Burgess COMMENTARY
I have done overseas assignments in many different parts of the world and know something of the issues faced by people living in poor countries whether it is drought, or civil war, or merely gross corruption. We need a much smaller military footprint and a much bigger humanitarian / development footprint ... the Pentagon needs to spend less and the State Department needs to be able to do a huge amount more. I was a consultant to the UN working on a development plan for post Soviet Afghanistan in the early 90s ... the plan was never funded and instead we got 9/11 and then multi-trillion dollars of military activity that really leaves little positive behind. I read engineering and economics at Cambridge before training as a Chartered Accountant. I saw photographs of two mountains in Greenland soon after graduating in the early 1960s ... and then saw photographs of the same place 20+ years later in the 1980s. The ice had already receded in a dramatic fashion. The scientists know with certainty that there is climate change and global warming. They are less sure about how fast climate will change and exactly how it will change. My reading of the situation is that climate change will be faster and more dangerous than anything we are now talking about ... and the costs to mitigate the effects will be in the hundreds of trillions of dollars. Some historical perspective is needed around taxation and the social safety nets ... at the present time taxation is too low AND benefits are too low. Tax reform is needed so that people and companies doing damage to society and the environment pay taxes at a higher rate than those who are not doing damage. This implies the need for the sort of accounting where this sort of metric is being used Bob Casey is standing up in the Senate as a critical firewall against President Trump, but with right-wing groups already targeting Pennsylvania’s Senate seat, he’s facing one of the toughest races in 2018. Bob’s counting on grassroots support to protect this seat and help him continue serving as a check on President Trump. Will you donate now to make sure Bob Casey has the resources to win? Contribution Rules This contribution is made from my own funds, and funds are not being provided to me by another person or entity for the purpose of making this contribution. I am making this contribution with my own personal credit card and not with a corporate or business credit card or a card issued to another person. I am not a federal contractor. I am at least eighteen years old. I am a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident (i.e., green card holder).
Peter Burgess