Shouldn’t States Be Self Reliant Too?

September 24, 2012 Filed under Legislation Posted by James Smith

September 23, 2012

By Solonsays

One of the moral lessons of history is that eventually you reap what you sow. According to a recent article, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/09/12/168248/gulf-coast-needs-urgent-help-to.html, Gulf Coast State economies spanning from Florida to Texas are facing long-term economic regression from obvious cause and effect relationships that Republicans decry every day. These include the destruction of regional ecosystems from the saturation of pollutants pervasive in the land, water and air courtesy of the oil, petro-chemical and agriculture industries. Compounding the issues are the destructive forces of nature occurring from climate change such as rising sea levels and the accelerating destruction of shorelines eroding from hurricane intensity and frequency.

The destruction of local communities like the Love Canal from pollution has now been extrapolated to a five state swath bordering the Gulf of Mexico. Corexit and oil sediment will be polluting Gulf Coast communities and seafood for decades to come. Every storm brewed in the Gulf of Mexico will be a grim reminder to local residents that their politicians sold them out to lessen environmental regulations on polluters and to lower the liability costs for BP which caused the worst environmental disaster in history.

The facts are clear. When industrial corporations come into your community, they rape your resources for profits, they pay very few taxes and they leave behind a legacy of environmental destruction and contamination plus unaffordable cleanup costs. All of which will negatively impact the quality of life and health of local residents for decades to come.

Since 1980, covert sponsored initiatives like appointing industry insiders to manage government agencies have effectively dismantled environmental protection against pollution and contamination to benefit America’s largest polluters. Even President Obama is presently engaged in suppressing the government’s responsibility to measure, monitor and protect the public from the dangers of radiation contamination associated with the Fukishima nuclear meltdown and its impact on the nation’s food supply.

Our elected politicians are willing to sacrifice American lives and incur environmental degradation to lower business costs and liabilities for the sake of profits that pay little to no taxes. The transfer of business costs and liability risks to America’s shrinking taxpayer base has become a major source of profit for corporations and serves as one of many wealth redistribution schemes funneling trillions of dollars of unearned wealth to politically connected business groups and their stakeholders.

The article states “A five-state coalition, warning that decades of damage inflicted by man and nature could take a $350 billion toll, called Wednesday on the White House and Congress to make an urgent commitment of massive, long-term aid to protect the battered Gulf Coast, its fragile ecosystem and its oil, seafood, shipping and tourism industries.”

It also says “Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who joined her Republican colleague David Vitter and officials from Mississippi, Alabama and Texas at the event, vowed to “fight politically at every level across party lines to save this most special and spectacular place.”