In my experience (one summer working there). Walmart has detailed (product level sales figures) for each department manager who handles their own daily ordering. They can rely on the historic figures (bun sales were up 300% for memorial day weekend) but the ordering is done every day by the department manager (when I was there ~1999 it was on an old green screen terminal). The order is delivered each day (night) from the warehouse who I presume does similar ordering. The company had a computer room in each store filled with wireless equipment (for those pricing guns) and IBM hardware. AFAIK they have the worlds largest commercial database* which I believe is a DB2 install on IBM hardware and storage. The credit card databases might be larger and more complex and Oracle runs those (according to Larry).
I have no idea about testing product display and location policies, I was a simple cashier, but Wal~Mart put a ton of dependance on their distributed managment teams (compared to other retailers who ship product by regional fiat).
I can't imagine that HP does any significant R&D on their PC lines. The R&D is spent on HP's severs, software, storage (Dell pays EMC a license that for their R&D), and printers. Let's face it there isn't a whole lot of R&D to be done on a PC. It's mostly picking supplier products (a few interns with an internet connection) and doing some testing for product configuration concerns (This could be an area where HP outspends Dell). If Dell begins selling products in the proprietary server, software, or storage markets, beyond just reselling other company's products (moving R&D expenses to CoGS expenses) they will have to have a similar level of R&D investment.
The whole working capital (and information delay from an indirect channel structure) is a much more fundamental problem for HP's PC divisions. I think the lack of information might be even more valuable than the use of the cash for 40 days. Dell knows in an hour if their RAM promotion was successful in driving up PC unit demand (HP has to wait considerably longer).
Just as Dell has always done they lower the price a bit and make someone else carry the inventory. They usually ship carts in packs of two, and their software alerts you (and prepares the order form) for delivery by the time the ink likely to be gone.
AFAIK, the patent life has been 17 years (except in drug patenting which is different and serves to ensure that drug lawyers will never starve) since the days of the founding fathers. Not that 17 years is anything other than someone's SWAG as to how long an innovator should recieve a monopoly from the government.
HP makes the vast majority of that 80% of those earnings figures from consumer ink. Laser toner is a part of that but the margins aren't as good (there is a thriving recycled toner market for HP printers). Unless Dell buys out Lexmark (or buys a smaller printer company) don't expect them to begin lowering the price of ink. They pretty much have to take the pricing offered by Lexmark at this time. They bring a supurb distribution chain to the partnership, but that's about all.
There was also considerable innovation by Japanese auto makers in the field of manufacturing technology. Much of the groundwork behind today's JIT inventory systems was put into place by the Japanese (partially because they couldn't afford much inventory a weakness at the time).
Rule of thumb is 1kw strikes each square meter of the earth's surface. My estimate for home size in the US is 2000 sq ft (~200 m^2) which could generate 200 kw of power (at 100% efficency) at current effeciencies it's more like 40-60 kw. This is usually enough to cover a home's needs (~600kWhrs per day) but you have to have a good method of storage and either convert your electrical equipment to run of DC power or use a lossy inverter. However designing homes with some thought to air currents and fans (rather than air conditioning) and using suplimental solar heat to preheat your water heater would put a dent in our energy usage. That's not really the problem though (we have plenty of coal) it's finding a good fuel that can be burned in small engines and safely carried in quateties small enough to allow individual transportation (which gas is really good at but other fuels are much more expensive or not as good at).
I have no problem with an SUV's mileage, I'd be a hypocrite since my hopeful future car is an M5 (around 12 mpg the other dream cars are worse, except the NSX) but I've never really seen anything interesting design wise from most SUVs (excepting the first Caddys and that Santa Fe). Of course now the CTS has the same sharp styling of the SUV. I've never thought that they carry the same panache (or have the brand names) of other $30-$50k+ cars.
Keep in mind that by and large everyone in the US is allowed to drive at 16 (there isn't much of a screening process), and you usually can continue driving even after you have several drunk driving convitions under your belt. As a result the US requires considerably more safety equipment than a comparable European car (because were a whole lot more likely to be involved in an accident). Also we put a bunch of unburnt fuel recollection equipment on cars becuase of several region's air flow issues. All of these add weight and use engine power. It's not uncommon to lose 10%-20% efficiency moving from EU to US versions of many cars.
Unfortunately with a few exceptions, it is nearly impossible to survive it in the US without access to auto transportation (as our society has developed around it), so it will take tremendous investments to be able to have a market similar to the European one. For more info check out the recent article on going autoless.
In the oil market, even the economists (who love simplicity more than engineers) have to begin to look at inelasticities over time periods. Look at the oil shocks in the 70s and then follow the rise of Japanese (a proxy for smaller and more efficent cars) in the years following that. Also keep in mind that the ideal cartel strategy is to prevent prices from rising to a level where either consumers become rapidly more efficient or E&P picks up signficiantly (after that fixed costs become sunk costs). The oil market is interesting mostly because it's highly inelastic in the short term (I can't drill a well or buy a new car (or factory)next week to take advantage of gas prices), but very elastic in the long term (I can do both in the next 5 years).
You are exactly correct in your final statement, and there are a host of tradeoffs an oil producer must make between pumping faster vs pumping longer. You can run a well at many pumping speeds but you reduce your overall yield from the well if you deviate from the ideal pumping level. A simple case is drinking a slushee if you slurp quickly you exhaust all the flavor from an area (and get less flavor than if you slurp slowly over a period of time. Unlike your slushy you can't pull your straw and resink it or stir the mixture around in an oil field (I always thought that presented an interesting mental picture).
I got some wierd square boxes, think like a milk crate without holes but with a door. I got a bunch of smaller cardboard boxes and classified my computer equipment by type, ide & scsi cables in one box, mice and perhiprials in another, PCI cards (in static wrap in another. Works pretty well, but my collection is pretty small. Some friends did something similar with their linen closets.
The big one is that it takes a long time to be able to lay people off. As a result most companies don't hire until they know for certain that they can sustain the extra production a new hire will produce for a very long time. Go check out unemployment (especially among young people in France or Germany. Once you get a job your set, but that first step cna be a doosy.
If you want to learn more about the Randian philisophy, you should read Ayn Rand. Her magnum opus is Atlas Shrugged, however, most people (even those who agree with her) don't make it through the 60+ page manefesto near the end. Her writing style is most unique as well. The Fountainhead is another book by her. Her philiosiphy is a varient of libertarianism that focuses on the individual. As such her philisophy differs from libertarianism by being much more utilitarian than most bents of libertarianism. One could fit a person's value being signficnatly more than things into most libertarian views, while her rationalism places only the value of a person fitting their output. Even though I'd put myself squarely in the libertarian camp, I didn't particularly care for her work. Although part of that could have been her rejection of nearly all istitutions regardless of their use. I will grant her that growing up in Soviet Russia is likely going to have such an effect on a future libertarian.
My own firm belief is that we should assign resposibities to the governement that they can carry out more effeciently than we can individually. (More susinctly the only function of government is to reduce transaction costs). As technology changes those transaction costs government should step out of the way. It's a nice correlary ot Coase's law government should expand to the point it is producing goods that cannot be accomplished by market negotiations. Odd how that works Coase's therum in as well. That guy was freaking brilliant. If I could offer one bit of advice to this year's crop of graduates it would be to understand "The Nature of a Firm" and "The Problem of Social Costs."
There are a few hot water suppliments. AFAIK they connect in line prior to the hot water tank (bringing warm to hot water to the inlet of the tank. The devices I've seen around here appear to be about 10-20 yrs old and are about 6 ft tall and 2 ft wide, but most houses have two. This isn't the worlds greatest link but it gives you an idea of the size required.
If your building it could also suppliment a radiant heat system (hot water through the floor material). Radiant heat means that your floor is always warm and the heat rises to the rest of the house. Most are currently powered by waste oil or gas.
I live in Montana (after growing up in Washington. Both Albertsons and Safeway fly in the boat frozen fish that is usually at least decent (it's nowhere near as good as what you get on the coast, but it has improved immensly from when I was a child. You do have to look around a bit but pricing is usually near that of beefsteaks.
One fish that most landlubbers will generally enjoy is Mahi Mahi. It's pretty rich for fish and has a really neutral flavor (like chicken of course) it's a pretty easy transition fish. Once you get someone to learn that fish doesn't have to mean fishsticks they will usually begin to try a more diverse fish diet. Salmon is wonderful, but quite strong. Try baking it with strong flavored sauces rather than grilling it, at first. My favorite is 1/2 cup of white wine, brown sugar, lemon juice, and soy sauce. Bake the the fish uncovered in the sauce and spoon some sauce over the flilet a few times before it's done. You could season it with your choice of spices (possible addtions are ginger, corriander, dill, or cumin) . If you wish reduce some of the sauce (perhaps with cream). I enjoy it with aspergus or green beans, mashed potatoes, and a nice salad.
Is uncooked really that important? I really like steammed veggies. I usually eat carrots, onions (are those really a vegetable), salad greens (spring mix usually), radishes, and celery raw. Your corn and beans and other mixed veges get steamed, nuked, or stir fried. I'll second eating more veggies. I started eating somthing green with every meal (breakfast is yogurt) and lost a healthy amount of weight. I don't own a scale but I was beginning to not fit in my 38" pants be tight and now I fit in 32" pants. Oh and eat more fish. The good ones halabit, salmon, tuna (ahi or yellowfin), and swordfish are quite similar to steak. Mahi Mahi (dolphin fish or something else in Mexico), cod, sea bass, and Talupa (Chilean sea bass?) are more like chicken or turkey. Saute them in some olive oil lime white wine and spices and you will end up with a pretty delicious dish.
This isn't jet were talking about. It is addictive but if you have a cup occasionally it's not gonna kill you. Best way to tell you have built up tolerance (and should stop for a while) don't have coffee one weekend if you get a headache, stop.
So are Tropicana and Aqua Fina. Dasani and MinuteMaid are owned by Coke. I might have the water brands swapped. If it's non-alchaholic, national, and liquid. You should probably assume that one of the two owns it. Jones Cola and Snapple (was owned by Quaker Oats, but they sold it to someone else a bit ago. CadburrySchwepps is another exception (they own DrPepper/7Up.
I've often wondered why we don't use more focused light to heat water for power generation. I've seen lots of water heating supliment systems, but never seen one that had a parabolic mirror focusing several inches (many centimeters) of light on the pipe. It seems like this would be much easier to impliment than semiconductor arrays (you also have the benefit of generating 60Hz AC power rather than DC. Seems like people could spend a few thousand on a system like this and generate a decent portion of their power needs. How much could a steam turbine and several hundred feet of pipe and silver paint cost? In commercial solar generation they use something similar to melt salt which is later used to heat water as electric demand rises.
If you follow the sun perfectly you could figure on about 1 kW of light (cheesy rule of thumb) hitting your turbine. Assume 30% efficiency and you have 300W of electric power generated for an average of 12 hrs per sunny day. Three light bulbs (or 6-8 florescents) or one fully loaded computer (300 W power supply, no electric heat, iron, or oven. Oh and you'll need a capacitor bank to handle your inductive load when motors start. Go grab your power bill and see how many kW/hrs you use in a month and then figure out how many fresnel lens/turbine array's you would need to achive that power. Storage would be a mofo, although you might be able to sell it into the grid in your area.
I think the bigger subsides are related to single family dwelling mortgage subsidies (which encourage homeownership outside the cities). Most of the military expenditures occured during the cold war, when it was necessary to keep us all from speaking Russian, the stability in oil producing states was a fringe benefit. Oil companies with holdings in the US, Canada, and the North Sea would benefit from a collapse in the Middle East as their oil would become much, much more valuable. Some companies with production or distribution in the Middle East would be hurt. Most of the production in OPEC nations is done by state owned oil companies, who may contract our companies to extract and ship the oil, but their privately owned western reserves are where they really make money when prices rise. Exxon has about 46,000 wells (34,000 are here in the US). If the Saudi's implode the oil at the bottom of those wells is worth say twice as much and XOM makes significantly higher margins on the oil extracted. The stable countries benefit those of us consumers (and provide a stable market for producers). Housing subsides (devoted to increasing single family structures have probably done more to enrich the oil companies (both here and abroad).
Vote for the high speed train next time it comes up on the ballot? Seattle is one of the cities that is exceedingly difficult to survive in without a car (and pretty aggrivating to drive in, as well). Perhaps you could get your company to move to the east side of the state, your fringe benefit is that the moss between your toes will dry up. They all seem to be quite willing to open up all sorts of tax breaks to bring in new companies. Genie is a good example of a company that went from Kirkland or Kent to Moses Lake and is quite pleased with the move from what I can tell. BTW how did you score such cheap rent?
Culturally, and geographically the US is quite different than most regions. Partly because we developed infastructure later than most of the developed world, and partly due to the high value we placed on individual freedom and risk. We prefer single family dwellings (freedom over our home and property), and our transportation habits (freedom to go wherever we wish. As a result the US has invested heavily in housing outside the cities (Phoenix is an extreme example of how our cities look. We have also developed signficant infastructure to support these individual travel modes. We have a huge and complex highway system while our rail infastructure is largely used to transport bulk cargo. Other than a few cities on the coasts our population density is not large enough for even heavily subsidized mass transportation to be feasible at the present time. Cities such as Boston, New York, and San Francisco (as well as Washington DC but for different reasons) did not have enough space to support the same individualized transit system and have developed a more global level of mass transit infacstructure. Washington simply spends gigantic sums of federal money on both. The rest of the country has been built around transportation by auto and it would take considerable change to reshape that infastructure. The change would have to occur on many levels (taxation and credits), investments in infastructure, culturally, and likely a few additonal ways. In short unless we hit $100/barrel of oil price don't expect it anytime soon.
The B-W corridor was one of the few places in the country that I would seriously consider living carless (Manhatten and San Fran are two others). I was amazed at the rail and subway infastructure there, but then I'm a hick from the west (trains are for cargo not people here.
Slashdot Mirror
In my experience (one summer working there). Walmart has detailed (product level sales figures) for each department manager who handles their own daily ordering. They can rely on the historic figures (bun sales were up 300% for memorial day weekend) but the ordering is done every day by the department manager (when I was there ~1999 it was on an old green screen terminal). The order is delivered each day (night) from the warehouse who I presume does similar ordering. The company had a computer room in each store filled with wireless equipment (for those pricing guns) and IBM hardware. AFAIK they have the worlds largest commercial database* which I believe is a DB2 install on IBM hardware and storage. The credit card databases might be larger and more complex and Oracle runs those (according to Larry). I have no idea about testing product display and location policies, I was a simple cashier, but Wal~Mart put a ton of dependance on their distributed managment teams (compared to other retailers who ship product by regional fiat).
I can't imagine that HP does any significant R&D on their PC lines. The R&D is spent on HP's severs, software, storage (Dell pays EMC a license that for their R&D), and printers. Let's face it there isn't a whole lot of R&D to be done on a PC. It's mostly picking supplier products (a few interns with an internet connection) and doing some testing for product configuration concerns (This could be an area where HP outspends Dell). If Dell begins selling products in the proprietary server, software, or storage markets, beyond just reselling other company's products (moving R&D expenses to CoGS expenses) they will have to have a similar level of R&D investment.
The whole working capital (and information delay from an indirect channel structure) is a much more fundamental problem for HP's PC divisions. I think the lack of information might be even more valuable than the use of the cash for 40 days. Dell knows in an hour if their RAM promotion was successful in driving up PC unit demand (HP has to wait considerably longer).
Just as Dell has always done they lower the price a bit and make someone else carry the inventory. They usually ship carts in packs of two, and their software alerts you (and prepares the order form) for delivery by the time the ink likely to be gone.
AFAIK, the patent life has been 17 years (except in drug patenting which is different and serves to ensure that drug lawyers will never starve) since the days of the founding fathers. Not that 17 years is anything other than someone's SWAG as to how long an innovator should recieve a monopoly from the government.
HP makes the vast majority of that 80% of those earnings figures from consumer ink. Laser toner is a part of that but the margins aren't as good (there is a thriving recycled toner market for HP printers). Unless Dell buys out Lexmark (or buys a smaller printer company) don't expect them to begin lowering the price of ink. They pretty much have to take the pricing offered by Lexmark at this time. They bring a supurb distribution chain to the partnership, but that's about all.
There was also considerable innovation by Japanese auto makers in the field of manufacturing technology. Much of the groundwork behind today's JIT inventory systems was put into place by the Japanese (partially because they couldn't afford much inventory a weakness at the time).
Rule of thumb is 1kw strikes each square meter of the earth's surface. My estimate for home size in the US is 2000 sq ft (~200 m^2) which could generate 200 kw of power (at 100% efficency) at current effeciencies it's more like 40-60 kw. This is usually enough to cover a home's needs (~600kWhrs per day) but you have to have a good method of storage and either convert your electrical equipment to run of DC power or use a lossy inverter. However designing homes with some thought to air currents and fans (rather than air conditioning) and using suplimental solar heat to preheat your water heater would put a dent in our energy usage. That's not really the problem though (we have plenty of coal) it's finding a good fuel that can be burned in small engines and safely carried in quateties small enough to allow individual transportation (which gas is really good at but other fuels are much more expensive or not as good at).
I have no problem with an SUV's mileage, I'd be a hypocrite since my hopeful future car is an M5 (around 12 mpg the other dream cars are worse, except the NSX) but I've never really seen anything interesting design wise from most SUVs (excepting the first Caddys and that Santa Fe). Of course now the CTS has the same sharp styling of the SUV. I've never thought that they carry the same panache (or have the brand names) of other $30-$50k+ cars.
Keep in mind that by and large everyone in the US is allowed to drive at 16 (there isn't much of a screening process), and you usually can continue driving even after you have several drunk driving convitions under your belt. As a result the US requires considerably more safety equipment than a comparable European car (because were a whole lot more likely to be involved in an accident). Also we put a bunch of unburnt fuel recollection equipment on cars becuase of several region's air flow issues. All of these add weight and use engine power. It's not uncommon to lose 10%-20% efficiency moving from EU to US versions of many cars.
Unfortunately with a few exceptions, it is nearly impossible to survive it in the US without access to auto transportation (as our society has developed around it), so it will take tremendous investments to be able to have a market similar to the European one. For more info check out the recent article on going autoless.
In the oil market, even the economists (who love simplicity more than engineers) have to begin to look at inelasticities over time periods. Look at the oil shocks in the 70s and then follow the rise of Japanese (a proxy for smaller and more efficent cars) in the years following that. Also keep in mind that the ideal cartel strategy is to prevent prices from rising to a level where either consumers become rapidly more efficient or E&P picks up signficiantly (after that fixed costs become sunk costs). The oil market is interesting mostly because it's highly inelastic in the short term (I can't drill a well or buy a new car (or factory)next week to take advantage of gas prices), but very elastic in the long term (I can do both in the next 5 years).
You are exactly correct in your final statement, and there are a host of tradeoffs an oil producer must make between pumping faster vs pumping longer. You can run a well at many pumping speeds but you reduce your overall yield from the well if you deviate from the ideal pumping level. A simple case is drinking a slushee if you slurp quickly you exhaust all the flavor from an area (and get less flavor than if you slurp slowly over a period of time. Unlike your slushy you can't pull your straw and resink it or stir the mixture around in an oil field (I always thought that presented an interesting mental picture).
I got some wierd square boxes, think like a milk crate without holes but with a door. I got a bunch of smaller cardboard boxes and classified my computer equipment by type, ide & scsi cables in one box, mice and perhiprials in another, PCI cards (in static wrap in another. Works pretty well, but my collection is pretty small. Some friends did something similar with their linen closets.
The big one is that it takes a long time to be able to lay people off. As a result most companies don't hire until they know for certain that they can sustain the extra production a new hire will produce for a very long time. Go check out unemployment (especially among young people in France or Germany. Once you get a job your set, but that first step cna be a doosy.
If you want to learn more about the Randian philisophy, you should read Ayn Rand. Her magnum opus is Atlas Shrugged, however, most people (even those who agree with her) don't make it through the 60+ page manefesto near the end. Her writing style is most unique as well. The Fountainhead is another book by her. Her philiosiphy is a varient of libertarianism that focuses on the individual. As such her philisophy differs from libertarianism by being much more utilitarian than most bents of libertarianism. One could fit a person's value being signficnatly more than things into most libertarian views, while her rationalism places only the value of a person fitting their output. Even though I'd put myself squarely in the libertarian camp, I didn't particularly care for her work. Although part of that could have been her rejection of nearly all istitutions regardless of their use. I will grant her that growing up in Soviet Russia is likely going to have such an effect on a future libertarian.
My own firm belief is that we should assign resposibities to the governement that they can carry out more effeciently than we can individually. (More susinctly the only function of government is to reduce transaction costs). As technology changes those transaction costs government should step out of the way. It's a nice correlary ot Coase's law government should expand to the point it is producing goods that cannot be accomplished by market negotiations. Odd how that works Coase's therum in as well. That guy was freaking brilliant. If I could offer one bit of advice to this year's crop of graduates it would be to understand "The Nature of a Firm" and "The Problem of Social Costs."
There are a few hot water suppliments. AFAIK they connect in line prior to the hot water tank (bringing warm to hot water to the inlet of the tank. The devices I've seen around here appear to be about 10-20 yrs old and are about 6 ft tall and 2 ft wide, but most houses have two. This isn't the worlds greatest link but it gives you an idea of the size required.
If your building it could also suppliment a radiant heat system (hot water through the floor material). Radiant heat means that your floor is always warm and the heat rises to the rest of the house. Most are currently powered by waste oil or gas.
I live in Montana (after growing up in Washington. Both Albertsons and Safeway fly in the boat frozen fish that is usually at least decent (it's nowhere near as good as what you get on the coast, but it has improved immensly from when I was a child. You do have to look around a bit but pricing is usually near that of beefsteaks.
One fish that most landlubbers will generally enjoy is Mahi Mahi. It's pretty rich for fish and has a really neutral flavor (like chicken of course) it's a pretty easy transition fish. Once you get someone to learn that fish doesn't have to mean fishsticks they will usually begin to try a more diverse fish diet. Salmon is wonderful, but quite strong. Try baking it with strong flavored sauces rather than grilling it, at first. My favorite is 1/2 cup of white wine, brown sugar, lemon juice, and soy sauce. Bake the the fish uncovered in the sauce and spoon some sauce over the flilet a few times before it's done. You could season it with your choice of spices (possible addtions are ginger, corriander, dill, or cumin) . If you wish reduce some of the sauce (perhaps with cream). I enjoy it with aspergus or green beans, mashed potatoes, and a nice salad.
Is uncooked really that important? I really like steammed veggies. I usually eat carrots, onions (are those really a vegetable), salad greens (spring mix usually), radishes, and celery raw. Your corn and beans and other mixed veges get steamed, nuked, or stir fried. I'll second eating more veggies. I started eating somthing green with every meal (breakfast is yogurt) and lost a healthy amount of weight. I don't own a scale but I was beginning to not fit in my 38" pants be tight and now I fit in 32" pants. Oh and eat more fish. The good ones halabit, salmon, tuna (ahi or yellowfin), and swordfish are quite similar to steak. Mahi Mahi (dolphin fish or something else in Mexico), cod, sea bass, and Talupa (Chilean sea bass?) are more like chicken or turkey. Saute them in some olive oil lime white wine and spices and you will end up with a pretty delicious dish.
This isn't jet were talking about. It is addictive but if you have a cup occasionally it's not gonna kill you. Best way to tell you have built up tolerance (and should stop for a while) don't have coffee one weekend if you get a headache, stop.
So are Tropicana and Aqua Fina. Dasani and MinuteMaid are owned by Coke. I might have the water brands swapped. If it's non-alchaholic, national, and liquid. You should probably assume that one of the two owns it. Jones Cola and Snapple (was owned by Quaker Oats, but they sold it to someone else a bit ago. CadburrySchwepps is another exception (they own DrPepper/7Up.
I've often wondered why we don't use more focused light to heat water for power generation. I've seen lots of water heating supliment systems, but never seen one that had a parabolic mirror focusing several inches (many centimeters) of light on the pipe. It seems like this would be much easier to impliment than semiconductor arrays (you also have the benefit of generating 60Hz AC power rather than DC. Seems like people could spend a few thousand on a system like this and generate a decent portion of their power needs. How much could a steam turbine and several hundred feet of pipe and silver paint cost? In commercial solar generation they use something similar to melt salt which is later used to heat water as electric demand rises.
If you follow the sun perfectly you could figure on about 1 kW of light (cheesy rule of thumb) hitting your turbine. Assume 30% efficiency and you have 300W of electric power generated for an average of 12 hrs per sunny day. Three light bulbs (or 6-8 florescents) or one fully loaded computer (300 W power supply, no electric heat, iron, or oven. Oh and you'll need a capacitor bank to handle your inductive load when motors start. Go grab your power bill and see how many kW/hrs you use in a month and then figure out how many fresnel lens/turbine array's you would need to achive that power. Storage would be a mofo, although you might be able to sell it into the grid in your area.
I think the bigger subsides are related to single family dwelling mortgage subsidies (which encourage homeownership outside the cities). Most of the military expenditures occured during the cold war, when it was necessary to keep us all from speaking Russian, the stability in oil producing states was a fringe benefit. Oil companies with holdings in the US, Canada, and the North Sea would benefit from a collapse in the Middle East as their oil would become much, much more valuable. Some companies with production or distribution in the Middle East would be hurt. Most of the production in OPEC nations is done by state owned oil companies, who may contract our companies to extract and ship the oil, but their privately owned western reserves are where they really make money when prices rise. Exxon has about 46,000 wells (34,000 are here in the US). If the Saudi's implode the oil at the bottom of those wells is worth say twice as much and XOM makes significantly higher margins on the oil extracted. The stable countries benefit those of us consumers (and provide a stable market for producers). Housing subsides (devoted to increasing single family structures have probably done more to enrich the oil companies (both here and abroad).
Vote for the high speed train next time it comes up on the ballot? Seattle is one of the cities that is exceedingly difficult to survive in without a car (and pretty aggrivating to drive in, as well). Perhaps you could get your company to move to the east side of the state, your fringe benefit is that the moss between your toes will dry up. They all seem to be quite willing to open up all sorts of tax breaks to bring in new companies. Genie is a good example of a company that went from Kirkland or Kent to Moses Lake and is quite pleased with the move from what I can tell. BTW how did you score such cheap rent?
Culturally, and geographically the US is quite different than most regions. Partly because we developed infastructure later than most of the developed world, and partly due to the high value we placed on individual freedom and risk. We prefer single family dwellings (freedom over our home and property), and our transportation habits (freedom to go wherever we wish. As a result the US has invested heavily in housing outside the cities (Phoenix is an extreme example of how our cities look. We have also developed signficant infastructure to support these individual travel modes. We have a huge and complex highway system while our rail infastructure is largely used to transport bulk cargo. Other than a few cities on the coasts our population density is not large enough for even heavily subsidized mass transportation to be feasible at the present time. Cities such as Boston, New York, and San Francisco (as well as Washington DC but for different reasons) did not have enough space to support the same individualized transit system and have developed a more global level of mass transit infacstructure. Washington simply spends gigantic sums of federal money on both. The rest of the country has been built around transportation by auto and it would take considerable change to reshape that infastructure. The change would have to occur on many levels (taxation and credits), investments in infastructure, culturally, and likely a few additonal ways. In short unless we hit $100/barrel of oil price don't expect it anytime soon.
The B-W corridor was one of the few places in the country that I would seriously consider living carless (Manhatten and San Fran are two others). I was amazed at the rail and subway infastructure there, but then I'm a hick from the west (trains are for cargo not people here.