I agree with the comments made here and have to say that if the US ends up forming some sort of regional trade block such as an extension of NAFTA or even a North American Union with Canada and Mexico and other countries, the metrication process would have to be complete before that happened or at least well on its way because no American would ever accept the excuse that "we have to change as part of this". Now if you spin it in a positive light you might get further but you would still have to do a lot of persauading and talking to get Americans comfortable with the switch. That's why the best and smoothest transitiion in the US will not be from the government proclaiming it to be so and making metric the standard but rather from slow gradual economic and societal change. Introduce metric only package labelling and give the US consumer some time to become acquiainted with it and then graduallly introduce temperature and fuel and finally road signage changes.
Anything that's mandated from on high by the government is almost always subject to extreme and painful backlash by the US people :). While most would agree that it would make sense to switch and I bellieve most would actually agree to an EU style union on the North American continent, both ideas must be spoon fed over a period of several years or even a decade or two before it becomes de rigeur. Hopefully the metrication process completes before any type of union happens or is talked about. We'll see what the new presidential elections bring in 2008 and the general direction the wind is blowing. Perhaps with a lot of people wanting change in government policies the SI transition can be painted in a good enough light to make it seem advantageous and then do it. Mike On 1/16/07, Stephen Humphreys <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I have to say that James's post hit the nail on the head for me. Briefly - What my parents voted for in the early 70's was a common market. No equivalent of the situation of going from that to a political, social and economic union can be easily compared to a US situation. An intersting point - "Metric" scored high in the opinion polls of the early 70's and has steadily gone down since. There *must* be a link to a dissatisfaction with the EU "super state". I love Europe - and I hate what the EU is doing to it. >From: "Martin Vlietstra" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> >Subject: [USMA:37745] Re: [off-topic] Re: UK metric debate in the House of >Lords >Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 20:31:25 -0000 > >UK metric debate in the House of LordsA good deal of the problem in the UK >is that we are an island, that going to another country takes more effort >than for most of our EU neighbours and that certain politicians are >whipping up public opinion for the sake of cheap publicity. > >The truth about representation is: > >The EU is run by the EU Commission. The US equivalent is the President & >Executive. The UK equivalent is the Prime Minister and Cabinet. >The EU Commission is composed of 25 members, each one nominated by a member >state (usually an ex-minister). The democracy element is probably on a par >with the US and the UK - the US President is elected indirectly by the >people and the US Executive is nominated by the President, while in the UK >the Prime Minister is the leader of the party that wins the election and >the Cabinet are nominated by the Prime Minister from elected Members of >Parliament. (He usually only nominates MP's from his own party). > >The "Upper House" of the EU is the Council of Ministers. It is roughly >equivalent to the Senate in the US and the House of Lords in the UK. The >Council of Ministers is composed of the ministers of state of the various >member states - ie all the Finance ministers will discuss finance, all the >transport ministers will discuss transport and so on. It is very closely >modelled on the German Upper House. It is probably less democratic than >the US Senate, but certainly much more democratic than the House of Lords. > >The "Lower House" of the EU is the EU Parliament. Its equivalent is >Congress in the US and the House of Commons in the UK. As in both the US >and the UK, its members are directly elected. > >Finally, all EU directives need to have the consent of all three bodies. > >It is just a pity that so few people understand how the EU works. I believe >that there is a direct correlation about the number of half-truths that are >put about in newspapers concerning the EU and the amount of clothing that >the pin-up girls in the same newspapers wear - (the greater the number of >half-truths, the less the pin-up girls wear). > ----- Original Message ----- > From: James Jason Wentworth > To: U.S. Metric Association > Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 6:12 PM > Subject: [USMA:37744] Re: UK metric debate in the House of Lords > > > Hello Pat, > > All of your points are true and well-taken. But these anti-metric >reactions in the UK House of Lords are the visible manifestation of >something that goes far beyond metrication. Many people throughout the EU, >particularly in Western European nations, are becoming increasingly >dissatisfied with it. This dissatisfaction stems from the fact that their >lives are now being regulated by bureaucrats in Brussels whom they cannot >directly vote for or against. Also, on issues such as capital punishment, >the EU government is out of step with national majorities and pluralities >of its people (this was revealed by polling at the time of Saddam Hussein's >execution). > > Not only are many British people angry that non-British politicians are >telling them what units to use, but I know Germans who are angry that so >many Italians have moved into their country due to the new "borderless" EU >regulations and Dutch farmers who are angry because they had to destroy >many of their not-proven-to-be-ill cattle (during the foot-and-mouth >disease epidemic) due to EU agricultural regulations. > > As frustrated as I sometimes become with my senators, congressman (we >only have one for all of Alaska), and president, I am secure in the >knowledge that I can directly vote for or against them. Because they know >that too, they *do* listen to me and to my fellow citizens. The citizens >of the EU member nations have no such direct control over the EU >government, and as a consequence the EU ministers can merrily craft their >regulations "in a vacuum," as I've heard British friends of mine complain. > > It's ironic that the British are now getting a taste of something not >terribly dissimilar to that which prompted our revolution in 1776. Instead >of taxation without representation, it's regulation without representation. > The psychological effect of this pressure from a distant leadership that >does not understand the needs of its people may have the same results; Just >as we changed to a decimal currency system and even reformed English >spelling to express our defiance toward Britain, if the EU forces the >metric issue the British may dig in their heels and cling to Imperial >measures (and perhaps even expand their use) to express their defiance >toward the EU. > > -- Jason > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Pat Naughtin > To: U.S. Metric Association > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 2:23 AM > Subject: [USMA:37742] UK metric debate in the House of Lords > > > Dear All, > > You might be interested in this debate entitled 'EU: Non-metric Terms' >held in the UK House of Lords on Monday 2006-11-27. > > > http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2006-11-27a.541.0&s=speaker%3A13076 > > The debate seems to me to be liberally larded with misinformation and >thoughtless nationalist posturing with the main arguments being based on >some vague idea of tradition and a strong personal distaste for foreign >ideas. > > My first reaction was to comment on all of the mistruths and errors >contained within the thoughts of the various participants, but then I >realised that they all had one thing in common — they seemed to have no >idea how much their non-decision is costing their nation. > > All parties to this debate seem to be quite unaware of the costs of >non-metrication in the UK. > > Here are some questions that I think might usefully be asked in the >House of Lords in their next metric debate: > > ◊ How many UK businesses have lost European orders or contracts >because they could not do the job in metric? > > ◊ How many UK businesses have not even been approached for >quotations or estimates because European businesses automatically assume >that businesses in the UK cannot do metric work? > > ◊ How much time and paper is wasted each day in UK offices as people >try to layout page designs in inches and fractions of inches when they are >using metric paper sizes? My estimate is about 10 % of office paper is >wasted every day because of measurement issues. See the article, 'Page >borders — Inches or millimetres' at >http://www.metricationmatters.com/articles > > ◊ How many UK businesses have had to pay a premium for metric parts >because they only bought enough for a specific job? > > ◊ How many have made costly mistakes in converting a metric job to >old pre-metric measures? > > ◊ How many people have had to be terminated because they could not >work in metric units? How much does it cost to find and employ their >replacements? > > ◊ How much are the people of the UK prepared to pay to be different >to everywhere else in Europe? > > ◊ How much does it cost to have someone buying one fastener when >they need the other and having to make a second trip to the store to >rectify the problem? > > ◊ How much does it cost to retrain UK school leavers in old measures >when they have been taught the metric system at school every year since >1965? > > ◊ How many UK citizens cannot find employment in other countries >because it is assumed that they won't be able to use metric units? > > ◊ How much extra does it cost UK industry for duplicating products >in both metric and old pre-metric measures? > > ◊ How much extra does it cost UK industry for keeping both the >metric and the old pre-metric inventories separate? > > ◊ How much extra does it cost UK industry to have stores that have >to carry both metric and old pre-metric measures? > > ◊ How much extra production costs are involved with making products >like fasteners in both metric and old pre-metric measures? > > ◊ How much has not-going metric really cost the UK? My estimate is >about 10 % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or about £114 billion per year >($223 billion USD). See: the article 'costs of non-metrication' at >http://www.metricationmatters.com/articles for details of this estimate in >a USA context. > > ◊ How much is it going to cost the UK for not being metric between >now and when the politicians finally accept that the complete adoption of >the metric system in the UK is not only the most sensible decision that the >House of Lords could support but also that it is inevitable anyway? > > Cheers, > > Pat Naughtin > PO Box 305, Belmont, 3216 > Geelong, Australia > Phone 61 3 5241 2008 > > Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter, >'Metrication matters'. > You can subscribe at http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter > > Pat is also recognised as a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication >Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association. He is also >editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' section of the Australian >Government Publishing Service 'Style manual – for writers, editors and >printers'. He is a Member of the National Speakers Association of Australia >and the International Federation for Professional Speakers. See: >http://www.metricationmatters.com > > This email and its attachments are for the sole use of the addressee >and may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged. >This email and its attachments are subject to copyright and should not be >partly or wholly reproduced without the consent of the copyright owner. Any >unauthorised use of disclosure of this email or its attachments is >prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please immediately delete >it from your system and notify the sender by return email. > > > _________________________________________________________________ MSN Hotmail is evolving � check out the new Windows Live Mail http://ideas.live.com
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