Election Map Economics

This is how divided America is today. Note that this is by district, rather than population.

The Republican Party lost the election last week. Its been reviewed heavily, by conservative press and fingers have been pointed at the causes. I admit that the Republican Party needs to try proper Centrism. I was ashamed at how they rose to the bait over Abortion when the majority of the party prefers it left as it is. They allowed the Far Right Zealots to get Trolled on that issue, let them speak out their Crazy and it cost them the swing voter women, thus the election.

The Republican Party should have been talking about the Economy and the Unemployment rate, which is what really bothers everyone the most. Real unemployment is somewhere around 22% when you count people working PT, people working well below their abilities for a lot less money, people taking one (1) class in night school, all of these are considered "fully employed" or "student" since Clinton changed the rules back in the 1990's. This is where the Republican party was supposed to be strong, and they didn't use it. I can only conclude that they didn't want to win.

What do you have that defines Red vs Blue? Rich vs poor? No. The map is of mostly POOR counties in Red. See? The elites are mostly in blue districts, with the exception of racial voting patterns and the handout-driven districts (Navajo in NE AZ and Northern NM, farmers along the Southern Mississippi river lowlands). Some of these places are barely surviving as it is. Take away the govt handouts and they'd empty like ghost towns in Nebraska. The big cities are Blue because the govt money flows to them. Rural areas? Your govt dollar is in the roads and the postal service and maybe the fire department, but that's about it. Its pretty much the same as it was in the 1920's. How can you get behind higher taxes when you're living proof of the generations of poverty?

The big money investors have been offshoring jobs because its more profitable to work with China than try and untangle all the permits and Environmental Impact Reports and deal with Unions and patent disputes to do domestic manufacturing. If its too much work you lose all your profits. Why bother investing if you're just going to break even or lose money? Ergo, the jobs go elsewhere. This is hurting America, and this disconnect between investing money and domestic jobs is the REAL issue of the election, one ignored by both candidates. Neither one had real plans to return jobs to America. They don't have that power. Congress imposes trade tariffs, and they won't do it.

The world is switching from Dollars to Yuan for its world reserve currency, and Gold to back that up. This isn't a great idea, being that the Yuan is a Communist currency so its value is decided by fiat, but with Bernanke printing billions of US Dollars through Quantitative Easing, we don't have much right to complain about the difference. There have been a number of deals allowing direct exchange between OPEC nations and China using Yuan instead of Dollars. I see that as proof that the Dollar is a Bubble. I expect its value to fall quite a bit more. I predict that eventually, the Dollar will settle around 20-25% of its value in 2006, right before the Housing Bubble burst. When people gush about housing values rising, I think "Inflation". Not "recovery".

Wages remain low, however, and one of the few upsides to the Socialists winning the election is there will be serious traction for a hike in Minimum Wage, seeing as that's the real wage in the real world. It will just keep pace with inflation if they raise it to $10/hr nationally. This is what the Democratic party can do to win a little respect from the Red States. That's not very much however.

For the rest of us, expand your cooking repertory, go for a bicycle ride every time the weather is clear, do that maintenance so it keeps working properly. Maybe get a second bike for goofy fun rides or serious distance, the one you don't park anywhere it can be stolen. The bike equivalent of a sports car. I still want the experience of a Recumbent bike, but I'd be satisfied with a rental. I think I would enjoy an aluminum framed road bike, or a full-suspension mountain bike. That would offer more riding options.

Look ma, no pedals!

I'd much rather own a scooter for a commute over 2 miles or over a hill(s), like I've got here. The scooter is the next step up from a bike and has the benefit of not leaving you out of breath and sweaty when you arrive at work. I wish CARB (California Air Resources Board) were run by rational people who were willing to help solve the PRK's fuel issues by authorizing more vehicles, but that's not their deal. They have to follow the Law, and the Law is a long way from right and wrong. With the kinds of wages we're going to see in the near future we will probably ONLY be able to afford fuel for scooters soon enough.

Picture this in NYC.

Ah, scootering in snow flurries and heavy rain. I can't say I'd show up for work in those conditions. "Sorry: its snowing. Only have two wheels. Route calls to my number, I'll work from home." I expect many other people will feel the same way. What is the impact on the economy then?

Weather causing absenteeism. Unapologetic absenteeism. Its not like Saigon, where the million scooters and bicycles are ridden in rain the temperature of blood so nobody gets hypothermia. Same with the Florida Keys or San Tropez in the summertime. Great places to ride a scooter. I really expect to see a serious number of scooters on the road, provided they're legal and cheap. We just don't have any choice anymore. We made our choice last week. Now we get to choose between risking pneumonia on a scooter in the snow or losing the only job we can get, one that pays minimum wage. This was our choice. We get to live with the consequences.

Total chick magnet.

If we're very fortunate we can buy a Geo Metro and add lightness so it hypermiles. Then do a really good job maintaining the engine so the high revs won't destroy the engine every 6 months. It's NOT a pretty car, but it gets good MPG and keeps the rain off. Switch back to the scooter during the dry months and double or triple the MPG. Is that our future? Probably not the whole thing. At some point we'll be so poor that we won't have access to fossil fuels at all, though maybe Fracking will help. Even that will run out, eventually. Fossil fuels deplete. In the longer term we'll be paying for very expensive renewable biodiesel or pedaling once more. What can you do?