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545 people wield 100% of the power to control our nation [435 congressmen, 100 senators, 9 Supreme Court justices, and 1 president]. 545 human beings out of the 235 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
Where are they leading us?
Our debt load will kill our nation, so are our leaders cutting our debt load? The Farm Bill was nearly doubled just now.
We are being led to destruction.
The worst aspect of this problem is that Congress isn't really running the show. Congresspeople are increasingly just puppets of the unelected elite who buy them (and yes, I mean both parties).
There are many things we can do to upgrade/replace existing systems to save energy. Additionally, many new homes today continue to be built to minimum standards with more money spent on visual upgrades as opposed to the money being spent on greater energy efficiency/reduced consumption.
I recently built a passive solar home with high efficiency heating and cooling systems, quality windows, and super insulated the shell. The energy savings is amazing. My house is using at least 50% less energy than comparable houses in my neighborhood.
I built my previous home to maximize energy efficiency as well. For the price of granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances you can upgrade windows, insulation, as well as heating and cooling systems. Sadly, I have found that few people are willing to pay for these features at the time of sale and instead are looking for the granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
Even though people complain about energy costs to heat and cool their home it makes you wonder how committed people actually are to give up something to get it. Many people demonstrate a similar unwillingness to sacrifice superficial comforts over practicality when buying an automobile even when they have limited financial resources.
I agree witnh more efficent homes but think for power Genration we must admit Nulcear is the way to go to meet our demands if you want to Reduce the use of Fossil fuel used to create power then Nuclear is the only viable source and now that throium is coming into commerical use could porovide for our energy needs and we are falling behind
Wind and Solar are not ging to do much at all and we need to go with something that the money used spent building it is proven to work technolgy and can meet our energy needs and and provide steady power so it can connected onto the Grid.
I agree witnh more efficent homes but think for power Genration we must admit Nulcear is the way to go to meet our demands if you want to Reduce the use of Fossil fuel used to create power then Nuclear is the only viable source and now that throium is coming into commerical use could porovide for our energy needs and we are falling behind
Wind and Solar are not ging to do much at all and we need to go with something that the money used spent building it is proven to work technolgy and can meet our energy needs and and provide steady power so it can connected onto the Grid.
The euro is falling behind and the dollar is holding steady.
Considering that the EU economy is in such a bad shape the USD/EUR exchange rate is surprising. It is still above $1.20 per EUR. Ten years ago it was $0.80 per EUR. So 1 EUR is still worth 50% more than it used to be. Can't be that bad then? Or the US is in an even worse shape and therefore the exchange rate remains that high.
To answer the original question: No country is really safe from an economic depression and definitely not the US. There are some European countries that are in a better shape and are more likely to remain safe than the US, others maybe not so much. The point made about countries like Mexico is very good though and I agree to a certain extent.
Considering that the EU economy is in such a bad shape the USD/EUR exchange rate is surprising. It is still above $1.20 per EUR. Ten years ago it was $0.80 per EUR. So 1 EUR is still worth 50% more than it used to be. Can't be that bad then?
Fact Check: At this time in 2002, the Euro traded ~.98 to just over $1 per Euro.
I spot checked and I didn't find any time in 2002 when the Euro traded for .80.
Fact check: Ever heard of the term "rhetorical expression"? I didn't mean exactly 10 years ago. It was below 0.90 for the most time in the early 2000's up to April/May-ish 2002. The current exchange rate was considered awesome in 2003-2007 (don't pin me down on the exact dates again) and many European tourists were thrilled because all of a sudden their money was worth much more than before.
Look at any of the exchange rate graphs and 2012 still seems pretty far up there compared to the beginning of the Euro (http://www.tititudorancea.com/lib/fx...sd_since99.png). And all that despite the Eurozone economy being in such a bad shape. Which in my book means the US must be even worse off. That was my point. Not the exact exchange rate exactly 10 years ago.
The lowest exchange rate was 0.82 in October 2000 by the way.
Last edited by Rob702; 07-22-2012 at 02:27 PM..
Reason: typo
There are many things we can do to upgrade/replace existing systems to save energy. Additionally, many new homes today continue to be built to minimum standards with more money spent on visual upgrades as opposed to the money being spent on greater energy efficiency/reduced consumption.
I recently built a passive solar home with high efficiency heating and cooling systems, quality windows, and super insulated the shell. The energy savings is amazing. My house is using at least 50% less energy than comparable houses in my neighborhood.
I built my previous home to maximize energy efficiency as well. For the price of granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances you can upgrade windows, insulation, as well as heating and cooling systems. Sadly, I have found that few people are willing to pay for these features at the time of sale and instead are looking for the granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
Even though people complain about energy costs to heat and cool their home it makes you wonder how committed people actually are to give up something to get it. Many people demonstrate a similar unwillingness to sacrifice superficial comforts over practicality when buying an automobile even when they have limited financial resources.
That's basically the same story for me. I have an older house so right after I moved in I started insulating the house. I didn't find any insulation in the walls when I started remodeling. The first thing I did was to add about 8"-10" of blown-in insulation in the attic. I had to gut the kitchen and downstairs bathroom so I insulated every square inch of those rooms.
After I lost my job, I qualified for energy assistance, and part of that program included adding blown-in insulation to the rest of the house. The previous owners did upgrade all the windows so the house is as energy efficient as a 180 year old house can be.
This past winter the price of heating oil was too high for me so I switched over to using a small camping heater to warm the house during the day. At night I just added a few more blankets to the bed. As a result, It cost me less than $200 to heat the house for the entire season when other people were paying $1,200-$1,500 using oil heat.
Right now the 8,000 BTU A/C is doing a good job keeping the downstairs cool with the help of a small fan sitting next to me. I also have a fan upstairs that I use to exhaust warm air during the day and bring in cool air at night. As a result of my efforts my last electric bill was only $68.13 for about 12 kWh. My previous bill was only $50.39. I'm thinking about getting them framed. The northeast has some of the highest electric rates in the country but I am using less than half the average amount other people are using.
I don't really use my refrigerator for much other than ice and cool drinks but my pantry is packed with almost everything else I need. That's one less thing I have to keep running when the power goes out. Last year when the power went out for 12 days it had almost no effect on me. I have a large pressure canner so I am able to can many of the things most people would put into the freezer.
For me and my lifestyle, solar and wind are workable energy alternatives. Because of this I am able to look at moving to parts of the country with little, if any, commercial utilities. I'm in the process of putting together a portable solar power unit to take with me for whenever I finally sell my house and move out this overpriced state. I generally buy one solar panel and one deep cycle marine battery per month. Eventually I hope to have 12 solar panels and 10 batteries. With this and a small wind generator I would expect produce about 50% more electricity than I currently use. This would be more than enough to run a well pump in addition to my current energy needs.
US will be the safest country when it really has "indestructible" trees that naturally grow money & whatever the US wants (like commodity, like food etc.)...
NOT when money keeps getting printed & the "devaluation" will eventually catches up.
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I didn't mean exactly 10 years ago. It was below 0.90 for the most time in the early 2000's up to April/May-ish 2002. The current exchange rate was considered awesome in 2003-2007 (don't pin me down on the exact dates again) and many European tourists were thrilled because all of a sudden their money was worth much more than before. 
