The Evil Plastic Bag
May 7, 2009
Filed under Culture, Money, Politics
Tags: Dare County, grocery stores, Marc Basnight, North Carolina, taxes, Wal-Mart
You’ve seen them, you’ve used them. They are somewhat ubiquitous in our country. The plastic bag. The grocery store, Wal-Mart, restaurant take out and on and on. Some people even use them as low cost garbage bags at home. Good or bad? Oh, they are somewhere else as well. Look on the roadside, any roadside, vacant lot, etc. They must have the power to travel on their own; how else could they get so many places?
Most people would concur that there are too many of them. I usually get many more than needed every time I go the grocery store. So, the grocery thoughtfully provides a container for us to recycle said bags. Are these use, oh yeah. Many bags seem to be recycled. So what is the problem? There are evidently, still way too many flying free.
What to do? Answer, tax them, of course. Add a stick to the carrot of imploring people to use reusable bags . That’s what state Senator Marc Basnight, D, Dare County, NC is proposing. He is advocating a tax of 10-20 cents per bag in at least 3 ( Dare, Currituck, Hyde) of our state’s counties. The money would go towards education( of course, who could ever disagree with that) . He said that he would rather the tax raised no money which would mean that no plastic bags were being used.
So, it sounds good , does it not? Behavior change by taxation , if we are lucky, maybe it will bring about some good behavior . Just a few questions though.
- Why not do it statewide
- Spend the money on the environment, the schools have the lottery, right?
- 2,500,000 used annually in Dare with 5% recycled, where are the rest(souvenirs, perhaps)
- Who will benefit from the tax
- Who will be harmed
- Where are the old brown paper bags
Certainly the honorables in Raleigh will make wise choices. Oh well, off to the grocery store, don’t worry, I will use the minimum number of plastic bags. You do the same!
Check out these two slightly different sources.
Cold, Colder, Coldest ?
January 8, 2009
Filed under Energy, International politics, Money
Tags: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, europe, Gazprom, Jeremy Warner, Joel Rosenberg, Romania, Russia, Serbia, UK Independent, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin
There is currently a dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas supplies, the heating homes type of gas. Bear in mind, that it is really cold over there right now. Vladimir Putin, the real power in Russia has okay ed Russian energy monopoly Gazprom to cut supplies to Europe by the same amount that the Ukrainians are allegedly stealing. At the heart of the matter, as El Rushbo says, follow the money. On January 1 , the original parties in the dispute failed to agree on a fixed price for 2009 and we now have spreading chaos.
Among the countries affected are Bulgaria, Serbia, Austria, Romania, Croatia and even Britain. There are some signs that things are close to being resolved but at what cost, who knows. And, what are the long term effects of any hardships caused?
And article by Jeremy Warner in the UK Independent makes a telling and chilling( pun intended ) point. Gazprom is a creature of the Kremlin and as such the political and the economic are certainly intertwined. He goes on to say that one definitely does not want to become beholden for ones energy supply to the big ole bear. Supplies shut of f once can be shut off again with no notice or provocation.
Author Joel Rosenberg in one of his excellent fiction works wrote of such a scenario where Russia could easily hold Europe as a sort of energy hostage. A number of fictional events that Mr Rosenberg wrote about in advance have transpired. We could be looking at the next one .
Just think, energy supplies as a weapon. Not a pleasant thing to consider.
Money, Money
June 27, 2008 
Read an article this week that stated there are now over 10 million millonaires in the world- has a nice ring to it- like a cash register or maybe economic onomotopeia even . Approximately 1/3 of these folks are the in the U S . Numbers like these usually me lead down a whimsical path or two. How many of us know a millionaire, how does one recognize a millionaire other than by the obvious ways, how did they feel upon becoming a millionaire, when do they have enough money and would we want to be one of them if we could . We have all heard athletes during contract negotiations say its not about the money ( Ha ) i just want to provide for my family ( 5 mill per year rather than 4 ) etc . Bottom line i dont think we need to begrudge the well to do for their means because after all its not money but the love of said money that is the root of all evil ,so says i TIMOTHY 6:10 . So, if you are not one of the 10.1 million I have a little game you can play that is almost as good . On those nights that you are having trouble falling asleep ; instead of a pill , try this . Pretend that you have been given – tax- free – a million dollars . Then in your mind begin to spend it , not greedily but with just a dash of prudence . I have done this several times and have yet to spend it all before falling asleep . Just call it free
