We (the global society) need to pull ourselves together and get over somethings. Namely, two things: the Gold & the Cold.
As I sat watching a man screaming in a commercial about cash for gold (or more often seen in print as, "Ca$h 4 Gold") my mind started to think there must be some more advanced system for value and currency. I mean, gold, you dig it up and find it in the ground. It's just there. This is crazy/stupid. And, yes, I understand the market and how it has evolved into where it is now. I get the gold standard and silver backing, or at least the reasoning behind it. But, we as a society should be beyond this. We can do better. Doesn't everyone agree that gold (or any thing for that matter) doesn't actually, intrinsically hold value. It is just what we place on it.
Anyway, if gold is valuable to you and you want to sell it, go ahead, but the notion of gold as a reserve today is ridiculous. Again, let me remind you- with gold (and diamonds for that matter): YOU FIND IT IN THE GROUND. IT IS JUST THERE. And it is not, in any real way, useful. To base our currency around this stuff is just silly. We need to move past it all. We are getting there, but we are not completely torn away from the gold standard and the exchange.
Along the same lines, another thing I can't get over, is why we live where we do. This is the royal "we". Basically, why are our world hubs in places like NYC/St. Petersburg/London/Tokyo/Cold/Frozen Tundra'd/Polluted/Dirty/Falling Down Cities? Back whenever, big cities were near ports. It was necessary for trade and made sense. But now, we are mobile and we can go wherever we like. I can not understand why we all don't live in lush lands of milk & honey with perfect weather. We live where the jobs are, but the jobs are where we live. So much of livelihood is based around services for one another. It might take, at most, two generations, but we need to start settling places that are a little more desirable. Tropical paradises.
(And yes, I get places don't start out looking dire and that our societies are responsible for the [insert whatever the physical problem is here], as we raped the land. But, can't we all agree that it is time to throw the towel in and jump ship. Thanks Beijing, you were great while you lasted, but now you are grimy, gross, riddled with infrastructure problems and the pollution is unbearable, so peace out. )
A visual argument:
Here are places where we should all be living...
Compare all that, to where we all live now:
(if you can't tell, they are cleaning the city grit off the side of that building)
Collectively, as a society, we can do better.
Not only have I the complaint; I have the solutions. Or actually, the singular solution to both the gold and the location problems.
America needs to start invading, moving in & taking over again. What places you may ask? Well, those with great natural resources. And beautiful, desirable locales. Because although gold holds no real value, oil does. So does fresh drinkable water. The way I figure is if we control all the places where everyone lives, we will also control the money. The money we set and the money we decide is in no way tied to useless shiny things you find in the stream.
And before all you environmentalist start freaking out (I am talking to you mom). Realize that America had one great idea once: National Parks. And when we take over all these new perfect places, and settle them, we can continue and expand our National Park System. For proof, please, again, see a visual argument:
Because, we can do better (obviously) & we should be doing better.
