A hybrid system. Do the same thing we do at our self-checkout line, there are 2 opposing sections of 3 kiosks facing eachother across open space. One line forms (usually), and the next-in-line goes left or right depending on what register is open.
R| |R R| |R R| |R
So, at a Costco, have 2 registers face eacher (conveyor belts across from each other in a space 2.5 carts wide) and use those line seperators airports and banks use to make a one cart wide line leading to both (this needs to be no longer than a few feet). Then a person can choose which line to join, and then can choose whether to go left or right -- probably as they see one or the other side paying sucessfully.
Alternatively, at my Ikea, there are two registers, one right behind the other. So when a single line forms, the guy ahead of it can skip to the front register if free or it looks to be free. Same system as I described, basically.
People still can make a choice (while forced queing would piss them off even if faster), get some of the benefits of a faster line if some grandma decides to pay with a check, and won't have any of the other hassles you describe like a massive, single long line.
Because some people recognize that once we go completely electronic, that the government will have you by the balls. Kiss any semblance of a free country goodbye.
Being a Restaurateur in Germany used to be a fairly lucrative thing, even for a mom and pop operation - especially for a small operation. But fairly recently, if you operate a restaurant there, you have to have you cash register hooked up right to their version of the IRS. Automatic transfers taxes too and the like.
Usually economies run well if the government tolerates a small amount of black market activity. The tighter grip they exert, the less productivity there is.
And I would say that it's even worse when you can't type your question. Too many people know my mother's maiden name, my first car, my high school -- and I assume much of this information can be had publicly as well. If I were to imagine trying to get this information on someone, I'd just call them or their family, pretend to be some High School Reunion Committee, and say "We are celebrating the class of 1987 at Shrub High" and they'd probably go "Oh no, I'm graduated in 1992 at Rose Garden High". Then reply "Oh really? I guess you're the wrong Joe Blow, I'm sorry for your trouble, thanks bye."
Multiple attack vectors over one secure password, ridiculous. I think GMail at least does the semi-sane thing and instead of security questions, uses a phone number to verify you if you would ever lose your password.
And that's what is needed, identity verification if the password fails. Not a cheap way to do that in an automated and very dumb way.
There was, also for years, really dumb advice such as to never write a password down. That is unrealistic given the number of passwords someone needs to know today and leads to using the same password again and again. Now, you don't have to write it unencrypted, you could use Rot13 or, even better, some other code of your devising -- but it's better than keeping all this in your head in this day and age.
And it certainly took Apple more than enough iterations for them to finally hit on a winning formula. I mean, Apple TV has been around since 2006.... although it may be the $99 price point now...
The older I get, however, I don't want devices that just work great. I want less. Of everything. Today, in media overload, I find it a relief to have the TV off (thinking of getting rid of all service altogether and using the screen to watch Redbox, maybe Netflix). I listen to some music, but never the radio. Even Pandora gets on my nerves -- it seems to play the same thing over and over again even if I thumbs up 3 different songs a day, it keeps coming back to my seed. I enjoy media, and while Apple becoming a media empire has pros and cons, I don't want media to encompass my life or be the limit of my experiences.
It is not over the top. For the volume of mail, the costs are quite low, and also, for secure mail, you pay for it like "Registered Mail" etcetera. Postal Inspectors keep people honest, and the USPS enables commerce vital to this country.
There was an excellent post in this thread that detailed that the USPS is not losing money, that in reality, the Government has extracted $$$ from it for paying of general Government pensions (just as the Government vacuumed up all of Social Security's extras) and also the Congress holds the keys to any money-saving changes like going to a 5 day delivery week.
The USPS does way more good than harm to our economy. It just needs more autonomy in certain areas.
Hell no. America has an amazingly secure post system. You rarely have mail stolen (an enforced Federal Crime, USPS have Postal Inspectors that are very good at their job and I say this with personal experience). I know privatized systems in other countries -- THEY SUCK. Stolen packages, no accounting (everyone passes the buck, etc) while Postal workers are people THAT will most likely work there next year, with a good benefits, and do care if they lose their job or pension.
Cut some service, close down some unnecessary offices (I know a few miles from each other) and do some other tweaks. But the PO is Constitutionally mandated service, and it's ridiculous to get rid of it when all it needs are tweaks.
Deliver Route 1, deliver Mo-We-Fr on Week 1, and Tu-Th-Sa on Week 2. On Route 2, do the opposite.
One carrier then can take care of 2 routes, cutting the workforce, vehicles, gas, and vehicle maintenance needed quite significantly. Make exceptions only for Express Mail, which is rare to Residential Addresses anyway.
No, only a jury that follows the rules is a fair one. If you have a question or need more clarification on terminology, you ask the judge. The judge then takes responsibility for making sure the information you get is reliable, rather than some shit you found on the internet.
Um, yeah, that's assuming the rules are fair and those administering it are fair. More often than not, they treat juries more and more like caged tourists, to be shepherded around and shown only the correct sites and the real stuff hidden in the background. This applies to jury selection and why judges and prosecute flip out at the phrase "jury nullification" because it shows a modicum of thought independent of the system.
Sometimes, instead of trying to pick out a most sterile jury possible, I wonder if a random selection of the available pool, sort of like/. mod selection, would be preferable. I also have to wonder about jury deliberation though, too much group dynamics and peer pressure... just as an experiment, it would be fun to put two jury boxes of 5 or 7 people on opposite sides of the room -- so the lawyers can't play up their drama as much as if they had a single unified audience and if at the end of the trial, both juries come to the same conclusion, that is the verdict. Different levels of crime would require the simple majority within both juries, some a super majority, and some unanimous.
My concern is if you get a net win in energy. If you do, that's great. If you don't, then it should be scrapped like ethanol should be scrapped and not subsidized simply as a feel good program.
I like what Germany does (perhaps other European countries too) with drinks, slap a deposit on it and any place that sells it must take it back and refund said deposit. None of this recycling center hodgepodge BS. Most drinks are in glass bottles (which I greatly prefer) although unfortunately plastic bottles have been coming in on personal size more and more.
Oh, and since almost all drinks come in plastic crates (also a deposit and reused) when you buy in quantity, including water, applejuice and Coca-Cola and the like, the customer isn't using plastic bags upon plastic bags getting it home, which is a f-ing hassle if you ask me. There are even services through most of the country that bring crates of whatever you want drink-wise to you, they'll come once a week, once a month, or whatever, take the empty bottles in the crates and exchange them. Like milkmen of lore here.
Still, glass rules. Clean and no worries about organic chemistry this or that.
I wish they implemented the pfand system here in the states, not just with water bottles, but with CFLs and fluorescent lights, electronics, batteries and other things - things THAT SHOULD NOT BE THROWN AWAY in the trash, but people rarely do otherwise because it's either an inconvenience or expensive to do it properly. Often, it's expensive to do it properly because it's not done on a massive scale (for instance, it costs me more to recycle my fluorescent tubes than it is to buy them - that ain't right).
Walmart does this with car batteries, charging something like $8 and gives it back when you bring you're old one in. But I don't know if that is voluntary on Walmart's behalf, and limited to my state or other states -- but it's a good system.
I hope they also remove Romeo and Juliet, since they had sex while Juliet was 14, a clear case of kiddie porn.
Exactly. I also hate that the author explaining himself in the way he does - to me that's validating the line of questioning valid. Especially when she says there is no underage incest in her books.
Is "How to Train Your Dragon" then bad because there is underage violence? Or is that good because it was shown in all the theaters? I don't understand.
Fanfiction.net went this way long ago, with authors having to rate their stories using MPAA guidelines. Yes Virginia, they think images on the screen translate into words for purposes of ratings, and had to put an R rating if there was drug use!
WTF is fiction for if not exploring things that can't or shouldn't be explored in real life? Hell, why is a story that explores incest "bad" but when a newspaper reports it, it's okay to let even a 5 year old read? Why can action news report on Fritzl in the afternoon but all those type of storyline wait until after 9 pm?
Sodom and Gomorrah anyone? Why is the bible a good book? Double standards are littering the landscape, and in each and every instance, it comes PC police with too much time on their hands.
Personally, I would never buy this device that deigns to control my library. It's on there, you don't touch it. I don't care if the company thinks it's malware, copyright infringed, or for the children - delivery of books should be ONE WAY. Amazon should no more take digital books away than breaking into houses and stealing physical copies.
As long as the development of said supergun is in the US, you are doing it right.
Problem starts when mass production starts ordering equipment overseas - development and production of military equipment = jobs which help the economy, where ever it takes place, trick is to make sure you build it in your own garden.
Really, is that the depth of your economic thinking, whoever has the biggest guns rules? I'm pretty sure the Soviet Union never outsourced the production of its weapons either.
If it happens once, forgiveness is certainly acceptable...
Why do so many people say that? In essence you're saying once is okay.
I've dumped women over once. I have no regrets, I hold myself to the same standard. It's certainly not hard to adhere to unless you're actively looking.
If they do it once, it already shows a lack of respect and you're always left wondering. Screw that. I'm not that open-minded or forgiveness oriented.
I suspect the shelf will just bend and break. The outlets are usually very sturdy (obnoxiously so) and usually attached to a stud. The shelf is weak, in comparison.
Plus he wouldn't even have the chemical knowhow to analyze it in the first place. And if you're really unlucky, he'll just keep asking for that "special orange juice" after that.
'One disheartening result was that our package received more abuse when marked "Fragile" or "This Side Up."
was absolutely no surprise to me. Especially after seeing on youtube how some FedEx/UPS people handle normal packages, I can only expect that "Fragile" is a red flag to certain people who take a special sadistic delight in destroying stuff.
I have had hundreds of packages the last years, but the only one was beaten up was marked fragile. Luckily, the photographic lamps survived inside, but it was as if someone took a sledgehammer to it, it was that bashed in. Nothing else ever came close.
If you want something to survive shipping, don't make the package stand out in any special way, and secure the items correctly. Porcelain, glass, delicate figurines can all survive shipping, but only with proper packaging (sometimes a box in a box helps a lot if it's valuable enough) but don't rely on any shipping service to ever be delicate with it!
Thanks for the link--that's really cool! I never knew that hybrids even existed in 1899, probably because they were too expensive and bulky to mass-produce. So I think my point is still valid, but it's amazing what people did back then.
No problem, I was researching how to respond your point when I stumbled upon it and learned something new myself. Incidentally, Porsche also made a series hybrid tank during WW2 as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elefant
And yeah, I agree, the batteries were piss poor back then. Probably what they'll say 100 years from now about this era as well.
(1) Railway locomotives don't use electric transmissions because they're efficient. They use them because it is physically impossible (or at least impractical) to build a 44,000 hp mechanical transmission into a moving vehicle.
I always understood that they use it because due to the weight of a whole train, it's next to impossible to build a transmission for the diesel.
Electrical motors can exert near max torque at 0 rpm, gas/diesel engines can't.
(2) Until recently the size, cost and efficiency of electric transmissions (including motors, generators, and control electronics) have made it impractical to include all of them plus a gas engine in vehicles much smaller than railway locomotives.
How about people do some research first? Caveat Emptor.
I was going to suggest a star system. But any rating system can be gamed, by the web site itself or its competitors.
Also, instead of searching the lowest possible price, find a reasonable one from a known and trustworthy vendor. I have little sympathy for the low dollar hounds that then scream about bad customer service.
OTOH, that's not a criticism of the lady here, she obviously paid money for her glasses and just got stuck with an abusive lying ass. Which goes back to Caveat Emptor.
Having said that, I don't know if you're accurate in your prediction of default. The US is a big train and there's still a window for improvement of US government finances both in the next two years and in the presidential term after that. Still, if we get another G.W. Bush or Obama, I'd have to consider default in the next ten years a real possibility.
Except our mess very much isn't just the GWBs/Obamas of the US. We're in what, 13T(rillion) of debt right now?
The problem is that the baby boomer generation promised itself SO MUCH, we're going to go bankrupt from entitlements. Social Security is a small part of it. The real meat is Medicare. And that's not all LBJ. For instance, after Bush barred seniors from going to Canada/Mexico to appease the drug industry, he and Ted Kennedy (I think) pushed Medicare Part D to appease the huge senior lobby. This was called the single most financially irresponsible piece of legislation in history and will cost $10 Trillion dollars looking forward. The debacle shows how much the dear leaders here are really for free market, how dare people shop for cheaper drugs!/s
Looking forward, at current tax rates, we'll have a total of $50 Trillion dollar gap between revenue coming in and revenue going out. By 2030, the Federal Government will have little more revenue than to pay entitlements and interest on debt, nothing for it's official functions.
And is this surprising in a country where most government workers (including Army, USPS, many suburban Teachers depending on their local contracts, etc) work 20-25 years and can then retire on half pay and full health insurance the rest of their lives. How many private sector jobs let you start at 18 and quit with by 43? Yeah.
Most of my numbers came from David Walker, former US Comptroller General from 1998 to 2008, America's head accountant, appointed by both parties to various positions. Many of them came before the 2008 disaster although he was warning of a bubble iirc. It's probably worse now.
Anyway, I don't blame politicians except for bending to their constituencies. I blame following our democratic tendencies instead of our republican (small r) one starting with the 17th amendment. The People wanted entitlements, they got them.
I push for this often, but I seriously don't know why the car companies go after the diesel electric model trains use (not to be confused with hybrid where the engine isn't solely there to make electricity but has the added complexity of being coupled to the driveshaft along with the electrical motor). There would be no range issues nor would it stress the electric grid, nor require a ton of costly batteries that will age and need replacing. The savings in gasoline will come from the fact that it will have a really tiny engine (in comparison) running in it's optimum band of power all the time vs a huge engine whose capacity is really only used in hard acceleration and otherwise is overkill the rest of the time. (And no, the engine need not be diesel, it can be gasoline 4 stroke, 2 stroke, stirling, what have you. Really the beauty of the entire concept, the local powerplant is modular.)
This electric only probably won't work too well the first time someone needs to turn the heater on for the entire trip, not to mention people who don't have homes and garages. That seems like a huge segment of people to me to cut out when it's not necessary.
Slashdot Mirror
A hybrid system. Do the same thing we do at our self-checkout line, there are 2 opposing sections of 3 kiosks facing eachother across open space. One line forms (usually), and the next-in-line goes left or right depending on what register is open.
R| |R
R| |R
R| |R
So, at a Costco, have 2 registers face eacher (conveyor belts across from each other in a space 2.5 carts wide) and use those line seperators airports and banks use to make a one cart wide line leading to both (this needs to be no longer than a few feet). Then a person can choose which line to join, and then can choose whether to go left or right -- probably as they see one or the other side paying sucessfully.
Alternatively, at my Ikea, there are two registers, one right behind the other. So when a single line forms, the guy ahead of it can skip to the front register if free or it looks to be free. Same system as I described, basically.
People still can make a choice (while forced queing would piss them off even if faster), get some of the benefits of a faster line if some grandma decides to pay with a check, and won't have any of the other hassles you describe like a massive, single long line.
I have ran into the same problem as well. I'm sure it leads people to write down even more information...
Buying Congress is cheaper and more effective... except perhaps buying a major network to promote or tear down said Congress critters.
Because some people recognize that once we go completely electronic, that the government will have you by the balls. Kiss any semblance of a free country goodbye.
Being a Restaurateur in Germany used to be a fairly lucrative thing, even for a mom and pop operation - especially for a small operation. But fairly recently, if you operate a restaurant there, you have to have you cash register hooked up right to their version of the IRS. Automatic transfers taxes too and the like.
Usually economies run well if the government tolerates a small amount of black market activity. The tighter grip they exert, the less productivity there is.
And I would say that it's even worse when you can't type your question. Too many people know my mother's maiden name, my first car, my high school -- and I assume much of this information can be had publicly as well. If I were to imagine trying to get this information on someone, I'd just call them or their family, pretend to be some High School Reunion Committee, and say "We are celebrating the class of 1987 at Shrub High" and they'd probably go "Oh no, I'm graduated in 1992 at Rose Garden High". Then reply "Oh really? I guess you're the wrong Joe Blow, I'm sorry for your trouble, thanks bye."
Multiple attack vectors over one secure password, ridiculous. I think GMail at least does the semi-sane thing and instead of security questions, uses a phone number to verify you if you would ever lose your password.
And that's what is needed, identity verification if the password fails. Not a cheap way to do that in an automated and very dumb way.
There was, also for years, really dumb advice such as to never write a password down. That is unrealistic given the number of passwords someone needs to know today and leads to using the same password again and again. Now, you don't have to write it unencrypted, you could use Rot13 or, even better, some other code of your devising -- but it's better than keeping all this in your head in this day and age.
And it certainly took Apple more than enough iterations for them to finally hit on a winning formula. I mean, Apple TV has been around since 2006.... although it may be the $99 price point now...
The older I get, however, I don't want devices that just work great. I want less. Of everything. Today, in media overload, I find it a relief to have the TV off (thinking of getting rid of all service altogether and using the screen to watch Redbox, maybe Netflix). I listen to some music, but never the radio. Even Pandora gets on my nerves -- it seems to play the same thing over and over again even if I thumbs up 3 different songs a day, it keeps coming back to my seed. I enjoy media, and while Apple becoming a media empire has pros and cons, I don't want media to encompass my life or be the limit of my experiences.
It is not over the top. For the volume of mail, the costs are quite low, and also, for secure mail, you pay for it like "Registered Mail" etcetera. Postal Inspectors keep people honest, and the USPS enables commerce vital to this country.
There was an excellent post in this thread that detailed that the USPS is not losing money, that in reality, the Government has extracted $$$ from it for paying of general Government pensions (just as the Government vacuumed up all of Social Security's extras) and also the Congress holds the keys to any money-saving changes like going to a 5 day delivery week.
The USPS does way more good than harm to our economy. It just needs more autonomy in certain areas.
Hell no. America has an amazingly secure post system. You rarely have mail stolen (an enforced Federal Crime, USPS have Postal Inspectors that are very good at their job and I say this with personal experience). I know privatized systems in other countries -- THEY SUCK. Stolen packages, no accounting (everyone passes the buck, etc) while Postal workers are people THAT will most likely work there next year, with a good benefits, and do care if they lose their job or pension.
Cut some service, close down some unnecessary offices (I know a few miles from each other) and do some other tweaks. But the PO is Constitutionally mandated service, and it's ridiculous to get rid of it when all it needs are tweaks.
Deliver Route 1, deliver Mo-We-Fr on Week 1, and Tu-Th-Sa on Week 2. On Route 2, do the opposite.
One carrier then can take care of 2 routes, cutting the workforce, vehicles, gas, and vehicle maintenance needed quite significantly. Make exceptions only for Express Mail, which is rare to Residential Addresses anyway.
Um, yeah, that's assuming the rules are fair and those administering it are fair. More often than not, they treat juries more and more like caged tourists, to be shepherded around and shown only the correct sites and the real stuff hidden in the background. This applies to jury selection and why judges and prosecute flip out at the phrase "jury nullification" because it shows a modicum of thought independent of the system.
Sometimes, instead of trying to pick out a most sterile jury possible, I wonder if a random selection of the available pool, sort of like /. mod selection, would be preferable. I also have to wonder about jury deliberation though, too much group dynamics and peer pressure... just as an experiment, it would be fun to put two jury boxes of 5 or 7 people on opposite sides of the room -- so the lawyers can't play up their drama as much as if they had a single unified audience and if at the end of the trial, both juries come to the same conclusion, that is the verdict. Different levels of crime would require the simple majority within both juries, some a super majority, and some unanimous.
My concern is if you get a net win in energy. If you do, that's great. If you don't, then it should be scrapped like ethanol should be scrapped and not subsidized simply as a feel good program.
I like what Germany does (perhaps other European countries too) with drinks, slap a deposit on it and any place that sells it must take it back and refund said deposit. None of this recycling center hodgepodge BS. Most drinks are in glass bottles (which I greatly prefer) although unfortunately plastic bottles have been coming in on personal size more and more.
Oh, and since almost all drinks come in plastic crates (also a deposit and reused) when you buy in quantity, including water, applejuice and Coca-Cola and the like, the customer isn't using plastic bags upon plastic bags getting it home, which is a f-ing hassle if you ask me. There are even services through most of the country that bring crates of whatever you want drink-wise to you, they'll come once a week, once a month, or whatever, take the empty bottles in the crates and exchange them. Like milkmen of lore here.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaschenpfand
or it translated to English (and yes, I realize there is an English wikipedia page on it, but it doesn't cover prices and other details).
Still, glass rules. Clean and no worries about organic chemistry this or that.
I wish they implemented the pfand system here in the states, not just with water bottles, but with CFLs and fluorescent lights, electronics, batteries and other things - things THAT SHOULD NOT BE THROWN AWAY in the trash, but people rarely do otherwise because it's either an inconvenience or expensive to do it properly. Often, it's expensive to do it properly because it's not done on a massive scale (for instance, it costs me more to recycle my fluorescent tubes than it is to buy them - that ain't right).
Walmart does this with car batteries, charging something like $8 and gives it back when you bring you're old one in. But I don't know if that is voluntary on Walmart's behalf, and limited to my state or other states -- but it's a good system.
Exactly. I also hate that the author explaining himself in the way he does - to me that's validating the line of questioning valid. Especially when she says there is no underage incest in her books.
Is "How to Train Your Dragon" then bad because there is underage violence? Or is that good because it was shown in all the theaters? I don't understand.
Fanfiction.net went this way long ago, with authors having to rate their stories using MPAA guidelines. Yes Virginia, they think images on the screen translate into words for purposes of ratings, and had to put an R rating if there was drug use!
WTF is fiction for if not exploring things that can't or shouldn't be explored in real life? Hell, why is a story that explores incest "bad" but when a newspaper reports it, it's okay to let even a 5 year old read? Why can action news report on Fritzl in the afternoon but all those type of storyline wait until after 9 pm?
Sodom and Gomorrah anyone? Why is the bible a good book? Double standards are littering the landscape, and in each and every instance, it comes PC police with too much time on their hands.
Personally, I would never buy this device that deigns to control my library. It's on there, you don't touch it. I don't care if the company thinks it's malware, copyright infringed, or for the children - delivery of books should be ONE WAY. Amazon should no more take digital books away than breaking into houses and stealing physical copies.
How many people buy a simlock free iPhone vs a subsidized one?
Really, is that the depth of your economic thinking, whoever has the biggest guns rules? I'm pretty sure the Soviet Union never outsourced the production of its weapons either.
It's not a diet, once already shows a lack of respect.
Why do so many people say that? In essence you're saying once is okay.
I've dumped women over once. I have no regrets, I hold myself to the same standard. It's certainly not hard to adhere to unless you're actively looking.
If they do it once, it already shows a lack of respect and you're always left wondering. Screw that. I'm not that open-minded or forgiveness oriented.
I suspect the shelf will just bend and break. The outlets are usually very sturdy (obnoxiously so) and usually attached to a stud. The shelf is weak, in comparison.
Plus he wouldn't even have the chemical knowhow to analyze it in the first place. And if you're really unlucky, he'll just keep asking for that "special orange juice" after that.
OTOH, this:
was absolutely no surprise to me. Especially after seeing on youtube how some FedEx/UPS people handle normal packages, I can only expect that "Fragile" is a red flag to certain people who take a special sadistic delight in destroying stuff.
I have had hundreds of packages the last years, but the only one was beaten up was marked fragile. Luckily, the photographic lamps survived inside, but it was as if someone took a sledgehammer to it, it was that bashed in. Nothing else ever came close.
If you want something to survive shipping, don't make the package stand out in any special way, and secure the items correctly. Porcelain, glass, delicate figurines can all survive shipping, but only with proper packaging (sometimes a box in a box helps a lot if it's valuable enough) but don't rely on any shipping service to ever be delicate with it!
No problem, I was researching how to respond your point when I stumbled upon it and learned something new myself. Incidentally, Porsche also made a series hybrid tank during WW2 as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elefant
And yeah, I agree, the batteries were piss poor back then. Probably what they'll say 100 years from now about this era as well.
I always understood that they use it because due to the weight of a whole train, it's next to impossible to build a transmission for the diesel.
Electrical motors can exert near max torque at 0 rpm, gas/diesel engines can't.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohner-Porsche_Mixte_Hybrid
How about people do some research first? Caveat Emptor.
I was going to suggest a star system. But any rating system can be gamed, by the web site itself or its competitors.
Also, instead of searching the lowest possible price, find a reasonable one from a known and trustworthy vendor. I have little sympathy for the low dollar hounds that then scream about bad customer service.
OTOH, that's not a criticism of the lady here, she obviously paid money for her glasses and just got stuck with an abusive lying ass. Which goes back to Caveat Emptor.
Except our mess very much isn't just the GWBs/Obamas of the US. We're in what, 13T(rillion) of debt right now?
The problem is that the baby boomer generation promised itself SO MUCH, we're going to go bankrupt from entitlements. Social Security is a small part of it. The real meat is Medicare. And that's not all LBJ. For instance, after Bush barred seniors from going to Canada/Mexico to appease the drug industry, he and Ted Kennedy (I think) pushed Medicare Part D to appease the huge senior lobby. This was called the single most financially irresponsible piece of legislation in history and will cost $10 Trillion dollars looking forward. The debacle shows how much the dear leaders here are really for free market, how dare people shop for cheaper drugs! /s
Looking forward, at current tax rates, we'll have a total of $50 Trillion dollar gap between revenue coming in and revenue going out. By 2030, the Federal Government will have little more revenue than to pay entitlements and interest on debt, nothing for it's official functions.
And is this surprising in a country where most government workers (including Army, USPS, many suburban Teachers depending on their local contracts, etc) work 20-25 years and can then retire on half pay and full health insurance the rest of their lives. How many private sector jobs let you start at 18 and quit with by 43? Yeah.
Most of my numbers came from David Walker, former US Comptroller General from 1998 to 2008, America's head accountant, appointed by both parties to various positions. Many of them came before the 2008 disaster although he was warning of a bubble iirc. It's probably worse now.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7461407498377956300#
Anyway, I don't blame politicians except for bending to their constituencies. I blame following our democratic tendencies instead of our republican (small r) one starting with the 17th amendment. The People wanted entitlements, they got them.
I push for this often, but I seriously don't know why the car companies go after the diesel electric model trains use (not to be confused with hybrid where the engine isn't solely there to make electricity but has the added complexity of being coupled to the driveshaft along with the electrical motor). There would be no range issues nor would it stress the electric grid, nor require a ton of costly batteries that will age and need replacing. The savings in gasoline will come from the fact that it will have a really tiny engine (in comparison) running in it's optimum band of power all the time vs a huge engine whose capacity is really only used in hard acceleration and otherwise is overkill the rest of the time. (And no, the engine need not be diesel, it can be gasoline 4 stroke, 2 stroke, stirling, what have you. Really the beauty of the entire concept, the local powerplant is modular.)
This electric only probably won't work too well the first time someone needs to turn the heater on for the entire trip, not to mention people who don't have homes and garages. That seems like a huge segment of people to me to cut out when it's not necessary.