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.

I am not being a skeptic here. I am not painting a picture of doom. I am going one above what the President and his economic advisors say. I am also following the trend of the Dollar which has sunk to 15 month lows amidst a cloud of economic good news.

Basically, I am basing this on the President’s wish to boost exports and cut the trade deficit. I think that this could be good and this could spell jobs in the short and the middle term. However, are we really ready to get things coming from Tennessee rather than Tokyo or, Boston rather than Beijing?

To make things exportable, we need to have the top technology or the bottom price. So while we have certain rights and America dominates in sectors that requires technology such as bio-technology, medicine and green technology, many of these are easily copied overseas and they would compete with us in that field.

E.g. We created drugs that slow down AIDS, India created the same drug at 1/10th the cost. We were pioneers of green technology, yet America is not the biggest producers China is. In the same way, we have been overtaken by the Singaporeans and the South Koreans in the production of bio-medical industries. So that is a problem with these sectors contributing to the export numbers.

So to export more things, we got to make our production cheaper. To do that, we got to increase productivity dramatically which is very unlikely; Or we got to weaken our currency. That is more likely to happen.

First lets see the cons of having a weaker currency. We would see inflation increase. Expect to see oil and gold prices rising. Things would be more expensive and the bite may be painful when it happens. It would most likely drag over sometime, which would be unpopular with the populace as they would feel the pinch and would cause the ruling party to lose elections. It would also make imports more expensive. Again, something that would not be popular with the American population.

Another impact could be coming from immigration. A weaker dollar could shun immigration. While this may be music to former Representative Tom Tancreado’s ears , it is actually not a great thing. A lot of talent in America today comes from overseas. India and Eastern Europe give us a lot of IT professionals. Asians dominate sciences in our country. So this could be a commonly neglected aspect of having a weaker dollar.

There are pros of having a weaker dollar too. First and foremost, it would make American labor cheaper. When American labor becomes cheaper, more investors would like to open their factories or places of production. That would lead to higher employment. More people get employed means more demand which would allow more people to set up shop here and the positive cycle carries on. So a weaker dollar means more jobs.

A weaker dollar would may also increase interest rates. This could be a good or bad measure. For one, with higher interest rates, we encourage savings and lending to start-ups. With a lower interest rate, we encourage spending. That I leave it up to the readers to decide.

So I wish to inform the readers, get ready for a weaker dollar. How are we going to do that? I think the readers should know better than we on that. I also hope that you share your ideas with us.

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