Remember, remember, the 5th of November.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBM7B3NwBtw&feature=related

it would have had to just to break even from FDR’s, in ‘33, 40% devaluation of the U$D.

KJ,

speaking of FDR, with him, we’ve been on the Express Train, of Federal Totalitarianism, with a One-Way ticket.
The last President that tried to switch us from the track, never left Dallas –22 Nov 63.

Change, if any is to, ever, come, is going to, as always, have to come from the bottom.

Need we be reminded that our Constitutional Republic was ordered: Individual, State, Federal?
That pyramid has been inverted..

Speaking of Obama, let’s see if he unwinds The P*triot Act, the many, surreal, provisions of the John Warner Defense Authorization Act, and/or the multitude of other Executive abuses that have accumulated, like scrub brush, over the last ~75 years.

Simply KJ, now is no time to be find out, ex post, whether one is a ‘naive rube’, if one suspects there are important operating aspects that one may not be aware of, it is time for further study..

btw, just to let you know, when you used ‘enlightened’, in your first post, I saw that as covering ‘free’, as well..

What chance do you give us / him, less than 1%?

@Mark, it will be interesting to see how far O gets with his change that I assume would be in the direction LB outlines. If you are right, he will be prevented from doing so. If you are wrong, then we may finally begin to move in a more enlightened direction. Perhaps I am just a naïve rube, but I am expecting the latter. Wish him / us luck.

no doubt that you’re presenting the proper course for a constructive way forward, though, many of the things that you’re alluding to have been well-know, and well-proven, oftentimes, for decades. We should really be Researching why we haven’t been allowed to Develop them..

the short answer is: Our Economy is predicated upon Waste to entrench socio-economic divisions within it..IOW, on this Plan-tation, We’ve been kept as Slaves..

Grimly, though, there’s, as always, been more Slaves than the Master has bullets. We, per usual, are our own best keeper~~ “None more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are Free.”
http://www.icerocket.com/search?tab=web&fr=h&q=None+more+hopelessly+enslaved+&x=41&y=13

And, of course, I’ll want zero percent financing.

However, many of those things you mention take true vision, leadership, time, patience, a collective will & perserverance, and above all, solid execution. Are we as a culture (of uber-instant gratification & “free lunches”) capable anymore? That, to me, is the million, no trillion, dollar question.

Slowly, gradually and with great patience. Oh wait, this is America…

Research and development is the answer. Instead of a society that creates “wealth” by inflating paper assets, we need to create new knowledge and develop new technologies. But these innovations should be focused on conservation and utilization of resources and not on consumption. We can do this.

If we focus on cheaper, more efficient and less environmentally damaging ways to feed, clothe and transport people and keep them warm and healthy, we will become a truly more prosperous society. Evolving a common sense model where we produce, consume and recycle locally to eliminate unnecessary energy costs will enable more intelligent use of what will become increasingly scarce resources in terms of energy and commodities.

I am not advocating protectionism, but the removal of subsidies that promote waste and misallocation of resources. I think we will see less corn-to-ethanol idiocy and more application of modern technology to solve our problems. Think we can’t build better and safer nuclear power plants, fast and safe rail-based public transportation, and convert automobiles and buses to CNG? All you have to do is look at Japan and some of the Nordic countries – we are living in the Dark Ages here in the U.S.

Let’s build things that are creative, technologically innovative, architecturally attractive and useful. No more shopping malls, no more business schools, no more exurbs, no more “one-stop financial centers”.
I predict that one day the HQ of a major investment bank will be demolished and people will cheer. This has been a dark period in American history.