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5 comments:
I watched about 4 minutes of this video and she has already said a number of things that are simply not correct.
Half of federal spending is on national defense? Try 25%. The feds spend $24k per household. $8,300 is spent on social security/medicare, far more than the $4950 spent per household on national defense (which is the primary responsibility of the federal government by the way).
Only 4% of our forests left in this country? Please. One third of our country is forested. This stat is a lie. Before Europeans came, we had about 1 billion acres of forest. 300 acres have been cleared in the past 350 years. The total forested area has remained roughly constant for the last 100 years.
And let's stop this nonsense about the U.S. stealing the world's resources. We pay them market rates for those resources and then use them to make products that are used the world over to improve everyone's lives. Do you think the Columbians are mad at us for buying their coffee beans? Buying stuff from people in other countries improves their standard of living.
I didn't bother watching the rest. I think our culture of consumerism is worth discussing, but let's avoid propaganda and stick to facts.
The funny thing about statistics is that 87.6% of them are made up on the spot. I posted the video because I thought it to be well though out and very informational. I am sorry that the information provided in the video does not make it into your list of facts. One fact, however, that you inevitably must face, is that there are people that do not see things the way that you do--whatever Fox News, the national review, or any conservative blog for that matter, might say on any given day.
For those who aren’t prone to knee jerk reactions toward seemingly leftist ideology, you will be happy to know that the project has an extensive list of credible sources in order to back up their statistical claims, which can be found here: http://www.storyofstuff.com/pdfs/annie_leonard_footnoted_script.pdf
The video gives, what I believe to be, a good overview of how the US does steal the worlds resources. Again, this might be nonsense to someone who can easily justify a daily wage of a dollar a day for a third world worker, as this type of economic behavior certainly must “improve everyone's lives.” However, there are those who do not buy into this line of thinking. And for those, I believe the video does a good job of pointing out the underlying problems with the current economic system. Unfortunately, one must invest longer than a mere 4 minutes before coming to these arguments.
I find it rather interesting that you came to the conclusion that this video was nothing more than propaganda after a four-minute stint, but then went on to supply a reference to your own factual information belonging to the Heritage Foundation. For those who do not know, the Heritage foundation is a self-proclaimed right-wing think tank. Again, you might not have liked the facts supplied by the video because they do not match up to your own, but it is important to realize that there are other organizations that supply different facts. As for what side I will trust, I think I will go with the less biased, that is, non think-tank numbers.
Jon,
I did a quick check on the federal spending bit. I have to go to sleep now, but here's Annie Leonard's Annotated Script with Footnotes:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/pdfs/annie_leonard_footnoted_script.pdf
Which led me here:
http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm
Warresisters themselves acknowledge that part of their assesment is an estimate (past war debt). I think they explain their position fairly well. They got their base data from:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/index.html
In the end, I think its safe to say we spend A LOT on war/defense.
I'm sorry you didn't watch the whole movie, as the part about planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence, was in my opinion, one of the best parts.
oh, jackson beat me to it!
Hey, I'm sorry. My comments were rude. Sometimes I get a little carried away with trying to be right instead of trying to take part in a good discussion. I appreciate it whenever someone posts something that can spark a good discussion. I'll watch the rest of the video before further comment.
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