Driving 55 mph: I'm lazy, I'm not going to do it unless somebody makes me do it.

No, but your arrogance and reckless disregard for the welfare of the rest of society, national security, and the healthy sustainable future of young children today is fairly appalling. Are you aware of the consequenses of your actions or do you simply relish in being a rebel bad-boy?
I laugh at your 400HP btw. My truck made more power and was faster but I sold it after realizing what I was doing to the nation, the global community and my wallet. You gain points for going after ricers though, I used to do the same in all my other raced-out vehicles. LOL

All good-natured teasing aside I am asking a serious question. I don't mind answering any questions you might have regarding the issues I've described above.

 

There is such a large chunk of the population that is completely out of touch with the real world. When you and I see a disaster coming and we have time to prepare, most people are still going about their daily [artificial, manmade/dictated] lives. While you and I are buying gallons of water and loaves of bread, most people are still flipping channels on their tv and sipping Starbucks. When we ring their doorbell telling them what's going on, they look at us like "oh. whatever." I know far too many people like this today. It's scary. My grandfather and my father taught me to never use credit cards and whenever the economy is in a downturn never buy anything that you don't need. The other day, I was at BestBuy purchasing a pack of batteries, and I see younger people buying flat panel tv screens and paying with credit cards (not ATM, but credit - I was standing in line behind them). And then these people wonder why their SUVs aren't worth anything (if they had been wise enough to trade in their SUVs 12 months ago (june2007), they wouldn't be stuck in this rut). They wonder why their houses are being foreclosed upon.

Here in CA, about half of the highway (we call it a freeway) goes 60, and the other half goes 70-75. A few people go 55. I calculated the time difference for me, traveling to work, if I go 55mph versus 70mph. 24min and 18.9min, respectively. A difference of only 5.1 minutes.

 

Time to get out of the 19th century. Credit cards are a tool used to manage cash flow within my household. I use my credit card to keep my money in the bank a month longer, I pay no interest at all on my credit card. Each month my credit card is automatically paid from my savings account. While the US economy has caved in to a degree the economy here is going gang busters, this has lead to interest rates of 9% on mortgages so a mortgage holder who can leave their pay in a mortgage with redraw for an extra month it makes a big difference to their interest payments.

I also have a large LCD TV but I rarely go to the cinema and the LCD used less energy than the CRT TV it replaced.

I think the reason mortgages are being foreclosed is more to do with people over extending when they bought the house, everyone wants to live in the nice neighbourhood in a 4 or 5 bedroom house with 2 or 3 bathrooms and a home cinema rather than find a home a little outside that posh neighbourhood with 2 or 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, pay for that then find a bigger home if they really need it. Quite frankly I'm pretty bored with the McMansions currently being built.

 

I quit using my ATM card three months ago when Hannafords, a food chain store in the Northeast, had customer's credit/debit card info compromised. That's when I discovered debit cards do not have the same protection as credit cards. debit card disadvantages
The people you see in the store that you don't approve of may have a better handle on things than you think. They may know the facts on debit cards and have the money to pay for that flat screen TV. I use my credit card to manage my money also and found once I quit using a debit/ATM card my banking is much more simplified.
Buying a flat screen TV with a credit card doesn't mean owning an SUV or being in foreclosure. It might make you feel better to think so, but that doesn't make it true.

 

What some of you posters are talking about is really capitalism--a consumption orientation which is now in conflict with a need for conservation of resources.
And that starts with population control. China is about the only place where the government is doing something about limiting families--the absence of religion there helps. But the Chinese people have America as a role model for middle class values, and they have become consumption oriented as well. SUVs sell well over there--if you can afford them. The Chinese government, however, which is more activist than ours, has mandated electric cars--the first ones due by the end of this year from GM--of all companies. We are clearly on the edge of big changes here, as well.

 

On long trips where you drive for many hours a day for a few days in a row, driving over 100+ km/hr saves significant time. But when one does their daily drive across town via a freeway, 90 km/hr is fast enough. Going faster isn't worth it.

 

There could be a very good reason that they could be using the credit card... it helps build credit if used correctly(and destroys it if it isn't). Also, there are numbers security advantages that are available with credit cards that aren't with debit cards.

Myself, I have about 9.5k in the bank at the moment, but I still use the credit card to pay for everything so then I can get the points for rewards (which doesnt take too long with my bank) and to raise my credit score, so then I can get financing for my Prius!

 

The gasoline tax doesn't do anything, everybody pays it.. we need a progress tax that punishes those that don't conform to our standards. Possible tax brackets, 2-5 miles 20%, 5-10 miles 30%, 10-30 miles 40% and >30 miles 50%.

Because we're on a roll we should also have a mileage tax.. Every car is allowed 200 miles a month in non-commute mileage. shopping, vacation, medical, leisure etc. Anyone going over the 200 miles per month pays a bracketed progressive punitive tax. No, you don't get to carry your unused miles to the next month.. write it off as a donation to society. However, we might consider giving gold star as reward to those with surplus mileage at end of year.

How about a living space tax? People in Tokyo manage to live in very efficient but cramped quarters.. I think we should do the same, so I purpose we have a living space tax. Any family or individual occupying more than 200 sq ft per individual will be assessed a punitive tax.

We should also have thermostat Nazi, which like their game warden counterparts don't need a search warrant to break into your house to insure compliance.

After all, people have a choices, they just need a little help making them. Taxes are a wonderful way to manipulate behavior and cause revolts.

 

400hp isn't bad! I only spent $400 to make it that powerful, so buck for buck i'm *probably* more efficient

my post was more directed at scruge, and was sort of a joke. his list of punishable offenses or whatever he called it was clearly a joke because of the last line of "thinking of ways to impose my values on others is fun" or something to that ring.

besides, i run my truck on 100% biodiesel that I produce, leaving a smaller footprint than mine or your Prius.

 

you gotta make sure to use this smilie -- so people know that you're kidding!

some of the stuff your saying is scaring me a little!

:usa2:

 

Hardly.:bump2: I'm not one at all for soviet-utopias. Besides, I break all Scruge's rules, too, sometimes simultaneously. Most of my grocery purchases are under $25. Going to work is always at least 9 miles, and one job I have is about 25. Mass transit is practically never an option here. If you're making your own biodiesel, then how you use it shouldn't be anyone else's business.

We would do well to remember what the 55 mph speed limit we did have brought. I think if I mentioned "Convoy", or "Smokey and the Bandit", little more needs to be said. I wonder if we weren't, as a society, a bit more likely to play by the rules before the 55 mph limit was imposed.

Besides, the fact that we have to slow down to achieve the best mileage says that we aren't there yet. When we have cars that we can drive all frickin' day at 100 mph or more, we'll have arrived. When I push the Prius to the speeds at which I drove the Sebring that preceded it, the gas mileage falls to about what the Sebring did at that speed. As it is, the Prius is an invitation to take the back roads...

 

The problem is that most people don't always use credit cards correctly and fees can quickly wipe out any rewards from a card. Add to this the fact that most people spend more money when they use a credit card than other means of paying and one can see why there is a growing trend to avoid credit card use.

Plus, major check cards that are from Visa or Mastercard have the same protection from false purchases (if a person notifies their bank promptly): Debit | Personal | Visa USA

 

I have a couple of sisters in my family who always think the solution to the problem is "There otta be a Law" .. For some reason they always forget that others many not agree on the boundaries or penalties

 

Maybe credit cards work well for some people, but apparently not for the majority of the population. I searched Yahoo Finance for news articles on "Americans credit cards," and found hundreds of articles supporting that a record number of Americans have been so maxed out on credit card debt that they have not been able to make their mortgage payments in full. Search - Yahoo! Finance

Yes, for those of us that are responsible to not spend more than we make, credit cards are not harmful. However, based on the economic evidence of what is going on in our nation (U.S.) today, apparently the majority of Americans have spent more than their income, and now have record credit card debt. Am I against capitalism and credit? Absolutely not. 40% of my income comes from interest on investments. (I drive a Corolla because I would rather invest my money). I understand economics very well. Credit is essential for investment, but credit cards have recently gotten a lot of Americans into bad situations.

Connecting back with the topic of this thread, Americans (especially those in their 30s and 40s) have become so self-centered, convenience-oriented, that even in the face of global warming and rising gasoline prices, even if there was a meter, constantly reminding them of global warming, the decreasing value of their SUV, and their debt, they would STILL put the gas pedal to the floor in their SUV and pay $5.00 for a Starbucks.

 

Yup. Drive faster for safety. How many times have I heard that? :raises hand: *I* used to say it. "I'll get rear-ended unless I go 85 mph on this particular stretch of road that I always drive!" And yet EVERY (real) study on the subject of vehicle speed shows that driving slower is safer. It might make you twitchy. It might take a few minutes extra to reach your destination (unless you count the time it takes to be pulled over for a speeding citation, or the extra times you must visit the gas station, or the real time sucker of being in a fatal accident). It may even be inconvenient to drive slower. And it is safer.

 

If she were that lazy, she'd already be doing it. It takes less pressure on the pedal to go 55 than 70.

 

The thing with I-5 is that it is one of the few roads it seems where the left lane is actually used as a passing lane, really surprising because it's only 2 lanes a lot of the way. As such doesn't matter how slow you're going, someone wants to pass, zip over the the left lane, pass, then remerge to the right.

 

As you point out - if everybody drove intelligently like this, we don't have any "too slow to be safe" issues. Man, in Europe (my exeperience here is specifically in Germany and Italy) they have some 20 HP rattle traps barely making it against the wind in the right lane, and then somebody will blow by in the left lane going better than 100 mph. Do the slow vehicles get in more accidents than the fast ones? Not by a long shot. Everybody has their place, and they know how to use it appropriately.... for the most part.

 

thanks for the level-headed reply.

i could take it a step further and say that it's noones business how i use my petro-diesel or gasonline.

i mean when you're not hurting anyone people should be able to do whatever they want within reason, right?

i don't feel ashamed to break some of those commandments, because sometimes i want to drive my big safe truck on long trips and sometimes i don't. it's really up to me and any 'environmentalist' who pushes their agenda on someone and comes across as a snob-on-a-soapbox is really hurting their cause.
i consider myself conservative, but i specialize where i counts- recycling everything, work with a timber company to replant trees and remove old growth, and purchase from renewable utility companies.
i'm also in the boat that global-warming is man-made. but just one man----Al Gore.

i need to do a little post-whoring so i can post in the politics section, i've got a bone to pick