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Manner of Speaking
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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 Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 12:20 am Post subject: |
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Perhaps we'll see droves of fact-finding commissions coming to the ROK to find out how they have structured cheap and efficient public transportation. It wouldn't be a bad idea.
What concerns me is that huge portions of the US are not suitable for public transportation. Bus lines can be put in the cities, subways can be built, but what do farmers do?
A good many of the school districts are consolidated. Several towns send kids to one centralized school. Athletic programs depend on driving a minimum of 20 miles to the next school for a game. I used to teach in a high school that was in a conference that was almost 100 miles from one side to the other.
I grew up in a town that no longer has a grocery store. My mom had to drive 10 miles to get a quart of milk. (Fortunately she moved to the 'city' last year.) Small towns like that are going to die. How would you like to be stuck owning a home in a small town, unable to afford to drive to the grocery store and, obviously, unable to sell?
The human implications of this are just beginning to surface. |
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DCJames
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 5:41 am Post subject: |
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The huge increase in prices and the inability of government to do anything about it just shows how much more powerful Big Oil is compared to any form of government in the US.
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 6:09 am Post subject: |
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The government and the financial sector did their part to raise gas prices by reckless policies that served to weaken the dollar.
I think urban areas need to re-develop mass transit, and farmers in rural areas need to just use vehicles that run on vegetable by-products. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:29 am Post subject: |
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How about repealing the repealed Mileage limits that the Clinton administration enacted? It was the first administration since I believe Nixon that lowered minimum fuel mileages, all to allow Americans to buy gas guzzling Yukons, Suburbans, and of course, Hummers, which are now sitting rusting in the foreclosed driveways of people who borrowed over their heads.
Bring on the Civics, the Golfs, and the Matiz's. |
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wannago
Joined: 16 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
Perhaps we'll see droves of fact-finding commissions coming to the ROK to find out how they have structured cheap and efficient public transportation. It wouldn't be a bad idea.
What concerns me is that huge portions of the US are not suitable for public transportation. Bus lines can be put in the cities, subways can be built, but what do farmers do?
A good many of the school districts are consolidated. Several towns send kids to one centralized school. Athletic programs depend on driving a minimum of 20 miles to the next school for a game. I used to teach in a high school that was in a conference that was almost 100 miles from one side to the other.
I grew up in a town that no longer has a grocery store. My mom had to drive 10 miles to get a quart of milk. (Fortunately she moved to the 'city' last year.) Small towns like that are going to die. How would you like to be stuck owning a home in a small town, unable to afford to drive to the grocery store and, obviously, unable to sell?
The human implications of this are just beginning to surface. |
Well, YTB, it seems as though there are a lot of similarities in where we grew up and used to teach.
Our athletic conference was over 200 miles from one side to the other and it finally had to break up into divisions because transportation costs were eating the districts alive.
My hometown still has a grocery store, but it is mainly used for staples (milk, bread, eggs, etc.). Most people will, at least once a month, throw several big coolers in the back of the pickup and drive 90 miles to the nearest Walmart for the mega grocery shopping session. Its still cheaper for them to do that than do all their shopping at the one in-town store.
I don't know of any way mass transit could work in that sort of rural environment. There are just too few people spread out over a large area. These people have no alternatives to putting in $4/gallon gas and many of them are buying diesel fuel for tractor work at this time of year. Fuel prices are absolutely killing them. |
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 4:21 pm Post subject: |
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| DCJames wrote: |
The huge increase in prices and the inability of government to do anything about it just shows how much more powerful Big Oil is compared to any form of government in the US.
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Oil prices are set by supply and demand. The biggest oil companies are nationalized. How is a government supposed to affect supply, exactly? |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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| OneWayTraffic wrote: |
| DCJames wrote: |
The huge increase in prices and the inability of government to do anything about it just shows how much more powerful Big Oil is compared to any form of government in the US.
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Oil prices are set by supply and demand. The biggest oil companies are nationalized. How is a government supposed to affect supply, exactly? |
Exxon and Shell are nationalized? That's news to me.  |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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As of April 2007 here are the list of the biggest petroleum companies in terms of oil reserves, figures in billions of barrels:[1]
* Saudi Arabian Oil Company 295
* National Iranian Oil Company 287
* Qatar Petroleum 165
* Abu Dhabi National Oil Company 137
* Iraq National Oil Company 137
* Gazprom 115
* Kuwait Petroleum Corporation 107
* Petr�leos de Venezuela S.A. 102
* Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation 62
* National Oil Corporation (Libya) 45
* Sonatrach 40
* Rosneft 35
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_petroleum_companies
http://www.energyintel.com/documentdetail.asp?document_id=218175 |
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nicholas_chiasson
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Location: Samcheok
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 5:36 pm Post subject: |
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| time to buy rosneft |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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