Agree that the whole economy is quite different now, and not in a good way for the U.S. We were still on the upslope of Hubbert's Peak. We were still making stuff other nations wanted to buy.
Something like 30%-40% of tax revenue came from corporations. Now they are all incorporated overseas, leaving individuals to foot the bill. Only 7% of revenue comes from corporate taxes now.
The human mind isn’t very well equipped to make sense of a figure like $1.2 trillion. We don’t deal with a trillion of anything in our daily lives, and so when we come across such a big number, it is hard to distinguish it from any other big number. Millions, billions, a trillion — they all start to sound the same.
The way to come to grips with $1.2 trillion is to forget about the number itself and think instead about what you could buy with the money. When you do that, a trillion stops sounding anything like millions or billions.
For starters, $1.2 trillion would pay for an unprecedented public health campaign — a doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children’s lives.
Combined, the cost of running those programs for a decade wouldn’t use up even half our money pot. So we could then turn to poverty and education, starting with universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also receive a huge increase in reconstruction funds.
The final big chunk of the money could go to national security. The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that have not been put in place — better baggage and cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation — could be enacted. Financing for the war in Afghanistan could be increased to beat back the Taliban’s recent gains, and a peacekeeping force could put a stop to the genocide in Darfur.
All that would be one way to spend $1.2 trillion. Here would be another:
You forgot to add the cost of a wholly retrofitted private auto fleet with an eye for a changeover to primarily plug in diesel-electric hybrids running on biodiesel. I daresay that 1.2 trillion would still have enough left over for at least a part of that project.
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“We have only two modes—complacency and panic.”
—James R. Schlesinger, the first energy secretary, in 1977, on the country's approach to energy
k Nation (Jim Kunstler)
GAIA Host Collective
Agree that the whole economy is quite different now, and not in a good way for the U.S. We were still on the upslope of Hubbert's Peak. We were still making stuff other nations wanted to buy.
Something like 30%-40% of tax revenue came from corporations. Now they are all incorporated overseas, leaving individuals to foot the bill. Only 7% of revenue comes from corporate taxes now.
Today's NYT:
You forgot to add the cost of a wholly retrofitted private auto fleet with an eye for a changeover to primarily plug in diesel-electric hybrids running on biodiesel. I daresay that 1.2 trillion would still have enough left over for at least a part of that project.