No News is Bad News

This morning's Yahoo News headline:

"Breaking News: Hormuz closes again as more talks planned in Switzerland"

That's not news; it's just a prediction that came true.

A Long View of Venezuela Action

Looked at in isolation, USA's actions in Venezuela may seem arbitrary, or a bully's response to being bullied, or a blatant grab for oil.  However, when considered as a piece in the puzzle of recent world events, it makes sense.

Consider also the bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran, which took place in June, ¹ and then the military strikes in Syria that took place in December ².

This activity in Iran, Syria and Venezuela, in the context of Russia's attempted occupation of Ukraine, reveals effective US international policy against Russia.  The three countries are (or were) allies of Russia.

While Russia remains embroiled in Ukraine, the US can engage Russian interests, reducing Russia's footprint on the world stage.  In effect, we can wage war on Russia, albeit indirectly.

And recall that Russia invaded Ukraine soon after Pres. Biden won the 2020 election and took office in 2021.  Pres. Trump claimed the invasion wouldn't have happened if he had been elected.  At first I assumed that he was talking nonsense, something a sore loser or braggart would say.  But now I think Russia was convinced that a massive operation in Ukraine might encourage Trump to take action.  With Biden in charge, Putin seized the opportunity to take over Ukraine.

In light of this, it seems likely that US support of Ukraine would be just enough to maintain the war, to keep Ukraine from being taken over, but not enable them to completely repel Russia.

What's behind US's desire to annex Greenland?  Partly it's to gain more resources.  But considering that Greenland is well-positioned between USA and Russia, it may be the ideal location to establish defense against hypersonic missiles, which need to be situated as close to the enemy's launch sites as possible.  But why do we need to annex Greenland to do that?  While it's true that the US already has a base in Greenland, my guess is that the technology is Top Secret and needs to be kept careful guarded.

All of this is conjecture based on a thought exercise; don't think I have access to special information.

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¹ https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-war-nuclear-talks-geneva-news-06-21-2025-a7b0cdaba28b5817467ccf712d214579
² https://www.npr.org/2025/12/19/g-s1-103194/u-s-launches-strikes-syria

Forget MAGA -- Focus on MACFA

I had planned to write another of my silly “Forget MAGA...” posts^{1, 2}. The new post would have called for a focus on MACFA, or Make All Commodes Flush Again. This was something that Trump himself promised he would do.

But when I looked for background material and sources, I came across a recent Slate article³ that reports on the great progress that was made in low flush (LF) toilets. According to the article, the newest models can flush effectively with as little as 1.28 gallons of water.

I believe it. I can flush my toilets with a two-gallon bucket half filled with water. But the bowls remain nearly empty after that, so I suppose it takes another half gallon to refill the bowl.

The article explains that the earliest LF toilets used 1.6 gallons as does my newer fixture. However, they didn’t flush away all the solid waste; Trump himself said the operator had to flush “10 times.” “Not me, of course,” reports say.

So, have we Made All Commodes Flush Again? It would seem so. But I remain skeptical. I’d expect that the gradual accumulation of crap (quite literally) and minerals would reduce the water velocity in a low-flow toilet. And flushing is all about water velocity.

I can recall how well our 1.6 gallon toilet flushed. The water would almost totally disappear the moment I pressed the handle. But now it’s just like any other old-fashioned toilet in which the water rises before anything solid goes down.

When the commode was installed, there was a bumpy patch at the bottom. Now I wonder if the toilet was used or defective and that the bumpy part was scale or corrosion that was painted over.

Earlier today, I used my improvised drain clearer (an old bent coat hanger) to scrape at the entrances to the trap and siphon jet. The toilet flushes much better now. I’ll clean the visible portions with a pumice stone later tonight.

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¹ Forget MAGA -- Focus on MATA https://ludditegeek.blogspot.com/2025/07/forget-maga-focus-on-mata.html

² Forget MAGA -- Focus on MEGA https://ludditegeek.blogspot.com/2025/07/forget-maga-focus-on-mega.html

³ https://slate.com/technology/2025/02/toilets-low-flow-trump-environment-cost-savings.html

Putin in Alaska

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet with President Trump tomorrow. Many political analysts already view this as a victory for Putin, or at least a concession. But I disagree.

It would be a major concession if he were hosting the meeting on Russian soil. Instead, he’s allowing Trump to host the meeting, in effect giving the other “home field advantage.”

It’s no secret that Trump wants to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe he would even be willing to arrest Putin for war crimes. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has a warrant out for his arrest.¹ With Putin outside Russian borders, an arrest shouldn’t be too difficult.

But certainly Putin is aware of this; already he will have planned his next moves. Perhaps when the Russian Empire sold Alaska to USA², they included a clause in the treaty that would allow Russia to regain ownership under very special circumstances. Such a clause might read, “Be it enacted and declared by the authority of these presents, that if the Sovereign of the Russian Empire, being the lawful ruler thereof, shall within the term of fifty-seven thousand (57,000) days and one week from the date hereof personally repair to the lands, tenements, and hereditaments herein described, and there, in the presence of two credible witnesses, shall utter the words ‘I have a red pencil box,’ then, and forthwith upon such utterance, all right, title, and interest in and to the said premises shall revert to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, his heirs and assigns, to be held by them for ever; anything in this grant or elsewhere contained to the contrary notwithstanding.”³

The day of August 15, 2025 should be an interesting one.

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¹ https://www.icc-cpi.int/defendant/vladimir-vladimirovich-putin
² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase
³ This fictitious clause was synthesized with Copilot 0.4.2.0 on Windows 10 using the prompt, “Please rewrite the following content in legalese that might have been in use in 1867: If the ruler of Russia should visit this place in 57000 days and one week and say ‘I have a red pencil box’⁴ the territory shall revert back to Russia.”
⁴ The phrase “I have a red pencil box” comes from an episode of Benny Hill.

Cold in Summer; Hot in Winter

Why do most folks set their thermostats lower in Summer than in Winter?

I’ve seen summer settings at 68°F (20°C), while winter settings are at 75°F (24°C).  What do they expect the HVAC system to do when it senses an indoor air temperature of 72°F (22°C)?  Should it heat the room?  Cool it?  It’s a paradox.

Engineers who design thermostats have a simple solution for this paradox – they let the user figure it out.  They provide a Cool/Warm setting, which tells the device which setpoint is active.

This doesn't make sense to me.  Not only is it a paradox, but it defies the way people perceive air temperature.

For example, if it’s 18°F (10°C) cooler inside than outside, you should feel much cooler when you step inside. So if the outside air is 91°F (35°C), you should feel much cooler with a summer setting of 77°F (25°C).  And if the humidity is even slightly elevated, it will feel even hotter outside and cooler inside.

Similarly, if it’s 36°F (20°C) warmer inside than outside, you should feel much warmer when you step inside. So if it’s freezing cold (32°F or 0°C) outside, you should feel much warmer with a winter setting of 68°F (20°C).

But it seems that people no longer trust themselves to acclimate.  Heat has been a standard offering in automobiles for over 50 years – it’s free, a by-product of the combustion engine.  The default setting in wintertime is maximum heating, even though the riders wear coats.  And nowadays, nearly every automobile has air conditioning, and the default summertime setting for it is maximum cooling.  Climate control in automobiles mostly is “open loop,” meaning that the system does not monitor the air to see whether the setpoint has been reached.  It just keeps heating or cooling.¹  This is in opposition to indoor heating systems, which are closed loop.

The other drawback to the “low setpoint in summer, high in winter” method is that it’s more wasteful.  It’s like biking uphill into a headwind.

Here’s where I brag about the setpoints I use – feel free to roll your eyes.

In summer, I’m fine with the window units set to 77°F (25°C).  However on cool humid days, I might switch the units to dry mode, even though it doesn’t work as well as a dehumidifier.  In Winter, I use a setpoint of about 64°F (18°C).  Plus it drops an additional 2°C (or 3.6°F) at night in “setback” mode.²  Usually I get up before the furnace turns itself back on, so I experience a warming as I prepare tea / coffee, feed the cat, etc.  That slight warming helps me acclimate to Winter.

Would you like to save money and reduce your ecological footprint?⁵  Then try this:

If you live alone, try a higher setpoint at home in summer.  Wear a light sweater at work or while shopping.  Limit the use of A/C in the car.  And in winter, do the opposite.  Try setting a lower setpoint at home, dress lightly in layers.  When in the car, remove outerwear and limit the use of heat.

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¹ Some luxury cars provide closed loop climate control.  Indeed, I drove an old Audi whose heat and air conditioning seemed to stop working after about twenty minutes.  I don’t really know whether they were closed loop or was just broken.  Either way, it was difficult to get used to the effect.

² It’s a German-made boiler, which means the fundamental temperature units are Celsius.  It provides a Fahrenheit display for most things, but not for the setpoint, which is “programmed” by setting DIP switches ³ on the thermostat’s circuit board.

³ A DIP switch ⁴ or Dual In-Line switch is really a set of switches packaged into the standard outline of an IC. And while ICs have gotten 60% smaller over the past three decades, DIP-switches have retained the same bulky outline of the chip packages they were modeled after.

⁴ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIP_switch

⁵ What is Ecological Footprint?  Click here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_footprint

⁶ Try the footprint calculator at https://www.footprintcalculator.org/

Forget MAGA -- Focus on MATA

Have you noticed that towels don’t seem to absorb water any more?  Pick up a cold drink from the countertop and try to wipe away the ring of water.  What happens?  You smear the water across the surface.  My wife and I complain all the time about how modern towels can’t absorb water.

Bath towels that are heavy, plush and soft bother me.  These are the towels that seem to be least absorbent.  They’re so thick, I can’t get them into narrow places, such as behind my ears.  And they’re heavy so it takes effort to pick one up and move it around, so I end up working up a sweat.  Such towels are good for:

• decorating
• lining the dog bed
• gifting to people whom you don’t really like

My preference is a cheap, plain, white, 100% cotton towel that I can wash in hot water to get out all the oils that prevent absorption.  I like them because they're light weight and a bit scratchy.  And they absorb really well.

I don't use fabric softener because it coats the towel with a film that repels water.  See for yourself.  Lay a towel on a flat surface and drip water onto it.  The water will form a bead, then a puddle, indicating the towel is hydrophobic.¹

Advice abounds on the Internet about not using fabric softener on bath towels.² I see the same advice even on the bottles of fabric softener itself as shown below. (Note that most towels are made from terry cloth.³)

I’m convinced that if we just had towels that can absorb water, we will make America great again.

So, MATA -- Make Absorbent Towels Again!

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¹ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hydrophobic
² https://duckduckgo.com/?q=why+no+fabric+softener+on+some+clothes&ia=web
³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrycloth

Forget MAGA -- Focus on MEGA

When I was a boy, my shoes and sneakers never wore out.  Sure I would outgrow them when I was in elementary school, but by the time I was a fully-fledged teenager my feet stopped growing, and I wore the same footwear.  In fact, I still can fit into the same shoes, sneakers and boots that I wore in high school.¹  So the only things that needed replacing were the shoelaces.

Remember how shoelaces broke?  I do.  It would be a big inconvenience.  It would happen just as I was getting ready to leave the house to go somewhere important, not when I was stepping outside just to kick or throw some ball around.

These days I never have to replace the laces.  Why is that?  Are laces now made from a superior material?  Perhaps.

But perhaps not.  I think the reason is that the shoes would break before the laces did.  Right?  Have you noticed that sneakers don't have eyelets anymore?  They don't even have holes for the laces!  Instead, they have a loop of slightly elastic fabric through which to pass the laces.  What flimsy garbage!

I'm convinced that if we bring eyelets back, we will make America great again.

So, MEGA -- Make Eyelets Great Again!

¹ I have/had a pair of hiking boots that I wore every day in high school.  (I imagined that I was Aragon; in fact I almost bought a cloak.)  Thirty to forty years later I'd wear these boots occasionally.  The "have/had" arises from a recent purging my wife did of "all this old stuff on the porch."

No Letter of Resignation Required

In Longing For Layoffs, I lamented the fact that companies now fire employees for (made-up) cause when their businesses tank.  But in the good old days, companies would lay off employees with the benefit of a severance package.

Yet another benefit of getting laid off is that it’s unnecessary for an employee to spend hours coming up with a clever letter of resignation, one that would point out the employer's many shortcomings without actually burning bridges.

The Shift to Employee-Sponsored Benefits

Back in February I wrote about the good old days when employers would lay off non-essential or excess workers in order to remain viable.¹  Another trend I see is that employers are off-loading benefits onto their employees.

For example, fifty years ago workers could retire on the company’s pension after working there for 20 or 30 years.  Now, workers are expected to set aside some earnings for retirement in a 401(k)² or 403(b)³.  The employer might contribute a matching benefit in which they contribute 4% of what each employer contributes.

What’s next?  Health insurance.  Employees now can contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA)⁴ with pre-tax dollars.  Plus, earnings (if any) also are tax free.  Even withdrawals for qualified expenses is free of taxes.  And if you live to be 65 years old, you can withdraw funds for any reason without penalty.  Here’s the thing – the HSA is available only when choosing a (cheap) high deductible health plan (HDHP)⁵.  Hence, it seems a most appropriate replacement for a retirement savings for young, healthy professionals.

What’s left?  Perhaps we’ll see Tuition Saving Accounts.  Although by then perhaps most of the workforce will be replaced by robots and AI.

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1. https://ludditegeek.blogspot.com/2025/02/longing-for-layoffs.html
2. https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/401k-plans
3. https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/irc-403b-tax-sheltered-annuity-plans
4. https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/are-hsa-contributions-tax-deductible
5. https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/what-is-a-high-deductible-health-plan

Longing for Layoffs

  I long for the good old days when a company would lay off its workers. When revenue was down, a company would eliminate the excess workers. The employer would pay them a severance – perhaps one week’s pay for each year of service. It costs money initially, but the company would save money in the long term. As well, the workers would be entitled to unemployment benefits. Ahh, those were the good old days indeed.

  Now it seems that employers are too cheap to do that. They’ve found other ways to reduce the workforce without resorting to lay offs. Not only can they avoid paying severance, they keep the cost of unemployment insurance at a minimum. ^{1 2}

  My employer brags about how it doesn’t lay off its workers. Instead, it imposes a “salary sacrifice” during business down cycles. Then, when the up cycle arrives, it makes amends by giving everyone a salary reward greater than the sacrifice. The reward is paid with shares of stock.

  But the company doesn’t brag about how it finds excuses to fire workers or put them on probation, which allows them to avoid paying rewards and bonuses. It starts by assigning an employee an impossibly large workload outside of the employee’s area of expertise. As the employee invariably fails to “meet expectations,” it gas-lights him or her into believing he or she is underperforming, unworthy and deserving of probation. The paper trail starts with a written warning and is followed by probation. ³

  What can an employee do in this situation? According to Workplace Fairness, it’s important to build your case by gathering paperwork and witnesses. ⁴ Personally, I think it’s a good idea to look for a new job.

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¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_insurance_in_the_United_States
² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_modifier
³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciplinary_probation
⁴ https://www.workplacefairness.org/building-your-case/

The Great Task

The best thing that Democrats and Independents can do to keep Trump out of the White House is to register as Republicans and vote for Nikki Haley in their states’ primaries. You don’t have to vote for her in the general election.

Learn about how to change party affiliation; the U.S. Election Assistance Commission describes how here:
https://www.eac.gov/how-do-i-change-my-political-party-affiliation

As of today, there are no statements on her website about where she stands on key issues.  But you can learn a little bit more about Nikki Haley here:
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/15/1157122486/nikki-haley-confederate-flag-race-president-2024

Her voting record is shown here:
https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/47879/nikki-haley

The Great Task, this post’s title, is the name of a recently created PAC that was formed to prevent Donald Trump from winning the Republican primary in 2024.

Trash Talk

 The capacity of my kitchen garbage can is 3.2 gallons, but I usually buy ordinary 4-gallon trash bags for it.  And I resent having to buy them; I used to use the free plastic grocery bags before they were banned.

It takes me a few days to fill it, too.

Yet when I go shopping for them, I find mostly 13-gallon bags.  There are bags from Glad and Hefty along with the store brand.  You can choose bags with drawstring closure, wire twist or hand tie.  The boxes have various quantities.

But that’s not all.  Now garbage bags can be found in a variety of scents, such as Lavender, Fresh, Hawaiian, Ocean, Vanilla, Lemon, Cherry Blossom, Mountain Air, Eucalyptus & Peppermint and more.  Sometimes you can even find unscented bags if you have the patience to look long enough.

What are people throwing away that they need a 13-gallon bag?  It would take me a couple of weeks to fill a garbage with that much capacity.  At full capacity it would be difficult to lift.  And even with a cover, the stink would be horrendous, regardless of what scent the bag is.

And why do we need scented bags?  When new, their smell is off-putting.  When full, they do nothing to alter the smell of what’s in the bag.

So let’s have only unscented bags.  It will leave more room on store shelves for other size bags or other products.  If people want to make their garbage scented, they can spray their favorite room freshener into it.

Losing Faith in America

I’m losing faith in our institutions.

First example is how the Federal Reserve thinks it can get inflation under control by raising interest rates.  If prices are higher now than they were one year ago, it’s mostly because they were so low before.  Recall that low demand in 2020 caused prices to fall sharply.  (In fact crude oil prices were actually negative¹ in April 2020.)  Now we’re seeing low supply as a backlash from that effect.  Thus prices climb as demand returns to normal.  The higher interest rates may placate Wall Street investors, but it hurts anyone who needs to replace an automobile or relocate.

Second there’s Justice Samuel Alito’s draft proposal to eliminate the right to an abortion².  In it he claims that the decision was “egregiously wrong from the start.”  So even the Supreme Court of today has no faith in the Supreme Court of five decades ago.  Sure, personal opinions change.  But law is built on precedent, isn’t it?

Third, and most troubling of all, is how the Federal Court in April struck down the CDC’s public transportation mask mandate³.  The person who brought the suit before the court has anxiety and complained that exceptions to the mandate did not apply to her.  In fact the mandate provides for a variety of exclusions that the plaintiff could claim, including “to catch [one’s] breath after ‘feeling winded’”.  The court decision is a blatant attack on science.

It won’t be long before we round up all scientists and engineers and burn them at the stake.

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¹ https://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-went-negative-a-year-ago-heres-what-traders-have-learned-since-11618863839

² https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473

³ https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.391798/gov.uscourts.flmd.391798.53.0_1.pdf

Trump vs. Amazon

“I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!”

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2018

Look who’s complaining about Amazon not paying taxes! It’s He-Who-Will-Not-Release-His-Tax-Returns!

Traffic Light Improvements For the Age of Mobile Communications

I have an issue with traffic lights.

When I'm stuck right behind an inattentive driver at a red light, I get annoyed when the driver doesn't go right after the light turns green.  I get infuriated when the driver waits so long to go that the light turns back to red again before I can get across the intersection.

That's pretty much the only time I use the horn.  And it occurred to me that the traffic light itself should be equipped with its own horn.  It would beep whenever it turns green, relieving other drivers of the effort of doing so.

Inattentive drivers annoy me even when I'm not behind them.  When they remain stopped at a green light while I'm at the red light for the crossing traffic, they cause the signal to take longer to cycle.  The light stays green longer for them and stays red longer for me.  I say aloud, “Go already, so I don't have to stay here forever!”

A few towns have installed traffic light cameras, which take a picture of the license plates of cars that go through red lights.  But I say that these cameras should be used to monitor the faces of drivers who wait at red lights.  Face recognition would be used to determine whether the driver is paying attention to the light, or whether they are reading e-mail or texting.  The light would stay red until the driver's gaze was focused on driving.

What do you think about this?

Blamed For Doing Its Job

The IRS recently was criticized for scrutinizing certain organizations applying for tax free status.  It seems that organizations that had "Tea Party" in their names received extra scrutiny.

First of all, "Tea Party" generally refers to a political organization.  And the fact is that political organizations are not entitled to tax free status.

Second, "Tea Party" is a reference to a revolt conducted by vandals who were opposed to paying taxes.

So these critics are essentially saying that an organization whose name implies that it's political in nature and opposed to taxes should not be scrutinized when it applies for tax free status?

Huh?

Bailout, Schmailout

Congress thinks we need a bailout. Wall Street definitely needs a bailout. What do you think?

I'll tell you what I think. We don't need it.

Our economy is self-correcting. Higher interest rates caused trouble for people who were in too much debt. They could no longer pay back their loans. As well, the ever increasing cost for gasoline and heating oil put an extra strain on the entire working class.

But now, the rates on Treasury bills are ridiculously low. This means the rates on home equity lines of credit and the interest rates on ARMs (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) have fallen because they're both usually indexed to one of the Treasury bills.

We're also seeing much lower prices for gasoline. Drivers are practically swerving off the side of the road to stare at the prices. "Wait, did that actually read $3.19? No it must've been $4.19. Let me look again."

One big problem remains. Businesses may start to fire workers because they cannot finance growth projects or even payroll. In this case, the appropriate course of action for our government is to finance projects that lead to new jobs.

Imagine how many jobs $700 Billion could start. You could create a whole oil-free energy infrastructure with that amount of money. People would have jobs, and we'd finally be independent from unfriendly oil-producing nations.

But then, what kind of jobs will the greedy Wall Street CEO's get? My advice is to put them on disability -- essentially pay them to not work. We'll all be better off then.

Follow Up to "Career Doldrums"

Just a quick follow up to my previous post.

I was a bit unfair in saying that the book advises you to deal with doldrums by changing careers. That's not all it does. It's also great confidence booster, especially for baby boomers who are worried that they're too old to find a new job.

It explains the differences among the Baby Boom, Gen X and the latest generation (Gen Y. See Wikipedia's List of Generations for generation definitions.) This comparison serves as a foundation to convince the baby boomer that his/her contribution at a new company will be valued. Gen Y wants immediate gratification and frequent rewards, but Baby Boomers don't need that. Gen Y doesn't want to waste time giving their boss progress reports -- they just want to dive in to the work and finish it as quickly as possible.

The generational comparisons also help older workers understand their younger bosses, who come in to the workplace and turn it up-side-down.

So I found it interesting. And it ultimately helped me understand that I might be better off staying where I am.

Driving to Optimize Fuel Economy

In my area, gas prices have jumped beyond $4.00 per gallon over the last couple of weeks. I ranted before about how traffic lights contribute to decreased fuel economy. But I didn't mention that driving technique can dramatically influence fuel economy.

An extreme type of driving that maximizes fuel economy is called Hypermiling. Generally the idea is to minimize acceleration and braking. Unless you're going down a steep hill, acceleration requires more gasoline than just maintaining speed. And braking converts all your car's motion (which came from gasoline) into heat energy. So essentially, braking is like throwing away gasoline.

If this is the kind of topic that gives you goosebumps, you might be interested in the forums at CleanMPG, especially Wayne Gerdes' post "Beating the EPA - The Why’s and how to Hypermile".

And rather than boycotting gasoline for one day, folks should either not drive on that day, or at least drive more efficiently. With the subsequent drop in demand, gas prices would relax.

How to Avoid a Recession

There's a lot of talk about what to do about the economy. One group of economists believes that Federal Reserve Board Chair Ben Bernanke made a mistake in cutting interest rates recently. They think that will lead to inflation.

Most politicians agree that we need some form of tax cut. Some say that the middle class should get a tax break. Others say no, the middle class will just use it to pay down debt, and that businesses need tax breaks in order to hire more workers.

Some suggest that saving sub-prime mortgage borrowers from bankruptcy is the key to bringing about economic recovery.

Many of these opinions have merit, but they fail to address the cause of the faltering economy. The real problem is the rising cost of energy.

The economy depends on energy for growth. You cannot manufacture items unless you use energy. You cannot transport these manufactured goods unless you use energy. And consumers cannot afford to buy these goods if they're spending most of their disposable income on energy.

You might think we'd've learned a lesson from the oil crisis of the 1970s. But our favorite energy source still seems to be based on oil. And as the oil supply tightens, our economy falters.

Imagine this scenario: It's the distant future, and our world is without oil. Where does our energy come from for manufacturing, transportation and consumer use? Solar and nuclear.

Equatorial countries are the world's energy movers and shakers. They get the most intense solar radiation. They produce the most electricity per photo-voltaic cell. Their biofuel is the richest and most abundant on the planet.

So perhaps it's time to cut taxes on oil, gasoline and electricity. Maybe it's even time to think about subsidizing energy costs? It depends on how serious our government is about maintaining economic growth.