Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Living Car Free
Reload this Page >

Cars=Economy in media?

Notices
Living Car Free Do you live car free or car light? Do you prefer to use alternative transportation (bicycles, walking, other human-powered or public transportation) for everyday activities whenever possible? Discuss your lifestyle here.

Cars=Economy in media?

Old 01-29-08, 04:26 PM
  #1  
Rider
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK
Posts: 1,077
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times in 5 Posts
Cars=Economy in media?

I don't watch enough TV to be able to test this, but it's something I notice sometimes and want to see if other people see it coming up..

TV announcer: "...Rise in oil prices are expected to have negative effects on the economy.." *cut to stock footage of a freeway at rush hour*

later, in a discussion of something else, *sudden cut to stock footage of cars on a freeway* "The economy.."

Keep an eye out and see if that correlation has been coming up for you? It seems like for some reason, television producers equate the economy and cars, and is subtly slipping that point into everything.
JusticeZero is offline  
Old 01-29-08, 04:49 PM
  #2  
Instigator at best
 
kjohnnytarr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Columbia, Missouri
Posts: 1,086

Bikes: Motobecane Jury

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
yep: frustrated people wasting time, money, and resources. That's the economy.
kjohnnytarr is offline  
Old 01-29-08, 08:04 PM
  #3  
www.chipsea.blogspot.com
 
ChipSeal's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: South of Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,026

Bikes: Giant OCR C0 road

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by JusticeZero
"...Rise in oil prices are expected to have negative effects on the economy..."
As all goods travel from extraction to production to store, they make all or part of the trip by truck. Oil prices affect shipping costs directly.

Those costs must either be passed on to the consumer or cause reduced profits.

If they are passed on to the consumer, he will be unable to buy as many things.

If profits are squeezed by either the producer, the manufacturer, the shipper, or the retailer, they will have less capital to spend and more growth opportunities will be passed by.

The cost of energy has an impact on everyone's bottom line.
ChipSeal is offline  
Old 01-29-08, 08:27 PM
  #4  
Rider
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK
Posts: 1,077
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times in 5 Posts
Yes, I know, but that isn't what they SAY. They say "Economy" and show pictures of SOV commuter cars; they show SOV car drivers and they say "Economy". I'd understand if they said "Economy" and showed pictures of semi trucks, but they DON'T, they show commuters filling the tanks of their cars.
JusticeZero is offline  
Old 01-29-08, 08:52 PM
  #5  
Sophomoric Member
 
Roody's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Dancing in Lansing
Posts: 24,221
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 711 Post(s)
Liked 13 Times in 13 Posts
Lately when they start talking about the economy, I'm seeing footage of McMansions with big yellow Foreclosure signs on them.
__________________

"Think Outside the Cage"
Roody is offline  
Old 01-29-08, 10:14 PM
  #6  
Bike ≠ Car ≠ Ped.
 
BarracksSi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 13,861

Bikes: Some bikes. Hell, they're all the same, ain't they?

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Liked 5 Times in 4 Posts
Originally Posted by JusticeZero
Yes, I know, but that isn't what they SAY. They say "Economy" and show pictures of SOV commuter cars; they show SOV car drivers and they say "Economy". I'd understand if they said "Economy" and showed pictures of semi trucks, but they DON'T, they show commuters filling the tanks of their cars.
Okay, so... What kind of meaning are you deriving from this?

It seems to me like they're showing footage of rush hour & gas fillups as a sort of scare tactic (TV media, unfortunately, does this for most of their news stories). They're not saying that a good economy means crawling rush hour traffic or going out to buy more gas.
BarracksSi is offline  
Old 01-30-08, 12:44 AM
  #7  
Senior Member
 
wheel's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Crystal MN
Posts: 2,147
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Well why wouldn't you weave cars so tight into the economy/media
Cheap oil means cheap oil for the military.
Allows you to move a huge amount of people with little administration/overhead
Provides a way to inflate other economies which become dependent.
Allows a way to search/id/checkpoints you
Provides a private liability for all the destruction it creates.
wheel is offline  
Old 01-30-08, 12:55 AM
  #8  
Bike ≠ Car ≠ Ped.
 
BarracksSi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 13,861

Bikes: Some bikes. Hell, they're all the same, ain't they?

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Liked 5 Times in 4 Posts
Originally Posted by wheel
Well why wouldn't you weave cars so tight into the economy/media
Cheap oil means cheap oil for the military....
Cheap oil means, for example, cheaper bread at the grocery store because it costs the supplier less money to deliver it to the store, less money for the breadmaker to produce it, less overhead costs for the store (lower heating/electric bills), etc etc.

No reason to ***** about the military.
BarracksSi is offline  
Old 01-30-08, 02:34 AM
  #9  
Spelling Snob
 
Hobartlemagne's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Plano, Texas
Posts: 2,862

Bikes: Panasonic DX4000, Bianchi Pista

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 1 Post
The media just likes to scare everyone and feel dependent on the crap they report- like we aren't
going to make it through the week without them.
__________________

The first rule of flats is You don't talk about flats!
Hobartlemagne is offline  
Old 01-30-08, 04:20 AM
  #10  
Membership Not Required
 
wahoonc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: On the road-USA
Posts: 16,855

Bikes: Giant Excursion, Raleigh Sports, Raleigh R.S.W. Compact, Motobecane? and about 20 more! OMG

Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 70 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 15 Times in 14 Posts
I have no clue on what the news media does....I don't watch television news casts, pretty big waste of time IMHO and they usually don't present all of the pertinent facts, just what they want you to think. I still read the daily paper and then follow up with additional research to get the whole story.

But yes the economy is tied to the cost of fuel, among many other things.

Aaron
__________________
Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(

ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.

"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"
_Nicodemus

"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"
_krazygluon
wahoonc is offline  
Old 01-30-08, 10:39 AM
  #11  
rwp
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Reno, NV
Posts: 400
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I believe the message wasn't that the economy equals driving but rather that that the economy equates largely to people going to work. I know we'd all prefer to see stock footage of people cycling to work but the reality is that most people drive to work, hence the graphic was mostly accurate.
rwp is offline  
Old 01-30-08, 10:59 AM
  #12  
Sophomoric Member
 
Roody's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Dancing in Lansing
Posts: 24,221
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 711 Post(s)
Liked 13 Times in 13 Posts
Originally Posted by BarracksSi
Cheap oil means, for example, cheaper bread at the grocery store because it costs the supplier less money to deliver it to the store, less money for the breadmaker to produce it, less overhead costs for the store (lower heating/electric bills), etc etc.

No reason to ***** about the military.
Just ask Churchill (England was able to survive because he secured cheap energy from the US) or Hitler (Germany failed in part because he couldn't find cheap energy). An army used to travel on it's stomach, but now it's more about diesel and jet fuel.

People who are concerned with energy policy realize that the price of energy has an enormous impact on a nation's military power. To some planners, it's worth going to war to ensure that the military can remain mobile at an affordable cost. A big portion of our tax dollars support the army's ability to fuel up tanks and bombers. It might even be something to ***** about.
__________________

"Think Outside the Cage"
Roody is offline  
Old 01-30-08, 02:25 PM
  #13  
gwd
Biker
 
gwd's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: DC
Posts: 1,917

Bikes: one Recumbent and one Utility Bike

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Roody
Just ask Churchill (England was able to survive because he secured cheap energy from the US) or Hitler (Germany failed in part because he couldn't find cheap energy). An army used to travel on it's stomach, but now it's more about diesel and jet fuel.

People who are concerned with energy policy realize that the price of energy has an enormous impact on a nation's military power. To some planners, it's worth going to war to ensure that the military can remain mobile at an affordable cost. A big portion of our tax dollars support the army's ability to fuel up tanks and bombers. It might even be something to ***** about.
Roody, you forgot that our mobile military with tanks and bombers got its butt kicked by a small poor nation without many tanks or bombers. They transpsorted a lot of stuff by bike especially after we targeted their fuel depos. I hope that some of our military planners are thinking about how to defend the country without cheap fuel.
gwd is offline  
Old 01-30-08, 09:36 PM
  #14  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Boston
Posts: 4,556
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Originally Posted by JusticeZero
I don't watch enough TV to be able to test this, but it's something I notice sometimes and want to see if other people see it coming up..

TV announcer: "...Rise in oil prices are expected to have negative effects on the economy.." *cut to stock footage of a freeway at rush hour*

later, in a discussion of something else, *sudden cut to stock footage of cars on a freeway* "The economy.."

Keep an eye out and see if that correlation has been coming up for you? It seems like for some reason, television producers equate the economy and cars, and is subtly slipping that point into everything.
They use any repetitive image which works to hypnotize the viewer. It's a general problem with television news, and probably the reason why so many TV News watchers can watch so many hours of news and still have no clue what's happening in the world.
My favorite is when there's a big event and they get 5 seconds of footage. They then repeat it 50 times while they talk about it (they being pundits, a.k.a. journalists pretending to know something about the topic at hand).

Maybe they've gotten lazy about "the economy" so they just show traffic. It's probably supposed to make you feel negative about the economy. The dying economy does seem to be a boom for television news.
crhilton is offline  
Old 01-30-08, 10:01 PM
  #15  
Sophomoric Member
 
Roody's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Dancing in Lansing
Posts: 24,221
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 711 Post(s)
Liked 13 Times in 13 Posts
Originally Posted by gwd
Roody, you forgot that our mobile military with tanks and bombers got its butt kicked by a small poor nation without many tanks or bombers. They transpsorted a lot of stuff by bike especially after we targeted their fuel depos. I hope that some of our military planners are thinking about how to defend the country without cheap fuel.
I doubt it. They're probably thinking about where we can get us some cheap fuel. But I bet military planners have a clearer idea of what the country will be doing for energy over the next few years than civilian policy planners do. We've been involved in a very stirring primary election process, but the candidates, media and public are barely even talking about energy policy. They talk around it--Iraq, Iran, the economy--but they barely talk about energy, the core issue that drives many of the other issues.

BTW, I think Vietnam was probably the last war we'll fight for a long time that isn't about natural resources.
__________________

"Think Outside the Cage"
Roody is offline  
Old 01-31-08, 09:26 AM
  #16  
Senior Member
 
acroy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Dallas Suburbpopolis
Posts: 1,502
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 9 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 9 Times in 5 Posts
Originally Posted by Roody
BTW, I think Vietnam was probably the last war we'll fight for a long time that isn't about natural resources.
LOL I think you may be on the money there... kinda sad we won't be fighting wars for "ideals" anymore, eh? Ideals get sidelined when commodities get expensive!
acroy is offline  
Old 01-31-08, 09:46 AM
  #17  
Sophomoric Member
 
Roody's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Dancing in Lansing
Posts: 24,221
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 711 Post(s)
Liked 13 Times in 13 Posts
Originally Posted by acroy
LOL I think you may be on the money there... kinda sad we won't be fighting wars for "ideals" anymore, eh? Ideals get sidelined when commodities get expensive!
I suppose both Iraq wars were partly about ideals--rescuing Kuwait and regime change; but a large part, as far as I can tell, was about oil.
__________________

"Think Outside the Cage"
Roody is offline  
Old 01-31-08, 10:09 AM
  #18  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 211
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by BarracksSi
Cheap oil means, for example, cheaper bread at the grocery store because it costs the supplier less money to deliver it to the store, less money for the breadmaker to produce it, less overhead costs for the store (lower heating/electric bills), etc etc.
Bread prices will not decrease if oil prices drop, the breadmaker's profits will increase.
r8ingbull is offline  
Old 02-01-08, 11:32 AM
  #19  
gwd
Biker
 
gwd's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: DC
Posts: 1,917

Bikes: one Recumbent and one Utility Bike

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Roody
BTW, I think Vietnam was probably the last war we'll fight for a long time that isn't about natural resources.
President Eisenhower in his memoir "Mandate for Change- the white house years" wrote that getting involved in IndoChina was about "tin, rubber and rice" in addition to preventing the Vietnamese from holding nationwide elections as outlined in the Geneva agreement. It wasn't just about suppressing Vietnamese democracy, there was an economic motive that got lost in all the anticommunist hype of the '60s. I'm still impressed when I see photos of the long lines of cargo bikes being pushed along through the hills.
gwd is offline  
Old 02-04-08, 01:55 PM
  #20  
Sophomoric Member
 
Roody's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Dancing in Lansing
Posts: 24,221
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 711 Post(s)
Liked 13 Times in 13 Posts
Originally Posted by gwd
President Eisenhower in his memoir "Mandate for Change- the white house years" wrote that getting involved in IndoChina was about "tin, rubber and rice" in addition to preventing the Vietnamese from holding nationwide elections as outlined in the Geneva agreement. It wasn't just about suppressing Vietnamese democracy, there was an economic motive that got lost in all the anticommunist hype of the '60s. I'm still impressed when I see photos of the long lines of cargo bikes being pushed along through the hills.
The scary thing is that in a so-called democracy, we have no idea of the real reasons that any war is fought "on our behalf."
__________________

"Think Outside the Cage"
Roody is offline  
Old 02-04-08, 07:07 PM
  #21  
In the right lane
 
gerv's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Des Moines
Posts: 9,565

Bikes: 1974 Huffy 3 speed

Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 44 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 7 Times in 6 Posts
Originally Posted by Roody
The scary thing is that in a so-called democracy, we have no idea of the real reasons that any war is fought "on our behalf."
I believe the majority of wars fought recently have their "official" explanations, which always border on an insult to intelligence, and the real reason. The latter is normally self-evident for anyone who is willing to do a little better investigation than what you see on the CBS Evening news.

What is recently scary -- or maybe tragic -- is the number of people (including pundits and experts...) who apparently swallow the "official" version.

Most times, I am reminded of the parable about the Emperor's new clothes.
gerv is offline  
Old 02-04-08, 09:09 PM
  #22  
put our Heads Together
 
cerewa's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: southeast pennsylvania
Posts: 3,155

Bikes: a mountain bike with a cargo box on the back and aero bars on the front. an old well-worn dahon folding bike

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by gerv
I believe the majority of wars fought recently have their "official" explanations, which always border on an insult to intelligence, and the real reason. The latter is normally self-evident for anyone who is willing to do a little better investigation than what you see on the CBS Evening news.

What is recently scary -- or maybe tragic -- is the number of people (including pundits and experts...) who apparently swallow the "official" version.

Most times, I am reminded of the parable about the Emperor's new clothes.
I think you may be mistaken that this only applies to wars fought recently. Of course, a lot of the less honorable sides to long-gone wars may be completely forgotten, but not all.
cerewa is offline  
Old 02-04-08, 09:27 PM
  #23  
Bye Bye
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Gone gone gone
Posts: 3,677
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Originally Posted by Roody
The scary thing is that in a so-called democracy, we have no idea of the real reasons that any war is fought "on our behalf."

Here's link to a great BBC special on the rise of the Right Wing / Christian Conservatism / Neocons at the same time as Islamic Fundamentalism. Makes the reasons kind of clear... or clouded, depending on how you look at it.

This film explores the origins in the 1940s and 50s of Islamic Fundamentalism in the Middle East, and Neoconservatism in America, parallels between these movements, and their effect on the world today. From the introduction to Part 1:

"Both [the Islamists and Neoconservatives] were idealists who were born out of the failure of the liberal dream to build a better world. And both had a very similar explanation for what caused that failure. These two groups have changed the world, but not in the way that either intended. Together, they created today's nightmare vision of a secret, organized evil that threatens the world. A fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age. And those with the darkest fears became the most powerful. "
bmike is offline  
Old 02-04-08, 09:31 PM
  #24  
Bye Bye
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Gone gone gone
Posts: 3,677
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Originally Posted by gerv

Most times, I am reminded of the parable about the Emperor's new clothes.

and the golden rule... he who has the gold rules.
except at some point this will really be energy... as energy is the currency of the universe.
bmike is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.