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Re: A real spridget solution; WAS: Great American Gas Out

To: "Jeff Boatright" <jboatri@emory.edu>, "MG List" <mgs@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: A real spridget solution; WAS: Great American Gas Out
From: Max Heim <mvheim@studiolimage.com>
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 14:41:16 -0800
Great plan! Include Bs and I'm with you.

; )

Jeff Boatright had this to say:

>This was written to the spridgets list in response to a thread about 
>a proposed 'gas out' -  I think my plan is better...
>---
>
>I doubt that the organizers (if such exist) have any delusions that a 
>drop in consumption resulting from a gas out would have any effect, 
>even at the very local level. My assumption is that the goal is press 
>coverage. This would have some effect, though an unpredictable one 
>once the affair became political.
>
>Given that my Sprite returns a fairly steady 33 mpg, I think that our 
>best bet at effecting true change is to call for a constitutional 
>amendment requiring US auto manufacturers to build, market, and sell 
>spridgets. They would be allowed to sell other vehicles, but only 
>under penalty. The penalties will be linked to the size and fuel 
>consumption of the non-spridget products and other indexes that I 
>choose (since I will be the car czar). Thus, Ford would be forced to 
>sell 123 Sprites for every Incursion...er..Excursion sold. However, 
>they would gain points for every Euro-spec Focus sold in the States. 
>DaimlerChrysler would be forced to sell 138 Midgets for every 
>Mercedes-Benz sold in the States. The extra 15 spridget penalty is 
>because we're already tired of Daimler's 'Uber All' attitude. GM 
>sucks so badly that they will not be allowed to make or sell 
>spridgets. Instead, they will have to take a financial penalty for 
>every boring, rainy-day-in-dreary-old-Pimlico car they sell. Since 
>this is all they make anyway, these penalties will force the demise 
>of GM, and none too soon. Happily, the extra effort that it takes to 
>hand-build the spridgets means that all those GM workers will have 
>jobs waiting for them in the Ford and Chrysler plants. All auto 
>workers would then have interesting jobs that require thinking and 
>craftsmanship. Accident rates would drop as people would be driving 
>cars that (1) they can handle and (2) they know will not protect them 
>if they do hit something. Additionally, serious injury rates would 
>plummet: We'd all be driving little cars that make going the speed 
>limit fun, so the few accidents that do occur will be fender-benders. 
>Finally, our dependence on foreign oil would truly decrease, 
>greenhouse gas production would drop, the hole in the ozone would 
>fill again, and spotted owls would roam the earth looking to kick 
>butt on snail darters.
>
>Now, if we'd all just do as I say...
>
>---
>On 2/26/00, paul m wrote:
>>mike,
>>      this kind of activity is a futile effort and probably would result
>>in a false impression. just consider the stability of oil/fuel prices
>>that
>>is created by the futures markets in crude oil in 3 and 6 month
>>increments.
>>a 3 day boycott at the retail level would be about as significant as a
>>pimple would be on the north end of a south-bound elephant.
>>
>>lbc content: adult elephants usually weigh more than a "stock"
>>spridget!
>>(your tonnage may vary)
>>
>>paul m
>
>Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
>Senior Editor, Molecular Vision
>http://www.molvis.org/molvis
>"Seeing the Future in a Very Tiny Way"
>


--

Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the red one with the silver bootlid.


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