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| America 3.0, Rifkin's Plan |
It’s possible that we may witness a rare occurrence: the U.S. Senate actually doing something positive for the people of the nation, the politicians themselves, and their corporate enablers.
The Senate may adopt an infrastructure bill aimed at repairing our aged roads, bridges, water systems, even establishing, a modern electrical distribution grid and extending broadband services to poorly served areas of the nation. We must wait and see, of course, whether Congress births another monstrosity or a beautiful thing.
After all, we have yet to learn how the billions will be spent.
Still, congressional action may finally launch infrastructure programs we can only hope that the “plan” will begin to bring us on par with the Europeans and the Chinese. Both are way ahead of us due to our inability to throw off the shackles of centuries-old carbon-based industries and Robber Baron Era Predatory Capitalism in addition to the equally failed policies of Reaganomics and Neoliberalism that all but eliminated the U.S. middleclass born of FDR’s New Deal Policies and economic protections and the post WWII economic boom.
While we were duct taping our economy together to please the oil industry people and expanding our American Empire throughout the world, plus most recently, distracted by Mr. Trump’s temper tantrums and neo-fascist fascinations, the Europeans and Chinese have moved ahead creating savvy infrastructures, new economies, to meet the challenges at hand.
They have done this by listening to an implementing the ideas of Jeremy Rifkin, the "American economic and social theorist, writer, public speaker, political advisor, and activist".
Yes, American. Like so many other examples from our past, our current “global” corporate executives and politicians are so secure in decades old, proven technology, as well as the unimagined wealth and the status it has brought them, that they have chosen to hang on to woefully outdated technology and refuse to act on the changes occurring before their eyes.
One obviously similar example from our past is W. Edwards Deming, the guru of modern-day, flexible lean production systems. Deming tried and failed to get the American automotive “Big Three” to adopt his ideas. The Japanese manufacturers, however, implemented them and then cleaned the Big Three’s clocks, creating and selling vastly superior quality cars and trucks.
Mr. Rifkin’s plans are underway in Europe and China.
It’s time for the USA to catch up or watch our collective clock being cleaned once again.
The Rifkin Plan,
2 comments:
Back in the 1980's,you couldn't pick up a newspaper or magazine without
reading about Rifkin attacking Biotechnology.He filed a ton of lawsuits
against it.His main complaint was that scientists were rushing to use this
technology without a formal discussion,debate and a full scale evaluation on
it's safety and impact on society and the enviorment.He raised concerns,
issues and warned of unforeseen consequences.But now,with his Smart Third
Industrial Revolution,Rifkin's doing the exact opposite.He's rushing people
into joining his Third Industrial Revolution bandwagon and make the switch to
renewable energy.The problem here is that Rifkin's not raising concerns and
issues with renewable energy like he did with Biotechnology.He's not
questioning the cost,safety and reliability of hydrogen and battery storage
and the toxic chemicals and materials used in the manufacturing of solar
panels.Not to mention the reliability of solar panels and wind generators
and their impact on society and the enviorment.This doesn't even cover all
the mining that will have to be done to obtain the minerals needed to make
the solar panels and wind generators.Don't forget all the massive pollution
this will create.The problem is Rifkin's playing favorites.Unlike his
opposition to Biotechnology,Rifkin's in favor of renewable energy.He's not
going to listen to or say anything negative about it.By the way,that war of
Rifkin's against Biotechnology was a farce.His REAL beef was with the
Nuclear and Petrochemical(Oil)industries.Rifkin was angry that he couldn't
file lawsuits against them because people depend on these industries for
power and fuel,so he took it out on Biotechnology instead.This is why
Rifkin is rushing people to make the switch to renewable energy.He's trying
to get revenge against the Nuclear and petrochemical industries for what
they're doing to the planet.
Interesting point about Rifkin's biotechnology position during the 1980's. I don't recall the situation, so I'll do some research. Ron Baker
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