Energy

The natural long-term plan to zero carbon is straight forward and completely doable with today’s technology, if politics would get out of the way. Here is the path. All new data centers will build their own power plants, so as not to interfere with the power to the local citizens. This also eliminates the need for long power lines. Transportation of cars, buses and small trucks should switch over to natural gas. Small modular reactors (SMR’s) should be built to slowly replace natural gas as the new power source. Molten salt thorium reactors should replace SMR’s Thorium reactors to be used for industry both heating and powering Thorium reactors used to create hydrogen by electrolysis of water and cars, buses and trucks to switch from natural gas to hydrogen. Thorium reactors to produce diesel and jet fuel by using CO2 from the air to be returned to the air when burned for zero net carbon Thorium reactors to desalt sea water to grow crops in the desert. Finally, thorium reactors will be replaced with fusion the ultimate energy source. Required technology not yet available.

ACA

During Covid the congress approved enhanced payments to those on ACA also known as Obamacare. These payments were scheduled to end this year but the democrats will not vote to open the government unless these enhanced payments are extended. The payments cost the government $35 billion per year and once benefits are in force, they are difficult to remove. This is why public assistance programs often start as temporary and convert to permanent. This is what happened to the tax cuts in Trumps beautiful new bill. They were set to end this year but were extended. The democrats fought against this just as the republicans are fighting against the ACA extension. This enhancement brought in 24 million new patients to the ACA bringing the current total to 45 million and the extra new members cost the government $35 billion per year. The republicans want to argue the extension after the government reopens but the democrats fear the republicans will not bring it up before the congress and it will die. More than 50% receive some assistance with 5 million paying no monthly premium and no annual deductible. If the extension is not approved then the average monthly premium will increase from $74 to $132. The annual deductible is $2,789 and will not change. The monthly premium is not included in the annual deductible. Most articles discuss the monthly premium but avoid the annual deductible which is much more of a burden. The average ACA recipient must pay out of pocket over $4,000 per year before they are covered.

Education K-12

It is often said that government agencies, especially state and local groups tend to grow and expend if left to their own devises and this is true of education. There are 3.2 million teachers in K-12 schools in the US and seven million staff. In 1950 there were 1.1 million teachers in K-12 along with 400,000 staff. There were 26 students per teacher in 1950. The average cost per living since 1950 has been 3.5% and the cost of K-12 has increased by 6%. Test scores have remained stagnate while the gap between Black and White student has widened. These numbers are different for suburbian schools where tax dollars are more available District 196 in the southeast burgs of Minneapolis has 27,679 students, 2,100 teachers and 4,000 staff. With a budget of $500 million this is over $18,000 per student and 13 students per teacher. The two biggest problems facing the country today are the gaps in income and education. Perhaps using AI to offered private tutors for all students can help.

German wind and solar

Now that Germany has changed its constitution so it can go into debt, they will borrow $500 billion through the sale of bonds to finance an infrastructure bill. Of that, $100 billion will be for wind and solar. The greens in Germany are so powerful they have yet to understand that nuclear is the solution to zero carbon. Germany continues to build solar panels even though they don’t have much sun. Northern European countries like Germany get 1,800 hours of sun per year while Southern European countries like Spain get 2,900 hours. Europe’s power prices soared to record levels but it wasn’t war that caused this but the dark, windless weather that is all to common during the winter. The power of the greens reached its peak in 2021 and has been declining slowly but is still able to direct spending toward wind and solar. The US has recognized the potential for nuclear and is moving in that direction.

Socialism or not

As the country watches the NY City election, many wonder how socialism gained such popularity. It started when many fair-minded compassionate people realized that Blacks were treated differently based on the countries big sin of slavery. This thinking was reinforced with the Jim Crow laws in mid-20th century and things like red lining. Minorities were seen as victims and the general society as victimizers. This led to a type of colonialism within the country in the form of oppressor and oppressed. Minorities became the victims and the oppressed and Whites became the victimizers and oppressors. Early steps to reconcile these differences, resulted in programs like affirmative action where job preferences were based on skin color. Across the nation statues were knocked down while streets and buildings were renamed. Free market capitalism added to this differentiation because it creates winners and losers and the Whites were the winners. Blacks and Hispanics convicted of felons were no longer seen as criminals but victims of an unfair society. Citizens were allowed to break into stores and steal goods with impunity. No cash bail and local district attorneys who refused to prosecute became the norm in big cities. Many now see the solution is to revamped the entire systems by replacing merit-based capitalism with equity, by replacing equal opportunity with equal results and the latest action is the election of a democratic socialist in NY City. In today’s United States there are people who do not like the country as it is and what to make major changes. Some even profess to hate America seeing only the country they live in but not comparing to other countries and you have signs like Queers for Palestine. One area that is immune from these pressures is sports where minorities have risen to the top. Even there, things are not all well and many see the rich in corporate boxes flashing thumbs up and down on the gladiators on the field who are busting their heads to entertain the elites. Another group that is gaining equality by merit (hard work) is women, who have taken advantage of education. Last year 120,000 women and 80,000 men received doctoral degrees. The best way to slow down the push toward socialism is to close the wealth and education gaps.

Economic growth

Here is a rather rough, simplified, somewhat biased view of the country at this time. Certain people see the future through the optimistic lens of innovators using private entrepreneurship and small businesses to develop new industries creating new jobs and new economic growth. They are the profit seekers, who revel in the self-satisfaction of having built up a successful enterprise. There is another group who sees themselves as compassionate care givers, who want to transfer the wealth created by the first group to the needy, in the form of public assistance programs. They are the champions of the poor and downtrodden, who have been disadvantage by past real or perceived prejudice. This group believes they have the high moral ground and have a clear conscience knowing they are truly their brother’s keeper. The second group is dependent on the success of the first group for survival. The first group needs government help to use regulations to both protect the public and promote business development while the second group needs government to use taxes to close the income gap. When these two operate in balance the country can grow and still maintain a safety net for those who cannot make it on their own,

Dow SMR

The new interest in small modular reactors (SMR’s) is not limited to the big social media companies as Dow Chemical starts construction on four SMR’s at its Seadrift complex in Texas. Each will have 80 MW for a total output of 320 MW’s. Other companies like Nucor and Constellation Energy, both which need electric power 24/7 and want zero carbon are active. The Dow unit is using TRISO as fuel. These are small pellets containing uranium wrapped in ceramic and graphite. This gives the unit the walk away shut down safety and lowers waste product production. The pellets are added continuously and when power shuts down the addition of fuel stops and the reactor shuts down. These reactors do not require shut down to add new fuel and thus run 24/7. There are currently 80 companies working on developing SMR’s.