The government of South Africa is going to cut Carbon emissions by a whopping 42%. China too has promised to cut her carbon emissions by 40%. But it is South Africa that is really raising my eyebrows, because, I have got to wonder, is it hot air, or a slap to the face of Western countries?

First, I would like to state the reason why I am more impressed with South Africa’s goal than I am with Chinese’ goal. Even though China has a bigger economy and is going to cut more Carbon if they succeed, they are communist. Whether or not their people like it, they can get it done as long as it is the whim and fancy of their government.

South Africa on the other hand is a free nation. It has a very good democratic system and is a large democratic state. So one would be expecting them to face the problems that other democracies are facing: opposition push back. But they did not!

US is trying to push a bill that is only going to cut emissions by 17%. And even that is too much for the right wing opposition the Republicans. It is the same with India, where the centrist Congress party is being based by the left wing socialist parties and the BJP led religious right wing. If you think Washington is bad, wait till you see the opposition to an agenda in the Indian Sabhas!

So how is this country able to get her houses in order? Is it because the 65% mandate of the ANC is enough for them while a 60% mandate would be disastrous just as it is in the United States with the Democrats? Or is it just a matter of will? The South Africans are willing to go along with it while we Americans are not…

I really feel ashamed that they can do it so easily unlike us. They are not an extremely rich country like we are. They have a higher debt vs GDP ratio than us. Their population is not so educated as us who know that the Earth is becoming warmer.

In my opinion, it is the disregard of the people over here about facts and counter checks. We do not put people in the spotlight and correct the facts. That is why there are leaders like Governor Sarah Palin, who thinks that the Earth is becoming warmer just by itself. That is why we have idiotic politicians that go on TV and can claim, “ Why is Mars and Jupiter becoming hotter? It is because the Sun is becoming hotter.” ( So I guess the Sun’s heat can only be felt by 3 out of eight of the planets for this guy! FYI, he is right but the rest of the planets are in sync with the Sun and is cooling due to the Sun’s cooling phase).

Come on America. We have single-handedly won 2 world wars. We have single handedly propped countries economies up; countries like Japan, Germany, South Korea, the United Kingdom, France, these countries all were literally built from the rubbles of war by the taxes of our forefathers. We are the beacon of hope and freedom. We even are the pioneers of green technology.

So Yes we can cut down out carbon emissions by more than the pathetic goal of 17% that the President has set. The Republicans should be demanding a higher percentage rather than claiming that climate change does not exist and that efforts to curb it would result in a loss of jobs. Lets rally and do the impossible, something only Americans can do.

If America wants to know what is the best method to deal with our debts tomorrow, we should watch with eagerness what is happening in Britain today. Many experts have come out saying that the British has accumulated too much debt in the past 24 months, and there may be consequences.

Experts like Morgan Stanley have suggested that the UK has spent too much in the past couple of years in trying to prop up the economy. It has a tremendous amount of debt; its debt vs GDP ratio is much higher than ours here in the US.

Most experts still agree that the UK would not crash as yet; but an outcome would be that her currency , the Pound Sterling, would have to be weakened . While there would be many businesses that rejoice at that news, it is not all that rosy.

For one, a weakening of the pound would mean a rise in inflation for the local Brits. Imported goods would cost more. Most of the products made in the United Kingdom are, like most countries, made in China. So there would be a rise in prices in Chinese products.

We here, across the Atlantic should take note. While our debt vs GDP is not as bad as it is for Japan, India, Italy or the United Kingdom, we still have more debt than all of them put together. We still have got issues to sort out, like our lack of tax income and our terrible health care problem. We are still borrowing more and more money from the Chinese. A few bad moves in the next few years might make us experience the bad outcome before the United Kingdom.

Of course there are advantages with our system. For one, if we want to, we can virtually produce everything in America. That is something that the United Kingdom can only dream of. Technically speaking, if we lower the value of our dollar, companies would be more interested in opening factories and production centers in America. We have the resources as our country is huge, the United Kingdom does not. Also with full employment as the result of the factories, there would come the demand which would strengthen the dollar back to what it is supposed to be in the long run. We do have a juggernaut of an economy that is much larger than the Brits’.

That being said,football games are not won on paper. We need to play the game well to win. In this case, anything could go wrong; from bad leadership to counter measures by the Chinese. There are lots of things that could happen.

So it is very essential that we sit back and watch how the British handle their debt problem. If they do it well, we should model ours based on their techniques. If they screw up, we should learn from their mistakes and avoid making them. It is something that is very important for the future of our nation.

We should do our part as a people and read up on the situation. We should be keen about what is going on over there. In that manner, we can vote the person with the right solution into power.

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