Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was just watching NY1's news (New York) and they were talking about new electric meters called "smart meters." The person who was promoting them said, "they have been using them in Europe for a while now and the U.S lags far behind...blah blah blah." I hear this quite often though to be fair, I have seen those meters being used in Florida in recent years though the old fashioned meters vastly outnumber them.
Anyway, I'm a documentary TV junkie so I watch a lot of them. I sometimes sit here amazed at some of the technological marvels thrown up by engineers in other countries even in countries not considered "industrialized." They just SEEM to see a need and get it done. Over here, we can see a need and we will red tape it to death - literally. Granted, I know some of these countries may tax their people heavily to get the job done but, as in Denmark, it seems that the people don't mind the taxes IF they can see where those dollars are going.
This is certainly a beautiful country. I won't deny that, but if you believe our own hype, you get the idea we are light years ahead of everyone else until you land at, say, LaGuardia airport or realize you can't arrive in New York from Miami in 8 hours on a bullet train because some lobbyist is going to make sure you continue using that car or Amtrak if you're afraid to fly.
I also realize that different states can do their own thing and one state may be utilizing or attempting to utilize technological advances while others kick and fight against being dragged into the future.
Ok, so yes, we can spend zillions to send a Space Shuttle into Space and Denmark isn't, but you're not hearing their folks complain about health care. We can bomb the hell out of anybody with billion dollar weapons but can't manage to ease the damn traffic congestion on 595 betwen Ft. Lauderdale and its western suburbs. Dammit! *Bleep bleep bleep bleep*
We are absolutely lagging behnd in many areas. I never realized how much corporate and government corruption there was in this country until recent years. This corruption has slowed down our progress and is lessening our quality of life. Have you seen the documentary about how LA had a phenomenal public transportation system years back and the oil and GM industry bought it out and tore it up. Quite an eye opener and infuriating.
In a 1922 memo that will live in infamy, GM President Alfred P. Sloan established a unit aimed at dumping electrified mass transit in favor of gas-burning cars, trucks and buses.
How General Motors Deliberately Destroyed Public Transit
The Streetcar Conspiracy - How General Motors Deliberately Destroyed Public Transit (http://saveourwetlands.org/streetcar.htm - broken link)
One area where the US clearly lags behind is railways and trains. The North Metro of NY and Amtrack are using trains and cars built in the 60s. One funny aspect is not being able to turn train cars around. The solution - half the seats in the car are facing one direction, the other half - the opposite
Those who traveled to Japan, France, ect experienced the bullet trains. Such technology is not feasible in the US.
1) The US mentality "I care only for my back yard". Trains and highways are not part of that.
2) Cars only were favored for a century (they are private) while public transportations means were neglected. Curiously, even the US highway system dates back to Eisenhower's administration and no large national development took place since then.
We are absolutely lagging behnd in many areas. I never realized how much corporate and government corruption there was in this country until recent years. This corruption has slowed down our progress and is lessening our quality of life. Have you seen the documentary about how LA had a phenomenal public transportation system years back and the oil and GM industry bought it out and tore it up. Quite an eye opener and infuriating.
In a 1922 memo that will live in infamy, GM President Alfred P. Sloan established a unit aimed at dumping electrified mass transit in favor of gas-burning cars, trucks and buses.
How General Motors Deliberately Destroyed Public Transit
The Streetcar Conspiracy - How General Motors Deliberately Destroyed Public Transit (http://saveourwetlands.org/streetcar.htm - broken link)
One area where the US clearly lags behind is railways and trains. The North Metro of NY and Amtrack are using trains and cars built in the 60s. One funny aspect is not being able to turn train cars around. The solution - half the seats in the car are facing one direction, the other half - the opposite
Those who traveled to Japan, France, ect experienced the bullet trains. Such technology is not feasible in the US.
1) The US mentality "I care only for my back yard". Trains and highways are not part of that.
2) Cars only were favored for a century (they are private) while public transportations means were neglected. Curiously, even the US highway system dates back to Eisenhower's administration and no large national development took place since then.
Yes, Metro North runs two blocks down the street from me.
When I was living in Florida during the Bush (Jeb) era, I recall there were a few attempts to bring in high speed trains to run between South Florida (from the Keys) up to the Orlando area which, depending on where you are, can take up to about 8 hours of driving. If I recall correctly, car lobbyists and Jeb shot down the attempts.
Heck, I used to barely want to drive my car to the nearest gas station, much less 3.5 hours up to Disney because of sore knees. I would have paid to get on a train going 150 miles per hour to get there in 1.5 hours. Keeps a bunch of cars off the road. Then again, I realize it would be a catch-22.
I was just watching NY1's news (New York) and they were talking about new electric meters called "smart meters." The person who was promoting them said, "they have been using them in Europe for a while now and the U.S lags far behind...blah blah blah." I hear this quite often though to be fair, I have seen those meters being used in Florida in recent years though the old fashioned meters vastly outnumber them.
Anyway, I'm a documentary TV junkie so I watch a lot of them. I sometimes sit here amazed at some of the technological marvels thrown up by engineers in other countries even in countries not considered "industrialized." They just SEEM to see a need and get it done. Over here, we can see a need and we will red tape it to death - literally. Granted, I know some of these countries may tax their people heavily to get the job done but, as in Denmark, it seems that the people don't mind the taxes IF they can see where those dollars are going.
This is certainly a beautiful country. I won't deny that, but if you believe our own hype, you get the idea we are light years ahead of everyone else until you land at, say, LaGuardia airport or realize you can't arrive in New York from Miami in 8 hours on a bullet train because some lobbyist is going to make sure you continue using that car or Amtrak if you're afraid to fly.
I also realize that different states can do their own thing and one state may be utilizing or attempting to utilize technological advances while others kick and fight against being dragged into the future.
Ok, so yes, we can spend zillions to send a Space Shuttle into Space and Denmark isn't, but you're not hearing their folks complain about health care. We can bomb the hell out of anybody with billion dollar weapons but can't manage to ease the damn traffic congestion on 595 betwen Ft. Lauderdale and its western suburbs. Dammit! *Bleep bleep bleep bleep*
We're not light years ahead of anyone but that doesn't mean we are behind.
And for your train example remember while there may be lobbyist are the auto industry would rather see you drive a car there are also environmental and animal protection lobbyist who wouldn't want the high speed trains.
Maybe some innovation gets stymied by legal implications? God knows we like to take everybody to court.
Other industrialized nations do not have our government.
The lonely at the top thing is very accurate for us. While it may not seem like it being second fives you a goal being on top gives you a fat head.
A more accurate comparison would be us to the whole European Union.... While some countries prosper tremendously others do not. The US has a system that tries to unilaterally promote the whole country....that tends to slow things down. You might notice how slow we are to react to things but when we do how much and how quickly we chn change them...for example lead content in the air when it was prevalent in gasoline... A few restrictions... a couple of decades later and...
Other industrialized nations do not have our government.
For better or worse...
Quote:
lonely at the top thing is very accurate for us. While it may not seem like it being second fives you a goal being on top gives you a fat head.
Cmmon...
Quote:
A more accurate comparison would be us to the whole European Union.... While some countries prosper tremendously others do not.
Agreed
Quote:
The US has a system that tries to unilaterally promote the whole country....that tends to slow things down.
Partly correct, but the problem is that the US doesn't like to invest in public projects (just read some of the posts), while Europe and Asia sees those as an integral part of their life. The main difference is in mentality.
The government is like a fruit tree to it's people. It starts off small growing little by little mostly from people picking fruits off of it. Eventually it gets huge and feeds everyone. If that fruit is ever deemed ill for the health getting rid of that tree is virtually impossible as you know have a whole system of people (probably families) setup around it. You can find another tree but some will have come accustomed to the former tree and will not want to change. I would imagine that was early homo______ (substitute subspecies) politics...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Simplistic...
