Winners and Losers of this 4T

[Eric the Green]

(09-03-2020, 10:44 PM)beechnut79 Wrote: Thread for thoughts on what issues will be successfully addressed during the course of the 4T which most likely won’t end until the close of the just opened decade, and which will likely be shoved down the rug not to be dealt with until the following 2T? Global warming and climate change are often said to be most pressing but would require even more sacrifice than most of us have had forced upon us during this pandemic. And we are still way too convenience obsessed. The 4T in the book was said to be a time when social issues tend to be dealt with and no longer deferred. And yet I continue to sense mostly a kick the can down the road scenario. So far the pandemic has pushed most other issues to the sidelines. It has now been, for example, nearly a half century since the big gasoline shortage forced us to wait in long lines, calling our dependency on the automobile in question. And yet we are even more dependent on the private car than we were then, with even more traffic congestion despite a small break from it during the pandemic. Current social distancing guidelines fly in the face of what we should be doing to combat climate change. So, what direction do you think we will be moving in and which issues are most likely to receive airplay?

I don't think climate change requires more sacrifice than the pandemic has, by a long shot. Only the rich oil/fossil barons will have to sacrifice, unless they adapt and re-invest. Energy alternatives are there, and the skeptics about them are dead wrong. It's a question of who is elected; that is all. We will need more transit, but the car is still viable too if it is electric or hydrogen-powered using non-fossil energy to generate. More people working from home is one legacy of the pandemic that will decrease traffic. If Biden is elected and a good vaccine distributed, then social distancing should and probably will be relaxed, hopefully leaving the anti-vaxxers to their fate, rather than being coddled by continued social distancing and masks. Racism and police misconduct could well be reduced, but racism/xenophobia is a disease that needs continual treatment. Eventually it cannot survive inevitable globalization.