The thing that sucks about "just stop flying" is that many people's social connections have been atomized across thousands of miles.

"Just stop flying" means for many people, "never see your loved ones again."

Isn't it all just part of a bigger picture?

Those who can afford to fly and drive SUV's will do so. Those who can't, won't. The same is already (or is becoming) true for housing, education, health care, civic infrastructure, even decent television programming. The division between those who can and those who can't is class-based. The second half of the 20th century when a middle-class U.S. family could afford those things on a single income was, as Paul Krugman and many others have pointed out, an anomalous period. A glitch. The rollback is at full speed. Now we revert to our historic mean, rejoining the trend line started by the aristocrats who founded our country. The middle class disappears, common things that common Americans won for themselves in the 20th century become luxuries available only to the ruling class and their immediate retainers. The U.S. becomes a banana republic. (Bush would make himself Fearless Deciderissimo For Life if he could, and 25-30% of the U.S. population would back his play if he tried.)

Or maybe a McDonald's republic. Today it's transportation, education and health care. Tomorrow maybe electricity, food, water.

But Obama might fix everything. Yeah, that's the ticket.

The two major airlines that actually suffered physical losses on 9/11 got squat.

American Airlines didn't apply for the loans...the terms were too onerous.

United wanted them, somehow didn't qualify for the aid, which were actually loan guarantees, not grants. United went BK instead.

The money went to weird places, like an independent tourist helicopter operation in Hawaii.

From USA Today, of all places:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-01-mass-transit_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Europe and Japan are already there, so their growing pains will be considerably less than ours. In fact, North American infrastructure is so bad at this point that it's hard to imagine a near future without a substantial reservoir of political will available to whichever political leader wants to tap it. We've got the resources to have the best transportation system ever dreamed, but it won't happen without leadership.

Looks like Caterpillar is in fact starting to go in this direction:

http://www.cat.com/cda/components/fullArticle?m=37523&x=7&id=808279

This is looking like a trend -- a lot of companies that produce vehicles of all kinds are starting to dip their toes in the water.

Just hope they keep it up.

Okay, I forgot about that. Show me a bailout that wasn't related to 9/11--not exactly an issue related to their operational competency.

They don't travel great distances, so they can always be near a recharging station

Batteries would be the most expensive part of such equipment. Do we really need them in all situations? Lots of construction work is done in places that are well-supplied with electric power, so maybe a nice hefty extension cord would do the trick.

I haven't thought about it before, but construction equipment could be a good application for electrification. Not necessarily for long-distance hauling, to start with, but those bulldozers and diggers and cranes operating on a construction site may have the right qualities:

- They don't travel great distances, so they can always be near a recharging station;

- They are heavy already, and so the load of batteries may be a minor percentage.

- They spend a good deal of their time sitting perfectly still. Due to the complexity of their work, there can be a lot of time spent waiting for something else to be ready or to get out of the way. An electric construction vehicle would use no extra power at these times, while a gas-powered one is likely left idling.

- The loads they bear is highly variable -- with a surge of power needed to push dirt or dig a hole or lift something, then little power needed to reposition. Gas engines have terrible efficiency under such variable loads, while it makes a lot less difference for an electric motor.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/21/rec.congress.airline.deal

http://www.corp-research.org/archives/sep01.htm

But the cost of re-building the Northeast Corridor rail lines to accommodate high speed trains just got way more expensive with the recent surge in oil prices. Along with building any new rail lines, or rebuilding any of our infrastructure.

Should have listened to the tree huggers when we had a chance.

Building on what bungo pony and eastieRich have started to lay out:

1. Less globalization due to (a) costlier shipping, and (b) costlier and/or ever-less-pleasant business travel.

2. Less carbon emissions, due to less airplane-miles flown (along with less trans-ocean shipping and transition to electric cars).

3. With more people driving cross-country instead of flying, the current "fly-over" states will see a marked increase in visitors from the coastal states. This will not only give a kick to their local economies -- it will also help to decrease their isolation, and re-integrate them into the country as a whole. This would be a 1-2 punch that could even help to resolve a lot of our nation's political problems.

Anyone want to add more to the list?

If an affordable and plentiful substitute for oil is not found in the next five years, China's status as the leading mass manufacturer and exporter will shrivel and, eventually, die. Neither coal not nukular will work as bridge fuels. Autarky never looked so good!

Next question: Will the rise in transportation costs effectively kill globalization. That is, will the costs of trasporting the widgets made in China (with virtual slave labor) across oceans to our shores outwiegh the economic advantages of having outsourced widget manufactuing? -- bungo pony

Last year, instead of flying, I drove cross country from CA to MA stopping at places I always wanted to see. When I arrived in MA to visit relatives I already had my car, places to go and people to visit. It worked out wonderfully.

On the way back I also went to see places I never would have flown to. It was wonderful. Sure, you have to pace yourself but the drives not that bad. I look forward to doing it again and seeing the places I missed.

One other note, thank the Replucans for destroying the airline industry the same as they've destroyed everything else.