(03-28-2019 04:31 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(03-28-2019 04:24 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(03-28-2019 03:56 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  

(03-28-2019 03:18 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(03-28-2019 02:05 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Yeah, Tanq, glad to see that things are going well for you. what happens to that new venture if your taxes go up 30%. does it kill it or just slow it. It sure as hell won't accelerate it, will it?

I didn't open my import business with 5 domestic and one foreign office all at once. I expanded into new markets when I could. To expand entailed an outlay of capital - for personnel, offices, bonds, phones, advertising - everything from paper clips to autos. I always tried to finance out of retained earnings, which, from the very name, is what I had available after taxes.

I need some help from somebody in how to search for a particular post. IIRC, Lad told me something like he was glad that I was finally caring about racism, or something like that, implying that I had been racist and was finally moving away from that. I asked for an apology, and he laughed it off. Kind of like when I took Hillary's "deplorables" speech personally, and somebody here told me it only about me if I was a racist.

Sorry to be such a Luddite.



In any case, from the git-go, I disputed (a) that GW was 100% man-caused and that it was (b) 100% man-reversible. I made thye point that a few hundred years ago, if sea levels rose, people just moved the camp back a few feet, but now we had built up the coast, and the people who owned all that waterfront property in Miami and NY wanted their property protected, at somebody else's expense if possible. Looks like it is happening for them.

Of course, when I said these things, I was called all sorts of names, the nicest of which was climate change denier.

Sea level rise isn't just going to affect people in Miami and NY. It's going to affect everyone along the entire Atlantic and Pacific seaboards and the Gulf Coast. Those areas include: Texas, Louisiana, both Carolinas, Georgia, etc. I can't imagine you haven't been to any other coastal areas in your life - there are countless small, medium, and large towns full of an amalgam of people of all different means.

Why try and frame sea level rise as an issue that only affects people in big cities like NYC and Miami?

If you really think OO was *exclusively* referring to NYC and Miami, I think I now understand why you believe with all your being that Trump was truly calling for the Russians to hack Hillary's server.

Do you understand the term 'rhetorical flourish'?

I guess I needed to list every place in the world that is close to the sea. I left out Japan, Iceland, Australia, Easter Island, South Padre, Pelosi's home, kerry's yacht anchorage, Anchorage, Seattle, ...et al.

I made a larger point, which he is ignoring - for the first time in history, global warming/global cooling/climate change is affecting built up places. When we had global warming/global cooling/climate change before, it was not a big problem to people. They moved, they changed their crops, they hunted different animals in different places. But we have had climate changes before. Just ask the Viking colonists in Greenland. We will have it again. It was just so easy to move the viallage 1,000 years ago, and it is hard to move port facilities now. And who owns port facilities? Not poor people.

Well, generally when you use examples, you use phrases like "like" or "for example."

And you're dead wrong if you think climate change only affects the wealthy - have you been to the portions of Louisiana that are already washing into the Gulf? Or what about parts of west Florida, like Pine Island, where people try and make a living clam farming? Those are two perfect examples of coastal areas where people barely making ends meet live, that will eventually be inundated.

I'm only ignoring your larger point because it isn't germane and it's pointless. Who cares if we've done it before? The issue now is that there are wide swaths of the world's populations that live in coastal communities, river deltas, etc. that will be affected by sea level rise and its adverse effects. And since we know that this will happen, we need to be doing all we can to adapt and mitigate the impacts. Those adaptations and mitigation activities will be expensive, and right now we are not adequately preparing for the change, because people don't quite understand the severity of the situation and want to complain about how high their taxes are right now.

Quite frankly, my generation is going to have to deal with this mess, and it would be nice to try and get as much of a head start as we possibly can.

You found the world "only" again!!! Do you have special glasses that let you see the word "only"?

I didn't use "for example' because I thought it obvious to anybody that the sea levels would not rise in only two cities. Apparently I overestimated my audience. After all, you do miss the significance of the "larger point".

I mention the moneyed interests because they are the ones who can - and have - get action from politicians.

Yep, your generation - and your grandchildren's generation - and their grandchildren - like people since Adam and Eve (Lucy, if you prefer) -will have to deal with a changing world. Best to recognize that and start dealing with it, instead of trying to turn the clock back to some undefined date in 6% of the world.