I guess I’ll place myself in the minority and open myself up for snark by saying that $10 per gallon gas would change absolutely nothing about what I do. $10 per gallon gas would still mean our annual gas expenses would be less than 1% of our net income. That’s due in large part to us both being fairly well compensated professionals, but also due to:
I chose to buy a smaller, crappier house in the city (yes, in this area it’s the homes close to work which are cheaper) so I could be close to work. Whereas almost all my co-workers moved to the New South Afrika Enclave McMansions 30-45+ minutes away from work. And they pretty much all drive luxury cars, SUVs, or things like F350 trucks to work - by themselves. My business manager, for fuck’s sake, however, is building a new house that will give him a 150 minute round-trip commute every day. Because he thinks that his current McMansion with its 5-acre lot is “too confining.” But then, witness the first page of this thread, where someone posts with a straight face that within 2,827 square miles they can’t find a cheaper, equivalent house closer to work. Right.
We carpool almost every single day - in fact, we maybe drove separately twice in the last year.
We plan shopping so we hit several stores at once, go to the mall a lot so we have less driving, and when we buy consumables we stock up on them so we make less trips overall.
As a result, even though we have two high performance cars, between Fierra and I we fill only one tank every couple of weeks. Shoot, even her 08’ Corvette gets 26 mpg on the highway, which is a hell of a lot better than many cars I see out there.
Cisco, mhendo, I know that both of you guys are better than this. Each of you is a valuable poster here who has contributed much, and has I’m certain more to contribute in the future. It’s unfortunate to see you two fighting over nothing.
I live & work in the same area as you. My roundtrip daily commute (single mom, two kids at two different schools) is 15 miles. We live about two blocks away from a bus line that will take me & the youngest directly to her school, walk half a mile to the other school, then I’m about 20min walk from work. The oldest could take the school bus to and from school, but it’s 10min late to school every morning so I drive her there. (How in the hell does the bus driver get away with that?) Currently I drive because it would only save us about $10/month to use the bus and increase commuting time by almost 2 hours per day. But if/when the cost of gas gets up to about $6/gallon we’ll make the switch*.
Where we fall apart on using public transportation, efficiently & cost-effectively, is in the summer. Trying to piece together summer camps and other activities for the oldest is a headache in the best of times (the locations are hardly ever the same, week to week) and throwing public transportation schedules into the mix would be a real pain. So even at $10/gallon, in the summer I would drive.
*This, however, is dependant on how much the fares increase. Because I lucked into an extremely affordable apartment in this very expensive area, we’re lucky to have a good amount of wiggle room for gas increases. So, I want to do my part for the environment and what not, BUT I chose to live and work close together so that I would have time with my kids. I’m not giving that up for a marginal savings.
The way I see it, anyone born within spitting distance of Queen’s Park can slam Toronto as a birthright.
While for the most part I think you and I are on the same page, this graf had me scratching my head. While there are malls and department stores downtown, when I was growing up, the only place we went shopping was at a mall in the suburbs. Heck, the very definition of a suburb is: place where nothing is in walking distance, must drive to mall to shop/see movie/be entertained.
Population density around Canada’s major cities is pretty similar to what you’ll find in the U.S. Yes, the country is huge, but we’re all jammed together into cities that are somewhat far apart.
Look at a map, and figure that half a million people (tops!) live north of a line stretching from Edmonton to Quebec City.
Yeah, this is the sort of decision I made as well. I’d love to have a nice house with a yard, but that’s not happening on the west side of Los Angeles for less than $800K. I could have bought an affordable house out at the west end of The Valley but that would involve a couple of hours commuting every day. Even before the recent price jump that sort of commute is really expensive, not to mention a big chunk of time lost from your day.
So I live in a condo in the city. It’s a trade off: Smaller living space and no backyard, but lower monthly bills and more free time.
I’m baffled by the people who view the suburbs as some sort of absolute, eternal good. Sure, some people will always prefer living out of the city and will make it a priority no matter how much they have to sacrifice. But if it gets too expensive a lot more folks will say “Why the hell am I doing this?” and move into town.
I like the buses in Bangkok. They barely come to a stop so you almost need a running start to get on the thing. Which is how it should be, I think. But there are too many mamby-pamby Americans that would never put up with that. That’s why it takes me almost an hour to travel by bus about 5 or 6 miles in San Francisco.
Because every new passenger boarding takes about half a minute to climb the steps (I realize some people need that much time–but not most) and then another minute or so to get out their wallet ('cuz they apparently don’t realize they need to pay until they are already on the bus :rolleyes: ), then find some tattered old one-dollar bill, then un-wrinkle it, then attempt to fit it into the bill-slot–and sometimes it takes 2 or 3 tries.
Do you all realize how much faster bus trips would be if we got rid of the almost useless and totally obsolete one-dollar bill and replaced it with a coin? How much money would be saved every year if folk’s bus rides were 10 or 20% more rapid?
I actually don’t even know how people pay on the Bangkok buses because I have never been on one. I’m too much of a wuss about extreme heat/humidity and some of the buses aren’t air-conditioned. But, those ones sure are cheap to ride-- I think maybe 3 or 4 Baht. (10 cents or so?)
And you live in Alberta, right? Wow. I had no idea Alberta was that progressive! I thought it was just Canada’s version of Texas.
You sure gotta love progressive communities that are willing to take the bull by the balls and adjust to today’s economic realities rather than stagnating in some naive, 1950’s, Leave It To Beaver fantasy world.
For some in Alberta such progress will be simply too much and their damaged sense of entitlement and rabid distrust of government may eventually force them to flee (“First they wanted to build roads and install streetlights, THEN they started a police force and fire department. And THEN they actually wanted us to pay for it with taxes!!! What’s next? A bus or train system? Public schools!!!?!? Over my dead body!!”).
I’ve heard (in this thread) that absolutely everyone in the world is beating down the doors to get in the USA. It’s true that every day I see millions of bedraggled Canadians desperately seeking to leave their Police State and seek refuge in the Shining City of Freedom on the Hill (USA). Most Dutch and Swiss and Finn and Swede and Danish and French and British and Icelandic people are trying to move here too so it might get really crowded (we’ll need to expand our public transit systems!). They too thirst for the Freedom that is unique to us Blessed Americans.
But with a little luck, there may still be room for long-suffering Albertans in the backwoods of Arkansas or someplace like that. They don’t go for none of that faggy Progressive shit there! Plus, unlike Canada, the government here doesn’t plan your weekly dinner menus and force you to wear burlap shirts and newspaper shoes.
This is why some people in the world hate America–because of attitudes like this. I’m not saying that they are right or wrong to do so, just that attitudes like that are not well-received in much of the civilized world.
Now-- strictly speaking you are absolutely correct–if you have the money to live wastefully then you have the right to do so. That IS freedom.
I have the freedom to be a total asshole to everyone I ever encounter (providing it’s within the law, etc.) but everyone else has the right to think I’m a tool if I do so.
Many Americans share your view that personal freedoms trump any consideration of how one’s behavior affects others. From my experience, this view is not nearly so widely held outside the USA. Hence, we Americans are often considered short-sighted, narrow-minded and selfish by the rest of the world.
They have the freedom to think that if they want (the Godless little Commies) but fortunately we Americans have the freedom and the cash to say. “FUCK YOU, I’VE GOT MINE!!!”
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… Freedom. Almost makes me want some Freedom Fries.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!! I’m going to post again! (what’s that, 8 in a row now?) But at least it’s a change of subject!
It’s not exactly nothing even though it started that way. Cisco completely misinterpreted mhendo’s original post and then continued to completely misinterpret the very simple ideas presented by both mhendo and the original author of the Atlantic Monthly article even after his misreading was pointed out to him!
Cisco clung bizarrely to his irrational interpretation of mhendo’s point and then proceeded to get really nasty about mhendo’s taking issue that his post was “preposterous”. I can see why mhendo was both baffled and pissed.
I would challenge anyone to go back and re-read the give-and-take between those two and reach a significantly different conclusion.
Gas just hit 40 baht a liter in Bangkok. Let’s see. That’s 32 1/2 baht to the US dollar right now. It’s … what? 3.79 liters to a gallon. So that makes … oh, US$4.66 a gallon here. We don’t have a car, but it’s driving other prices up.
That could account for America’s ongoing emigration crisis. Shouldn’t you change your username to I Loathe Me, Vol. I? You know, so you don’t appear so selfish and all?
That’s true, but is that their problem or ours? Of course freedom and capitalism are reviled by despots and dictators, it actually puts a little power in the hands of the people. Damndest thing.
Yes, I know.
Right you are! You’re doing a great job so far, keep it up!
Perhaps not, but it doesn’t explain why people are leaving their homes, their families and their countries to come here. We may seem short sighted and narrow minded and even selfish, but then, so are hundreds of thousands of people every year who stream across our borders.
