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I don’t want to talk about the curious timing and hypocrisy of America’s current shitfit about deficit spending, not just now at any rate. Most of what could be said is self-evident anyway. I would, instead, like to propose a good, common-sense plan for reducing America’s federal budget deficit, as a sorely-needed alternative to the non-substantive posturing and shouting which surrounds the issue.

1. Starting in, say, 1986 when oil prices were largely recovered from the oil “shocks,” implement a very small nonrenewable tax on oil, coal and other fuels which involve depleting a finite stockpile (in addition to their various other flaws). Slowly but steadily raise the tax over time. A bit of this revenue could be applied to promoting renewable energy research, though the mere fact of the tax would draw greater private investment to that area and thus most of the revenue could be left in the general budget. (Over time, revenue would presumably peak and go into decline as financial incentives promoted a shift to renewable energy, but by that point the tax should have contributed substantially to the treasury’s coffers, and the economic impact of replacing expensive, imported oil with domestically-produced renewable energy would likely have a generally positive impact on tax revenues as well.) (more…)

Russell Tice informs us that we’re being watched, recorded, analyzed and stored for eternity.