It's kind of ironic and counter-intuitive that meat eaters like myself keep more animals alive than vegans. Keep in mind that farmers can only grow 1, sometimes 2 vegetable crops per year for human consumption. Whereas the food for grazing animals, grass, once eaten has regrown itself in a week, resulting in dozens of crops per year and it is grass with its dozens of crops per year that is ultimately the “crop” feeding meat eaters when they eat grazing animals. Think about it. What would happen if overnight, the entire world would turned vegan? First of all, the hundreds of millions of chickens, cows, pigs, and lambs raised for human food consumption would no longer be needed. The farmers who own them could no longer afford to feed them. Those animals would starve to death whether released (not practical, but if released predators would thrive until all of them are gone) or not. The land the farmers own, including grazing land and therefore could no longer feed the farmers grazing animals, would need to be converted to crops to feed humans, but that would not be enough land to do the job. Also the land used to raise crops such as corn to feed farm animals would also need to be converted to feed humans. Still would not be enough food generated as the amount of vegetables needed to replace meat would be around 5 or more times the average vegetable consumption today. Prairies and forests would then need to be converted to farming for human food production. The animals and insects that occupied that land would lose their habitat and also die of starvation. Many will likely go extinct. Ocean fishing would increase dramatically in order to feed humans and the fish population would decrease substantially. Or if they won't eat fish, then even more lands need to be converted to farming. Eventually, food sources and water sources to irrigate and grow crops may still be insufficient leading to higher levels of human starvation. In other words, vegans upset the balance of nature and through their diets kill more animals, making most animals extinct, than they save – the direct opposite of their intentions.
Getting it Right - Welcome
The goal of this blog is to publish my thoughts on a variety of economic and political topics in the hopes that people who find them educational or beneficial will utilize them and/or forward to others who might find them interesting and/or worthwhile to promote to others, possibly including politicians who can push some of these ideas to fruition. The topics in my blog are meant to be of value on a long term basis, not a daily diary or political issue of the day log. If the information posted is useful to you, by all means utilize it and/or forward it as you see fit. If not useful, then merely ignore it. There are no universally agreed upon truisms and too little tolerance between some of those with opposing viewpoints to successfully convince the people with hardened opinions to move away from them. I am an analytical type person who will try to be as factual as I am able.
I disdain the current popularity of name calling and condemnation of viewpoints with no factual alternatives or logical solutions given that I see so often. If you don't have a solution based on fact and logic, then opt out of the discussion because you have nothing to contribute. My background is a degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and 39 years working in middle management jobs for a major retailer. My opinions are forged on the personal experence of life, family, friends, and work as well as triumphs and mistakes that I have made and hopefully learned from. My hope is that this blog helps you.
My first topic will be about personal finance. I chose that one first because most of us work long and hard just to survive but not all of us realize our dreams of becoming financially independent from the labors of our work. Much of our political votes/thinking also focus on the economy and in particular how well we are personally doing financially.
It is relatively simple, without sacrificing the enjoyment of living for 'today' and even at moderate incomes, to retire as a millionaire or multi-millionaire, if you focus on that goal consistently from a young age. It is also simple to ensure that your child or grandchild retires rich. It merely requires a one time gift of just $2,000 invested wisely and the passage of time. Please read my first post on this blog to learn more.
An index/schedule of past and future posts and their dates will always be updated so that it becomes the first post that you see below. If the date of a post that you wish to read is preceded by the word "Posted", then find it below or click on the title in the Blog archive to review.
