Brief History of Fission

                                                                                   written 22 December, 2024

                                                                               published 29 December, 2024

 

            Modern chemistry states an element is defined by the number of positively charged protons in the atomic nucleus, ranging from 1 to 94.  The nucleus also contains neutrons, and isotopes of an element contain different numbers of neutrons.  The positive protons, and the balancing number of negative electrons, determine the chemical activity of each element, totally independent of the number of neutrons. 

            Modern physics has demonstrated that among the heavier elements, 28 are radioactive, which will spontaneously fission, break apart, or decay, releasing energy.  The result is two smaller elements (daughter products), heat, and assorted high energy particles, including stray neutrons.  When fast neutrons impact other radioactive atoms, causing them to fission as well, a chain reaction occurs, releasing increasing amounts of energy.

            This possibility was first realized in 1938, as WWII was brewing.  The first controlled chain reaction occurred in December, 1942.  After an intense industrial program produced nuclear material, the first nuclear bomb was tested in Nevada in July, 1945.  Two more bombs were deployed against Japan a month later.  The Atomic Age had begun.

            In 1955, the US initiated Atoms for Peace, beginning commercial use of nuclear power for electrical generation.  This was an effort to distract from the shocking destructive power of nuclear weapons, and to justify the huge expenditure to produce nuclear material.  

            No electrical utility or corporation wanted to take on the massive, unknown economic risk of developing nuclear power, so the government threatened to put them out of business by creating public nuclear power "too cheap to meter".  As an incentive, the government absolved them from all liability, forever.  It also promised to subsidized nuclear fuel costs and take responsibility for ultimate disposal of nuclear waste.

            The Shippingport Atomic Power Station, in Pennsylvania, was the first commercial reactor, becoming operational in 1957, using a 60 megawatt repurposed aircraft carrier reactor.  Since then, 139 commercial reactors have been built in the US, mostly between 1970 and 1990, of which 94 are still operating today, most are rated over 1,000 megawatts.  Nuclear power involves big money.

            When as little as 5 percent of the uranium in a reactor fuel rod has been consumed, the daughter products of fission degrade operational efficiency, and the rods must be replaced.  This "spent fuel" is intensely radioactive, and is currently stored "temporarily" at reactor sites, some for decades, still awaiting adequate permanent disposal.  The few domestic attempts to reprocess spent fuel have led to bankruptcy and massive radioactive clean up problems.  No large reactor has been fully decommissioned, and clean up from the war effort is still incomplete.

            The production of fast neutrons, while essential for the chain reaction, is also a significant problem, because such radiation is harmful to living systems.  The intense security around the war time nuclear bomb effort meant no biologists were involved, so everyone was unprepared for the wide spread, long lasting death and injury from the radiation damage in Japan.  

            Because radiation can't be seen or felt, it is easily ignored or hidden.  The resulting damage occurs long after the exposure, making it difficult to prove responsibility.  Massive public relation campaigns promote "radiation psychosis", mental fantasies, rather than accepting real health impacts.  Every site that deals with nuclear material contaminates the soil, air and water.  Workers at production sites and civilians downwind of test sites or nuclear facilities have been kept ignorant, unknowingly exposed, all to protect profits.

            Of course, ignoring a problem doesn't really make it go away.  Unlike all chemical toxins, no living system "eats" radioactivity.  Only natural decay over time resolves the issue.  While the decay time of a single atom is unknowable, the decay of half of a sample (half-life) can be known.  Some radioactive isotopes have a half-life of a fraction of a second.  The half-life for uranium, is 4.5 billion years, essentially radioactive forever.  

            Uranium is also a chemically toxic metal, which mimics calcium and estrogen.  Biological systems tend to concentrate these elements in the bones, kidneys, liver, and reproductive glands.  This can cause diseases and negative reproductive health impacts. 

            With wide spread unacknowledged adverse health impacts, a final waste disposal solution still a future dream, aging infrastructure, consumption of a finite fuel source, and operating costs the highest on the electrical grid, nuclear power is still the choice of big money.  We have the knowledge to split the atom, but not yet the wisdom to refrain from doing so. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wouldn't It Be Wonderful

                                                                                   written 15 December, 2024

                                                                               published 22 December, 2024

 

            This article is being published the day after the winter solstice, the beginning of the return of light in the northern hemisphere.  Christmas will follow in a few days, another time of rebirth and hope.  Trump will take office in a month, promising to "drain the swamp" and remake our country, much to his supporter's delight. 

            Beyond the political catch phrase, what could a remade America actually look like?

            Envision affordable health care for everyone.  Let's make health care a public service, not a corporate cash cow.  Wouldn't you want a sick family member to get healthy and all the rest of your family avoid suffering as well?  Wouldn't you feel better knowing everyone in your community is healthy, and not putting your health at risk?  Imagine everyone you encounter, tourists, even undocumented workers doing jobs you don't want, being kept healthy for the benefit of the entire society?  

            What if the men of our society matured to the point of honoring women?  Do strong women necessarily mean weak men?  Is there more to masculinity than just dominance?  Imagine if all people were free to express the full range of feelings and talents.          

            Consider an education system that encouraged every person to learn to the level of their greatest ability without cost to the student.  Include more than just academic learning and address art and craft skills, like electrical, plumbing, carpentry, health care, and transportation maintenance.  An educated population creates a stronger society and economy and life time learning stimulates the mind.  The return on education investment is much greater than the initial cost.

            What if we remade America so everyone received a living wage no matter what they did?  The capitalist model devalues many essential jobs while disproportionally rewarding others.  If everyone was a shareholder in the nation, bringing each a reliable income, consider how the economy would change.  Perhaps we need a maximum income limit as well as a minimum wage.  Should some have more than they know what to do with while others are impoverished for life?  Is this moral?  Is this Christian?

            Perhaps a remade society would make access to nutritious food a civil right.  When people are hungry, they can't focus on school or work and society suffers.  Let's make food production focus on quality, rather than shelf life, or brand share on the supermarket shelf.  Monopoly corporate food production maximizes shareholder return at the expense of quality and availability.  Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations degrades the quality of life for the animals and the quality of the food itself, and requires massive antibiotic usage, breeding "bad bugs", accelerating the spread of increasingly lethal diseases into the society.

            Increasing food quality would require addressing how much sugar we eat, for example, which drives obesity and diabetes, increasing health costs.  Chemicals added to food cause diseases.  Focusing on local food production and local family farmers would support the local economy.  Developing local food processing facilities, such as commercial kitchens, driers, canneries, and freeze lockers would strengthen the local food economy.

            If we shifted away from maximizing next quarter's fiscal profit to establishing systems sustainable for seven generations, we would help assure a viable society for our descendants.  This means re-examining how we use our essential energy resources.  Should we waste energy just because we have some right now?  How long will we pretend the climate impact is "mild and manageable", just to boost fossil fuel corporate profits?  Can we make durable products, rather than repeatedly selling the same thing because the last one broke immediately?  Imagine making a light bulb that lasted for a century, using less energy than ones we have today?  If a company could do that, would they?

            What if money was regarded as a means, not a goal?  What if a home was a civil right and not a corporate "investment"?  What if peace of mind and satisfaction was the goal of life, rather than having more "things" that the neighbors?  What if having a strong community was the point?

            Remaking American is a good idea, but the devil is in the details.  Prioritizing the welfare of everyone would be beneficial.  Letting corporations operate without limitation helps only a few.  Our society has become a government of the money, by the money, for the money.  Wouldn't it be wonderful is we were a society of the people, by the people, for the people?  Imagine that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wealth Inequity

                                                                                     written 8 December, 2024

                                                                               published 15 December, 2024

    

            Much has been written about why the Democrats lost the election.  Two popular themes are inflation and ignoring the working class.  But little has been discussed about how the American distribution of wealth has affect this.

            A recent study sampled 5,000 people across the political spectrum, asking what their ideal wealth distribution might look like, and what they thought the real distribution is.  The ideal distribution was relatively even across all incomes.  Each fifth of the population, starting from the bottom to the top would have: 11 percent, 14 percent, 21 percent, 22 percent, and 32 percent for the richest.  This is a fairly socialist distribution, with the richest fifth of the population holding three times the wealth of the poorest fifth.

            When asked what they thought the real distribution might be, the same division by fifths from poorest to richest shifted to: 3 percent, 6 percent, 13 percent, 20 percent, and 57 percent for the richest.  This was more skewed, with the richest fifth holding 19 times the worth of the poorest fifth.  That is not close to the actual distribution.

            Total wealth in the US is $135 trillion.  The poorest 40 percent of the country holds 1 percent of that.   If it were evenly distributed across those 134 million Americans (which it is not), each would have just $10,000.  The middle fifth of the population holds another 3 percent of the wealth, making them 6 times wealthier than the poorest 40 percent.  In all, the bottom 80 percent of Americans (272 million people) hold only 7 percent of the wealth.

            The second richest 10 percent hold 27 percent of the wealth, and the richest 10 percent (incomes over $1.8M) hold 66 percent.  Even that is very skewed, as the richest 1 percent (incomes over $10M) hold almost 30 percent, and the richest 0.1 percent (incomes over $38M) hold almost 14 percent.  There are about 700 billionaires in the US, and their wealth doubled in the last decade.

            The top 1 percent of America owns half of all stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, while the poorest half owns less than 0.5 percent.  The average corporate CEO earns 380 times the average corporate worker.

            The Republican party has always been dominated by the very wealthy, and has spent decades protecting their position of privilege (literally "private law").  More than a century ago, it was declared that corporations are people, with rights under the law.  Beginning with the Clinton, the Democratic party decided they needed to fight money with money, and became dominated by their own big donors.  

            Five Republican Supreme Court Justices tipped the election to Bush the Younger in 2000.  Since then, the Supreme Court declared money to be protected speech, opening the door for unlimited and anonymous cash flooding each election cycle.  The Court has decided it is now legal to bribe a politician, and the president has no legal limitations on his actions, effectively a king.  Biden's cabinet was worth about $118M, and Trump's new cabinet will be worth about $13B, not including Musk, who would push the value to $360B, two thousand times more concentrated on benefiting the wealthy.

            Think about this for a moment.  Is it any surprise that costs keep rising and workers are disenfranchised?  Only the people at the bottom feel the pinch in any meaningful way, and they have no control.  The entire system is designed to extract wealth from everyone and move it up to the very top, who are insulated from mundane economic pain by their extreme wealth.  With concentrated ownership of everything, competitive pricing is a fiction.  Inflation and worker impoverishment are features designed into the system, not a bug.  

            In addition, we are exhausting the natural resources upon which our consumer economy depends.  The resources easy to access, and therefore cheaper to produce, are already gone.  Furthermore, there are more of us on the planet each day, accelerating the pressure.

            Almost 40 percent of Mendocino county voted Republican this last election, hoping for change.  I imagine few read this column, but if you are one, consider writing down what you think Trump will accomplish that will benefit you and yours.  See if any of that comes to pass.  Trump is part of the billionaire class, and I believe his interests have nothing to do with helping the larger majority of Americans, no matter what he says.  Unfortunately, we all get to see the outcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wasting Energy

                                                                                     written 1 December, 2024

                                                                                 published 8 December, 2024

  

            Globally, one in eight people can't afford electricity, even where it is available, yet in the last decade, three computer developments have dramatically increased US electrical consumption: server farms, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence (AI).  These consume as much new power as all the renewable production added in the same period of time.  

            Server farms support the explosion in online capacity, which enables walking down the street watching a high-definition movie, or lost in social media.  

            Crypto burns power "mining" new currency, a resource wasteful form of money.  Loss of power can deny access to the wealth, or lose it forever.  Crypto is inflationary, adding new currency to the society without any additional new value.  Prices swing wildly, more speculation or gambling than a foundation for a stable society.  However, it is the preferred currency for those wanting to avoid centralized control, and thus supports the black market in blackmail, drugs, and weapons.  

            AI (more properly called "advanced machine learning") is the hottest "next new thing", with potential valuation in the trillions.  Despite many promising possible positive values, it also quickly brings to mind the Terminator series of movies.  The Pentagon is working on killer robots as the next logical step beyond drone warfare.  AI is already destroying jobs, and amplifies cheating and disinformation.  The AI "learning" process plagiarizes existing copywritten work.  Thousands of low paid workers in third world countries manually identifying objects and materials as more grist for the process.  

            Because the energy required for all this is adding to an already stressed electrical grid, the magical solution is nuclear power!  Nuclear plants scheduled for retirement are now being pushed to extend operation specifically for servers and AI.  Reactors already in the decommissioning process are being considered for revival.  At this point, these plans are only proposals.  Reality may prevail.  No large nuclear plants have ever been restarted, let alone shifted from decommissioning to renewed operation.  The pool of trained nuclear workers is aging and retiring.  Just extending plant operation, without massive and expensive refitting, risks increased failure from embrittlement.  

            However, the nuclear industry is very big money, and hope springs eternal.  Originally advertised as "too cheap to meter", nuclear power today is twice as expensive as grid scale solar with storage.  Existing commercial reactors are massive, over 1,000 megawatts (MW) capacity, and are built singularly, thus very expensive and time consuming to construct. 

            The latest nuclear salvation is going to be small modular reactors (SMR), with reduced capacity (1-50MW), and the promise mass production will make them more affordable.  New designs will be less likely to explode like Fukushima, because they will be cooled with sodium, operating at higher temperatures and won't boil away when power is lost.  Rather than long fuel rods, small spheres of nuclear material will be used, that can be added over time without shutting down the plant.  Alternately, the entire reactor can be replaced, and a new one installed, like a battery.

            However, there are still issues to resolve.  No SMR is currently available in the market place, and it may be a decade before that happens, with an unknown price tag.  SMR production will only be profitable if there is sufficient demand, which is not the case right now.  These will still produce high level nuclear waste, needed sequestering from living systems for millions of years.  After 70 years of commercial nuclear power, the US has not created any adequate storage.  Smaller reactors have a larger ratio of surface area to fuel volume, therefore the entire reactor structure will become radioactive sooner than in larger systems.  This will make "replacing" an SMR problematic.

            Finally, there is the fuel source itself: uranium.  Uranium is finite, and global production peaked in 2016.  The US is not in the top ten producing countries, and most of them are not our allies.  While all uranium isotopes are radioactive, one specific isotope, U-235, is required for profitable commercial operation.  Raw ore contains less than 1 percent of U-235, which must be concentrated (enriched), using massive amounts of electricity, to 5-10 percent for a reactor.  The US imports enriched uranium from Russia, which just cut us off due to our support for Ukraine.  The only domestic commercial enrichment facility is not expected to be operational for another decade.

            Our bus is speeding downhill on a twisty mountain road in heavy fog with fading brakes, and a driver stoned on visions of profit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drill, Baby, Drill

                                                                                   written 24 November, 2024

                                                                                 published 1 December, 2024

     

            One of the more persistent "policies" of Trump is the belief that climate change is a hoax.  It was recently suggested to me that maybe he doesn't really mean it.  While Trump is a documented serial liar (over 34,000 at last report), I suspect he might try to follow through on this one.  

            Trump has demonstrated that his attention sways in whichever direction brings him the most money personally.  He already asked for $1 billion dollars from the fossil fuel companies during the campaign, and I suspect they will be delighted to "help him out", now that he can deliver for them.  So, the plan is "drill, baby, drill".  

            In addition, Trump has trouble dealing with difficult issues that are contrary to his view of "reality", or might require actual leadership.  For example, when first confronted with the exploding COVID crisis, he denied it was serious, and "would just go away".  Similarly, effectively dealing with the root of the climate issue would take massive leadership skills.  Much simpler to deny the issue in the first place.  

            But the climate crisis is only part of reality being denied.  Fossil fuels are finite resources.  About half of the known global oil reserves have already been produced and burned.  The US was one of the first nation to develop commercial oil production, and our original fields are now depleted, producing a ghost of the original bounty.  US production of traditional oil (everything other than tar sands, deep ocean, or tight oil) peaked in 1972, and traditional sources peaked globally in 2005. 

            There is still oil, but there is no more cheap oil.  That is a very big difference.  Tar sand production is more like mining than pumping oil, very energy intensive, demanding vast quantities of water for the processing, and adds disproportionate levels of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.  Deep water ocean wells are also expensive to develop and produce.  

            Beginning in 2006, the land based fracking boom once again made the US a global production leader, but this is literally scrapping the bottom of the barrel.  Traditional oil resources were large pools of oil, which, once developed, produced for decades.  Fracking of tight oil is recovering very thin layers of oil within layers of rock.  Not only is the process of drilling and fracturing the rock (fracking) energy and resource intensive, the reserves are so small that a given well depletes in a couple of years, requiring constant addition of new wells.

            The most profitable fracking regions in the US are depleted, and production peaked in 2018.  Investors now realize it has always been a money loser, except when oil prices are very high.  In addition, US refineries were built to process a heavier grade of crude oil than comes from fracked wells, so imported heavy oil is essential, or refineries have to be rebuilt at great expense.

            Drilling for more oil is a fantasy, even if we ignore the climate concerns.  It is important to remember that oil companies are not really in the business of selling oil.  They are in the business of providing the highest return for their shareholders, which is a very different business entirely.  Why spend vast amounts of money to develop more oil reserves, when they are only profitable when prices are so high oil dependent economies are soon forced into recession?  Instead, they are spending money buying back shares, which enriches the shareholders, the primary goal, without the risk of trying to produce more unaffordable oil.

            This problem is not unique to the US.  Saudi Arabia owns the largest conventional oil reserves.  For a quarter of a century, they have been pumping water into their fields, a technique to float out the last of their reserves.  Russia's reserves are large as well, but production is depleting, and their undeveloped fields in the Arctic Ocean are expensive to produce, requiring investment and expertise from western companies.

            The global search for oil has been very sophisticated, but discovery of new reserves peaked more than a half century ago.  The oil is there, but the expense of getting it is increasingly uneconomical.  However, money is flexible, and massive investments can be made to look good on paper, but eventually bankrupt the system.  

            Trump may try to pretend the climate crisis is unreal, but his energy policy is economically and geologically bankrupt.  Reality prevails eventually, and has little tolerance for fools.

 

 

 

 

 

End Of Times

                                                                                   written 17 November, 2024

                                                                               published 24 November, 2024

   

            With Trump as president elect, some are grieving and others are ecstatic, but a few who voted for him are already becoming nervous as he chooses his cabinet.

            Much is written about why so many people picked him.  Some have Fox News on all day long, although Fox admitted they lie for profit to keep viewers.  Talk radio has pushed disinformation for decades, stoking fear for profit.  Social media algorithms are designed to addict viewers, increasing profit, while amplifying the worst aspects of humanity.  

            Our education system has produced generations with little to no critical thinking skills, or whole system awareness.  Some people weren't even paying attention, perhaps burned out by 24 months of Trump every day.  Google searches just before election day spiked on "when did Biden drop out?"

            Democrats have been cast as too elitist, ignoring the working class and those with little higher education.  The middle class has been slowly hollowed out for 50 years, while concentration of wealth now exceeds the roaring 20's before the Great Depression.  Inflation keeps increasing, driven by corporate greed, resource depletion, and the growing destruction caused by the climate crisis.  The empowerment of women, based on the audacious belief that women are actual people, threatens generations of masculine privilege.  Men are afraid women will laugh at them and women are afraid men will kill them.

            All of this has contributed, but doesn't fully explain why anyone except a billionaire thinks Trump will help them.  However, I live in a west coast bubble, and am often reminded at election time how out of touch I am.

            My wife Lynn walks every day.  She encountered two men with signs on School Street.  One was shouting for people to "repent".  Being good hearted, she smiled at him, and was handed a small cartoon book about the Beast and End Times, according to the Bible.

            I was struck by a passage from 2 Timothy 3:2-5.  "For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God."  This describes Trump in detail, but "Christians" revere him as their salvation.

            We do seem to be living in end times.  The seas are dying, pandemics assault the planet, fire, floods and drought hit everywhere.  Trump sells the idea that all is bleak, and that he is the savior, appealing to all those who yearn for the rapture, when sinners burn in hell for eternity and the saved rise to heaven in the final judgement.  A war in the middle east is one of the signal events.  Even though everyone there will die, some evangelical "Christians" wait expectantly.

            I am inspired by the teachings of Christ, who said the two most important things were to love God and love other people.  But I can't identify with the religious organizations that men have created in Christ's name.  How did the teaching "love God" change to defining a good Christian as "God fearing?"  Love and fear are polar opposites, one opens up and the other closes down.  To believe they are the same is crazy making.  However, fear is a powerful tool for domination and judgement, excellent for controlling the faithful.

            Rather than loving other people, they are hated and killed.  Not only are "heathens" (non-Christians) the victims, but Christians kill Christians as well.  Today, some "Christians" rally at churches with guns, shouting "death to Democrats".  This makes sense for a domination/judgement organization, but can't seriously be considered following Christ.  

            I do believe most Christians strive to live Christ's teaching, loving all life and all people.  But most religious organizations on Earth, no matter which faith, tend toward domination and judgement.  The religious denigration of women is widespread.  The Taliban in Afghanistan keep their women in bags when in public, and now prohibit speech if any but family can hear.  In the US, with generations of empowered women, the radical fundamentalists can only insist they bleed to death in a parking lot if they miscarry, but they expect to make more "progress" under Trump 2.0.

            Democracy is subverted to profit and power, and organized religion has lost its way.  Trump is a consequence of this perversion, and has nothing to offer as a real solution.  We do live in interesting times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disappointed And Sad

                                                                                   written 10 November, 2024

                                                                               published 17 November, 2024

     

            Now we know.  A majority of the voting public picked Trump.       

            I believe the world is whole, despite not yet being reflected in our dominant culture.  But inexorable social change is happening, and like it or not, we are all in this together.  I was optimistic this election would demonstrate a majority of people felt the same way.  I was mistaken, thus disappointed, and sad for the missed opportunities and disruption that is coming.  

            There is a deep anger in America.  People feel economically left out, and threatened by the rapidly changing reality of the world.  The status quo doesn't address their needs.  Trump recognized that rage.  But he is a corrupt, greedy, chronic liar, operating on hate, misogyny, and revenge, and can therefore offer no real solutions to the fundamental structural problems.  Supported by billionaires and hard right conservative groups, the damage to come, at home and across the world, is mind boggling.  But I don't want to add to the litany of doom, so I am casting about for some place to stand, with any kind of hope going forward.  

            Each day we read some uplifting spiritual material, reminding us of the loving unity that we all arise within.  That helps.  My view has been a minority opinion most of my life, but it is still relevant.  These times seems more dire, but the fundamental issue is the same.  Can I live my life, from moment to moment, experiencing the calm joy of unity reality, or do I spiral into a dark pit of despair, believing myself cut off, an isolated individual in an infinite, hostile world?

            I have experienced both joy and despair at times in my life, and I prefer joy.  I know my personal power lies within the choice of responses I make in each moment, which determines what I experience internally, despite the exterior reality.  That is not to say that I am always able to remember that power, but it is there, and I have experienced it enough to give me confidence in the truth.

            Another technique for being calm in a storm is meditation.  After multiple failed attempts over my life, I now have a strong daily routine.  It is an internal refuge, a familiar place I go to practice experiencing a still mind.  This capacity is part of my human birthright, accessible to everyone, should they choose.

            Unity reality understands we all arise from the same source, which includes not only all of manifested material form, but also contains wisdom and information, which we experience as inspiration and creativity.  Our active personality mind, always focused on exterior world events, dominates, so the quiet voice of inspiration is easily overwhelmed, like trying to hear a soft-spoken person during a loud musical concert.  Creating an inner calm makes this inner communication more efficient.  Anxiety is reduced.  With less stress, the physical body is healthier.  Life becomes more graceful, even amidst turmoil.  From a calm, inspired center, I can examine our situation more clearly, with less knee-jerk patterning.

            Our society has problems.  The consumer economy keeps people dissatisfied with their life so they will constantly buy the next new thing.  Is chronic dissatisfaction healthy?  Is infinite consumption sustainable on a finite planet?

             Housing is increasingly unaffordable.  Corporate Real Estate Investment Trusts own 40 percent of all single family home rentals.  Does treating a home as an investment increase prices?

            America is 4 percent of the global population, but we consume 24 percent of the energy and resources, 6 times our share.  Is it any wonder people from other parts of the world want to come here?  How long can we keep this imbalance going?  At what cost?  Even within the US, the benefits are not evenly distributed.  Three families control about half the total wealth, and our culture believes greed is good.  Is it a surprise there is wide spread anger?

            Extreme wealth represents a mental disorder, much like extreme hoarding or extreme obesity.  Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, overworks his 170 thousand employees and fight against unions, but squandered $33B turning Twitter into the hate saturated "X".  If he had given that same amount to his workers, would his employee moral have improved?

            It's profitable to kill the planet.  What could possibly go wrong?

            Rebuilding our society is essential, but Trump expresses the worst excesses of the present system, so he won't be bothered.