Re: The United States in Full Thrust

Hi John, See the long range artillery is working! <grin>

Have a snail mail address yet?	Contact me off list (Don'd address will
do.)

Glenn/Triphibious
This is my Science Fiction Alter Ego E-mail address.

On Sat, 28 Apr 2001 15:28:47 -0500 "Don M" <madd@vvm.com> writes:
>
>----- Original Message -----
>
>> I do not have the history handy, but I suspect that the collapse of 
>the
>> US was precipitated by the sudden lack of oil.  While all economies
>> would suffer from oil's departure, Canada and the US would suffer
>> significantly more than the other industrialised nations from the 
>simple
>> lack of a trans-national electrified railway.  Russia, Europe, and 
>Japan
>
>Uhhh. . . Do some math.  Post-fusion economies are not as dependant on 
>oil.
>Regardless of the Green propaganda, the real issue on fossil fuels is,
>always has been, and always will be electrical power generation.  If 
>that is
>superceded by fusion power, then our oil requirements drop by several 
>orders
>of magnitude.	And with the improvements in battery technology, the 
>reason
>for your average city dweller to own a hydrocarbon-powered vehicle wil 
>be
>slim to none.
>
>Oh, yeah, and HMT engines are ALSO gonna be a lot more efficient. . . 
>and
>will be also in use.
>
>Oh, yeah, and we have fuel cell technology also coming online.  What 
>happens
>then?	We start burning hydrogen.  Hydrogen falls from the sky for 
>free--we
>just need to set up the simple and easy machinery to seperate it from 
>the
>oxygen it's attached to.  That's just a matter of electricity.  That's 
>a
>problem--oh, wait!  We just solved that with the fusion power.
>
>> can all move goods with their central powerplants, and China still 
>uses
>> coal fired steam engines.  The current power of the USA is 
>predicated on
>> free access to ample reserves of oil.  Take that away and the USA
>> becomes a third world country with a developed system of government 
>and
>> justice, but saddled with an inability to keep everyone fed, due to 
>the
>> problem of the food being too distant from the cities.
>>
>> But if you want to write your own background, go ahead.
>
>Have you any clue at all what the condition of the US's oil reserves 
>are?
>Do some math--then assume that fusion power is commercially viable 
>some time
>in the next 25 years and then double-check your answers.  Then go back 
>and
>do the math on improved exploitation technology allowing more marginal 
>oil
>reserves to be developed.  Fun fact:  There are a lot of oil reserves 
>out
>there that are not developed commercially because they are not 
>economically
>cost-effective.  If the price of oil goes up, then a higher cost of 
>pulling
>each barrel out of the Earth becomes acceptable.  It's called
>capitalism--which is why Communism (and it's modern camoflaged 
>auxillary
>called "environmentalism") suffers--these calculations are pulled out 
>of the
>equation.  Oh, and with the increased stability of the Russians under 
>the
>Romanovs in the GZG background, you'll have a lot of European and 
>American
>corporations falling all over each other helping the Ruskies out with 
>the
>massive deposits of fossil fuels that the Soviets havn't had the
>brains^H^H^H^H^H^H technical expertise to develop.
>
>Oil is out there--it's all a matter of dealing with it.
>
>John posting from Don's house.
>

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