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There are incentives for green projects around the world. Since green technology is initially quite expensive, such incentives help drive down prices by making green a mass movement. It worked with solar panels, which are much more efficient and at the same time much more affordable today than they used to be 10 years ago. That would not have happened without incentives on the part of governments such as the German one.
Nor are those incentives limited to GE and GM. Some people here make it look as if those two companies were Obama's companies, which alone he blesses with your tax dollars.
Since when is it the president's job to supply free taxpayer money to a corporation in order to promote his political or ideological agenda? Pushing green energy does not make the country any better off, in fact, the more green energy we have, the more it drives up energy costs.
Those high electricity rates are OK. They make us use it more carefully
Yup, a low income family can now decide between food, clothing, medical care or paying their electric bill or filling the tank of their family car. Oh wait, how silly of me, they can just buy a $40,000 electric car with the $7,500 rebate from 0bama.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neuling
China is now the world's biggest producer of solar panels. Overtook Germany recently... The Chinese are investing heavily in green stuff as well, while Americans are like stubborn kids rejecting green because of ideological reasons. You are repeating the same mistake that GM made when they slept as the world was overtaking them with efficient compact cars.
It is amazing how cheaply you can make solar panels for the greenies, when you use a work force made up of slave laborers.
Since when is it the president's job to supply free taxpayer money to a corporation in order to promote his political or ideological agenda? Pushing green energy does not make the country any better off, in fact, the more green energy we have, the more it drives up energy costs.
Energy is still pretty cheap in the US, which probably is why you waste so much compared to other countries.
Apart from that your governments have always spent a lot of money on subsidies, for instance in agriculture.
The only thing I find a bit odd about electric cars is when they keep saying zero-emission. The emissions are still there, they are just outsourced to power stations so to speak, only few of which are green.
I must admit that when I bought my Prius in 2008, zero emissions was the least of my concerns. I bought the car because I felt I was being jerked around by the oil/gasoline/car industry. I wanted to save money because I do a lot of driving. I also wanted a reliable car at a price I could afford. Well, the Prius has delivered for me. The fact that it helps mitigate harmful emissions was just an added bonus, but not my number one priority.
I do not consider myself an environmentalist a la Ed Begley; however, I do small things like recycling, and buying "energy saving" bulbs and appliances because they save me money. Small things do add up. It is not a new concept. During WWII, when the people of this country went out of their way to work together, they did recycle a lot of scrap metal to aid the war effort.
Amazing what this country can accomplish when its people work together! Nowadays, there are too many miserable, hateful, resentful, envious, selfish souls out there, to move forward as a nation. Sad, really.
While there still are Chinese working under bad conditions, that phenomenon - which is typical of developing countries, just go back to the industrialization era in Europe or the US - is on the decline. The Chinese earn a lot less than people in the West, but by Chinese standards they oftentimes earn quite well. Slave labor is more of a problem in some parts of Brazil than in China.
From what I have read, we have supplies of about ten years worth of lithium, and that is at current consumption rates. And since we do not have much in the way of lithium in the US, it looks like we will be using up more of the world's resources.
That is an entirely different issue. If they entered the country legally, work for a living and pay taxes, I don't have a problem with it.
It appears you only want your own kind (whatever that might be) to do well. You have some ethnocentrism issues.
Twelve thousand jobs created act like a multiplier: they create a lot of other jobs, and business opportunities for other people. Ask anybody who lives in an area where there is a military installation.
Energy is still pretty cheap in the US, which probably is why you waste so much compared to other countries.
Apart from that your governments have always spent a lot of money on subsidies, for instance in agriculture.
Only in this case we are spending subsidies on an alternative form of energy that will result in driving up the costs of energy to the nation.
This is the complete opposite of what government does when it subsidizes farmers. This would be like subsidizing some expensive exotic bird for eggs, when we already get eggs from chickens. And the only reason we are doing it is because our president and a segment of society want to eat those exotic eggs over chicken eggs.
While there still are Chinese working under bad conditions, that phenomenon - which is typical of developing countries, just go back to the industrialization era in Europe or the US - is on the decline. The Chinese earn a lot less than people in the West, but by Chinese standards they oftentimes earn quite well. Slave labor is more of a problem in some parts of Brazil than in China.
Easy for you to say, being as you are totally ignorant of what conditions a Chinese laborer works under. If they are not slaves, can they decide to save their money, board a plane and fly to France or England to immigrate?
LORETTA TOFANI, Journalist: I found that there were carcinogens being used by people, by the workers, in a really extravagant manner. People were spraying benzenes. There were people who had silicosis from making our metal goods.
And it would seem like it was in every industry. It was furniture. It was shoes, clothes, marble tiles, granite countertops. Virtually every industry went through this system, where workers were living and breathing in carcinogens or using machines that were unguarded and resulted in amputations.
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