Ways We Can Save Money

Three major contributors to the economic depression in the U.S. are, THE WARS, Gasoline Prices, and FOOD SYSTEMS and Pricing. Some ideas that we are all probably doing are:
1. Driving more gently and slowly. Edmunds says not driving aggressively can save up to 37 % and slowing down up to 19%. That's a whopping 56% possible! That's a bunch. It's also great for our beloved earth so.... Adding bicycle riding and walking when possible could make us healthy as well.

2. STOP the WARS. I'm not sure what more to do, but at least almost 80% of us want it over.

3. FOOD. Buy locally, grow our own, trade, barter, local currency. Use real food, not manufactured plastic expensive junk!

Something I never thought of however, is that as a nation, we can save money by treating instead of jailing drug addicts! This is the result of a major conventional type study, not a bunch of pot smoking activists! I copied parts of the article below.

"American taxpayers would save more than $46 billion if drug addicts now in prison were instead treated, according to a study released Friday at a national convention of drug court professionals. Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a former U.S. drug czar, and actress Melanie Griffith joined experts in calling on lawmakers to increase funding for such courts. "This is not a war on drugs," McCaffrey said. "This is a problem for our families in America. In order to turn drugs around in this country, we're going to have to treat those 1.5 million people who are addicted.". . .

The study from the Urban Institute in Washington found that about 3 percent of arrested addicts are referred to a drug court, which offers supervised treatment to nonviolent offenders whose records are expunged if they complete the program. "Most addicts need something more than being warehoused," said Judge Charles Simmons Jr., a drug court judge in Greenville, S.C. "Drug courts are putting families back together, and they are decreasing crime at a tremendous savings to taxpayers."

Housing an inmate in prison can cost up to $40,000 a year while drug court treatment costs up to $3,500 per offender a year, Simmons said. McCaffrey said 15 years of research has yielded definitive proof that drug courts significantly reduce crime by as much as 35 percent. He said legislators and the public may get behind the system once they understand its cost savings."

And how about energy from sand. Click it to check it out below. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10514381