Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist

[tpunx99GSX]

Joke as in those technologies are not anywhere near being ready to replace any existing technologies right now, like oil and nuclear. You can't just turn on most alternative energy sources when you need them, so then you need essentially large batteries or capacitors to store that unused energy, which is expensive. They don't have anywhere near the efficiency of existing solutions, and until they can compete in that respect, they remain largely a waste of time. The free market will always define the better solution.

I don't disagree that they have their place, and as technology increases, they might be worth something on the world market. But to try and say solar is the future? You do realize that we have cloud cover here in MN for about half the year, right? How well are those panels working here? Do they work in places like AZ or NV? Places that have sunlight 350 days a year? Absolutely, as long as you have the infrastructure to harness that energy and distribute it. Certain things make sense in certain areas.

Wind power has been around a long time and besides being ugly, has some merit. Have you ever driven through the windmill farms just east of Los Angeles? Ugly and more expensive, but that's Kalifornia for ya.

Hydro power. I wouldn't really consider it alternative energy, but it's renewable and constant, this might be my favorite of all, but limited in some ways by geographic placement.

You do realize they have clouds in AZ, NV and CA right? To completely write off and R&D for alternative renewable resources is just stupid. You dont seems to grasp the concepts of Alternative energy such as not relying on one source of energy for everything. I.e. you wouldnt just go based solely on solar or wind but have a combination of many sources of energy that is clean and not dependent on foreign affairs.
And yes i have driven through the wind farms east of los angeles and honestly The smog cloud i flew into on the trip into los angeles was much more ugly, and dangerous.

[Halon]

Didnt realize this was the Fox News Forums.
Just because a company that was funded by the government went under is not the only case against Alt Energy. Alternative energy needs to be developed. As a country we need to develop alternative energy as we are slaves to the oil industry. Oil and Nuclear are NOT the answer. Oil is a Non Renewable resource there is a finite supply. The sun is not going out, and Wind is not going to stop, we harness these RENEWABLE resources and we win as a society and a country and not to mention Earth. Its thoughts like yours that are whats wrong with our energy policy. I would rather my tax dollars go towards Alt Energy than Oil Subsidies.

I personally don't think any one energy solution is the answer. A broad portfolio that consists of several different forms is the answer in my opinion. Too much dependence on any form of energy production makes you a slave to that industry.

Solar and wind are great, I'm all for them. I think they have a roll to play in our energy portfolio, but so does fossil and nuclear and other misc forms of energy production as well. Fossil and nuclear (and some renewable's like Hydro) provide reliable and consistent base load to the grid, something wind and solar do not being that they are more susceptible to changing climates.

[jeremy1375]

Any conservative ideas of helping the poor receive healthcare are buried in light years of regulation and cost over runs. This is just another method of taking a huge part of our economy and putting it in government hands.

What was this then? Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_and_Active_Labor_Act

[Halon]

My reply above was typed awhile ago before I hit send and a lot of replies rolled in. Tom sounds like you kinda said the same thing, so we sort of agree. Everything has it's roll, no one method is perfect. Carry on!

[tpunx99GSX]

My reply above was typed awhile ago before I hit send and a lot of replies rolled in. Tom sounds like you kinda said the same thing, so we sort of agree. Everything has it's roll, no one method is perfect. Carry on!

Yeah i think we are totally in agreement. The problem is right now we are way too dependent on oil, where the saudis can crush the american oil companies by simply producing too much at a lower cost or producing too little raising the price. The more we get into Electric vehicles being powered by alternative energies the better we are off.

[JET]

Solar is quickly becoming viable. The efficiency rate is climbing and the prices are holding or going down slightly. We supply air conditioners to a lot of the electrical cabinets used on these sites and there are a lot of them going up. A 2 square mile facility (not sure how much of that is actual panels) was just put online a month ago near Phoenix. A square mile is pretty freaking huge. It produces 125MW or enough for 20,500 homes.

Solar is great for the southern US, but obviously not as good up here. Wind and nuclear will probably be the backbone here. There is another huge solar project near phoenix that uses the sun to heat up a salt liquid that can continue producing power all night. I don't know as much about that one.

I agree with Brandon, there isn't one solution here, but a good healthy mix of several different sources.

[Halon]

That's interesting, that's pretty good power output for Solar, albeit it's in a location with nearly perfect conditions for solar, but still that's pretty good.

But even as good as that is, compare that to say Plant Vogtle (Nuclear) which has a little over twice that footprint (4-5sq miles), and when the new units are online will have an output of roughly 4500 MW (36 times as much as the Phoenix site).

Again I think all of these forms of power are great and glad to see some of these other technologies improving as quickly as they are, but you still need this large plants to provide that base load.

[1ViciousGSX]

I don't even know what to say to that. That's the most anti-free market idea I've ever heard of. Do you really think american oil companies aren't going to stick it to you? Nevermind the problems that will occur by turning our backs on the world market. Look into the reasons that the U.S. dollar is the worlds reserve currency. Hint: All oil sold around the world is denominated in dollars.

Free markets? Just like the way China sticks it to us with manufacturing every day? Because we sold out our labor forces here in the USA by opening free trade that only seems to go one way. Remember those bumper stickers that used to say, "Buy American, the job it saves could be yours"?


As far as Obamacare goes, have you ever heard of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act which was signed into law by Ronald Reagan? It requires emergency rooms to treat a person regardless of their ability to pay. That law resulted in the $10 ibuprofen pill and other ridiculous costs to cover those who couldn't pay. People who couldn't afford preventive care ultimately received it the most expensive way, in the emergency room. Consider the fact that the Heritage Foundation, a conservation think tank, essentially came up with the main ideas of Obamacare.

Yes, I've heard about it just as everybody else has. But was it really a broken system? Please explain how Obamacare is going to fix it, AND SAVE MONEY ACROSS THE BOARD.

[jeremy1375]

Free markets? Just like the way China sticks it to us with manufacturing every day? Because we sold out our labor forces here in the USA by opening free trade that only seems to go one way. Remember those bumper stickers that used to say, "Buy American, the job it saves could be yours"?

So you only quote Milton Friedman when it suits your point?

“The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.”
― Milton Friedman



Yes, I've heard about it just as everybody else has. But was it really a broken system? Please explain how Obamacare is going to fix it, AND SAVE MONEY ACROSS THE BOARD.

How does Thomas Sowell explain that even though all other first world countries have some type of government regulated universal health care system, our health care is the most expensive in the world?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_%28P PP%29_per_capita

For the price we're paying maybe were just getting the best health care in the world, right? The World Health Organization says we are number 37.

http://thepatientfactor.com/canadian-health-care-information/world-health-organizations-ranking-of-the-worlds-health-systems/

[1ViciousGSX]

So you only quote Milton Friedman when it suits your point?

“The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.”
― Milton Friedman

Sure, I post what is relevant to my point, just as you or anybody else does.

Unfortunately that is not how a "free market system" is working for the great USoA. NAFTA made sure of that.
http://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2013/10/trade-experts-reveal-costs-north-american-free-trade-agreement

http://economyincrisis.org/nafta

And lets not forget that China has such a huge one-way street on China/US imports and exports, all the while big brother is picking winners and loosers.


How does Thomas Sowell explain that even though all other first world countries have some type of government regulated universal health care system, our health care is the most expensive in the world?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_%28P PP%29_per_capita

And yet people come here to get treatments they can't get anywhere else, or have to wait years to get because of universal healthcare, which in many cases is too late,...


For the price we're paying maybe were just getting the best health care in the world, right? The World Health Organization says we are number 37.

http://thepatientfactor.com/canadian-health-care-information/world-health-organizations-ranking-of-the-worlds-health-systems/

In that "free market system" there would be competition which always drives cost down and quality up. But now that Obamacare is in place, none of that matters anymore.