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The Growth Illusion
Blog post
Bad Timing For a Credit Crunch
Posted Aug 4, 2008 by Richard Heinberg
Just when America needs to invest trillions in new energy and public transport infrastructure, the means for making such investments are disappearing. Trillions may vanish as a result of the mortgage and banking mess now unfolding, and the stock market is responding, understandably, by pulling the blankets over its head.
It’s not as though the nation has been unable to afford trillions in discretionary spending in the past. The US has spent over a trillion on the Iraq war alone just in the past five years, and shovels a half-trillion in the direction of the Pentagon on an annual basis.
But that money is already spent. And most of it had to be borrowed in the first place. Now with the credit crisis worsening by the week, borrowing becomes more difficult for businesses. For the government itself, more borrowing means a weakening dollar.
A couple of days ago a gentleman asked me if he should buy solar panels now or wait. Do it now, I told him. Even if the technology gets less expensive in the future, by then you may not have the money to invest.
Get The End of Growth http://www.postcarbon.org/eog | Watch the animation Who Killed Economic Growth? http://bit.ly/whokilledgrowth
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Reader Comments
2 comments
The bankers are looting our
From: Henry Credi, Dec 22, 2008 05:30 PM
The bankers are looting our country, it appears. We have lost over 8.5 TRILLION with the "bailout". When will America learn that they are actually being taken advantage of?
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Mobility 2030 input
From: Tahoe Valley Lines, Aug 7, 2008 02:28 PM
TRPA at Lake Tahoe has a five-year cycle of updating the regional transportation plan, More of a job security thing, but wars, clothing styles, and new car models are in the same line of behaviour... But, maybe this time around, Richard would like to drop a few lines as to the fact Peaking Oil makes the exercise moot, without re-orientation to renewable based transport engineering.
E-mail for this TRPA task group is mobility2030@trpa(dot)org; also, Karen Fink, (kfink@trpa(dot)org is correspondence person. TRPA CEO is John Singlaub, (775-588-4547), latest in line of Directors, (Zeigler);(Baetge); (Morgan) et al who had position and paycheck to promote true renewable based transport for Lake access, circulation & regional links, but chose to ride out their tenure in a safe and low-profile way.
At Tahoe City, we find footprint of turn loop for train line over to Truckee, in the USFS 64 acre tract. The USFS site should be locus of new intermodal center, to be on rail rehab, and waterborne... but no- near the golf course about a 1/2 mile away is better choice for this ignorant generation.
At South Lake Tahoe, we note details of a 1995 CalTrans 50/80 corridor rail study, which brings American River (US50) Corridor rail line to South Lake Tahoe, via a five-mile tunnel, Little Norway/Meyers. Cal Trans has re-issued the study, dropped the 50 rail discussion, and fights a stubborn Union Pacific over increasing passenger rail on the 80/Donner Pass rail line. Ho-Hum...
As I see these feeble efforts to re-instate rail links built over, or expunged from studies, etc., I can only feel anguish at the misery these decisions are putting into our future. Like paving rotten wood into the roadway, or in a bridge; to cave-in at some future time when they get run over just so...
Maybe you are in touch with some Tahoe partisans who can ask for revisiting rail element North & South Shore at Big Blue. Thanks.