Re: MCM Management: "Demolition means progress"

[William B Ward]

Brad,   The demolition tax is a good one. I have spent since 1980 living in Southern Cities - Columbia SC, New Orleans, and Tampa, what I have noticed is a tendency for big players to look for fast money projects rather than something that will endure over time. There is a bit of this touched upon in a book Sunbelt Cities by Bernard and Rice published by the University of Texas in 1983. What is even more troubling due to my WASP [primarily Scottish] ancestry is the predominance of WASPS [in Tampa it is the Scottish Mafia] in all of this.  In a way, US politics has been hijacked by Southerners which affects our views on the environment, take the money and run attitude, etc. This is also represented in Southerners' lack of experience with democracy not having seen much of it in their own heritage.   Bill Ward     On Sat, 05 Oct 2002 19:09:56 -0400 "Brad McCormick, Ed.D." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I'm watching a show in the History Channel, > which has a segment on MCM Management demolition > company.  I am a "fan" of CDI (Controlled Demolition Inc., > Phoenix Maryland), but as Chairman Mao said: Let a > thousand demolition contractors blossom.  [Aside: > The way I watched "911" was hearing the voice of > Mark(?) Loizeaux on WABC explaining how the terrorists > hit the building in the place he would have > set charges to bring it down -- what a > brilliant presence of mind and background somebody > at WABC had to get the head of CDI on the phone as > the WTC was coming down!]  But back to MCM Mgmt > on The History Channel today.... > > And I had a thought -- actually 2 thoughts.  > > (1) We see the consequencess of having an oil extractor > in the White House.  I think we would perhaps do > better to have a demolition contractor in the > White House. > > (2) We could have a durability tax (actually it would not > be a tax but a law requiring every product to come with > a paid-up insurance policy for the costs of its removal from > the world).  Every product > would have added to its price the cost of its recycling > (which, in many cases, would include its demolition). > Something that was built to last forever would have a > zero charge added, for the obvious reason.  But a > piece of junk, ~shoddy ~ -- excuse me: something built not to > last, would have a high surcharge > due to the early expectation of having to recycle it. > > Even the rich might find something to like in this, > since clearly the deconstruction assessment on a Yugo > would be much hither than on a Mercedes-Benz.  Anything > which appreciates in value as it gets older would > just have to settle for no tax -- so there would be > a "progressive" rate penalty, although I would not > object to the government actually subsidizing > s that incresase in value as they get older --> > which could lead to persons being paid to own > things of quality --L leading to a condition of such > ownership being a contract of trusteeship, which > would be fulfilled, in part, by the prospect beneficiary > purchasing a surety bond for the value of the product > to be entrusted to them, which would provide more > work for actuaries, notaries, etc. > >     Demolition means progress. >                 (--MCM Mangement) > > Or as I used to say in IBM System Product Devision development: > >     The programmer who eliminates lines of code >     (i.e., who has a negative linse-of-code-per-man- >     month productivity number) may be far more productive >     than the person who produces many lines of code >     (thus creating many opportunities for "bugs" and >     cost of other programmers to maintain the code in future). > > \brad mccormick > > -- >   Let your light so shine before men, >               that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16) > >   Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) > > <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ----------------------------------------------------------------- >   Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ > >