American economy in crises - a long time coming

When a country and its society import more than they export for over a quarter of a century, it is bound to erod the economy to its primate state.

We have only ourselves to blame, what goods and products are we exporting, what goods and services are produced in the USA, the answer is very little by comparison.

In the past 50 years as our population has increased, technology advanced, we have become a nation that consumes enormous amounts of resources, we shop for competitive prices. Corporate America is constantly looking to increase the bottom line.

Most of the goods for and by Americans and its companies are produced overseas and in the past decade with the advancement of telecommunications, many of the services sector are also imported.

The increased costs of energy over the past 10 years, has affected the economy to unimaginable comprehension.

This economic activity has eroded our economy to its core. It seems that the situation is getting worse every year. American debts are increasing beyond our wildest dreams, endangering the future economic vitality of our future generation.

I hope it is not too late for our society to recognize the graveness of our economic predicament and its resolve to take appropriate action to stem the tide of our economic downturn.

Americans are a nation of great technology and knowhow. We must utilize that technology and our resources to find new means to regain our economic independence.

We must face and implement fiscal responsibility, both by the government and the population with its infrastructure of corporate America.

It is no longer an option, it is a must if we as a nation want to survive and retain our way of life and economic vitality.

Inflation, recession and financial crises are here. Let us take the bull by the horn, initiate immediate actions to minimize and hopefully reverse our economic crises.

Yehuda Draiman, Northridge, CA.

PS
The US economy has enormous momentum. Metaphorically speaking, if someone turned off the locomotive that drives the US economy, the economy would go on for miles before anyone would likely notice something was wrong. But something has been wrong for many years. Is there really hope for the future? Maybe. But the terrible truth is that no one really knows. But if there is hope, we're already on the wrong track. And that has to change..

Consumer’s responsibility to conserve energy

Consumers coming to the utilities for innovative ways to educate the consumer first of all, in other words some form of education to conserve energy to assist with the energy crisis, and then also the energy devices that one can implement either those which are relatively inexpensive or those that are more expensive.

What are some of the options consumers have?

If we have a look at just the simple basic habits - that’s switching off lights, buy low voltage bulbs (CFL-LED), switch off faucets, put timers on and or photocells, when you fill up the kettle only boil the water you require for your cup of coffee. I think this is a way of life, and it is about lifestyle - perhaps we are accustomed to something different, it’s now about saying “how can I be more energy efficient?” because I understand as a consumer that the crisis we are currently faced with at the moment goes beyond the responsibility of the utilities. This is the consumer’s responsibility - it’s not going to be solved overnight, but as consumers we can in fact take that role. Our appeal to homeowners is to say “how are we in fact conserving energy, and contributing or assisting in actually solving/minimizing the problem?” If each and every one went a little bit of the way - perhaps an energy saving of 5% or 10% can easily go a long way to assist in the energy crisis.

We still have to depend on wind turbines and solar power - we have batteries that we need to get in order to help to save those power needs as well - are we able to afford them?

I think when we have a look at things like a wind turbine and solar panels those are expensive items - but if you take the average house 20% of the electricity is actually used in the lights. If you used a low voltage bulb for example you’d save 650% of the actual lighting energy that you require - those are inexpensive ways to go about it.

When we use our vehicle, try to accomplish multiple errands at one time, you will save fuel and wear.

We also must look at conserving water – this is resource that sustains life, it must be preserved and not waited or abused. See if you can harvest and utilize rainwater.