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Boehner's ethos on taxation and spending will be deemed outdated by the left, Warren will be lumped with Sanders as Socialist Enemy Numero Uno and—wait for it—Obama will attempt to instead compromise when the logical, bestial course of action would be to mount Michele Bachmann and assert his dominance.

He can shape up or be the next Newt Gingrich. That simple.

All Obama has to do to win on this whole issue is let everything expire on its own. If Boehner wants a deal, he needs to be reasonable, otherwise everything ends anyway.

Did you even read all that crap by me? Just curious.

Aestu, are you referencing the Tower of Babel?

Coolest part about colonization would be Starcraft IRL btw. Disagree with me, I dare you.

As I've observed, colonization would be like a second industrial revolution. Investment would cost tens of trillions, but once complete, the price of all manufactured goods would drop to near-zero. I firmly believe the way forward for this world is to move heavy industry into space for lower energy and resource costs, and invest in tree farming. Tree farming would provide an abundant supply of the organics that can't be produced elsewhere, repair the ecology, and be so labor intensive that it would provide jobs for Earth's teeming billions.

My belief is that the ecology can never be restored to its original state, but rather than attempt to do so, it would be wiser to take the "fusion cuisine" approach to environmentalism. Since it is impossible to restrict invasive species from most regions or resuscitate extinct species, it would be wiser to try to find species that fill the same role but are useful to humans and establish stable new ecologies: reforesting areas, dumping vast amounts of desalinated seawater in desert areas, and introducing ecosystems that are CO2-negative and can be tapped for a steady supply of goods while sheltering other species.

Since tree farms would not require petrol, labor requirements would be higher but such a system would be more sustainable and provide enough food and materials (wood, biomass, animal products, bioengineered synthetics) for any needs to be met.

I believe that is the logical outgrowth of democratic, nationalist, green, socialist economics. Very careful management of land and resources with the goal of employing as many people as possible, with as little ecological damage as possible, and with very low economic efficiency supported by high technology and extraterrestial imports to make up the difference.

Since education and base materials would be nearly free, there would be plenty of room for small businesses and artisan workshops to pop up. The long-term goal would be to make Wal-Mart obsolete (because of cheap food and space industry) and replace it with M&P stores founded by people bored with life.

Base materials - metals, consumables, etc - would be imported from colonies, but it would be necessary to have workshops on Earth turn those base materials into useful goods. Secondary industry (e.g., turning metal and plastic into cars and computers) involves a lot less damage than primary industry (smelting and refining). With advanced mass transit - a global train network - it would be possible for workshops making any one thing to supply the entire world's needs (e.g., the one big iPod factory in China) then use very high taxes on their profits to support the socialist economy that supplies their material needs.

Simple summary
Colonies ship base materials to Earth, Earth sends them organic materials and people, base materials are crafted into consumer goods by secondary factories on Earth and shipped to all regions via a global train network, people work on tree farms managed by local governments under federal supervision, and a very high VAT funds a massive educational system and investment in all this infrastructure.

This would take decades of planning and investment, and a strong political mandate, but it's definitely possible.

And if you think it is not, let me point out, the necessary expertise and resources is already being invested in the military. Building a global train network, with bridges between Russia and Cuba and the US, would be pretty comparable to maintaining a carrier fleet (do the math as to the size of carriers, how many we have, and how long the distances in question are). The Air Force has several hundred ICBMs and the necessary expertise to get stuff into space, just they would be launching colony packages instead of spy satellites and nukes. The Army gets the same funding and expertise for their massive war machines that could just as easily invested in factories and other capital.

The really funny thing is, the same contractors who are getting rich off military welfare, would get at least as rich off space colonization. They just need to be repurposed.

I believe such a system must be nationalist because there is no other way to convince citizens in a democracy to vote in politicians who ask them to make sacrifices and commit to a big program other than by appealing to a vision of national greatness. I believe that same aspiration for national greatness is necessary to keep society from sliding into decadence and degeneracy. I just don't believe utopianism can ever exert as strong a positive force on the human character as nationalism. Ideally, the democratic nationalist world would evolve into something like Lion's Arch in GW2, except with bullet trains instead of portals.

In short, I just don't buy the argument that there's a choice between ecology, social justice and economic prosperity. I believe capitalism as we know it is doomed and should be replaced by a mixed economy. Capitalism is scarcity-based, and because of high technology, scarcity no longer applies.