Letters to the Editor
had_enough
Published Letters: 813 Editor's Choice: 48
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plus ca change
[Read the article: The price of non-progress in China]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This was a very interesting note, Andrew.
It really got me thinking about human nature, and specifically the power of cultural norms. Based on this information it's interesting to contemplate the seeming fact that the *same people* keep holding on to power in China, through millenia.
The same *kind* of people. Maybe it's the same everywhere. A certain kind of alpha-male dominates, because he just can't help it. It's in his DNA.. reproductive dominance augmented by extremely powerful cultural norms.
It seems as if a certain class of people has always been at the top in China, and they've kept the lid on dissent, like locking down the lid of a pressure-cooker. It's a highly-specialized skill. Only certain people are good at it. And it does appear that the same class of people have been running China for a very long time.
They don't know any other way to do it. And that's the downside of any inadequate paradigm (don't shoot me for using the word..it's apt here, though)... not only is it not in the interest of the ruling class to do things differently in China, they are utterly incapable of seeing anything different.
Oh, they may "consider alternatives" in the abstract, as a matter for discussion. But in reality? That ruling class likely regards all discussion of "alternatives" as either nonsensical, annoying, or both. But certainly not anything to be taken seriously.
The sole reason that our current indebtedness to China has not resulted in all kinds of financial havoc, is because the Chinese have to keep all those people employed. The day the ruling class in China cannot pay all those workers, is the day that ruling class will fall, to the knife, or the gun...or, that ruling class will have to kill a lot of workers.
I doubt there is a middle way here. And the Chinese ruling-class knows that. And if they are true to form, they will either kill those workers themselves, or have someone else do it for them, in a war.
It has been that way in the Middle Kingdom for millenia. What makes any of us think it'll be any different this time?
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taxes are the solution
[Read the article: Hip, hip, CAFE!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]while I think a responsible government would institute draconian mileage standards (in the electric car category...we need to ween ourselves off of ICE engines for individual travel altogether)... that ain't gonna happen.
So, we ought to just forget CAFE standards and tax the hell out of all fossil fuels. I mean, make it so gasoline is 12 bucks a gallon or more. And use the money to invest in alternative energy solutions for transportation.
We'd use ICE engines where nothing else would do...
all this would merely delay the bad day when we have to face the consequences of Cantarell and Ghawar and other supergiant fields in permanent, possibly rapid, decline.
But delay is not a bad thing.
Listening to congress-critters pat themselves on the back for the current bill is just a bad joke.
www.dieoff.org
www.warsocialism.com
read and learn.
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@realname...get a clue, man
[Read the article: Hip, hip, CAFE!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]realname, I don't hate my world. I *love* my world. That's why I'd love to see us limit the use of fossil-fuels. Don't you get it at all? Don't you see what's happening here? Look around and try to SEE what's going on.
There aren't going to be any fossil fuels to use, at least, not at any kind of cheap price, in the next decade or two. That's not even arguable.
Better to delay that bad day by conserving now. And the only way we could possibly keep the rest of the developing world from using the fuel we conserve, is by taking a leadership role and shaming the rest of the world into doing what we're willing to do: tax fossil-fuels so steeply that we're all forced to find more efficient ways to get from point A to point B.
The issue of horse-power is one I'd thought of before. It is absolutely insane that we've taken ICE refinements and turned them into increased horse-power, instead of increased fuel efficiency. We could all drive refined, comfortable cars that have 40 horse-power engines, like the old VW bug and bus did (but far more refined, now) and be perfectly fine, getting from point A to point B in plenty of time, in total comfort.
I know around Los Angeles, where I live, no-one has much use for all the horsepower most of the time anyway. And I imagine that is increasingly true in most urban centers.
What's happened is that car companies figured out long ago that to sell more cars, they appeal to our lizard-brains by making cars bigger, higher, and faster. It's purely a way to sell cars, it has nothing to do with quality-of-life, this has everything to do with giving drivers a constant low-level flood of brain-chemicals that makes them feel good. Can we really afford that now?
The whole situation is insane, and when you say the ridiculous things you do, realname, it doesn't help.
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@realname... that future is real, not imaginary
[Read the article: Hip, hip, CAFE!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]just fyi, realname, note that an apocalyptic future is far from a matter of sarcasm...it's a matter of time:
http://dieoff.org/page137.htm
Check it out. The hard numbers are just about impossible to argue with.