Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

I'm glad in some way to be out in Japan where I mostly don't get affected by the oil crunch.  Ironically, that whole assault against the Japanese tanks does little for me since I mostly take the subway or walk everywhere.  But fears from the oil shortage are making the markets really jittery, especially America.

The thing is that America really needs to do something about their dependence upon oil.  There's no doubt that nothing will get done as long as Bush and his cronies are in charge.  But in general, whether another Bush gets installed in the long term or not, America needs to do something within the next 2-3 years, especially with states like California (Los Angeles in particular) and other car dependent states.

I don't think Americans realize just how screwed up they are if they're living in the states.  You've got so many factors that are messing the economy up big time:

• Oil shortage
• Sub-prime loan problem
• Home foreclosures
• Credit Crunch/Financial institutions blowing up
  
• Airline bust
• Detroit's sinking economy due to heavy (and better) competition from East Asia (i.e. Japan, Korea and soon China and India)
• Outsourcing of jobs to India, China, Indonesia, etc.
• The trillions of dollars of debt Bush has gotten America into due to the unnecessary war
• Farm/food shortage

These are some heavy implications that lead me to believe that even if a Democrat gets the election in November, the country will be wrecked for 16 years.  The current responses I'm seeing in the economy are piss poor and dodgy at best:

• More military force in the Middle East/military spending
• Budget cuts in NASA/Space exploration
• Other countries buying land in America
• Outside creditors coming into bail these major financial companies out (e.g. the India billionaire becoming a large stakeholder in CitiGroup)
• The complete fracturing of the airline industry, with mergers to create less competitive environments and the cutting of staff and good services
• Complaints from Detroit/auto industry that they are unable to meet the demands of better fuel efficiency

These aren't positive ways to stave off the current issues.  In fact, I think these so-called "solutions" are simply using cheap duct tape over a severed artery.  Instead, of figuring out how to help the majority, American corporations are trying to appease shareholders by cutting cost to show pathetic growth or even revenue.  The only two areas saving America at the moment are online technologies and the Green movement.  But most of that are illusions of growth that are going to perpetuate more mini bubbles of illusion in an attempt to veil the true core issues facing Americans now.

I think America needs to start with figuring out how to resolve the energy/oil crisis problem.  That seems to be the biggest thing hitting people unnecessarily.  Here are some ideas to help America bounce back in this regard:

• Force the government to absorb oil cost for each dollar spent on the war here on out.  In other words, if the government cannot resolve peace in the Middle East immediately, then they should either withdraw, or do something locally to create a shield for the American public on a problem the government has created.
• Force the CEOs, shareholders and chair people from the automotive industry out immediately (by gun point if necessary) and force those companies to focus completely on research on energy efficiency.  Use those people's bonuses, salaries and stock options to fund research projects in these areas.  Considering how much they make, that would be plenty to get something more efficient than hybrids out to the public.
• Get states like California to put more public transportation infrastructure into place.  The Metro is pathetic.  They have plenty of land which is far more stable than Japan and can utilize all that space underground to build efficient subways.  If places like Beverly Hills, Orange County, or yuppy zones disagree, tax those muthafuckers and have them collectively fund the projects.  Maybe we can kick those gay bastards out to Connecticut with all the other yuppy cocksuckers.
• Give businesses like eSolar, Energy Innovations, etc. massive tax breaks for creating working solutions for the general consumer.  Make Texas fund it since it was Enron who screwed California over.
• Penalize gas guzzling idiots by increasing taxes on people who drive vehicles that have mileage under 24 miles/gallon.  Those bastards can already afford the cost of gas if they have a gas guzzler in the first place, so hopefully we can clean the streets up of urban tanks and replace them with more fuel efficient, less space wasting solutions.

I don't joke around when I say these things.  The way American politics is structured, nothing is going to get done without brute force to knock into the public's dense heads that these actions are absolutely necessary to get the country back on track.