Comments on: FDL Book Salon Welcomes Rob Simpson. What We Could Have Done With The Money: 50 Ways to Spend the Trillion We’ve Spent In Iraq

By: jackie

jackie — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:36:28 +0000

By: Synoia

Synoia — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:36:47 +0000

100 mpg – possible. 500 mpg – Not possible above 20 mph. Please cite your references.

By: Synoia

Synoia — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:35:17 +0000

“is obsolesced” ouch! Made Obsolescent?

By: bobsampron

bobsampron — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:59:24 +0000

It seems we should use the money to retrofit America for energy self-sufficiency.

See, I don’t think $1 trillion is enough. I’d like to see a 10-year, multi-trillion project to retrofit every building for solar and the grid for wind, using natural gas and coal as a backup.

For example, take a look at this technology, that Popular Science called the Innovation of the year for 2007: nanosolar foil.

Now, imagine the level of self-sufficiency for America if we put this on every home in America? And then on every business building? For $1 trillion, no problem. There would likely be money left over. And imagine how it would help the balance of trade to export this technology.

I attended a talk a few weeks ago featuring Congressman Ed Perlmutter a few weeks ago. His district includes NREL, the National Renewable Energy Laboratories in Golden, CO. If you want, I can post video of the talk.

He talked about a bit of “tweeking” NREL did with a hybrid car. They took the battery, made a few adjustments, and got incredible gas mileage: 100 mpg. Then they got crazy, adding solar technology to the hybrid engine. They got about 500 mpg. How about giving them a few more bucks to formalize this upgrade and, oh who knows, come up with a retrofit for all of our vehicles.

Then, let’s install that retrofit and get 100 - 500 mpg on our existing vehicles.

That $1 trillion will pay for itself quickly, at that rate, with money to spare. And medical ailments, like asthma, will fall, saving profound amounts of money on healthcare treatment. Oh, and we’d have to run our air conditioners less because maybe, just maybe, it will stop the catastrophic climate change we call global warming.

By: bigbrother

bigbrother — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:30:35 +0000

LL:
SUSTAINED OUTRAGE. From birth to death like every other animal fight to survive. Great post Ian and Rob many thanks for getting the data in print. Who wouldn’t love loan to own and tax cut that cost 10 times the value. We are all the Oligarchy’s sucker.

By: Elliott

Elliott — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:25:32 +0000

Thank you for coming. Good luck with sales, and make sure you get out in the mainstream with it.

By: Peterr

Peterr — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:10:53 +0000

I think you’re right to a certain degree, but that only begs another question: why aren’t there a bunch of other pragmatic businesspeople coming to the same conclusion? Surely TBP isn’t the only one out there . . .

By: Audrey

Audrey — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:10:20 +0000

What’s more important than any plan TBP might be offering. One oilman looking at the reality and the big picture and campaigning for it will have an impact. Of course, war for wind is more difficult to sell than war for oil, so it may get some resistance from the MIC. ;)

By: Rob Simpson

Rob Simpson — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:08:56 +0000

Thanks very much for hosting, and for having me – I’ve enjoyed it.

By: Ian Welsh

Ian Welsh — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:06:48 +0000

Mr. Simpson, thank you very much for coming to this Book Salon. Just a reminder to folks that you can pick up Rob’s book here (a perfect gift for those red but wavering friends and family), and his website, which includes a widget showing what your share of the war’s costs are, is also worth a visit.

An important book that hammers home a simple point, 50 times. :)