Forward.com

Dumping On Our Descendants

The Bible says that the sins of the parents will be punished on the children, yea unto the seventh generation. The “sins” we are committing are embodied in the ever-mounting debt that our generation is incurring that will have to be paid off by our kids and their kids and so on and on. The debt is accumulating at an incredible rate.

Official sources inform us that the cost of our war in Iraq comes to $528 billion. There will be a projected $70 billion more for 2009.

Contrast this with the situation when Clinton left office. The budget was almost in balance. Actually, it was in balance if the so-called “off budget” budget was added to the “on budget budget.” The “off budget” budgets are the Social Security Trust Fund and the Postal Department that are independent entities whose surpluses may not be used to defray ordinary expenses.

Our present backbreaking deficits were brought on by two persistent policies of the Bush administration. The first policy was the sharp reduction on taxes from wealthy individuals and corporations. The reasoning of the Bush administration was that by enriching the rich, the beneficiaries would have the money to employ more people and startup or expand existing businesses.

If this “drip down” theory of the way the economy works were valid, the American economy should now be flourishing — which it isn’t. To make matters worse, the Bushies decided to declare war against Iraq, with imulti-billion dollars in additional expenses.

And now the sins of the fathers are about to be visited on their children and children’s generation for who knows how long.

The Wrong And Right Way Out

The American economy is in trouble. It is not the first time. In the 1930s, the American economy sank into a depression. As a candidate for president, Franklin D. Roosevelt described the situation with “one third of the nation ill fed, ill clothed, ill-housed.” He took steps to revive the economy by creating jobs. They were jobs that needed doing but were not being done because, at the time, the private sector of the economy did not find them profitable.

For instance:

There were forests that needed attention. They had been wiped out by forest fires or by depletion for civilian purposes like wood and paper. Under the New Deal, Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was their job to restore the woodlands, serving a double purpose. It met a national need and also created jobs.

As a young college student, I got a job under the National Youth Act. My job was to go from tenement house to tenement house to find out whether they had internal toilet facilities. This led to a federal housing program that provided millions of jobs.

Right now there are all sorts of national needs. Almost daily we hear of still another bridge that collapsed. School buildings are dilapidated and in danger. The medical needs of children lack proper attention. Put bluntly, there are endless needs that go unattended.

Yet, at this very hour, reports The New York Times, (March 16) “the Fed announced a $200 billion lending program for investment banks and a $100 billion credit line for banks and thrifts.”

Our Topsy Turvy Times

Once upon a time when the sun never set on the British Empire, the crown jewel in the imperial crown was a country called India. There were many agricultural products that the empire derived from India, including opium. When the power loom for weaving textiles made its appearance, the native Indians started up a lively business. To the British Empire this was a direct threat to their textile trade. So the Brits proceeded to destroy the power looms.

The native Indians (not to be confused with the American Indians) turned to knitting textiles by hand. The British imperialists were not deterred. They cut off the thumbs of the native Indians so they could not knit textiles.

Time marches on. British textile corporations are closing down their mills in the United Kingdom to get their work done in India.

What happened?

Four simultaneous technologic revolutions made it possible for British textile manufacturers to get their work done in distant lands where labor is cheap These are revolutions in communications, transportation, materials handling and computerized management. In a matter of seconds, highly skilled technicians in the British home office could see exactly what was happening in their plants in India, They could instantaneously communicate corrections. In short, modern technologies had turned the world into a global village.

But, regrettably, the “village” has no government to check the outrages of the corporations. The answer lies in a sort of global government where the World Trade Organization is obliged to live by the labor standards code developed by the International Labor Organization.

If and when this ever happens perhaps some savvy historian will call it The Tyler Plan.

The Power of a Weak Dollar

For many years, Uncle Sam was the big buyer in the world market. In part this was due to a “strong dollar ” A big buck could buy foreign goods inexpensively. It was also due to the outsourcing of production in countries with cheap labor. The finished product found a heavy market in the United States.

But now, it appears, that the American dollar is weak in global trade. The Wall Street Journal reports, “The U.S. dollar has grown weaker against the Euro, the British pound and other currencies.” This month the Euro rose to $1.39 cents.

But, irony of ironies, our weak dollar has its own strength. The weak dollar finds that imports from countries that have a stronger currency have become quite expensive. So, we import less. And vice versa. Buyers in other countries with strong currencies find American products a real bargain. So we sell more. The balance of trade turns in our favor.

Foreign producers have also opened factories in the U.S. Although the wages paid are high, they are not as costly as they seem because the foreign currency is able to lay its hands on U.S. dollars inexpensively.

To paraphrase Gilbert and Sullivan: “ Things are seldom what they seem. A weaker buck may rule supreme.”

Jatropha to the Rescue

In mankind’s struggle to head off the use of fossil fuels, the U.S., as well as other countries, have turned to the use of energy derived from plants. In the U.S., we have turned to ethanol, a corn derivative. Needless to say, the supply lags far behind the demand.

But now there is a new plant that may go a long way toward meeting mankind’s need for non-fossil fuels. Its name is Jatropha. It grows wild in India. It is an ugly plant. About the size of a golf ball, its seeds contain a yellowish liquid that can be converted into biodiesel.

O.P. Singh, a horticulturist for India’s ministry of railways, bubbles over with enthusiasm. The Wall Street Journal quotes him as saying, “This plant will save humanity. I tell you. Someday every house will have Jatropha.”

If and when the miracle happens, it will be another milestone in man’s progress on earth. Of all the creatures on earth, homo sapiens are the only creatures that know how to make tools to enable them to develop civilizations that thrive in the icy Arctic zones and in the deserts of Arabia.

In a wrestling match with a bear, I would put my money on the bear. But when a man is equipped with a tool called a gun he is the sure winner.

The Romans used to refer to man as homo sapiens — the human with a brain.

We do best when we use the brain as, in this instance — when we cultivate jatropha.