People and the many magazines which imitate it inform the public about whose wardrobe, vehicle, yacht, private airplane, or homes cost more.
Mel Gibson said in Lethal Weapon 2 about a house he and Danny Glover visited, “I think I saw it on Lifestyles of The Rich and Shameless.”
The economist Thorstein Veblen coined the phrase conspicuous consumption in his book The Theory of The Leisure Class. Rich people compete to show whose possessions are gaudier, more ornamental, and absolutely, larger and grander that any neighbor, or friend with who they are acquainted.
Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, all deny the veracity of climate change.
All scientific theories including gravity, evolution, relativity, and climate change have been proven to be true in many scientific, papers, books, and experimental demonstrations of their various aspects. No choice or option is a part of any theory. The deniers confuse the word hypothesis. A hypothesis is a new idea which has recently been suggested which is years away from acceptance by the scientific community. Anyone who denies a theory demonstrates proof positive that they are ignorant of the foundations of science. Theories are integral to the bulwark of science.
President Trump once spoke the words, “beautiful, clean, coal.” That could be the biggest oxymoron ever spoken in the history of western civilization.
Trump wants there to be coalmining off all of the coastlines, and expanded even near the Arctic Circle in Alaska. There are huge problems with that idea.
One is that the price of oil and natural gas has to be much higher than it currently is to expand the production of coal. Another problem is that the governors of states which are along the ocean do not want more drilling which always results in oil spills. Another reason not to increase drilling more oil wells, or digging more and deeper coal wells is black lung disease. Coal miners who work for decades in mines have high medical costs and shorter lives. Renewable energy employs far more workers than the coal industry and will continue to do so in the future. Governors, and even the president know about how to reduce government, but not about some of the ugly details, and unintended consequences of their actions.
Deuel Woodward resides in Chula Vista.
