home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Xref: sparky sci.environment:9999 sci.physics:11627 sci.energy:3670
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!yale.edu!jvnc.net!rutgers!apple!mumbo.apple.com!apple!apple!ems
- From: ems@Apple.COM (Mike Smith)
- Newsgroups: sci.environment,sci.physics,sci.energy
- Subject: Re: Is car pooling for real? (was Re: Are bikes really less polluting?)
- Message-ID: <28508@goofy.Apple.COM>
- Date: 21 Jul 92 02:36:06 GMT
- References: <23843@castle.ed.ac.uk> <mcam3#+@dixie.com> <23911@castle.ed.ac.uk>
- Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA
- Lines: 49
-
- In article <23911@castle.ed.ac.uk> cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm) writes:
- >In article <mcam3#+@dixie.com> jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond) writes:
- >>cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm) writes:
- >
- >>>That's only a third of the solution -- the technology providing the
- >>>option. Another third is social engineering -- persuading people to
- >>>use it.
- >
- >>NO! That approach absolutely, positively WILL NOT work.
- ...
- >>Over the long term Americans will NOT be coerced
- >
- >Read what I said: I said "social engineering". You seem to think I
- >said "co-ercion".
- ...
- >I certainly could make more sense of some of the postings in this
- >group if I interpreted "social engineering" to mean "forced against my
- >will to my considerable disadvantage." Is that what "social
- >engineering" means in US-speak? If so, what is the proper US-speak
- >term for planning how to co-ordinate resources and needs by means of
- >appropriate pricing?
-
- Free Market Forces. Honestly.
-
- Read 'Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations'. The 'Unseen hand' is alive
- and well and living in America ...
-
- Now, if you want to DISTORT the market to POLITICAL ends, then you
- resort to Social Engineering and other forms of GOVERNMENTAL COERCION. ;-)
-
- This is a bit overstated for the average American, but not far off
- from true for a very significant fraction (40% ish?).
-
- Please don't start flaming me about my lack of social awareness and
- complete ignorance of non-market (externalized) costs ... I've got
- a Bachelors in Econ fer Crissakes ... I can do that stuff in my
- sleep. I'm just reporting on what I perceive as being afoot with
- the common man ... Heck, we elected Reagan AND Bush didn't we? 8-(
-
- The strange thing is that the same folks who see the 'Unseen Hand'
- as being God's gift to America often see nothing wrong with paying $100B
- or so for a B2 bomber prototype and untold more for an S&L bailout ...
- Or bailouts for Lockheed, or Chrysler, or ...
-
- --
- E. Michael Smith ems@apple.COM
-
- "Nothing can keep an argument going like two persons who aren't
- sure what they're arguing about." O.A.Battista
-