I dream of trash. Trash to the gills, to the roof, to the sky. In this, our day of import and export, of trade and receive, we must see trash as a number one asset. The commodities of our time will soon change. Future generations may brawl over pig iron, how are we to know? Collection and gathering will give us a leg up no matter what the tide brings in.I don’t mean to support the amassment of lawn trash; I simply hope to make clear the notion that amassing large quantities of resources, in whatever way possible, will be a strong asset in the future. Industrialized nations are running out of natural resources and are turning for them to the less developed countries. In Peru workers mine 30 tons of soil for one ounce of gold. We’ve set up Fort Knox to hoard the gold Why haven’t we developed a system to retain the resources whose future value hasn’t yet be calculated?Should we not consider all resources valuable? Consider the Congo. It’s one of the bloodiest and most dangerous places on earth. The main catalyst for the continuous carnage is strive for control of coltan, a mineral necessary in cell phones and Play Stations among other things. After so much bloodshed over control of the mineral, why haven’t we amassed those goods already purchased? Why have we not set up a Coltan Fort Knox?Coltan, an acronym for columbite-tantalite, is an ore that once refined becomes a heat resistant powder with unique properties for storing electrical charge. Of the 525 tons used in the United States in 1998, 60 percent was used in tantalum capacitors used in cell phones, according to http://www.cellular-news.com/coltan/Microsoft is one of the top purchasers of coltan. Microsoft, then, fuels the conflict in Africa because of its appetite for this metallic ore. The ironical nature of this could be minimized if those who need it controlled the resource. The point is: should chromium, zinc, antimony, and cobalt; ores used in the manufacture of computers, be of less consequence than gold and silver? We do accumulate waste. Think of southern Nevada where there’s enough nuclear waste for the area to become a national solar panel in the coming decade. Why not make it a national landfill for all sorts of used ores?Scarce ores such as coltan should have national drop off points. Firms can be offered small stipends to give their leftovers to the government. Later they can buy back their goods at no increased cost with a promise not to ship the ores abroad without a stiff tariff. My point is there is money in trash and dollars in recycling. In the next century, trash will be king. In the next decade, collection is king. Go grab some royalty.