Date: 25 Jun 2002 14:19:11 GMT From: davehinznopsamcop.net Subject: Re: I bought one of those as well......
Someone who looks an awful lot like Terje Johan Abrahamsen <terjejnopsamandnews.com> wrote: > On 21 Jun 2002 00:29:11 GMT, davehinznopsamcop.net wrote: >>Point remains, even if the systems are in place (Amtrak, for instance), >>if people don't like using them, they will continue to drive, regardless >>of the cost(s). > Regardless of the cost? Sorry, should have "and it's happening today at the _present_ cost", rather than "regardless of the cost". > If you added on environmental taxes on for > example gasoline and the price pr gallon would become about 4-5 > dollars as in many European countries, a lot of people would park the > car. Especially their big gas guzzling SUVs that doesn't realy serve > any purpose, but that americans like so much. With all fairness, there are an awful lot of Americans who see those large SUVs as obscenely wasteful as well. >>Sometimes overcoming the social inertia is harder than the technical >>solution itself. > Very true....But, one must start somewhere. And in the US it seems > like they are not willing to move an inch. (Yes, I live here in the > US) Well, it depends. Some people will switch out of a sense of altruism even though it costs them more (witness the folks driving around the hybrid-electric cars). More money to buy, might end up costing more to operate long-term, but they're getting road time for those cars, providing a good installed base for the engineers to learn from, and are helping everyone in the long run by spending more right now. But, at the end of the day, it comes down to "you can't make people do things they don't want to". In a free-market economy, the $$$ tends to drive how people make their decisions, and I am certainly the last person to argue against that. But...I sure am happy that my new 9-5 gets 26.5 miles per gallon. There... back on topic, sort of. Dave
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