"addicted to oil" and other thoughts.

[TMA_1]

I have heard experts, congressmen, even the president (damn him for saying it) say this statement. It holds with it a truth, but it is in my opinion a very silly statement. I have heard those same people say that the American people are gluttonous with it and all around waste it. I think it is so unfair to say these sorts of things. America's infrastructure is set in most of america for the individual or the family to own one or two vehicles. Americans on average drive about 25 miles a day, and this almost always is a matter of necessity. so the term "addiction to oil" is accurate, but very unfair. The american people cannot stop their fuel consumption, and it shouldnt have to be up to us Americans. If our government is really so deaf and careless towards the needs of the people, then why should we stand for our current administration? It is up to the government to change the face of the fuel infrastructure of America! The american people are not the ones responsible for these kinds of changes. It just upsets me so much because it looks like we are going to have to take up the slack where our country has failed. They could care less about us Americans, the money makers and the politicians.

We can see this in the slow destruction of the largely democrat blue collar union aided workforce. Not just in this demographic, but we can see the slow destruction of all brackets in the lower middle class and the underclass. The American government and the corperations that call America home would sell out it's people for the sake of globalizing financially. Even politicians are in on this. President Bush wants to allow mexican workers to come up here on temporary visas, taking away work from born and raised americans! I in no way am implying that Mexican immigrants are somehow bad people, just the opposite! its just that many illegal immigrants are tearing up the fragile structure of this nation.

It just seems so sick to me. And on top of all this, the fact that we buy so much petrol from the middle east just disturbs me! we are feeding the enemy to the west with our own money! we are destroying the enviornment, so much so that it seems to me within one to two decades the damage will be irreversable, and the powers that be are allowing jobs to be outsourced, making our nation a nation based soully on jobs that seperate us from underdeveloped countries. This itself is so unethical because we are making the underdeveloped countries the workhorses of the west! colonialization hasent died, it has just changed faces!

Sorry, all of this stuff has just been bothering me. I didnt want to take the time and write a truly eloquent piece of prose, I just needed to get all of this out. Are you guys just as outraged? It makes me sick to my stomach. The american government does not care BY ANY MEANS about the American people. The powers that be in America are selling our soul and buying the enemy's wrath set against us. Just had to rant about all of this. I dont complain about it a lot to friends and peers, but I see the evil happening in the greater spheres of power in this world, and it upsets me very much.

[Tatar Khan]

The reason why nothing is done about oil adiction is network extrnalitites. The need to rebuild infrastructure would be huge. Unless the oil prices will get really ridiculous it just won't happen. The government can not set up an ifrastructure bvy itself without car companies giving out the exactly what would the new fuel be for the car. The car companies are all over the place with their ideas, some go with electricity others, alcohol, Honda (I think) is introducing the Hydrogen-Oxegen based car. There are also some ideas about other fuels. Plus there are still need to upkeep the old infrstructure because people are not going to just jump from their gasoline run cars into new ones in one day. This are trmemndous spendings. Than there are such facts that since Americans drive to Canada to visit that country sometimes the infrastructure has to be built there too. Mexico would be another country that would also have to build this new infrastructure. These are plenty of problems.

As for the Mexicans coming in and taking away jobs. That is hard to argue because a lot fo the current jobs that they work at were created now for them. The outsourcing helps to bring down the prices on our products and also provides people overseas with the jobs. Whether that exploitation is hard to say, they get paid for their labour. If the companies won't employ them they won't et paid. Most of the local industries in those countries are unable to employ their own people or pay them as much as the western companies.

[TMA_1]

hmm I am aware of the complications these issues bring, I guess I am more upset about the way certain people in power push away the issue, not tackling it with yes or no answers. Obviously they never do this, it just upsets me is all. I am complaining.lol

[Dante]

"It's not our fault, let the government deal with it." Yeah, that attitude will really get you far. A government is only as powerful as its subjects allow it to be.

If the country is using too much oil, what do you expect the government to do? "Sorry folks, you're all addicted to oil! So here's what we're going to do: fuel rationing." Can you imagine the outcry? "We need our 4x4 all-terrain vehicles to drive to the shops!"

Or alternatively, "Sorry folks, you're all addicted to oil! So here's what we're going to do: cut investment in oil and petrol in order to channel all the funds into renewable fuel sources and alternatives to plastic." And the moment those old industries start laying off the workers: "Boo! The government cost me my job!" Not only does the American government have businesses leaning on it to promote the interests of the bad old oil, it has people as well. People who drive cars, work in factories, buy plastics, etc. If the government is going to change things, the people need to change as well.

Also, enviromental damage has already reached the point of no return. We just haven't seen it yet.

Cheap labour is cheap labour. *shrug*

[TMA_1]

hmm, I guess I just have no faith in the American people to do anything constructive when it comes to things like this. I can honestly say that our government is the only power that can change the way people travel from place to place. We cannot change the entire fuel infrastructure without a majority of government help. If we leave it purely in the hands of the people, change will only come by large companies which will only go to alternatives when a huge majority of petrol is consumed. by the way, that paraphrase was kinda a huge spin.lol

[SpiceGuid]

Whatever you say about America is equally true about Europe. Globalization means business doesn't care about workers and governements don't care about citizens, and, even worse, the private sphere is equally affected, husbands don't care about wives, wives don't care about husbands. What we witness is a all-level refocus to selfish and short-term interest.

Is it really a bad thing? Solidarity has always been a sort of illusion that was used to mask the violence of the competition and to deny the existence of risk. The modern world is not really riskier, it's only more explicitly so.

I don't really think America has an "enemy", America has competitors, we are all competitors for economical and cultural domination, Europe is not an ally either, Europe is another competitor, just competitors use different means and some go to the extreme, advocate blind violence and resort to barbarity when in a tight corner.

[nemafakei]

Spice, I'd actually disagree with you on that one. European cities have been designed and redesigned with public transport and easier commuting in mind (even if it doesn't always seem that way). American cities have been designed with a large suburbs far from the city centre that rely on roads. Why? It's better for their automotive industry.

[SpiceGuid]

Right, American and Australian suburbs are much wider than European cities, and ground allocation in Europe is more a public concern.

That makes life easier but only to a certain degree: people "addicted to oil" is something i hear too.

It's obvious that, here too, politicals and money makers try to deny responsability (remember here 75% oil price is tax).