If the USA were to buy Greenland, essentially you and I would be paying for it, at a time when this administration has got us into hock to the tune of trillions in deficits. No way Trump uses any of his non-existent billions to finance this folly, and I’ve already got a house payment to make. Pass.
40% of Americans live near the coast and will be displaced by climate change. “Just move them to greenland” is one of the dumbest takes I’ve ever read.
How about… we stop wrecking the climate? Is that not dramatic enough?
I’m sure that Trump will tell you that, even that Denmark will pay for it, but there is reality and there is trumpisms and one is not the other.
Look at it in terms of case logic:
Case 1: We buy Greenland and do not arrest climate change. Things get bad, but at least we have Greenland.
Case 2: We do not buy Greenland nor arrest climate change. Things get bad and we wish be had bought Greenland.
Case 3: We buy Greenland and also arrest climate change. Well, now we have Greenland and access to maybe a million cubic miles of fresh water at minimum. Greenland is bigger than the Louisiana Purchase yanno, I am sure we can find a use for it.
I am not saying we should just move everyone to Greenland. However, have you heard the bad news? Greenland’s ice is melting at a rate that was predicted under the worst case scenario… for 2070. I think we are in for global disaster. Easier to face with Greenland than without.
No matter how many times you repeat it, I’m going to say any plan that involves ‘do not arrest climate change’ is dumb. And I’m not gonna say ‘buy Greenland just in case’ because that gives dumb people an excuse to deprioritize climate change. Every cent that goes toward buying Greenland should be devoting to getting off carbon fuels and helping other countries do the same.
The big ‘if’ lurking here… we really don’t know if Greenland would be in any kind of economically useful state after the ice sheet melts. What would the land/climate be like? Would it support agriculture? Are we up for what’s essentially a big terraforming project?
This just strikes me as the most ridiculous “buy it just in case” thing I ever heard. This is not comparable to Alaska; Alaska was a gamble that turned out to pay off big in oil, gold, and other stuff. We pretty much know what Greenland is. It’s strategically important and there are a few interesting minerals. We are leveraging the strategic location by leasing Thule AFB, and we can just lease the mineral rights if we need it.
Somebody on Twitter put it well… Buying the entire island of Greenland to get their stuff is like buying the entire grocery store because I need groceries.
Aside: I was teaching a class working on a project to plan their “dream vacation”. They had no fixed budget, but they had to organize what all they were going to do on their vacation, and find and tally all of their expenses. One pair of students decided that they didn’t want to bother with airline tickets and renting hotel rooms and so on, and so they researched how much it would cost to buy their own airline, and buy their own island, and build their own hotel, and so on.
It won’t take a whole lot of Greenland’s ice to melt before Mar-a-Lago has water pouring in its front door. Could this be the reason for Trump’s desire to buy the island? Does he want to stop Greenland’s ice from melting by installing a lot of refrigeration there? :rolleyes:
You could sweep the glaciers of their dust.
I’ll chip in if Denmark needs any money.
I would assume he would do what he used to do as a NY real estate developer:
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Buy it cheap, highly leveraged through Deutschland Bank;
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Evict all the current tenants;
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Re-name it “Trumpland” (probably makes sure that the name-change is reflected on all maps issued by the US government);
3 Build superficially attractive but shoddy apartment blocks;
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Sell same for grossly inflated prices;
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Profit!
Except somehow, without that last step.
Depends which set of books you’re looking at.
You left out the part about using undocumented workers and then not paying the contractors.
Agreed. Not arresting climate change is dumb. Now, look out a window and behold how dumb the world is. Did you read my link? Maybe their claim will turn out to be somehow exaggerated or cherry picked or something, but it says Greenland’s rate of ice melt is more than 50 years ahead of the worst case climate change scenario. Guess what? We didn’t arrest climate change.
I am 100% for taking bold action to mitigate the problem going forward. But at this point, do you really think we can turn it around anytime soon?
One, it isn’t really ‘just in case’ but actually just ‘the case’. We get Dumb World Scenario because of the Kochs, and the GOP, things like Cheniere and Chevron and Total and Aramco and you get the picture. Dumb plan? Check. But those guys didn’t get the memo, and we don’t have hundreds of billions of dollars to put our plans into action.
Two, the scope of my consideration includes more than just ‘dumb people’. I care about them, too, and I don’t want to see their kids suffer the effects of climate change like some never ending Woody Guthrie dust bowl ballad come true, but there we are. Electing Trump was dumb, but pick up a paper, that’s the POTUS. Buying Greenland would put nearly a million square miles of ice and arctic land into the ‘win’ column. We want it going forward, if possible. The Danish PM said selling it would be ‘absurd’, so acquiring it seems like a long shot so far.
Seems like the last best hope to me. Assuming climate change is going to hit the next generation like a ton of recycled aluminum, American control of Greenland is desirable. That ancient melt water needs to be collected to the greatest degree possible and probably monetized- India is running out of water, how about we run tankers from Greenland and help them out? Gonna be a lot of idle tankers after we eliminate the oil industry…
Anyway, as the planet continues warming, 100+ years from now, Greenland will likely grow increasingly habitable. People live their now, no? It is the size of 3 Texases, so answers to questions like- agriculture? temperate climate? develop-able? will depend on which regions you are talking about. But we know it is some kind of motherlode of never-tapped resources. Solomon dug no gold here. Caesar mined no marble. And so on.
Well, let’s say it is impossible to buy Greenland. We could at least try to be friends with them, starting with admiring what an awesome country they have and maybe offering support as their environment changes. Sure, they may let us lease things and invest there. That may be as good as it gets.
No, it is more like, “I acquired Shangri-La for my great-grandchildren, because I am just cool like that.”
It’s not for sale. Unlike everything about Trump.
It this were ever a serious possibility, I think the residents of Greenland would take to the streets.
Streets?
Of course streets. Did you think they all live in igloos?
https://images.app.goo.gl/dJvBJnQZfRuCHcwFA
Oh, look, OP, there’s a Senator who agrees with you:
IT’S
NOT
FOR
SALE!
Also, this was Humon’s take on it:
Yes well that was Trump’s one chance to get my vote. He had me paying close attention for a moment there, and as it turns out he more or less topped himself in douchey behavior by cancelling a state dinner rather than take ‘no’ for an answer, re-confirming that he is not fit for the office he holds.
Could’ve been a major achievement. Instead, once again I am embarrassed for my country because the POTUS behaves like a dim child. Can’t say I didn’t give him a chance.