2002-07-06 This is a strange American attitude, that goes beyond metrication. No one ever looks at the long term savings, just the initial start-up costs.
As an example: road construction and repair. Instead of charging more for gasoline with a higher tax, the gas price is kept low. The revenue collected for road work is insufficient to pay for constructing a decent road. The government thinks they are getting off cheap with low bids, but those low bids translate into roads that don't last through the winters. So, the following summer, the same road built or repaired the summer before now is in need of repair because it is full of pot holes. If you add the cost of the yearly maintenance to the original cost, it actually costs more, not only in money but in aggravation to the user of the road. The state road authorities usually don't have the money to pay for all of this repair and in some cases they must constantly borrow in other cases the road is not repaired. Borrowed money must be paid back with interest, the result being even less money for road repair, which in turn requires more borrowing. The cycle never ending. The post office is in the same mess. They are virtually bankrupt because they don't want to raise the price of postage to the same levels of other countries. For years they bragged that the American Postal system was the best in the world because you could mail a letter across the country at half the cost other countries charge to mail letters. It's almost as if the only reason not to raise the prices of gas and postage is so the US can brag to the world that we can do it cheaper, thus we are better. But, we do get what we pay for. John ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, 2002-07-06 07:02 Subject: [USMA:20847] RE: President Carter > > Of Pat Naughtin > > Whether it is true or false, it is a variation of common arguments put > up against change. > > > >'1) cost plus on government contracts is going > >to be a much bigger PLUS > > "Change costs money" > > > > >'2) it'll hurt US manufacturing by making it easier for those > >foreigners to sell their products here (without conversion > >to US measurements)' > > "Those who have already changed will have an advantage" > > > > -- > Terry Simpson > Human Factors Consultant > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > www.connected-systems.com > Phone: +44 7850 511794 > >
