Is it possible to live in America without a car?



Stephen Harding wrote:
> donquijote1954 wrote:
> > Bill wrote:
> >>
> >>I really try not to shop at China-mart but it is the only big store
> >>around here. I hate the place but the alternative is a car, a 5+ mile
> >>drive, and higher prices with sometimes better stuff. Almost every damn
> >>thing I buy these days is made in China. I now consider Japan and Taiwan
> >>to be quality vendor countries since almost nothing is made in the
> >>states anymore.
> >>I despise globalization.
> >>Bill Baka'
>
> You might find that you hate the higher prices and corresponding
> lowering of standard of living without a globalized economy.

Sure, but you know your money doesn't reward the exploitation of
helpless workers.

>
> You might also find your job disappears because your employer
> doesn't have a global market to work in.

Maybe not. But maybe you choose to appeal to an educated and concerned
consumer. For example...

Support union jobs in the U.S. and Canada
This guide is prepared by the UAW to provide information for consumers
who want to purchase vehicles produced by workers who enjoy the
benefits and protections of a union contract.

All vehicles on this list are made in the United States or Canada by
members of the United Auto Workers (UAW), Canadian Auto Workers (CAW)
or the International Union of Electrical Workers-Communication Workers
of America (IUE-CWA).

Because of the integration of U.S. and Canadian vehicle production, all
vehicles on this list include significant UAW-made content and support
the jobs of UAW members.

http://www.uaw.org/uawmade/auto/2006/index.cfm

>
> > Well, Japan and Taiwan do not fully comply with the "party line" the
> > way China does. For one, they pay higher wages and that's very
> > subversive. ;)
>
> They have very much higher costs of living than China does as
> well.

Maybe their workers also enjoy better working conditions, which should
be the bottom line, not $$$...

>
> Japan and Taiwan also have factories away from their shores,
> paying "good wages" to locals that are still lots lower than
> what they'd be paying their workers at home!

Yep, their Big Fish engage in the same predatory practices as our Big
Fish.

>
> > I see some day in the future when the consumers and all the little
> > people (including cyclists) is organized and make use of that powerful
> > weapon called boycott. In the meantime the Big Fish will keep eating
> > the Little Fish. :(
>
> Nothing new in the economic fish pond is it?
>
> Perhaps a lot of people aren't going to be able to afford that
> bicycle, or at least not one bike for each family member, when
> all the "little people" unite.

Maybe, but most likely they'll own a bike and work only 20 hours a week
because the rest went to pay for the Big Fish and the Stupid
Unnecessary Vehicles people is generally forced to drive --if they want
to survive in our Darwinian roads.

Oh, on top of that, they will be much healthier by burning the calories!
 
Stephen Harding wrote:
> donquijote1954 wrote:
>> Bill wrote:
>>>
>>> I really try not to shop at China-mart but it is the only big store
>>> around here. I hate the place but the alternative is a car, a 5+ mile
>>> drive, and higher prices with sometimes better stuff. Almost every damn
>>> thing I buy these days is made in China. I now consider Japan and Taiwan
>>> to be quality vendor countries since almost nothing is made in the
>>> states anymore.
>>> I despise globalization.
>>> Bill Baka'
>
> You might find that you hate the higher prices and corresponding
> lowering of standard of living without a globalized economy.
>
> You might also find your job disappears because your employer
> doesn't have a global market to work in.

My $75K job already disappeared to globalization. I have been displaced
by Chinese engineers with trumped up PhDs from China and Indians with
the same from India, all here on H1-B visas and willing to work for
about half what I can even afford to work for. Now I do consulting and
can't afford the good American stuff even if I want to.
>
>> Well, Japan and Taiwan do not fully comply with the "party line" the
>> way China does. For one, they pay higher wages and that's very
>> subversive. ;)
>
> They have very much higher costs of living than China does as
> well.

The cost of success and overpopulation.
>
> Japan and Taiwan also have factories away from their shores,
> paying "good wages" to locals that are still lots lower than
> what they'd be paying their workers at home!

Read above.
>
>> I see some day in the future when the consumers and all the little
>> people (including cyclists) is organized and make use of that powerful
>> weapon called boycott. In the meantime the Big Fish will keep eating
>> the Little Fish. :(

That won't happen because once we are all asking "Do you want fries with
that?" it will be too late.
>
> Nothing new in the economic fish pond is it?
>
> Perhaps a lot of people aren't going to be able to afford that
> bicycle, or at least not one bike for each family member, when
> all the "little people" unite.

We would not be in the mess we are if the little people, all 280 million
of them didn't buy the $50 Chinese bike instead of the $70 Japanese
bike. It happened with motorcycles when Honda came here, then radios,
then televisions, cameras, and now just about everything. The American
habit of saving a few dollars at the cost of someone else's job has come
full circle.
We are headed toward 'has been' status.
Bill Baka
>
>
> SMH
>
 
In article <[email protected]>, Bill wrote:

> My $75K job already disappeared to globalization. I have been displaced
> by Chinese engineers with trumped up PhDs from China and Indians with
> the same from India, all here on H1-B visas and willing to work for
> about half what I can even afford to work for. Now I do consulting and
> can't afford the good American stuff even if I want to.

I have been displaced as well, salary holding steady. Engineering jobs
are still around in good numbers. The falling numbers of graduates is
helping. If you are willing to travel to china alot you can make around
a 100K in product development/project management.

> We would not be in the mess we are if the little people, all 280 million
> of them didn't buy the $50 Chinese bike instead of the $70 Japanese
> bike. It happened with motorcycles when Honda came here, then radios,
> then televisions, cameras, and now just about everything. The American
> habit of saving a few dollars at the cost of someone else's job has come
> full circle.

Actually Japan has labor protections, environmental protections, etc and
so forth. Their currancy floats against the dollar so that when exchange
rates made their good cost less when sold in US dollars that shook out
on it's own. Japanese companies then build manufacturing facilities in
the USA. US companies didn't (with little exception) send their
manufacturing to Japan. US companies lost market share when they
produced ****.

China is an entirely different ballgame. There are no protections of
anything in China. There is also rampant corruption in China. US
manufacturers are closing up shop in the USA just for an apparent (and
IMO often false when all things are considered) savings because of lower
labor costs.

Meanwhile other US companies contract out their work to chinese
companies which of course become competitors a couple years later.

Chinese currancy is fixed against the US dollar so the flood of imported
goods does not cause the dollar to sink against the chinese currancy.
Thusly everything from China remains 'cheap'.

The lossage to Chinese made goods is entirely what you say, people
buying the cheaper item. I can never think of a case where the 'better'
item was made in china when there has been a choice.

> We are headed toward 'has been' status.

By design from within.
 
Brent P wrote:

> manufacturing to Japan. US companies lost market share when they
> produced ****.

Indeed. It took Japan for Detroit to build a better car!

If it weren't for Japanese competition, Americans would
still be buying the junk cars Detroit produced in the 70's
through early-mid 90's.

Without that global competition, the UAW members would be
sitting on top their fat jobs putting out **** that the
American consumer had no choice but to pay premium prices
for.

It wasn't just the UAW that contributed to the decline of
the US automaker; American management certainly is amongst
the guilt as well, but a global economy make improvement
possible, as Detroit's answer to the problem was to simply
limit trade with Japan.


SMH


SMH
 
Stephen Harding wrote:
> Brent P wrote:
>
> > manufacturing to Japan. US companies lost market share when they
> > produced ****.
>
> Indeed. It took Japan for Detroit to build a better car!
>
> If it weren't for Japanese competition, Americans would
> still be buying the junk cars Detroit produced in the 70's
> through early-mid 90's.
>
> Without that global competition, the UAW members would be
> sitting on top their fat jobs putting out **** that the
> American consumer had no choice but to pay premium prices
> for.
>
> It wasn't just the UAW that contributed to the decline of
> the US automaker; American management certainly is amongst
> the guilt as well, but a global economy make improvement
> possible, as Detroit's answer to the problem was to simply
> limit trade with Japan.

Unions just put together the car they are told to put together by
engineers. They may as well put together a Focus or an SUV.

And, by the way, there's nearly no globalization when most European
efficient cars are kept out of the market. At most you got a selective
globalization where French workers are more discriminated against than,
say, Mexicans. Well, you know, it's about money and geopolitics.
 
Stephen Harding wrote:
> Brent P wrote:
>
>> manufacturing to Japan. US companies lost market share when they
>> produced ****.
>
> Indeed. It took Japan for Detroit to build a better car!

That was Japan and they were following the European small car market.
The fact that it made a big hit over here started a domino effect.
My favorite cars in the 60's and 70's were rear engine French Renaults
that would go anywhere a jeep could and still got 35-40 MPG when driven
hard. I drove one over 200,000 miles before the door literally fell off.
My wife and I almost died laughing because we said we would drive it
until the doors fell off, then one did.
>
> If it weren't for Japanese competition, Americans would
> still be buying the junk cars Detroit produced in the 70's
> through early-mid 90's.

The early smog efforts really killed performance and made a 14 MPG car
into a 10 MPG car with no guts. Then came the OPEC embargo and we had
cars with neither mileage not power.
>
> Without that global competition, the UAW members would be
> sitting on top their fat jobs putting out **** that the
> American consumer had no choice but to pay premium prices
> for.

What premium prices? I bought a brand spanking new 1968 Rambler with a
232 six and it was a three on the tree hot rod that got 22 MPG, would
put down a 300 stripe of rubber in a drag, and pegged the speedometer.
No piece of **** and I only paid $1,800 for it.
>
> It wasn't just the UAW that contributed to the decline of
> the US automaker; American management certainly is amongst
> the guilt as well, but a global economy make improvement
> possible, as Detroit's answer to the problem was to simply
> limit trade with Japan.
>
>
> SMH
>
>
> SMH

I won't even start to debate how crappy American management is since a
recently departed Exxon (or other huge company) CEO got a nearly $500
million package for being fired after nearly ruining the company.
It seems that all the top dogs have that golden parachute clause because
I hear about it all the time. Screw up a company, lay off thousands of
good workers, and get rewarded when you get fired, usually with all the
money you took from those people you laid off.
Bill Baka
 
This is a nice site that will tell in words and pictures what not to
do. Of course, you got the right to the road, but beware of the jungle
out there...

Avoid busy streets.
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they start biking is
to take the exact same routes they used when they were driving. It's
usually better to take the streets with fewer and slower cars. Sure,
cyclists have a right to the road, but that's a small consolation when
you're dead. Consider how far you can take this strategy: If you learn
your routes well, you'll find that in many cities you can travel
through neighborhoods to get to most places, only crossing the busiest
streets rather than traveling on them.


And this advice proves my point that we need to take the lane when we
are invisible...

"Remember that in many cases you'll need to take the lane, in which
case you're counting on motorists to see you."

WORTH CHECKING OUT!
http://bicyclesafe.com/

PS: Just on my way here, I was walking my bike across the street, but
the driver on the SUV took over my path, looking the other way. Just
when I decided to cross, he almost run me over. Do you ever feel
INVISIBLE, INSIGNIFICANT AND STEPPED UPON? I guess that's the fate of
the ants, huh? :(
 
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