[OT] re Q: (was Re: [oclug]Perl Qs)

[Shad Young]

On Wed, 2003-01-15 at 12:40, Jon Earle wrote:
Snip
> 
> Q: Could your economic future be negatively affected by Canada's
> ratification of Kyoto?

There is no question. It will. It has too. But the price has to be paid
at some point, and frankly its not getting any cheaper...

The future as I see it is pretty bleak for Gen-Xrs. Not only are we the
first generation in recent history to make less than our fathers, we
will also have the dubious pleasure of paying for the excesses of the
baby boomers. 

We get to pay while they sit there and age and drain the rest of the
health care system that they did not want to pay for (but surely
abused), and drain the rest of CPP that they did not want to contribute
too (but will surely use). When all is said and done, there will be
little left for those of us who came after.

But the biggest cost is going to be the environmental cost. It will be
expensive, it will be painful, but if we don't then the children of this
generation will have to. And they will have even less to work with.
Worse yet, there is almost universal acceptance that by then it will be
too late (if it is not already so), even the opposition concedes that.

Unfortunately, we of the X generation will have to make some sacrifices
to ensure the future for our children. I guess I am happy that the
sacrifices we will be called on to make are not involving two world wars
(though that remains to be seen). I do not think it is right to dump the
burden on our kids laps.

I have not seen a viable solution put forth by the opposition that is
little more than a holding pattern in the hopes some miracle cheap
solution presents itself. IF somebody does, and it works better for the
world than Kyoto, well I would support that too. But if we think we can
solve it in isolation, with a "home grown solution".. well the world is
a big place and we are a small place. We may end up being able to thumb
our noses and say , "hey look what we accomplished" but it means little
when the rest of the world is poisoned (recalling that 60 of airborne
pollutants come from south of the border).

So I guess I want to tackle the problem while those that caused and got
rich by abusing it are still alive. They should pay for it, not us.


Shad


-- 
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"Fortune should have the arbitrant of one-half of our actions, but she
leaves the other half, or little less, to be governed by ourselves. 
- Machiavelli
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