Yowza! Been sifting through for something to post on tonight. I'm gonna tag in on this one.
*Banning wood burning is insane. Perhaps in extremely dense neighborhoods, but even at that I see it as insanity. What happens when a natural gas line gets shut off or you can't get propane to your place or the power goes out and you can't fire up your baseboard heat? I wouldn't fathom building a home without putting in a wood fireplace. I'm not going to have my pipes burst cause somebody is afraid of natural smoke. It's about as scary as a cow fart. Anyone remember the people that died in the Connecticut blizzard about five years ago when the power went out for a few days?
*Wood smoke particulates are also helpful building blocks of precipitation. Moisture needs something to grab on to, to stimulate accumulation of a drop or snowflake.
*Government. Can't take it down from here. A fine web has been woven where there is nobody that doesn't get a direct or indirect line of subsidy from the government. Dollars don't bounce more than once or twice before they end up in everyone's pocket. Here are some examples:
-Road and bridge money. Cat doesn't build roads and bridges, but their equipment does.
-College grant money. Goes to students, ends up in the pockets of staff and construction companies.
-Food stamps and refundable tax credits. Doesn't get paid to walmart, but it ends up there.
-FHA loan guarantees? Not paid to realtors or builders, but it helps money flow more easily from banks, through eager buyers, and to the realtors, builders, and back to the banks.
-Where would casinos be without bus loads of senior citizens flush with social security dollars?
-The more poor people you have in your city or state, the more federal matching dollars get poured in for programs like medicaid, SNAP, and subsidized housing, which stimulates more work for police, social workers, special ed departments in public schools, and administrators for programs run by the city or county.
It's late. Let's start there. That really veered outta control. I wanted to make that point though. The first revolution was held when everybody was getting shafted by George. Way different today.