Why America Fails.
65 MPG.
I know what you are are thinking. How can someone who is so proud of his country like myself make a topic like that?
It is very simple. while I am very proud of my country and my heritage in the country, there are times when I am a little perplexed about our leaders and our current culture.
Here is a prime example. Ford, an American automaker who is about as American as apple pie and baseball has a new car out that gets 65+ miles per gallon. I know that would seem like a positive for the United States, but here is the catch. They cannot sell it in the United States. I guess technically they could sell it in the United States, but for a company who is buring an estimated $1 billion a month (of its own cash reserve), it needs to make sure every product makes a profit. The problem basically lies in the red tape that our governement puts on fuel. Diesel fuel cost on average 40 cents to $1 more per gallon than standard fuel. It is not that it cost that much more to make, but because they heavy taxes put on the fuel, originally due to “trucker” traffic. The other issue is price to import. “Import?” you say. “Ford is an American compnay!” you continue. You are correct, but the engines are made in Great Britian. With the cost of labor and the value of the pound versus the dollar, it makes it impossible to compete with “Hybrid” models like the Prius and Civic. Basically the two models by Toyota and Honda come in around $24,000. While with all said and done, the Ford model would come in at about $25,000. That does not sound like a big deal, except you have to add in the cost for fuel. Most people are too lazy (or stupid) to figure out the lifetime (or ownership time) cost of the car to operate. Add on top of that the fact that some states actually has an emissions ban on most diesel cars (California recently lifted it 4 year ban on diesel cars and certified WV and Mercedes), and you now know why America only has about a 3% diesel car usage rate.
You then also have to add in the “culture” value of diesel. Most Americans still view diesel as a stinky gas that only trucks use. They also think about the old, slow, black cloud producing vehicles of yesteryear. The fact is we (as Americans) are usually too lazy to look up facts and figure things out for ourselves. We will sit back and agree with anything that comes across our TV or web browser. If you do not believe me, search the web and see how many people cite “Wikipedia” as a “source”. The average user can go in and change pretty much any posting to say whatever we would like.
This my friends is why America fails. Whenever they system fails, we do nothing about it but blog and complain. No one really steps up and says “Hey, this is ____’ed up!”. We would rather point the finger and blame everyone else. It is the Arabs fault oil is so high. It is the Japanese fault that our kids are sick. It is time we as Americans step up, take responsibility and fix things. I am not talking about “change” or “leadership” in November. I am talking about us doing things every day. I am personally challenging everyone to do the following 5 things for the next year:
1. Do not drink bottled water. I mean come on. It is everywhere. Turn on your damn spicot and drink water. If it doesn’t taste right, maybe…Just maybe..you should get off your butt and try to clean the source. Get a filter, get a new well pipe. Do something, but don’t ignore it. How is it you wont drink your water, but you will bath in it, or give it to your pets, or even wash your clothing in it. So how bad is it really?
2. Ride a bike WITHOUT a helmet. A small disclaimer, if you do this, it is all on you. I make no claims for your riding abilities. If you get hurt, it is your own fault. We learn from our mistakes. Smashing your face against a curb is a real quick way to learn. I lost a tooth, scrapped an arm, and cut a testicle sack. Guess what? I still grew up to be a pretty good and active guy.
3. Stop calling the Cookie Monster the Veggie Monster. I would love to find the genius who made this change. I mean seriously. There are two “grown” guys living together for 20 years (a la Bert and Ernie) and the thing they decide to change is the Cookie Monster? If I hear one kid sing V is for Veggie, I will kick them straight in the head. I have an idea. How about we give Oscar the Grouch a job so he can stop living in a trash can on the street. Big Bird and all the others have these great houses and their “friend” lives in a damn trashcan. But GOD forbid we have someone who eats a snack.
4. Watch OLD versions of Looney Tunes. If you have not seen the new ones, then you have no clue what I am talking about. If you get a chance, and your hang over is not too bad..Turn on Bugs Bunny on Saturday morning. Remember when Wile E. Coyote would run and fall off the cliff. He would hold up the great “Yipes!” sign then fall about 300 feet. This is where is all goes to hell now. The clips end or cut to a new scene. Dibya Dibya Dibya Thats right folks! They edit the puff of smoke or the crash to the ground because it was “too violent” for young kids. Mean while they can turn the channel to CNN and see a tank run over a nun in the middle of the jungle. But hey, kids can not learn to tell the difference between a cartoon and real life, so we need to police this!
5. Bowl a game with your kids/friends and don’t use the gutter bumpers. You know how I got better at bowling. By sucking at it. I mean part of learning to bowl is learning how to keep the ball out of the gutter. If you can not do it, then do something else in life. I could go on for days about sports in general (like I have an idea, lets not cut kids from sports team and make the while to suffer because of it). It is not a matter of sports, but a matter of life lessons. Learn how to keep your ball out of the gutter, not learn how to depend on something to keep you out of the gutter.
So there you have it. The 5 things YOU can do with little effort to help make America better. Small steps my friends..Small steps…
Until I am bored again..Keep you man card laminated at all times!
Mickulz
Technorati 
Del.icio.us 
StumbleUpon 
Digg 
Facebook 
Mixx 
Reddit
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
2 Responses to “Why America Fails.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
September 7th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
The ultimate solution to the gas problem is not going to diesel, but it’s a great example. One of the screwed up reasons the US doesn’t export more vehicles is that no other country will accept our low fuel economy standards. It would be good to note though that 2 years ago before the gas price explosion that diesel was running cheaper than standard unleaded.
Other considerations. As far as I know, the cookie monster never officially became the “veggie monster.” It was an internet scare. Also, I have never ever bowled with bumpers with the exception of one time with my son who was 3 years old at the time. I firmly believe that there should be federal legislation enacted mandating that any person over the age of 18 bowling with bumpers when not bowling with a minor should be taken out and shot.
September 8th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I read it all on the internet, so it has to be true