PolicyMic

Darwin Long I just read your article Paul, and I also took the time to skim the actual NDAA section 1021. I gotta tell ya, I think your article is an attempt at whitewash. No matter what the current administration says about it, that reauthorization gives fut...

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• 2 weeks ago

Darwin Long Paul, an executive order for a radical change in policy has already been used in the case of Defense of Marriage Act, a legislative act that Obama has chosen not to enforce. His hands are NOT tied by law in this matter any more than they are in Defen...

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• 2 weeks ago

Darwin Long Jeff, with 77% approval of medical marijuana, the only controversy is found in party leadership and the small - highly vocal minority of the extreme far right who want us to live in a theocracy. The heat is coming from somewhere, and my best guess...

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• 2 weeks ago

Darwin Long James, I mentioned Gingrich only because I wanted to show the diversity of people who support legalization. I commend Ron Paul for his consistency in supporting drug legalization but using him to try to convince Obama of a course of action seemed cou...

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• 2 weeks ago

Darwin Long Unfortunately Brett, the SCOTUS has ruled that the Federal Govt CAN override the states' legalization of marijuana. That's why I mentioned them in the article.

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• 2 weeks ago

Darwin Long Gee - kids already use marijuana and its already illegal. Could there be a better argument in favor of legalization? The drug war. What a pointless exercise in futility. . .

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long This would set the same example as the tequila commercial I just watched on ABC. If people cannot be trusted to make their own choices, then why in hell are they being allowed to vote? A child's sense of right and wrong are set primarily by t...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long What drug sales do for the CIA is provide financing for operations that they don't want congress to control. It was a lot more important for them prior to the Regan administration's lifting of the ban on foreign assassinations. The intellig...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long Thanks Amy - Back at ya.

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long I have a friend who worked very hard to achieve a doctorate in nursing and then chose to throw it away by getting addicted to pain meds prescribed originally after knee surgery. She no longer works in medicine and will never be allowed back. I see th...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long Not right now, but tomorrow is 4/20

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long Something you may not know about the opium wars Thomas, the opium was brought into China and sold at a loss by the British as a means of placating the Chinese. Today, the biggest importer of heroine to the US is - according to operatives who've ...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long Ahh those heady days of the Carter administration. That was a lovely time. (sarcasm) As for when the war on drugs was lost, I'd say it was lost within 10 days of when Tricky Dick declared it. That would have been 40 years and change, and &quo...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long George, I commend you for not being part of the "druggie" society. I know that you're not part of that society because of your assertion that finding a heroine dealer is difficult. I'll tell you how to find one. Go to a park or...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long You're right Susan. As a male, I am far from qualified to know what's on a woman's mind. Such knowledge on my part would, in fact, be a violation of "the rules". My intention here was to counter an article that I could not...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long I can hardly wait.

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long You're wrong Ethan. Had they gone under, even with a chapter 11 restructure, there would have been massive layoffs and plant closures and GM would not be - once again - the world's largest car company. A chapter 11 restructure would have re...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long One of the problems I see in the Democratic Party is their complete lack of spine or testicles. Yes, they're running away. Its an enormous mistake. I'd very much like to see the democratic party run INTO a fight for a change. Yes stay at...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long "They're rich, so screw them, right? " No, they're completely out of touch with anything remotely resembling reality for the rest of us - you know, the unwashed masses like you and me - so screw 'em. And just incidental...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long I have an HHO generator in my little truck as well. My mileage went from 22 to 35 MPG and I'm still tuning it for best performance. Hydrogen will not be invested in as a motor fuel (or any other energy use) because it can be easily "made...

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Darwin Long So corporate greed had nothing to do with corrupting the officials? Are corporations squeaky clean in this dance? Do corporate presidents pay lobbyists because they have a gun to their heads? Do corporations pay dues to ALEC because they'll ceas...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long The existing fuel station network uses trucks to deliver the fuel to the filling stations. The GTL conversion raises the cost of natural gas to 2.50 to 3.00 per gasoline equivalent of a gallon. Now your break even for the $12,000 conversion went to n...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long Yes, on a national level its a big outlay - for an individual station its about $7,000.00. Its not something that needs to be done immediately or all at once. It can be done at one or two stations per city per brand and then increased as the demand w...

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• 1 month ago

Darwin Long "The big problem with adopting natural gas as a motor vehicle fuel for passenger cars is the lack of a distribution network." Not true Ed. Every gas station in the country has a natural gas line running into it. All that is needed is a c...

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Darwin Long Sorry James, its not government intervention, its corporate intervention in government that brings these regulations on. ALEC based legislation and corporate ownership of public officials is the source of legislation that stands in the way of progres...

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Darwin Long The real winner in a free market energy economy would not be natural gas, but would instead be hydrogen. Natural Gas is a finite resource and Hydrogen is available as a solar storage medium that will never run out - at least as long as the sun lasts....

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Darwin Long I did mention in the article that perhaps my faith in the independent voter is a bit high. Oh well, I keep hoping that the electorate will find consciousness somewhere, sometime.

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• 3 months ago

Darwin Long When Exxon or Chevron own the entire process from the well to the pump, why would they NOT have complete control? Every company has total control over the prices they charge. In the case of OPEC, there is no question of collusion on the part of gover...

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• 3 months ago

Darwin Long Writing an article about what might happen in the future is ALWAYS a risky business. I agree with you Susan, one (of many) factors I ailed to take into account is the speculation on oil futures. THAT is something that just can't currently be con...

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• 3 months ago

Darwin Long With a gas price raise of less than 15%, the effect on the overall economy should only be painful if there is a decrease in the growth we are currently experiencing. Of course, we're all using crystal balls here to divine the future, so the r...

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• 3 months ago

Darwin Long Thanks Ben, all I can say is my name is Darwin.

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long Melissa, we have only two examples of what might happen should these drugs be legalized. After alcohol was legalized in the 30s teenage consumption fell significantly. The legalization of drugs in Holland also showed a decrease in teenage use. Obviou...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long Nate, if the drugs are legalized here in the United States I would bet large sums of money that they would be legalized in the countries of origin as well. After all it was the United States pressure that made the drugs illegal in most countries in t...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long I would be a bit skeptical about having the DEA involved in the transformation. They have made their living from keeping these drugs illegal for so long, I doubt their ability to see both sides. Of course I could be wrong.

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long Melissa, you're making the assumption that hundreds of people really want to try heroin. You're also assuming that both the doctor visit and the drug would be expensive. This cannot be allowed. To make it expensive or exceedingly difficult ...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long Nate, stopping all illegal activity and all cartel and organized crime is impossible. The best we can do is cripple them. Making all drugs legal will remove in excess of 90% of their income. It's that income that drives the weapons smuggling and...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long Nate, I suggest that these people WILL integrate back into society. One example I would point out would be the Kennedys. The Kennedy fortune was made during prohibition by bootlegging, but who would argue that now they're one of the nations most...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long Nate, I contend that all of these drug crimes would decrease because guns cost money, and the only reason for the violence now is to expand the criminal enterprise. Once the enterprise is no longer criminal there is no more reason for violence. This ...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long Melissa, I'm not here trying to help the junkies. I'm trying to make the world and our society a little better. I will leave helping the junkies to the private individuals and detox companies who are much better at it than I could ever be. ...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long I'm sorry, the edit function doesn't work today. The violence of the mobsters did not come to a complete end at the end of prohibition, but it was drastically curtailed.

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long "On the contrary, such action might actually have the opposite effect, making them even more violent and dangerous as they move into new, less lucrative criminal enterprises" The only example we have that may contradict this is the examp...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long I'm not going anywhere near saying its either unbiased or efficient, but it does work in its present form - kinda. Government funding of anything is, by its very nature, not effectively spent money. But there are things that can be done by th...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long You're right Ben, peer review is the answer and this is how it works right now. There is a saying in academia - "Publish or perish". If a scientist continues to publish pointless or inaccurate science, he doesn't get published, an...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long Ya know, there's an old joke about a scientist who got a grant to study spiders. After 5 years of training he was able to get a spider to jump on verbal order. Now he as ready to run his experiment. He called out "JUMP" and the spider ...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long Anything taken to extremes becomes a bad idea. The reason grant writers are well paid is because they are worth it. They know how to stroke a bureaucrat so that these pointless paper pushers feel like they are worth their exorbadant salaries. That�...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long With the total governmental science budget at 4% of the overall budget, I have a really hard time seeing this as a problem so much as a solution. As I noted in the article, the fallout of new knowledge is unknowable. I don't care if you'...

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• 4 months ago

Darwin Long Nick, its that making a profit and staying viable thing that drives people and corporations to be less than honest about their competition. Hydrogen is an energy carrier more than its a fuel. Its capable of carrying solar energy and storing it in...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Measured in BTU's a cubic ft of natural gas has 1042, hydrogen has 783 as per this website: http://www.solarhighway.org/HydrogenFacts.html If measured by weight, hydrogen carries a LOT more energy

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Nick, thank you for the reasoned discussion. I hope you see mine as reasoned and reasonable as well. I would suggest that small scale is not only a panacea, it is the only reasonable answer for energy production. Think about the millions acres of ...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Those recommendations would make some sense if there wasn't already a safer and cleaner alternative, sitting on the shelf awaiting our resolve to pick it up and use it. The gentleman's statement that most of the additives used in frackin...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Interestingly enough yoat, ICE's can easily run on H2. There are only 2 changes necessary to make it happen. 1: change the fuel handling apparatus from the tank to the intake. 2: amazingly, the exhaust must be partially redirected into the int...

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Darwin Long Yes, losses happen but I would argue that it doesn't matter. The free H2 represents no hazard because it dissipates so rapidly and since H2 is not a finite resource the losses are easily made up. Changes can be made over time that will elimin...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long H2 storage is as easy as natural gas. When sequestered from oxygen, it can be pressurized safely to whatever pressure the storage vessel is capable of withstanding. As for backyard production, please note the labatory generator cited in my articl...

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Darwin Long Gary, here is how it might add up: A large amount of money is already invested in natural gas. Much of that investment would stop paying off if we switched to hydrogen, and to reclaim the income an investment equivalent to the investment in natura...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long If there hadn't been more than one instance, the EPA wouldn't have bothered with investigating.

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Darwin Long "we don't have the capability to work with it on the sorts of scales required for it to replace fossil fuels" This is inaccurate. The same infrastructure and technology we use for natural gas can be used for hydrogen. The only alter...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Great article Susan. I probably don't need to tell you how much it pleases me to see gas demand falling. And with the introduction of all electric cars and plugin hybrids this year I have hope of the trend continuing even if the economy rebuilds...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long HHO is a highly explosive mixture. Just like natural gas. And just like natural gas it requires an ignition source. Gas will ignite with nothing more than a static spark too - an automotive spark plug doesn't give much more than that. Stop ta...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Natural gas is extremely dangerous too. It contains more energy per cubic foot than hydrogen, it is heavier than air so it tends to pool in low places, waiting for an ignition source, when it gets free. Hydrogen, if handled in the same fashion as nat...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Constantine, I won't bother to argue with your bias against the EPA. Instead I'll only ask if you have a CO2 sensor near your furnace. If you do, its because your natural gas furnace puts out CO2 as it burns natural gas. If you chose to ...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long My project should be done by the end of January. I'll let you know how it works. I'll be trying it in my car first. Hydrogen doesn't explode as easily as natural gas does. First, it has only 70% of the energy, its lighter than air s...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Great Ethan, I look forward to the end of the decade when your MIT professor is ready to crack H2 with nothing but sunlight, but what I am proposing can be done TODAY and will clean up the air, clean up water, increase the water in the atmosphere, de...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Sorry Constantine, that just isn't true http://www.naturalnews.com/034470_natural_gas_fracking_groundwater.html The EPA has documented groundwater polution from fraking

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Darwin Long Ethan, the costs I cited are for PV installations, the most efficient solar system we currently have. I cited where I got those prices. Copper mountain is another huge installation and proves once again that the proper approach to alternative ener...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Refineries are not needed for hydrogen. Its refined by production.

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long The $3.9M is the cost of drilling a well according to a citing I intended to put there. I mistakenly attached the wrong citing to the text, and I am unable to find it again. Every other citing I have found has been significantly more than $3.9M for a...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long If a cubic foot of water (7.5 gallons) will power a furnace for 60 hours, you don't need much water, and since it condenses back to water when burned, you can use the same water over and over. Or you can use sea water, or polluted water, or urin...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long When water is cracked into hydrogen and oxygen, the volume expands by 1800 times. That being the case, a gallon of water will produce enough H2 to power your car for around 1000 miles if that is what you use it for. In this article, I was comparing H...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long My apologies, that 3.9MW Array would require just short of 10 acres to install

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Please see my reply to Gary below

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long I can't produce any pricing for drilling after 2007, that's why I used those numbers. As for the price of drilling going up since then, since all of the raw materials have gone up and the price of energy has gone up I can only assume that t...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long Please take a look at my answer to Gary Patterson below.

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long You're right Gary, something doesn't add up. I can't answer why companies would spend so much money going for gas when they can make more money producing hydrogen. I can't tell you why there are so many attempts to discredit hydro...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long The bone I threw them is that they can make more money for less work and over a longer period with hydrogen than they can with natural gas. The difference is that the free market they so love will actually work in this case because anyone can produce...

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• 5 months ago

Darwin Long (cont.) And I hold that the Federal Reserve is NOT a federal government agency and doesn't ask whether or not they should print another trillion or so. As proof of that statement I offer Ron Paul's efforts to get an audit done. Its taken hi...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long Dylan, What we can agree on is the collusion between business and government. We can also agree that this is something that MUST be stopped. Where we disagree is on how to do it. Here's my view: Government is currently under the control of...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long I may have mentioned it before, but I think that there is too little regulation on the financial sector right now - way too little. And the result of the lack of regulation is the housing bubble that popped in 2008 and the ever expanding gap between ...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long And I will answer your question with a question - what would stop it? Please see my comments about the computer industry below to see what happens when there is no regulatory intervention in the marketplace. The lawsuits are STILL ongoing.

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long There are, as I stated earlier, regulations already in place to address this type of predation. The anti-trust laws prohibit the bundling of software with an operating system. MS was first taken to task on this by Netscape, and lost the case but Nets...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long And Microsoft STILL has the office productivity market by the short hairs. WP is actually the preferred product for the legal profession, but since people are now transferring documents electronically WP is paying a premium on each copy sold to MS to...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long I can speak for Darwin. There were two factors that lead to the demise of WP. First and foremost was the inability of WP to raise short term capital due to their smaller (not negative) profit margin. This lead to decreased marketing, which obviously ...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long I disagree Cameron, my criticism is of a system that NO LONGER protects people from their baser natures. Since the Reagan administration regulations have been systematically stripped of power if not eliminated completely. This destruction of the regu...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long My experience here is that most on the right want to go to the extreme of tiny government giving the corporations absolute free reign and hoping that the "invisible hand" keeps everything in order. Unfortunately, I am not a member of tha...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long Akil, let me use my favorite example - Customer service. In the early 90's Word Perfect was that worlds most popular word processor. One reason for that was it's incredible technical support department. It employed over 500 technicians a...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long did I mention a balance? Its a fine line to walk, but that's what has to happen

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long Just one other point: In a free society, business has more money and therefore more power than government. If that relationship gets turned over, or if the government power gets subverted to business, it stops being a free society. We are dangerously...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long "If the government had no authority to subsidize or regulate economic activity, there'd be no corporate lobby to push for said favors. " So true, those "favors" would be taken by force of funding. Without the ability to re...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long Mia Culpa Richard. I used a bit of hyperbole to drive home the point. Is this a forgivable offense?

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long "The power to print money as United States Legal Tender comes from the FEDERAL Government." And Woodrow Wilson gave that power to a private bank. "They can abolish the Fed whenever they want." Except that they owe money (...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long The Federal Reserve Bank was created out of a bank owned by Getty and Rockefeller, among others. At the time the primary currency of the US was gold and silver coins. Wilson needed paper money to finance the AEF in WWI and Rockefeller and Getty were ...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long The numbers I was able to find were from 2008, when they were lending to everybody and their dog before the crash. I couldn't find any more current numbers.

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long You're absolutely right about the bankruptcy reform of 2005 Paul, but where did that legislation originate? I don't have a certain answer to that question, but I'll bet dollars to donuts that it originated in a financial industry lo...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long Unfortunately, its impossible for a government to have any power and not have the power to grant favors. Any power to write and enforce a law includes a power to grant immunity to that law, a favor. The answer, if there is one, rests in the remova...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long "these policies" are brought about through the efforts of lobbying, primarily lobbying by the banking industry. Prior to the Clinton administration banks were bound and gagged by the Glass-Steagle act of 1932. It was the removal of the prov...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long You're right Josh, regulatory reform is a big deal and a good idea, but we have to be careful. Reform doesn't mean removal. Regulations removed from the financial sector is why banks got too big to fail. Its also why B of A was able to tran...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long "A central bank really has no appropriate role in a market economy" Now here's a statement I can absolutely get behind. The reason I blame capitalism is that there is no "built in" control in the system that can stop th...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long Yes, the president appoints the chairman, a figurehead. The president doesn't appoint the board, or the president of the Fed and has absolutely NO control over their actions. Please don't take my word for it, nor am I going to give you a...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long Because congress is guilty of dereliction of duty and no longer controls the money supply, I CAN blame capitalism and I do. I would very much like to see congress reclaim their duty and take the ability to print money away from the federal reserve. ...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long I would note that B of A just recently moved a parcel of CDS's from their investment arm to their deposit arm. The total dollar amount moved was around $75T. http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/bank-of-america-deathwatch-moves-risky-deriva...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long Akil, banks pick winners and losers too through their choice of who gets a loan. Its actually much easier to distort the market for a bank because there is much less scrutiny on who they loan how much to. The federal government is under a microsco...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long the federal reserve corporation was a private bank until congress gave it the power to coin money. After that, it was (and is) still a private corporation. It was not created by congress.

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long The only real connection between the federal reserve and the federal government is the word federal. Ron Paul has tried for many years to pass a bill requiring audits of the federal reserve and just got it through last year. That audit has spawned...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long "the privatize profits/socialize losses model." Interestingly enough, I wanted to include insurance in this article to show how the private sector goes about protecting itself against losses, but I couldn't find any information on t...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long I think the key to your comment Josh is the line: "special interest driven". I don't think there's anybody here that doesn't think there's collusion between government and big business. The arguments only happen when ...

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• 6 months ago

Darwin Long No Susan, that's just the bladder infection

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Nice work! Next step is to get the power meter running backward.

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Tripp, you can start right now for as little as 700 bucks. Payoff for the original investment can be as little as 10 years without counting the tax incentives for jumping in. This is the right path to get to energy independence. Don't count on o...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Thank you SO MUCH Susan! That sounds like a great house, and hopefully I've given you a means of going solar for the power in an affordable fashion, over time. That is how we get started on the paradyme change that we'll have to effect if w...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long I understand where the "negative" comes from Phil. After being scammed and disappointed 20 or 30 times you just get tired. Frankly, I don't have any emotional attachment to hydrogen, its just the most promising technology we've...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Phil, on hydrogen leakage, I know that its tougher to control than liquid, but the boom can happen with gasoline as well. I used hydrogen in the example because its an existing technology, and can be used to transport energy. It can also be used i...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Finally, the roof of your home is not the only place to put solar cells. I have no south facing roof. My panel is about 3' by 5' and I placed it on the peak of my roof, angled at the same degree as my latitude. I could put up another 8 to 1...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long As for the problems associated with hydrogen, Yes there are a few, but none that can't be resolved. Yes hydrides are heavy, but I don't see that as a deal killer. Yes it requires heat to release the hydrogen, but that can be obtained from t...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Phil, I'm sorry it took so long to respond. Frankly your numbers set me back on my heels as I cannot argue with them, and upon examining my bill I couldn't find any reason listed for a 50 dollar/mo savings, so I called Rocky Mountain Power ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Phil, in the article is a connection to the site where I bought the solar kit that is on my house. The $700 price doesn't include any tax incentives, and it took me as an unskilled installer about 8 hours labor. It saves 50/mo on my bill. Trans...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Max, the 90% rate in this article isn't even a talking point. Read the entire article. If the guy making 1M a year will just spend the money and buy whatever he wants that' s made here in the US, he doesn't owe ANYTHING. Get your he...

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long Read them all - its in there. But just for you, you may not have noticed that banks aren't giving out loans. So I'll tell you - BANKS AREN'T GIVING OUT LOANS!!

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long "The opportunity cost of your favorite job would be the benefit gained from doing your second favorite job" That Bryan is a choice, not a cost, and I'm free to make it again tomorrow. Nothing is lost, there is no price to be paid.

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long Bryan, thank you for putting my head back where it belongs. Now here's something for you to think about over coffee tomorrow. My arguments are based strictly on straightforward logic and on the action/reaction chains I have watched occur too ...

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long Bryan, I think I see our basic disconnect in your post above. You see economics as a study of SCARCE resources, I see it as a study of wealth and resources. I don't see resources as scarce. Limited perhaps, but not scarce. As for free time...

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long OK Bryan, I was wrong. You're still flogging a dead horse in "opportunity costs" The math you referred to assumed a 10% increase in yacht demand, assumed an increase in the cost of labor to build the yachts as a result (not valid) a...

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long Bryan, changing the scenario, as you just did, doesn't invalidate it. In your scenario no one added anything to the transaction. In my scenario, more houses keep getting built. That's how this REALLY works.

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long Bryan, housing material quite literally grows on trees! I didn't use up as much as was grown in the time it took me to use it! And if I'm not building houses, what am I doing with my "free time"? Watching soaps? The economy, as I ...

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long This is also beneficial to the person half a world away, because; If my neighbors and I are of sufficient wealth, and there are enough of us in that category, we will now be able to buy some (not all, that would be counter-productive) goods and se...

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long OK, now you know how money spent increases goods and services produced. We'll take on the "made in the US" movement. - Its not racist, its selfishness. Making stuff in America provides work in America which keeps that money and its ...

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long "What matters is how many total goods and services are produced in the total economy and the distribution of said goods and services." This statement is absolutely true. Now we can talk about money and multipliers. If I build a house ...

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long Bryan, I submit that if opportunity cost actually exists (not stipulated) then the effect is so small that it cannot be measured. I'll use yachts as an example. Yes, you buy up labor and materials, but how much does that actually effect the p...

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long Augustus, the fallacy of "opportunity cost" is another straw man argument that the true believers of the "invisible hand" religion use. The logical reality of opportunity cost is that it can only happen if you have more than 100% ...

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long My personal take on this Augustus is that I don't care what gets built, and long as SOMETHING gets built and BOUGHT. That money will then go to the company that built it, and through that company to the workers, and through them back into the ec...

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• 7 months ago

Darwin Long Phil, as I've said below, I'm not naive enough to think this has even a glimmer of a chance of becoming reality. I only wanted to point out that there are ways to deal with the current pile 'o' crap in which we find ourselves that...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long When I wrote this article, I thought I might stir up a hornet's nest. Apparently I was right. This discussion has more comments on it than any thread I have seen in Policy Mic. I've tried to answer all of the valid points I've seen and...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Once again John, proof that there are honest politicians, they stay bought.

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Roger, under this plan, you still have the choice and the prices didn't even change. The only thing that changed is your tax at the end of the year, and if you spent all but 25K on US goods, then that is still zero. As for emission standards,...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long @John, I have to disagree. The 20 years of prosperity during the 80's and 90's happened as a result of the brand new computer industry and did so in spite of Reganomics, not because of them. "That was before the days of automation ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Addressing the *'s - If you have written off everything you can, the money left over is taxed as though that is all you have - just like today. If you total gross income is 75,000 and you spent 50,000 on qualifying goods and services, your adjus...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Cornflakes first - The manufacturer knows what ingredients come from where, and those that originate in the US are taken off of his taxes, those that do not, are not. Farm labor - Pay a citizen or a legal alien, write it off. Pay an illegal, don&#...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Oh K - Income is income, from whatever source it is derived. I make no distinction between capital gains and salary. The sole owner of a business (I'm one) is taxed on the net income derived from the business (how much did you take out this year...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long John, are you aware of the tax rates during the greatest economic expansion in US history? That expansion was post WWII and the highest tax rates were in the 95% range. At the time there were also significant tariffs on imported goods which insured t...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Corporations in America already pay the lowest taxes on the planet. The rates are high but the write offs are higher. The net effect is no taxes. Manufacturing has moved off shore because of, among other things, extremely cheap labor. It seems that t...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long @Roger: Admitting fallibility is not admitting I'm wrong. Neither you or anyone else on this board has bought up a problem that I cannot address. If we don't experiment, we can't learn. We have a problem, caused by elimination of re...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Paul, Sure you can buy a cheap TV. You just can't deduct it. But bear in mind that you have 25K in income that isn't taxed even if you don't spend it on deductible goods and services. And the purpose of this plan is to build the US ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long @ Roger: Do you think our wealthy people will not make just as much, if not more next year? As long as the tax is in place, spending will be encouraged. And please realize that mundane expenses like food and power bills also qualify for the exemption...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long And the healthy exchange their "blood" for for material goods. They can also get their piece of the expanded economy. Its not a loss.

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long You missed it again Dylan; I want the owner of the money to spend the money. I want him or her to spend it as they see fit. I will decrease their taxes if they spend in on US made goods and services. I am not taxing anything except income, and if ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Yes Phil, its their money, and we don't have the right to take it away. That's why I encourage spending it instead of being taxed. If the money is spent on hard assets, the wealth is still in the hands of those who acquired it. In my biased...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Phil; I apologize for my perceived biases. I don't believe I hate the wealthy, but re-reading the article, maybe I do. My primary reasons for going after extremely high salaries are; that's where the money is and we need it flowing around i...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Dylan, Banks don't make loans if the entity asking for the loan doesn't have some means of repaying the loan. Successful businesses don't ask for loans if they don't think they can pay them back. Loans don't generate cu...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Phil, gimme a break. I'm not messing with any markets except to get more money flowing around. My opinion on ridiculously high salaries still stands, but its my opinion and doesn't enter into this plan. If a board of directors is dumb enoug...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long I would agree that this will grease the wheels a bit, but that panic mode is there because there is 9% unemployment and an estimated 15% underemployment. That's a lot, and these nearly 25% of the workforce aren't going to get out of panic m...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long This is an income tax Zach, not a tariff. It violates no treaties and has no effect on the price you pay for imported goods. Equally, it doesn't discount goods made in America either. Its just an income tax with deductions. Any smart lawyer w...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long How are they investing those millions Zach? The answer to that question will determine whether they fit the deduction schedule or not. Corporate taxes go up as corporate income goes up. Just like you and me. Just like today. And an inventor can se...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long And how will that put more money into circulation to create jobs and fuel the economy?

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long @Brian - Or, they could decide that they don't need 5M a year and then allow their companies to keep more, or give it to the shareholders, or hire more people to increase productivity. Or they could buy assets that actually have a return and ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long OK Chris, so come up with something better. I'm willing to listen

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long @Dylan. You're right. That is the reason loans can work. But if you borrow that money and then can't sell the goods/services you purchased with it, you go broke. That is the quandary we find ourselves in now. No one is expanding because no ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long @Christopher; You're absolutely right, loopholes are everywhere. That's where I got the idea (I've never had an original thought in my life). I just expanded on it in such a fashion as to encourage Multimillion dollar salaries to spend...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Roger, I'm not devaluing savings, in fact I offer every individual that can afford it the ability to save 25K a year without any taxation. But without a job, you can't save any money, and without a demand for goods and services, you won...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Chris, I like the concept of a transaction tax too. But what I'm trying to do here is drive the economy, and a transaction tax won't do that. If you look closely, I'm not concentrating on collecting taxes, in fact I give a very easy me...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long @Christopher; Good for you. You should be able to use your hard assets as collateral to borrow money to make that investment without having to worry about my tax until your investment turns into income, which would be after the interest is paid. Or p...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long @Christopher; Yes you will have earned it and I congratulate you. In no way is this tax concept aimed at taking any of that away from you. My only request is that you spend your hard earned to acquire hard assets. In doing so you will assist the econ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Sure Dylan; Money in a bank has significantly less impact on the economy than money spent on goods and services. Even when the money is lent out, it has to be repaid so it winds up disappearing again, only this time its with a premium attached so mor...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long the multinationals aren't all that will be angered! If this concept were to actually happen I'd probably have a price on my head. And the statement you are trying to make is not "might is right", its "might makes right&quo...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Izzy, the third paragraph asks what a wealthy family needs, then goes on to show numbers for very expensive "necessities". What I'm trying to do is determine what is the absolute highest annual outlay of cash that someone could conceiv...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Yes Bryan, resources were used in the construction of the yacht, but it still added to the overall strength of the economy. In fact, because its a luxury item, I would argue that it actually added more than a non-luxury item because the markup was gr...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Tony; This is a sad fact of reality that I cannot deny. Notice that I didn't opine on a means of getting to this place, only on the intelligence of being there. I refuse to accuse any politicians of having any intelligence.

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Amanda, I've actually addressed the invest vs purchase question below, a couple of times. Your prediction is inaccurate. As for off shore investment, investment is usually done with an existing pool of funds. This tax is on income only, not o...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long The theory is . . . If the millionaires are spending money, the economy expands. Eventually it expands enough that everyone is paying a little bit of tax, and the govt. gets enough money. As I stated earlier, savings is encouraged as well - to a ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Leema, millionaires don't need to spend all their money, only a substantial portion of what they made this year. This is an income tax, not an estate tax. And yes, spending can eliminate any income tax they might owe. Savings is also encourag...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Paul; "through deductions, the government picks winners and losers" Which is why EVERYTHING made in America is tax deductible. I don't like the govt. picking what I can buy either. "What if someone was sick for a year" Fi...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long There is a better format Phil. Get the Mic's, become a Pundit and write an article. This is my first article and proves to me nicely how well it works

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Leema, Tax is avoided now by spending money. Its called tax deductions. One deduction that leaps to mind right now is interest paid on home mortgages. Every dollar I spend on the interest on my mortgage is removed from my income for purposes of tax c...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Bryan: Luxury items must be created by someone. That someone is paid for his or her services and they will then spend money on something else. Economies and through them wealth, are built and expanded on the motion of money, not investment. There A...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Phil, the reference to comparative salaries in the article is used to provoke thought and is my opinion. That reference is not used in the formulation of the taxing solution put forth and the decision of who is worth what is not passed on to any gove...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long That tax is only on income created this year, not on an estate. Money invested overseas will bring income to the US. That income will be subject to the tax. Income derived within the US by multinationals is subject to the tax prior to being rem...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Please read my other responses to posts.

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Wow, nobody seems to be "getting" this! THE TAX CAN BE AVOIDED COMPLETELY - JUST SPEND THE MONEY The wealthy get to keep every penny of their wealth, they just get to have hard assets instead of cash. My comparison of salaries is ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Leema, like most of the other respondents on this article, you've missed the point. The tax comes as a package along with a means of avoiding it. Spend the money and PAY NO TAXES. This punishes NO ONE because I don't deprive the wealthy of ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long And shopaholics are actually GOOD for the economy as a whole. They're only bad for their own economics.

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Tarek, you are missing the point. I'm not trying to raise taxes so much as to build the economy. And I want to build the U.S. economy so that we might be able to once again help others. Call the preference for U.S. goods fiscal dumping or sub...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Tarek, why would they leave? What is the purpose of money? To buy wealth. Money isn't wealth. I'm just encouraging them to complete the cycle, and in doing so they might get their annual income dropped to a point of not paying taxes. If you...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Izzy, that's the point! You DON'T spend a million quid a year. If you did, your country's economics would be stronger. And following this tax structure, your personal taxes would be lower.

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long One more thing Jon, I was in a pretty good mood till you shoved my nose back into the stench of reality. Quit that!!

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long You're absolutely right Jon. Greed begets greed and power corrupts. This is a cycle that I don't see the ability to break. The best we can do is separate the greed and the power. By forcing the greedy into hard assets to maintain their weal...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long I hate to defame you in this fashion Tony, but I don't see any substantial difference in our methods. Lets swap meds and see what happens!!

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long One more very good reason to put my plan into action

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Unfortunately for your taxpayer, overthrowing the govt is not deductible. He owes 1.8B in taxes and has only 1B to cover the debt.

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long You're absolutely right Walter - That's why political contributions MUST NOT be deductable.

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Bryan, you're absolutely right. All that matters is the goods and services. The production of those goods and services is driven by demand. What I'm trying to do is drive up demand by using the tax code. I'm not changing the money ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Thanks for the comment Tony, but my name's Darwin, not Jon. I know we look alike so you're forgiven. As for a surplus resources tax, I think that's about what I've proposed. By allowing deductions of nearly anything you can buy...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Gary, buy the yacht. There is a company that builds it too and that company employs people. The only reason any company needs investment money is to grow, and if that growth is funded by sales instead of investment, it is a more sustainable growth. ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Gary, consumption is the basis of EVERY economy. If nobody consumes, nothing gets sold. If nothing gets sold, there is no need for investment. Without consumption, there is no economy. Now having said that, I believe that everything built should b...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long @Gary - yes "An average pencil is made from components all over the world" and the manufacturer knows where everything came from and how much it cost. Is there work to do to make this happen? Yes. Is it impossible? Nope.

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Its impossible to fill in all the particulars in 500 words, and its not my job. Its the concept that matters here. Yes, there are a lot of mechanics that need to be filled in, but that doesn't negate the concept.

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Once again Gary, you're missing the point. I don't want that money going to the government, I WANT IT SPENT. Yes, investments like those of Buffett and Gates assist the economy, the same way a bank loan assists the economy. Unfortunately, t...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long You missed the point Gary. I don't want wealthy people to pay more taxes! I want them to SPEND MONEY! That is the purpose of the higher rates accompanied by lots of deductions. Higher rates alone will only hurt the economy. Deductions alone won&...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long @Michael - you missed the point. I really don't want to tax the wealthy, I just want them to spend their money. The stereotypes you refer to are not stereotypes at all, just an exercise to determine how much money anyone can consistently spend i...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long The part of this that I apparently failed to put across is that if a taxpayer makes 1,100,000 and spends 1M in the US, then the tax paid would be on only 100K. This is not intended to redistribute wealth. The wealthy are still wealthy but beyond ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long I don't care if they deserve it or not. I WANT them to "waste" it on luxury items. I don't care where the money comes from or, to a certain extent, where it goes. I JUST WANT IT SPENT. Only when money is actually spent on goods...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long @ Gary - Nope, he doesn't stuff it into a mattress, but he doesn't buy goods and services either. Especially not goods and services produced here in the U.S. If they can't consume all the money they drag unto themselves, then maybe ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Yes Susan, but putting my foot in it is part of the point. Ya gotta admit there's a lively discussion going on. I did account for the retirement account in my math, but I couldn't show it in 500 words. This started as a word document of 4 ...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long I'm not trying to judge how others spend their money. My budget is unreasonable because I want to get ridiculous on how much can reasonably be spent without some incentive to spend more. I don't want to redistribute wealth. I want the we...

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• 8 months ago

Darwin Long Spending it is the point! That's why there are so many deductions, loopholes if you will, to encourage spending. That's what is NOT happening now. Spend the money on American made goods and you don't have to pay taxes.

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• 8 months ago