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Originally Posted by 2K05GT
It may work that way in Canada, but here in US of A nope, Like the promise of social security and other gimmie entitalments they get pillaged by congress and run up the debt flag pole. Our Federal Governmet does nothing for Mass transit, the EPA does do some good work for the environment but all these federal agencies cost 10 times more than they should. America has a huge spending problem, we have to many people and not enough resources or exports anymore.
Canada has about the same land mass as the states but only have 33 million people, we are topping over 305 million. do you realise that is half of the entire Population of europe, I don't know how we can do it for much longer.
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I was referring to the comment about how the Europeans spend their money.
And while I won't get too far into a discussion of geo-politics and economics on a car forum, I will say the following. You want resources?We can give you all the lumber you want, and water, and diamonds, and more and more and more. You flash the cash, and we'll get it for you. Canada can supply all the oil you ever want. It is estimated that we have 8x the reserves that the Saudis have, more than all the OPEC nations have combined, though our current recoverable amount is only about 2/3 that of the Saudis. But in reality, its believed to be about double the entire worlds proven, recoverable reserves. You want oil? we will dig up an area the size of Florida to get it for you. Yes, its that big.
You want to know how you can keep going? You can reduce what you use. That goes for everything, not just oil. If you are concerned about having too much of a trade deficit, are afraid of paying for middle easter dictatorships or terrorists, don't want to support the Chinese, and don't want to pay $7/gal for gas? All those problems can be avoided by consuming less. buy fewer TV's, buy fewer cars, buy less gas, buy less ipods, cell phones, and so on. Consumerism is the problem. The fact that Americans (and Canadians, and the west in general) believe that all of our luxury items that we take for granted are actually rightfully ours. We have the right to throw out cell phones every year, because a new one just came on the market. There is nothing at all wrong with the old one, except that its 1 year old. Cars like our beloved Camaro are a complete waste of resources, fuel, material, and time. They exist only to make us feel good, and to make money for corporations, but they are soo wasteful. 80% of cars on the road at any given time should be SmartCars or similar. Then everyone use their trucks, SUV's, and large cars only for when they are needed. Going to work, by yourself, is the #1 use for cars by a wide margin. To do that, all you need is a SmartCar, actually all you need is a moped, providing that the climate is suitable
But if cities were laid out better, we wouldn't need cars to get to work. if the population density were just a bit higher, large scale mass transit would actually be effective. Suburbs are the cause of this problem. A little slice of land for every family, and a car or two in every driveway. Chopping down the trees, then naming the streets after them.
Don't take this the wrong way, I'm gonna buy a Camaro and probably live in a suburb, and drive it to work every day, get my paycheck so I can buy new toys. The point is, is that it will take a massive change in the minds of the people to go to a sustainable way of living. It can't be forced by governments. It can't be engineered. It comes from you and me and everyone around us deciding to live with less. And that ain't gonna happen for a long time. If there are many replies to this, I suggest a thread split.