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Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
No one said public transport should do 100% of our transportation load. There will always be a need for point-to-point transport, especially of heavy goods, and that's fine. (My fridge was delivered by a commercial truck, ensuring that I did not have to provide a truck that I would subsequently drive around town getting 12MPG while I hauled nothing but my own a$$. Of course, I could have, and have in the past, rented a truck for the day... nothing wrong with that.)
It's the point-to-point transport of people that's gotten us into so much trouble, and needs to be curbed.
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If you want the government to do something, make them say that all vehicles must be electric by such and such a date, just like the CFL mandate. That will solve the non-impact on the environment issue that balok mentioned earlier.
No, I am not serious. I do not want more government mandates. I do think that government incentives to hurry along the mass production of electric cars would be helpful, though. I'm doing my part by driving a hybrid, but I like my car and do not want to give it up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by balok
Some governments (like mine) pick up the tab for in-vitro fertilization (over$10,000 a shot) because of declining birth rates and couples who wait forever before having their first kid, thus becoming less fertile. How about we take that money and feed the kids who are being born in countries where they don't have enough to eat?
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Because people have a right to have children. I am sorry that there are hungry children in the world. There shouldn't be and we should be ashamed that there are, but that should not be a reason for people not to have children of their own. If I chose to be politically incorrect and open my self up for a backlash, I could make comments about the poor and uneducated that would be offensive, but an explanation as to why there are so many hungry children. I feed my children, clothe them, educate them, and make sacrifices so that my children have a good life. I don't think I am in the minority. I was lucky that I did not have to go to extreme measures to get pregnant, although, I will say, that I miscarried 3 times between my 2nd and 3rd children. My children are a blessing and a gift but they were a conscious and thoughtful decision. Why should those people in other countries that you mentioned be allowed to have children but someone who waits until they feel the time is right for them, not be allowed to have them? Making people who are prosperous give everything up to people who are not is counter-productive. Sooner or later, no one will be productive, they'll just wait for someone else to do it and give it to them.