Monday, May 5, 2008

No end in sight

When I was young in my teens and twenties I used to run from some of my fears thinking they would just go away. Nope. Doesn't happen. So by the time I got 30 I had found the only way to survive is to find the courage to face ones fears otherwise ones life just becomes an observable tragedy.

Less and less people are finding a way to face the mess we are in. I'm hoping this will bring us together as a nation. We haven't been very together since President Kennedy was alive. This nations heart has been very fractured since then. It was like a breath of fresh air during the 1950s up until Kennedy was assassinated. It has been very strange since then for most of us who witnessed those times.

I live a couple of hours from the San Francisco Bay by car. Recently I traveled south in my car paying $4 a gallon for regular and not finding anything cheaper until I was south of San Luis Obispo.(Gorda, California sells gas for $5 a gallon) so several cities in more remote areas are now paying $5 dollars a gallon or more.

As I traveled south I noticed about 1/4 to 1/2 the normal amount of cars on the road until I reached Los Angeles. There it seems like normal traffic except that all the cars seemed to be 5 years old or newer which was very unusual for Los Angeles county.

In Santa Barbara I learned that more than 7000 houses in Los Angeles have been forclosed now. As I drove through it felt a little like the beginnings of a ghost town except that most of the people were still there. We are living in very strange times.
A subprime meltdown that never should have happened if Congress was really watching and not in the pocket of special interests. Then as people started to lose their homes I expected the President and congress to step in. No. They didn't. And we all watched thousands and thousands lose their homes by being defrauded by con artists to took the money and left everyone from the home buyer to the lender in another country holding the bag while they left with their fat commissions. Serious karma will be the reward of those responsible for the destruction of the lives of millions of families across the US. People won't forget this that were harmed and defrauded both in the US and around the world. It is very unfortunate for everyone.

California is one of the most adaptive states and creative states in the US. Likely, the next technological revolution is already starting in California through solar and wind and the greening of the state. Where my son lives already the get 30% of their power in his city from wind turbines. Things are changing fast in California. It's what we do. Though we are down now expect us to be up within a few years.

As soon as I am allowed to put solar cells on my roof or a wind turbine in one of my trees I will. However, for now it isn't allowed. One day at a time.

Though we have $4 regular most places in California and there are a few places that are selling gas at $5 a gallon it is important to note that places in Europe are paying $8 to $11 a gallon for gas. In the US we are upset because gas costs about 500 percent of what it did five or six years ago. You have to admit paying 5 times as much for gas in 5 years is pretty crazy no matter where you live on the planet!

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