Originally Posted by
Mobile 155
Tandempower:
When have you seen a society catch on and return to cycling? Greece was faced with this exact problem and they voted "Against" austerity. When they were about to be cut off to save the country from bankruptcy the head of Greece agreed to cut backs and repayment do for his efforts he is being replaced by someone that is against austerity. And they haven't gone back to bikes. The fall of the USSR didn't get the people on bikes and now China has their very own stock market.
I find it so amusing to always listen to talk about how people reject austerity in one way or another, as if economics is about giving people a choice about how much money they get to spend. You may not like austerity, but when your credit finally gets cut off and you can't get anyone to give you any money, austerity is mandatory if you don't want to go into illegal business dealings.
What you have where collective societies are concerned is the ability to get the majority to resist austerity measures, and then attempt to solicit bailout deals and/or credit that reduce the need for austerity. This is, of course, risky business because what do you do as a society when you have to default on collective debt? You could end up under pressure to change laws that provide basic protections against exploitation, etc. Then, businesses will come into an area and start exploiting people in any way that squeezes money out of them. It is not a nice prospect.
Originally Posted by
jon c.
Ethanol isn't added to increase profitability, it's added to create an outlet for all the excess corn the government subsidizes. It was ostensibly first used to reduce the need for fossil fuels, although the net gain in that regard is insignificant at best. It has remained a component of gas sold in the US primarily because the first Presidential primaries are held in Iowa where no one dares to speak against corn subsidies.
Subsidies are probably what makes it profitable. It's horrible to think we subsidize ethanol to keep gasoline artificially affordable and yet there is so much resistance to transportation reform. Why do people keep believing that automotivism is sustainable?