2. I remember being shattered when I was either in high school or college and I discovered that a penny box of matches no longer cost a penny, although I can't remember what it went up to. I now have some of those "penny boxes" of matches, and now not only do they cost MUCH more than a penny, but there's not enough of that red stuff on the ends to actually get them to light.
3. Many more winters of bad weather like this are likely to send the airlines out of business at this rate.
4. Why doesn't the United States have a high speed rail system. CHINA seems to be able to put one in; Japan has had one forever; Europe has one. Why don't we? Yes, yes, I know, everything has to be done by private business with minimal government involvement. NOBODY in Europe goes on long car trips, though. They get there by train or plane and THEN get in a car. It reduces the attraction of large family cars. Saves gas. Saves the planet. Ask any New Yorker why they don't own a car.
For that matter, a decent high speed rail system would even help New York out, not to mention the rest of the country. Some astonishing percentage of plane delays are caused by congestion in the New York area. It would be lovely to be able to get onto a fast train, say, in Cincinnati (I'd be happy to drive to Cincinnati to do this) and not too many hours later find myself in mid-town. Sarah and Aaron would get really tired of seeing me/us. It's relatively easy to fly into the area, but it's such an ordeal.
SO there..
Re: a high-speed rail system in the US (or ANY rail system for that matter): part of the answer to your question is that we finance and manage passenger rail service exactly backwards from the way we should (and the way we do everything else): private industry owns the infrastructure (right of way and rail lines), while the government attemtps (without much success) to run the service (AMTRAK). Contrast this to the airline industry or the passenger bus industry: the government owns the infrastructure (airports, Interstates) and private industry competes to offer services. This is admittedly a gross over-simplification, but it is a big part of the situation.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, if we really cared about carbon emissions and energy use, we would subsidize the rail system and quit building highways. We need to get both freight and people out of cars and trucks--it is much more energy-efficient and less poluting to move both people and freight by rail.
Just my two cents...
Your cuz-in-law,
Bob Martin