Greece: To default or not to default?

O democracy you never seize to amaze me. As of this morning Greece banks are closed by order of the Greek Government leaving Greek citizens unable to withdraw savings and access bank accounts.

For months the SYRIZA government with a mandate from the people have been in talks with Troika. The Troika are the IMF (International Monetary Fund) the EU (European Union), and the ECB (European Central Bank) who have loaned Greece hundreds of billions of dollars saving the nation from total economic collapse. These talks have broken down due to the SYRIZA’s rhetoric and demands. Since taking power SYRIZA has repeatedly tried to get austerity measures lifted that Greece previously agreed on in order to receive bailout money. The austerity measures have been forced upon Greece because Greece is not to be trusted with spending its own money let alone someone else’s. Just today Greece asked for 6 billion euros of emergency funding which was promptly rejected by the European Central Bank setting off the above mentioned bank closures.

While austerity certainly wasn’t working for the Greece at least Euro creditors had some assurance that Greece would not default. Of course just some five months ago Greece elected SYRIZA a political party that vowed to end Troika spending restraints. While socialist governments such as SYRIZA certainly improve the life of people by subsidizing health care, subsidizing college, and a progressive tax code they also tend to increase taxes and deficit spending. The funny thing about Greece electing a socialist government is that Greece already has massive debt and owes 300 billion euros to foreigners.

But wait there’s more. Not only did it elect a socialist government in a time when Europe looked upon Greece as the nation that fudged its economy and whom kicked off the Euro debt crisis. Greece also elected a government that believes in renegotiating spending restraints with the Troika. With that said Greece accepted Troika money with the understanding that spending restraints would be put in place and agreed to austerity measures.

So the government that Greece elected to power is being funded and kept aloft by the Troika. And now Greece does like the rules these institutions and government set up when they bailed Greece out. Of course the Troika hold the upper hand and the current government has proved unable to renegotiate spending restraints.

 I think Greece will exit the Euro and reintroduce its traditional currency the Drachma. In the past the theory was that if Greece is allowed to leave a domino effect would occur that sees multiple nations trying to leave the Euro, which will weaken the currency. However there is another theory. It is the Chain theory the belief that if the weak link(s) leave the Euro then the Euro will become stronger. The fact that Greece was denied an emergency bailout and that the Troika refuses to lessen austerity measures shows that EU leadership does not care, at least as much as it once did, if Greece leaves the Euro. The Troika have tried to work with Greece in the past by cutting its debt and releasing bailout money early. Such measures have failed in getting Greece out of its crisis. Greece will probably reintroduce the Drachma in order pay debts and its own citizens. Though it may hurt in the short term is time to let an ungrateful Greece go its own way and the let the Euro flourish.

Compromise: A Necessary Good

The Founding Fathers were forced to compromise some of their deeply cherished beliefs to find the United States of America. From slavery, check and balances, even the location of the capital itself America was formed upon the ability to put the needs of the nation ahead of the needs of one selves. The Founding Fathers understood what politicians today don’t or can’t; that compromising ones ideals for a better future does not mean you must compromise yourself.

Today such traits are not welcomed in our national leader, instead such traits are vilified. Instead of compromise one is accused of compromising integrity or the trust of ones constituents. It is a shame what our nation’s political process has come to, battle lines are drawn and a politician must not cross them.

For example a popular social issue in the United States, is Marriage equality for same-sex couples. The Democrats are pro-marriage equality, the Republicans are anti-marriage equality. So Democrats take up one side and Republicans take up the other, no one is left to fill the void.

Instead of our national representatives creating meaningful federal legislation states are left to sort out the fate of same-sex couples. This is not an issue of states rights but simply of the ability of citizens to engage in “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.

Of course some progress could be made on the marriage equality front with the creation of meaningful compromises such as preserving traditional marriage for religious/spiritual reason but giving civil unions the same legal rights as marriage. Of course any politician whom attempted such a compromise would be called names such as a “flip-flopper” or even worse a politician.

(Disclaimer: I fully support marriage equality)

The example above is only one example of how political compromises can truly put this nation back on the path of greatness. Compromise is not a weakness in politics (generally) but a strength. The media, gerrymandering, and most prominently the American public contribute to this toxic anti-compromising political culture. Only through politically literate citizens will compromise be seen as a means of putting the nation forward.

Mining Space: Humanity’s Cosmic Expansion

Space, the Final Frontier, has long been a topic of human interest. I believe interest in space peaked in the 1960s during the space race between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. Is then that John F. Kennedy gave Americans the challenge of putting a man on the moon, while the man would not live such a goal would continue.

Mission Accomplished.

But then what?

America, and may I say the world, grew disinterested with space exploration. We had gotten man to the moon but was it possible to go farther still. Budgets cut, economies damaged, exploring the cosmos fall far on priorities. Yet the trouble for American space exploration was not over.

On August 31, 2011 the US space shuttle program was grounded Currently the only way to get to the International Space Station (ISS), a pinnacle of human space engineering, is to take the Russian’s Soyuz spacecraft. On top of all this no space faring nation takes bold leaps in the realm of manned space travel.

Luckily there are a brave few entrepreneur, willing to challenge the unknowns of manned space explorations. Elon Musk I believe is the most prominent and influential man in the field of manned space travel. His company, Space X, is regularly awarded multibillion dollar contracts to deliver cargo to the ISS. Currently Musk is working on developing a rapidly reusable rocket and has plans to put humans on Mars by 2030.

While I wholeheartedly believe in Musk’ mission and believe he will succeed, there is something else that is required to push humanity into mass space migration.

It is a time-honored tradition of greed; space must be profitable in order for space migration to take off. Currently space is not profitable, from a purely economical standpoint space is worthless. Of course space exploration is more than about a simple profit, it is about engaging in the human spirit of exploration and ensuring the continued survival of humanity.

Yet the need for a source of space capital remains. I believe that such a source of space capital can come from those fast traveling cosmic rocks known as asteroids.

Asteroid Mining!

Asteroid Mining is the future of space commerce and space exploration. Compare it to the exploration of the Americas during the Age of Exploration (1492-1700). Once riches such as gold and silver were discovered and harvested a wave of European nations began sending people to the new world. I believe the same parallel can be drawn between the exploration of the Americas and Space exploration. One, asteroids are a major source of material wealth, asteroids contain metals such as platinum, iron, nickel, and cobalt.

The problem is that currently no manned made object has ever landed on an asteroid although the Rosetta is currently in the process of doing so. Another problem is the mining of asteroids, while I certainly believe that we have the technology to mine asteroids it simply hasn’t been done. The reasons, I believe, is that it will cost billions of dollars to track, land, and then mine an asteroid. But I believe it will be done within my lifetime, an organization, a man, a woman, or a government will successfully be able to mine an asteroid.

Simply put asteroid mining must become a commonality, not an impossibility. And so it will become. Once space is commercialized the mass colonization of mars and our solar system will begin.