Thursday, April 17, 2008
Plastic Water Bottles

Why is it so hard to become better at recycling these things. I deal with Brita and their big push is to get people to use reusable bottles with their systems. I commend that effort but it does not solve the proble of all the soda bottle we waste. What is the problem?

No infra structure and no uniform standards. This is where the government needs to work with private industry to begin making basic unifing rules for types of plastic bottles and building a recycling infrastructure for plastic bottles. I believe that any business that provides well maintained drink bottle (large or small)drop off points for their customers and employees should get a tax break.Waste companies that step up and set up collection at reasonable rates to plastic recycling plants should get a tax break. Grants and tax breaks should be given to companies thatbuild the recycling plants and supply the users of plastic. Companies that use plastic bottles should get tax breaks based on the recycled content of their bottles.

Finally, the government needs to set uniform guidelines for plastic drinking bottlesso that your 2-liter ofCoke;Gallon of Milk, Water, Juice; and individual drinking bottles are all the same in content to make recycling easier. The government does not have to force companies to follow the code, but they can subsidize the ones who do.

If the Government can subsidize the oil companies while they are raking ing billions, they they can do it for the Green Industry until it becomes self sustaining and creates wealth and jobs.

Posted by Rob Garbin 2008-04-17 05:30:36

Sunday, January 20, 2008
My 2 Cents

Here is my two cents on how to fix the illegal immigration in America. I have thought on this a lot and came up with an idea, which at first glance will seem ridiculous to many. I am willing to admit that this is only a suggestion that will need much fine tuning, but I feel that it would be a better step than most.

My idea is to create legistration requiring every US company doing business abroad to pay at least the equivalent US minimum wage tothe workers in the countries they are in. Ohhhhhh...Awwwwww. I can here the jeers on both sides of the argument. The rich with a snort of derision and the poor with a cry that I must be insane.

To my way of thinking; however, it is a step in the right direction because it takes a positive action instead of a negative punitive action. First, I will address the poor to middle class side of the equation. The first thought they will have is that everything will cost more and our economy will grind to a halt. Quite possible, this is where some twicking will be needed, but in truth, we are already paying the cost. We just don't see it at the supermarket or discount store. This goes back to my discussion of true cost and apparent cost. A fundamental flaw in the foundation of our economy.

We are so stuck on how much an item costs us at the store that we fail to see the real cost of an item. The cost we don't see are:

A widening gap between the rich and the poor.

Compromised border security do to Commercial Drivers Lincenses being given to illegal aliens who may be less ethical or knowledgablein what they transport because they are getting paid better than they were in their own country.

Lost jobs do to US companies going where the labor is cheap and the enviromental laws are weak to none exsistent.

Hazardous to deadly products coming into our country do to weaker regulations abroad. Also, because of illegal immigrants and government officials turning a blind eye.

Increased danger on the roads do to illegal immigrants getting CDL's without being able to read english and being unable to read road signs or forms or manifests.

Thebillions of dollarsbeing wasted on ineffetual border security because of all the companies that shelter illegal immigrants to save on their costs. This of course continues to entice people to sneak into our country.

I could go on and on and may add more items as I can think of them, but it boils down to this. As long as there is an inequality in economic situations between our country and others, the problems will continue. Yes, I know some of you are thinking "what does making our companies pay more for workers in their native countries do tofix the problem?" Well, first it will improve the conditions of people in their own country. Perhaps giving them more reason to stay there.Second, it starts balancing the economic situation between our country and others. One thing mostAmericans don't realize is that this is already happenning in a negative sense. Raises are become harder to find when a company can get cheap labor elsewhere. We have already hit the point wherethe next generation is making less than the last. This will continue until we are making the same as someone working in Mexico or China. Then their will be no need for companies to go elsewhere. They will have their cheap labor here.

By forcing companies to pay more abroad, we start bringing foreign wages up to meet ours instead of ous goingdown to meet theirs. Anyone who has watched the new and/or knows history and beleives we are not headed in the negative direction must be blind. I watched an inteview with an ex-president of Mexico where he talked proudly about the fact that the Mexicangovernmenthad improved peoples living to $2.00 a week. This is a goal? Finally, if these countries have more money to spend,then maybe more of them will be able to afford our products. We might begin fixing our trade imbalances among the world.

Posted by Rob Garbin 2008-01-20 02:00:25

Saturday, January 12, 2008
Rob Garbin's Blog Bog

I am turning 39 years old next week and I have been reading SF&F for a long, long, long time. It all started when the evil Lord Lucas unleashed the Star Wars plauge upon the face of the earth. Then the demented High Priest of hard SF, Larry Niven, took my soul.

Other then that I am fine except for that little character flaw I keep forgetting about...Ah, yes, now I remember the word "Smartass". Lovely word isn't it. Well, we all have our burdens to carry.

My favorite Author/Character is Stephen Brust/Vlad Taltos. Although, given the fact that my personality matches the main character's, I wasmore impressed by Stephen Brusts ability to run multiple story threads at the same time which ended in the same place giving the reader multiple views of the ending and how they got there.

Posted by Rob Garbin 2008-01-12 06:34:54

Saturday, January 12, 2008
What I think about when I am driving.

I spend a lot of time driving for my job, which leaves too much time for thinking. The other day I was thinking about why we are here. Admit it, the thought has crossed everyones mind somewhere along the line even if you quickly moved on. One quote that has stuck with me from Babylon 5 was a line that Delenn said to Sheridan. "We are star stuff. We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out."

That line of course denotes a form of conscouisness on the part of the universe. What I thought about was, what if we are the result of natural forces throughout the universe that had to be expressed at this place at this time. Forget evolution, that was just how the forces went about acheiving their results. This idea even has room for God in the sense that maybe the accumalated forces became manifest in a being that thengoverned bythe forces, which dictated the creation ofus.

Posted by Rob Garbin 2008-01-12 06:33:41

Thursday, November 8, 2007
I.O.U.

I was listening to Rush Limbaugh the other day, not by choice, and I got to thinking of pundits. I have to admit that I am no different then most of America in that I gravitate to anyone who expresses view similar to mine whether then have the data or are able to twist it to fit my views. That is what most pundits do. I do try to remember that even someone whom is diametrically opposed to my ideas can still come up with good answers, but I still don't like to listen to them. Hey, I am human.

What I will say about the right wing pundit; however, is to be careful of the base ideals that they share. The biggest is that they are tied into BIG Money. Many people make the mistake of linking wealth with integrity and intelligence. It can happen but not always and not forever. They are human too even though they tend to forget.

One of the opinions, a truth for me,I have come to understand is that bbig money becomes big money by passing the costs onto someone else. Sure, they may have a great idea that got them there, but who is more likely to pay the costs. Forget for the moment that they got rich by our paying for their product or service. Lets look at the decisions they make in producing and marketing their product. What is more likely to happen, they take a reasonable amount of time to study how to make their product safe and enviromentallyfriendly, or they find the fastest way to reach the market for the cheapest price? Look at recent history with respect to products made outside of our country. Big Money is passing the costs onto the general population. To get more profit they have saved their costs by allowing some foreign country that thinks lead paint is great on toys to make our childrens playthings.

The issue Limbaugh was discussing with a caller was how people should cut back on their energy use. His answer was to quick worrying about. Use all the energy you want; the liberal left wing is just being fear mongers,which is a tactic the right wing never uses(cough...cough). What Rush doesn't say is that the Rich can waste energy and pollute all they want because they will be the last to feel the pinch.

When energy costs sky rocket they will have the money to pay for there needs while the middle class will have to make choices between eating and getting to work.They can live without thinking about the pollution they make because they have the moneyto keep the landfill out of their backyard and into yours. When our destructive way of lifecomes knocking on our doors, it will go to the elite's doors last. Even when we have so despoiled our world that there is no turning back, the rich will still live better because they will be the ones who can afford the technology to purify their enviroment.

I not trying to say that all rich people are horrible, but it is important to understand the difference in thinking when dealing with them. They are removed from the day to day survival the middle class and poor live in. They tend to think in the short term of how much can I make as fast as I can instead of how much can I make without having my children pay the costs.

Posted by Rob Garbin 2007-11-08 06:56:44