issue.

  • Abbas: Israel has Abrogated the Peace Process
    • Foraker 10/12/2010 at 9:02 am with 1 replies

      So if we had wise leaders who wanted to avoid placing such a burden on our children, the US would cut off military donations to Israel to leverage more humane treatment of the Palestinians. No sense in cutting off sales of military hardware, they would just buy from someone else. But stop the military grants and gifts. (I don't understand why we're doing that anyway.)

  • Hellegers: American Income Inequality is the Cause of our Crisis
    • Foraker 09/08/2010 at 2:42 pm with 1 replies

      What happened in 1941 to so suddenly and dramatically change the income balance? The US didn't really enter the war until 1942, correct? If it was WWII, what was it about that war that led so swiftly to more quality when the current wars have not?

  • Portugal's Green Energy Revolution and the true Cost of Gas, Coal and Oil
    • Foraker 08/11/2010 at 10:01 am with 2 replies

      I too applaud Portugal having the courage to do what we all know needs to be done.

      I would also add that although personal transportation, like an automobile, is convenient, it is a very expensive use of energy. Both in the manufacture of the vehicle and its many components, and in its operation, both of which are often acknowledged, but also in building and maintaining roadways. Concrete requires a lot of energy to produce, and the cost of asphalt is becoming more expensive even with huge government subsidies. So even if we manage to move to electric cars, which seems likely, the number of lane-miles of highway in the US is unsustainable.

      Given the large distances and spread-out nature of our cities, I don't think we'll see the end of cars. But we should rethink how we build our cities, with more emphasis on pedestrians and cyclists and mass transit alternatives (train systems), so that heavy vehicles like cars are used less often. That would reduce our reliance on energy-expensive uses, both for the vehicles and our roadways. Not to mention the potential reduction in the approximately 40,000 annual vehicle accident deaths in the US.

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