The Scandinavian countries are a great example of how a country can work for its inhabitants, health care, social security, schools etc. is great.

...read an internet article recently that said that folks in Finland are the
'happiest' of any country... prosperity, peace, etc....

We just got our electric bill. $400. There are only 2 of us. We used less electricity than last year and it cost quite a bit more. We do have AC. We don't have natural gas here. Everything is electric. Our gov asked people to drive less, use more gas efficient cars, etc. We complied. Now toll collections are down and he wants to add a 14 cent per gallon gas tax to offset the loss of toll money.

Yikes. Sorry to hear about your electric bill. But that's what I'm suspecting is happening a lot these daze.

That's the thing. Tolls are down, gas is down thus taxes are down. This whole thing is a balance. I wonder if any one in charge is paying attention?

I think they may be running in a circle pulling on their hair and screaming "OH NO OH NO OH NO"

Soory about the high bill for you LRoss. Is this per year or month I hope it's per year. I don't know exactly about american houses, but the ones I saw while visiting were of wood, not very much isolated. In winter you needed heat in summer cooling. Over here homeowners can buy isolation materials for the inside or the outside, e.g. styrofoam, ready for doing it yourself and it is amazing how much energy can be saved with that.
On the other hand, you safe on one side, e.g .gasolin, the state looses money cause less usage means less tax money, so they increase another tax or invent a new one to make up for the loss. Just like they trying to do you with the 14 cts. Our government is very inventive when it comes to that. I'm pretty sure that once we have more alternative energy sources like e.g. wind generators they'll put a tax on the wind, corresponding to the wind force or so.

This bill was for a month. We have 6 inches of insulation, the house is 15 years old. We live on a hill and I've been looked into windmills several years ago. My husband was less than thrilled with the idea, I'm not sure why. A family up the street wanted to put one up but their next door neighbor protested it. They were afraid of the blades flying off or some other safety thing. I don't exactly remember. Since there are no more kids in the house, we may just have to downsize as much as I don't want to move.[/list]

During lunch with friends today, they said they're looking into getting a vertical axis windmill because they can be smaller, lower to the ground, more acceptable to neighbors and city codes, bird-friendly, and easier to maintain. They've found a company that is making the squirrel-cage kind (as in the first link below, but bigger, more 'polished' and probably more neighborhood-acceptable). I don't have the name of the company from them yet, but here are some places with information on several kinds. The last one shows how to make one kind, and its 'part 2' is on attaching the generator, which many sites neglect, probably because they're engineers and assume that we all know how to do that. It's pretty exciting--technology for the people; get off the grid, and all that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=376UAQWKbck

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/1288371.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UPe6A_UVPc&feature=related

When I get the name of that company, I'll post it.

Guess I should read the news more but who is "he" and what toll collections are down? Turnpike? Bridges? I know the're trying to raise the bridge toll to PA. The funny (funny nauseating not funny ha-ha) part is they are all but admitting that they totally mismanaged the last hikes and promise that these increases are because they need it for bridge upkeep.

Guess I should read the news more but who is "he" and what toll collections are down? Turnpike? Bridges? I know the're trying to raise the bridge toll to PA. The funny (funny nauseating not funny ha-ha) part is they are all but admitting that they totally mismanaged the last hikes and promise that these increases are because they need it for bridge upkeep.[/quote]

"He" is Corzine, our governor. As far as tolls, I'm assuming Parkway, Turnpike, anything that collects money. Weren't some of the PA bridges raised? I live near the Easton Bridge. So far, that hasn't changed. Good thing or I couldn't afford to go to work NJ is good at mismanaging lots of things.

It's 105 degrees F at 3 p.m.; supposed to hit 107 today. Wednesday is predicted to be the coolest day this week, at a high of 100. Even worse, though, is that it doesn't cool off that much at night--tonight's low is supposed to be 82. So I guess our next electric bill will be a delight. But that pales in comparison with the four adult lives that have been lost in the Dallas area this summer because of heat and the several infants and toddlers who've been left in autos. Fall can't come too soon!

It's a little cooler here, thank goodness. What is wrong with people? Why would anyone leave a child in a car. There are warnings about this all the time. Even if it wasn't so hot, kids have accidently put cars in gear, been kidnapped, and hurt in other ways.

400 $ a month is outrageous. Who can afford that? Over here everything is much closer together, so we mostly don't have windmills in our garden, private owners mostly work with solar energy on the roof. But we can choose which electrical company we use. They vary a bit, you can save money choosing the right one but not in the amount you are talking about. Our windmills over here mostly belong to companies, who mix the sources of electricity, Part is atomic, part is from coal, about 11-20% is alternative source, like windmill, solar, water etc. In the ocean near the coast they have "windmill parks", I inclose a picture. The problem with these windmills is the noise. They are highly effective but nobody wants one closed by, because fo the noise they make. I just hope your new government is taking care of this issue, cause people can be driven into poverty if the bills of needed facilities, like electricity, water, garbage rise too high.

You're assuming our government wants to keep us out of poverty. This administration wants to eliminate the middle class, and they've been doing a bang-up job of it.