Kristen wrote:Suceeding by Seceding
For the last few years we’ve watched our neighbors, friends, and loved ones undergo bankruptcy, joblessness, and homelessness silently praying for the almighty market to save us from the suffering caused by such excess. Meanwhile the media circus has been throwing the results of the economic crisis, while not defining its cause; call it fractional reserve banking.
Minnesota, our homeland has been infected with this disease like the rest of the fifty states and the only way she can be cured is to leave the United States. Our financial system was built on the theory of infinite growth and for that simple fact; no mechanism to make it smaller exists. However systems that are compact/smaller are more fail-safe. And the latter often become wobbly and fumble, like what we are witnessing now. One should not expect anything to ever return to the year 2003 numbers, or quality of living, but the United States as a whole is bound to get worse. She wouldn’t survive on her own, but if the rest of her Great Lake sisters and brothers, with the help of Iowa and the Dakotas joined her, well a better union would be hatched indeed.
The Great Lakes account for 22 percent of freshwater in the world, enough to cover all of the states on the mainland with 10 feet of water. Two thirds of freshwater is frozen in glaciers making the great lakes a large 70 percent of surface freshwater. Keeping this in mind, we could use this important commodity to back up a new currency, called Aquana. Historically, the dollar was really a receipt of sorts redeemable of gold. The citizenry traded these receipts instead of the actual physical gold. The same would be of fresh water. The AQ could be redeemable for 16 fluid ounces of freshwater. The price of bottled water is around the 1.09 – 1.19 range, making it more valuable. (In theory of course, I understand the price of shipping is included in that last example)
We are also the breadbaskets of the world, accounting for a large majority of grain exports because of our rich soil and favorable climate. This gives the Great Lake Nation an advantage because fresh water and food are essential to life, and with their export comes imports to make up for fossil fuels and other mineral deposits we are lacking in the region.
Trade and economic policy are already considered at a bi-national level since the formation of the Great Lakes Commission in 1955. The commission provides developmental policy and advocacy on issues of regional concern. The GLC also has created communication and research services such as the Great Lake Information Network. The GLIN is used a support tool for those who create and implement public policy of the region. The GLIN contains an informative census about the populace that is available on their website. It also is interesting to note that according to the Brookings Institution, if it stood alone as a country, the Great Lakes economy would be the second-largest economic unit on earth (with a $4.2-trillion gross regional product), second only to the United States economy as a whole. The M-W (Minnesota-Wisconsin) Price is used to determine the price of Grade B milk.
Besides Trade, the Great Lake states already have had several pacts/treaties in order to benefit each other. For example, as a citizen of Minnesota, one could have gone to Wisconsin and not pay out of state fees. The same applied to Iowa and the Dakotas until January 1st, 2010. Minnesota has a fuel tax licensing reciprocity agreement with Iowa and Wisconsin, which replaces fuel tax licensing requirements. There also is a income tax reciprocity treaty, in which Minnesota ended in 2009, across several of the Great Lake states. Surely if such a conjunction occurred as the one proposed, MN could renew this accord.
I realize Minnesota succeeding from the union is extreme, and highly improbable. However even after the huge majority the democrats have in the government, which we the people voted for, policies they promised to construe have yet to see the light of day. Also the government has overgrown itself, and breaking off into regions and becoming smaller may be more efficient. This plan would be nonviolent of course, with mediating and bargaining on both sides. Canada is already a member of the Great Lakes Commission and has signed separate agreements with all of the 11 States.
Coming up next: An outline of the GLN governing body.
(please don't be offended, just trying to look at things in different angles)
RdSnt wrote:You are more than welcome to become provinces of Canada.
RdSnt wrote:You are more than welcome to become provinces of Canada.
Kristen wrote:I did sort of imagine it up, but it's taken me a year to write the argument for it.
AAA wrote:Kristen wrote:I did sort of imagine it up, but it's taken me a year to write the argument for it.
A year????
Not to be mean but I hope you are doing other things that are actually productive and in preparation for a post-peak world.
Kristen wrote:AAA wrote:Kristen wrote:I did sort of imagine it up, but it's taken me a year to write the argument for it.
A year????
Not to be mean but I hope you are doing other things that are actually productive and in preparation for a post-peak world.
Well not literally,...
Kristen wrote:I recently moved into a lake house, but because it is so shaded, vegetables won't grow.
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