e21e3c74   
   c378f470   
   XPost: alt.autos.toyota, rec.autos.driving, alt.society.liberalism   
   XPost: alt.fan.michael-moore   
   From: thetibetanmonkey@gmail.com   
      
   On Feb 12, 12:02 am, Jeff Liebermann  wrote:   
   > On Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:36:01 -0800 (PST), "His Highness the Wise   
   > TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher"    
   > wrote:   
   >   
   > >What's the use of economists when the economy is in shambles?   
   >   
   > Someone has to tell you that the economy is in shambles.  Nobody   
   > believes a politician, but an economist has more credibility.   
   >   
   > >What's the use engineers when bridges are falling apart and the bike   
   > >lanes don't connect?   
   >   
   > I can see you've never done any engineering.  Much of engineering   
   > consists of accomplishing the impossible, the ridiculous, and the   
   > insane.  Some person or committee proclaims that it shall be so, and   
   > the engineer is expected to make it work (while complying with a   
   > tangled mass of specifications, rules, requirements, restrictions,   
   > policies, and opinions).  If it doesn't quite come out the way you   
   > expected, please look past the engineers and try to find out who's   
   > bright idea it was in the first place.   
   >   
   > >What's the use of bikes when you can't ride them?   
   >   
   > Well, I could teach you to ride a bike, but I suspect you should be   
   > able to accomplish that without much assistance.   
   >   
   > >When can we learn how to leave on peanuts without the automobile? No   
   > >economist will tell that.   
   >   
   > I forgot the name of the economist, but when Jimmy Carter got on   
   > television in the middle of the energy crisis of 1973-74 and announced   
   > "We need to reduce our expectation", it most certainly looked like the   
   > beginnings of automotive austerity program.  Incidentally, Carter was   
   > a peanut farmer, who presumably knew how to live on peanuts.   
      
   That's all very reasonable. The CAFE standards came later but were   
   abandoned to make way for more consumption. The Big Three needed to   
   sell $$$ junk to compete with the Japanese. Then the Japanese joined   
   the bandwagon and forgot about the consumer and the Koreans came up   
   with quality cars.   
      
   Nobody's talking about the bicycle as a viable option --at least   
   within a community. Even NEVs (Neighborhood Electric Vehicles) are a   
   nice option but few dare to "slow down" traffic. I'd propose just   
   bypassing all the engineers and bureaucracy and take the right lane   
   with bicycles and NEVs.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)