We already knew that the USA had large deposits of rare earth elements.

It is just cheaper to buy them from China than to mine and process what is available domestically.

That sounds like stewarding them well to me. What would be so great about digging up today resources that can be left for tomorrow, given that they can be cost effectively obtained elsewhere for now?

With the price of corn these days, I'd say they have something else that's worthwhile.

Bingo! Leaving it in the ground (or, better, undiscovered) until later represents future income. Dollar saved, dollar earned, and all that.

You misspelled bubble.

...are buing more lobbyists, congressmess, and getting ready to deregulate something. They aren't sure yet, but if the U.S. is going ot mine resources, there has to be something worth getting profit from.

Seriously? Being pro-environment does not automatically make somebody anti-business or anti-mining. Just like being pro-choice doesn't automatically mean you think people should have abortions. Or being a Christian doesn't automatically mean you hate non-Christians.

If you see protestors, and disagreee with them, by all means go ahead and rail against them. But this just reads like paranoia. I'm sure a safe, environmentally controlled mining operation would be welcomed by most. And some extremeist on both sides will always disagree. That's called freedom of dissent. That's one of the things Americans fight and die for. Get used to it.

We should harness the collective knee-jerk energy of the US as an alternative fuel source. Hell, the energy people spend daily looking over their shoulder for the next bogeyman could power Times Square for a week.

Boo-hoo, the "captains of industry" shoulda thought of that before they decided to treat their workers like shit. They had their chance.

Also don't you think that the high risk of the job should count for something?

Actually, the cost of labor is miniscule next to the costs imposed by liberal tree hugging ecoterrorists that get all pissy when you dump all your toxic mine tailings and acidic processing wastes in the local river rather than burying them back underground where you got them.

I doubt you mean the rare earth materials themselves. It's the purification process that creates most of the nasties.

Interesting short piece [raremetalblog.com] about mining and purification of rare earths. Summary: Mining and primary concentration need to happen on site for economic reasons. However, it's the secondary purification steps that have most of the nasties. After it's been refined to a level of around 50% purity then it's economically viable to transport that material reasonably long distances for final smelting.

Thus, one could have a single rare earth refining plant, closely monitored and supported by numerous mines. If done correctly, that might mitigate a significant part of the environmental concerns. (If I'm reading the article correctly).

Why don't you go there since they have the level of environmental regulations you like? Breathe in that thick city air and let that foul black river "water" slowly slide down your throat. Taste the unregulated capitalism. Mmmmmm...

More like dollar saved, 2,000 earned since as global supplies go down, the value goes up.

Yes, put the money in the hands of government so that it can efficiently spend it on bureaucracy.

Let the government spend it on the care,feeding, and education of illegal aliens while ignoring the needs of people who are and have come here legally.

Lets keep giving government workers raises, while non-government workers pay is cut or eliminated. And lets give the members of congress, and their staffs raises, because that way we can't squander our money.

Lets give the new San Diego State University president $400,000 ($100,000 over the previous) a year job while raising tuition for students because there is not enough money in the budget.

These are not minor problems - they are building a plant that handles 90C slightly-radioactive acid-abrasive slurry on a reclaimed swamp out of regular concrete, with no moisture barrier between the ground and the concrete, with cracks and voids in the walls of the already inadequate concrete, and connecting these tanks with pipes made out of regular non-corrosion resistant steel. The moisture from the ground is going to crumble the concrete, the slurry is going to eat through the pipes, and then go right into the ground. Not good.

Holy brainwashing batman!

Even if money ends in hands of "illegal aliens", they'll spend most of it consuming local services and satisfying basic needs. That will create jobs and stimulate economy.
When government workers get raises, private workers have to get raises as well as private workplace would become less competitive when hunting for workers. Also, government workers, like illegal aliens would spend it on services and basic needs, creating jobs and stimulating economy.

Your third claim, raising salaries of those who are already well off is what tax raises is supposed to PREVENT. Because wealthy rarely spend money locally, instead investing it into whatever brings them most return, which is rarely something in the local economy, and often is against local economy. Mortgage crisis and many similar ways to earn money from crashing or massively slowing economy down would like a word with you, as would investments in companies that simply outsource, eliminating local jobs and cutting local economy at its knees. Which is what is happening in the West (USA, Canada, EU region, Australia, Japan etc wealthy countries) - we're approaching the levels where capital controls so much power that its self-destructive potential is starting to overpower host country's ability to survive it.

This is basic economics: capitalism is functional as long as it's properly guided so that it's natural tendency to become self-destructive is kept in check while it's positive drive for more competitiveness is supported. For examples of self-destructive nature of capitalism when unguided, you should take a look at the biggest crises that occurred in twentieth century - most of them have roots in failure to control the aforementioned self-destructive nature resulting in capitalism simply self-destructing. From bank crashes to motions that led to starting of WW2, collapse of capitalist system due to it running out of control has traditionally been one of the root causes.

This is what strikes me as amazing about people who complain about this issue - the sheer amount of doublethink required to actually believe that things they spout are correct, when it's at conflict with basic economics which you really don't need a degree to understand.