Something about Big Oil...

[werepossum]

Seconded.

Fact of the matter is, capitalism rules in certain scenarios. It's sheer amazingness is that it basically uses the greed, lust and 'bad' impulses of the human mind to produce a 'goo'd society. And in general it works. The only flaw it has is the tendancy to be severely concerned with the short-term (Wall St. Crash), and to often fail to appreciate the need to act contrary to their nature (Every revolution known to God or man) and a general inability to consider long-term implications of an action as a whole.

The problem with the last is that while perceptive compnaies/corporations/private individuals may see the greater damage of their potential/current actions/investments, as a whole capitalists do not, due to the nature of capitalism that there will always be others who do not percieve the dangers or simply don't give a shit.

Yeah, I don't have any real problems with capitalism but what you bring up is why we need the necessary evil of government. Someone has to say "No, you cannot make a giant pool of toxic waste with an earthen dam even if you own the land. No, I don't care if it's really good for business, you still can't do it."

And it helps if the someone saying it has guns and jail cells.

EDIT: Crimson, very few roads are concrete because of the higher first expense. With asphalt skyrocketing I expect to see more concrete roads, though. Hopefully the USA won't screw them up like we do our asphalt roads: by adopting some simple techniques used in Europe and Japan we could make our roads last at least twice as long for maybe 20% more initial cost. I'm not sure if it's the "not invented here" syndrome or just that road work had become a jobs program, but it's a massive waste of resources.

EDIT2: I should have noted that I'm in Tennessee and have no idea what percentage of roads in Canada might be concrete, so take my statement (as always) with a grain of salt.

EDIT3: Hah! You beat me. I thought you were in Canada for some reason. I had no idea roads in Texas were concrete, around here that's usually just for elevated roads or high-speed, high traffic interstates.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

All around where I'm at there are concrete roads

 

[Crudler]

I'm not sure if any of you have heard about this new bacteria they've discovered which produces something very close to crude oil ( a few carbon bonds short I think, not sure) anyway in order to utilise this efficiently they'd need to build a factory with a footprint the size of Chicago. However if they did this you'd have a renewable energy source that while it would still have similar effects on the environment as oils does at the moment it'd still be a limitless resource (ish). Although there would be a monopoly in the form of the first company to do this.

Speaking of monopolies, they say oil/petrol is more expensive because there is less of it, I firstly point you here http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/23/news/economy/oil_drilling/index.htm?cnn=yes and secondly, oil company's have announced record breaking profits... Hmm.

Edit: Just thought I should add, I'm not entirely sure on the validity of the former paragraph, it was relayed to me via my brother but still, I think it was in the paper or the news somewhere.

 

[MrHappy255]

EDIT3: Hah! You beat me. I thought you were in Canada for some reason. I had no idea roads in Texas were concrete, around here that's usually just for elevated roads or high-speed, high traffic interstates.

They are cement because it is so frickin hot that it melts asphalt, most of the main roadways in Florida are also cement. (I used to live there).
Wow thought I was the only one thinking of the cost of asphalt increasing!
cool.
Oh and I realize that your government also pays for your roads it's just that you guys have much better roads at a greatly decreased taxation level.
(Yes I realize the reasons for that are numerous so I give up on the bad example my apologies).

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Yes but to be fair, they do patch the roads with asphalt. So fixing the roads will be more expensive.

 

[Karmic]

"We need to invade Saudi-Arabia. We're not going to lie to you: they don't have any WMD's; they aren't harbouring terrorists. We just need their oil, and we can't afford to buy it from them. If you don't want to pay £100 to full up your car, we need an oil war."

Uhm.. they actually are, aren't they?

 

[werepossum]

They are cement because it is so frickin hot that it melts asphalt, most of the main roadways in Florida are also cement. (I used to live there).
Wow thought I was the only one thinking of the cost of asphalt increasing!
cool.
Oh and I realize that your government also pays for your roads it's just that you guys have much better roads at a greatly decreased taxation level.
(Yes I realize the reasons for that are numerous so I give up on the bad example my apologies).

I knew that was a problem in Florida. I used to be a project engineer for a wrecker manufacturer and was sent to placate a big customer in Florida. One of the stories he told was of a large road tractor-trailer that had run off the road and bogged down into the sand. The large wrecker that recovered it couldn't get traction with its spades in the sand; instead of pulling the tractor-trailer toward him, he was pulling the wrecker toward the bogged tractor-trailer. So he got the bright idea of driving to the far side of the road and setting his spades against the road, giving him something to pull against. Now the bogged tractor-trailer was being pulled toward the wrecker. (I should explain that on wreckers you usually use a cabled remote control for heavy recoveries, because a snapped cable can cut you in half. So he was as close to the bogged tractor-trailer as to his wrecker.) The operator recovered the bogged tractor-trailer and hooked it up to his tow hitch.

Problem was, his wrecker has broken loose roughly 20 feet of roadway and pulled it about 8 feet out of line. While he was reeling in the bogged tractor-trailer, he was also pulling the wrecker toward it through the sand, its spades pushing the section of roadway with it. It was a very expensive recovery operation from the operator's standpoint.

So I can see why concrete roads might be more attractive in Texas (and Florida) than in Tennessee.

 

[Gigantor]

"We need to invade Saudi-Arabia. We're not going to lie to you: they don't have any WMD's; they aren't harbouring terrorists. We just need their oil, and we can't afford to buy it from them. If you don't want to pay £100 to full up your car, we need an oil war."

Uhm.. they actually are, aren't they?

Wrong place, wrong time for that discussion.

Which means yes, or at the very least, probably.

 

[mwhite67]

India, China and George Bush are responsible

 

[MrHappy255]

They are cement because it is so frickin hot that it melts asphalt, most of the main roadways in Florida are also cement. (I used to live there).
Wow thought I was the only one thinking of the cost of asphalt increasing!
cool.
Oh and I realize that your government also pays for your roads it's just that you guys have much better roads at a greatly decreased taxation level.
(Yes I realize the reasons for that are numerous so I give up on the bad example my apologies).

I knew that was a problem in Florida. I used to be a project engineer for a wrecker manufacturer and was sent to placate a big customer in Florida. One of the stories he told was of a large road tractor-trailer that had run off the road and bogged down into the sand. The large wrecker that recovered it couldn't get traction with its spades in the sand; instead of pulling the tractor-trailer toward him, he was pulling the wrecker toward the bogged tractor-trailer. So he got the bright idea of driving to the far side of the road and setting his spades against the road, giving him something to pull against. Now the bogged tractor-trailer was being pulled toward the wrecker. (I should explain that on wreckers you usually use a cabled remote control for heavy recoveries, because a snapped cable can cut you in half. So he was as close to the bogged tractor-trailer as to his wrecker.) The operator recovered the bogged tractor-trailer and hooked it up to his tow hitch.

Problem was, his wrecker has broken loose roughly 20 feet of roadway and pulled it about 8 feet out of line. While he was reeling in the bogged tractor-trailer, he was also pulling the wrecker toward it through the sand, its spades pushing the section of roadway with it. It was a very expensive recovery operation from the operator's standpoint.

So I can see why concrete roads might be more attractive in Texas (and Florida) than in Tennessee.

Yes but in some parts of the US and Canada instead of the wrecker you are talking about which I do know something about; I used to work for Trimac a large transport company, You can actually use a crane to right fallen tractor trailers or even ditched trucks.

If the operator of that machine was using that much force to pull the tractor out he would have most likely cracked concrete as well but it probably would have been more difficult to notice in the short term.

As to the previous statement in both those states and especially southern parts of Texas like Brownsville truck drivers have had tires blow when driving down the highway during the day due to the heat. Asphalt just melts back into the tar that it was.

So increased fuel prices are bad for every business including those "family friendly corporations" we were discussing earlier. The cost of fuel for vehicles is only a drop in the bucket compared to the damage our countries financial well being will cost.