And that is exactly what I intend on doing starting next week on days that I don't have to leave work early for an appointment or some other thing. I have discovered that there is a way for me to take the bus to work in Akron. There is an early morning Interurban that stops at the Starbuck's catti-corner from my home that I can take to the new parking lot where old Terrace Hall on the KSU campus used to stand. From there, I can link up with an Akron bound bus that stops catti-corner from work. It stops at the same place after work and will take me back to the Starbuck's near my home, from where I can walk back to my house. Doing this will save me a great deal of money and gas, although it's going to mean having to leave the house ridiculously early in the morning, but I can read my newspaper on the bus instead of having it over coffee and breakfast at home. I'm also a Morning Edition and All Things Considered devotee, which have been my traditional drive time radio listening in the mornings and in the evenings, but I can still take my little Sony Walkman with me to work and listen to NPR on that en route to and from work.
I'm glad that buses are adding routes and times now that the demand for mass transit is growing with the increase in gas prices making it too hard to do a lot of driving. This country still needs to do more work investing in its public transportation infrastructure that was so handily dismantled in the 50's and 60's as cars and suburban developments became more popular. There is virtually no passenger rail service in this part of the country like there once was in the heyday of rubber and steel mills, but there could be again if the willpower existed to make it happen. Oil prices are going nowhere but up, up and away as speculators continue their relentless drive to make more and more money in unregulated markets and transparent trade schemes. Legislators don't have the willpower or the cojones to go after them and there's way too much power anyway with that much money trading hands on Wall Street. And most ordinary folks like me are too jaded, to cynical or just plain out too tired to keep trying to fight Wall Street in favor of Main Street. Candidates make lots of promises that we know darn well they can't keep unless they've got Congress on their side, and most recent Presidencies have been plagued by bitter partisanship between the executive and legislative branches.
At least one good thing about this trend of rapidly escalating gas prices is that it is forcing people to dump their gas hog SUV's, heavy pick-ups and mini-vans in favor of far more gas saving, fuel efficient vehicles. People are also seeking out alternative transportation more, like walking, biking or taking the bus, meaning far fewer cars on the road these days. Probably a good thing for the environment, given the global warming problems we've been having of late. Toyota's problem - and I suppose for them it's a good one, especially for their employees - is that they cannot produce the Prius hybrids fast enough to meet demand. They keep adding shifts to their assembly plants, meaning more good jobs for folks who want to work in manufacturing. They also can't produce their other cars fast enough as well. A co-worker told me today that he was shopping for a Corolla and the dealer had none left on the lot and didn't expect another delivery for a few weeks yet, so Toyota is doing fabulously well right now because they produce extremely reliable and fuel efficient cars, making them easily the Number One car company in the world. If Detroit could take a cue from them and make good American brand cars that could stand up to a Toyota, they wouldn't be in such a deep hole as they've been for years. American car companies are stuck in the 20th century "bigger is better" mentality, and they need to get out of it and promote "smaller is better" if they expect to survive the challenges of the 21st century. There also needs to be some major investment into research and development of alternative and renewable fuels that will free us from the tyranny of foreign oil from countries that have far too good reason to hate us. I'm convinced that with the proper willpower, know-how and the best minds in the country putting their heads together to do so, we can be energy independent in 10 years. We sent a man to the moon and back in less time than that. We can do this again. We
must. Our national security depends on it.
And that is exactly what I intend on doing starting next week on days that I don't have to leave work early for an appointment or some other thing. I have discovered that there is a way for me to take the bus to work in Akron. There is an early morning Interurban that stops at the Starbuck's catti-corner from my home that I can take to the new parking lot where old Terrace Hall on the KSU campus used to stand. From there, I can link up with an Akron bound bus that stops catti-corner from work. It stops at the same place after work and will take me back to the Starbuck's near my home, from where I can walk back to my house. Doing this will save me a great deal of money and gas, although it's going to mean having to leave the house ridiculously early in the morning, but I can read my newspaper on the bus instead of having it over coffee and breakfast at home. I'm also a Morning Edition and All Things Considered devotee, which have been my traditional drive time radio listening in the mornings and in the evenings, but I can still take my little Sony Walkman with me to work and listen to NPR on that en route to and from work.
I'm glad that buses are adding routes and times now that the demand for mass transit is growing with the increase in gas prices making it too hard to do a lot of driving. This country still needs to do more work investing in its public transportation infrastructure that was so handily dismantled in the 50's and 60's as cars and suburban developments became more popular. There is virtually no passenger rail service in this part of the country like there once was in the heyday of rubber and steel mills, but there could be again if the willpower existed to make it happen. Oil prices are going nowhere but up, up and away as speculators continue their relentless drive to make more and more money in unregulated markets and transparent trade schemes. Legislators don't have the willpower or the cojones to go after them and there's way too much power anyway with that much money trading hands on Wall Street. And most ordinary folks like me are too jaded, to cynical or just plain out too tired to keep trying to fight Wall Street in favor of Main Street. Candidates make lots of promises that we know darn well they can't keep unless they've got Congress on their side, and most recent Presidencies have been plagued by bitter partisanship between the executive and legislative branches. 
At least one good thing about this trend of rapidly escalating gas prices is that it is forcing people to dump their gas hog SUV's, heavy pick-ups and mini-vans in favor of far more gas saving, fuel efficient vehicles. People are also seeking out alternative transportation more, like walking, biking or taking the bus, meaning far fewer cars on the road these days. Probably a good thing for the environment, given the global warming problems we've been having of late. Toyota's problem - and I suppose for them it's a good one, especially for their employees - is that they cannot produce the Prius hybrids fast enough to meet demand. They keep adding shifts to their assembly plants, meaning more good jobs for folks who want to work in manufacturing. They also can't produce their other cars fast enough as well. A co-worker told me today that he was shopping for a Corolla and the dealer had none left on the lot and didn't expect another delivery for a few weeks yet, so Toyota is doing fabulously well right now because they produce extremely reliable and fuel efficient cars, making them easily the Number One car company in the world. If Detroit could take a cue from them and make good American brand cars that could stand up to a Toyota, they wouldn't be in such a deep hole as they've been for years. American car companies are stuck in the 20th century "bigger is better" mentality, and they need to get out of it and promote "smaller is better" if they expect to survive the challenges of the 21st century. There also needs to be some major investment into research and development of alternative and renewable fuels that will free us from the tyranny of foreign oil from countries that have far too good reason to hate us. I'm convinced that with the proper willpower, know-how and the best minds in the country putting their heads together to do so, we can be energy independent in 10 years. We sent a man to the moon and back in less time than that. We can do this again. We must. Our national security depends on it. 
1 comment:
Glad to hear that someone in the heartland is thinking. Keep posting to this (and Common Dreams) - those of us fighting the same mentality on the West Coast need to know that our Midwest kin are not all "sheep".
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