Cars STILL suck!

[lukep]

I just took off my tinfoil hat and had some tin actually installed under my skin, directly on the surface of my skull. That should do it...

How The U.S. Government Killed The Safest Car Ever Built

God DAMN the conspiratorial corporations we have here... And this time even our own Government was trying to spread the high-safety auto tech but no, General Motors squashed them like a bug and cars today still aren't as safe as this thing was in the 1970s!

Cliffs:

1. In 1960s a US Gov department of automobile safety decided to get into the vehicle design business.

2. They succeeded designing and built a fleet of cars that was so safe that they didn't even bother putting seatbelts in it... We still don't have cars nearly this safe today!

3. To get the word out in 1979, Lorne Greene (of Battlestar Galactica fame) did a TV commercial (video beyond link) that told america how awesome this tech was, and taunted us to care about it.

4. That pissed off big corp automakers, who lobbied the hell out of the gubment and successfully had the US track down and scrap every last supercar.

(Sound like any electric car stories you've ever heard?)

5. Until this year they were extinct, but two were hidden and restored.


This is SO typical of the american crony-corporatism government we have today; but it kinda surprised me that the auto lobby was so strong in 1979 already to manipulate our leadership this well.

:costumed-smiley-013

 

[crackp0t]

Th US Government invented the Pacer?

 

[Diplex]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ3juM6vHwg&feature=player_embedded"]water powered car - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Gambit]

So what's the incentive to not make a safe car? I saw the documentary on "Who Killed the Electric Car" and I can see why they scrapped it because it will kill business for the oil companies. But why would a safe car be discountinued? Too expensive to make? Not stylish enough?

 

[johnmatrix]

So what's the incentive to not make a safe car?

Cost...

Watch this (no it's not really michael moore, just a stupid title), it's great stuff.

It's about Ford not installing a $13 piece of plastic to prevent the gas tank from exploding in a rear end Pinto collision because it would cost too much per life saved.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD0dmRJ0oWg"]Milton Friedman Puts A Young Michael Moore In His Place - YouTube[/ame]

 

[liesnillusions]

Nikola Tesla had an Electric Pierce Arrow back in 1930, the ICE engine was replaced with an Electric Motor. The power source was a black box of radio tubes, in the glove compartment. The box had an antenna sticking out. Tesla would fool with some tuners and tune in the right frequency and got 240 volts delivered through the air to his car. The car ran almost silent. He had the car stashed in a barn near Niagara Falls. He was sending the energy from the Power Plant, some how. He said this power could be made possible for everyone. J.P. Morgan did not like the idea, because where do you put the meter? Morgan stopped funding.

http://waterpoweredcar.com/teslascar.html
​

 

[MSTeacher]

So what's the incentive to not make a safe car?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIdmkETuWeM"]Fight Club Sound Clip - New Car Recall - YouTube[/ame]

 

[lukep]

The Friedman Clip was awesome... And yeah, this article totally reminded me of both the Pinto situation and the fight club scene.

Anyone go to epcot and ride GM's car tech 'ride?' I find it so typical that that was a huge showcase of Safety technology, very likely the worlds biggest & most well-known showcase of car safety, all run by the same corp that has actively been suppressing car safety since 1979.

 

[(O_o)]

 

[GoogleSearchSux]

Too lazy to embed

Eric Giler demos wireless electricity | Video on TED.com

 

[SearchDad]

Can we get some Republicans in here to tell us how corporations have our best interests at heart please?

Please tell us how we should get government out of our lives because the free market will always do what's best for us.

Psshhh.. the free market can be proven to be directly responsible for putting us decades behind in technological advancements because the status quo is easier and more profitable. Simply put, we literally have to wait for the older CEOs who've spent their lives learning how to profit off a given niche to die off. They've become too good/efficient at profiting off energy, for example, to let mankind move forward before they die and have soaked every last dime they can out of current energy sources.

 

[lukep]

Can we get some Republicans in here to tell us how corporations have our best interests at heart please?

Still playing the red team/blue team game, brah?

Please tell us how we should get government out of our lives because the free market will always do what's best for us.

If I would have thought that some people around here are still libtards or conservatards I wouldn't have posted this... You need to look deeper, bro. The free market IS what you want, but we don't have anything resembling a free market today. Nor would any government allow one to exist.

Psshhh.. the free market can be proven to be directly responsible for putting us decades behind in technological advancements because the status quo is easier and more profitable.

No, you're confusing the free market (a concept which has never been proven to exist anywhere) with some particular evil corporation's actions on our government... Kinda the opposite of a free market if you ask me.

Simply put, we literally have to wait for the older CEOs who've spent their lives learning how to profit off a given niche to die off. They've become too good/efficient at profiting off energy, for example, to let mankind move forward before they die and have soaked every last dime they can out of current energy sources.

They've taught their VPs and other execs all their tricks. Waiting accomplishes nothing but giving them more power.

 

[SearchDad]

Still playing the red team/blue team game, brah? If I would have thought that some people around here are still libtards or conservatards I wouldn't have posted this... You need to look deeper, bro.

You missed my points brah...

I fully realize the difference between free market capitalism and corporatism. It's not a red vs blue thing. I do believe the Dems are less inclined to be taken advantage of by corporate interests but I don't believe for a second they are immune.

The free market IS what you want, but we don't have anything resembling a free market today. Nor would any government allow one to exist.

Have to disagree. The government has proven to be ineffective at influencing that at all thanks to effective lobbying efforts anytime anything even resembling a law that might do so is introduced.


Here's the truth.... A truly free market where everything is synergistic and businesses make the right decisions for our nation is a fallacy. A utopian ideal that can never become reality due to an infinitely persistent factor that all free market evangelists consistently (and comically) try to leave out of their arguments... Human greed. This thread is LITERALLY and in your face an example of that being an indisputable fact. Corporations will ALWAYS choose profits over "the right thing to do".

People pretend they don't know that because they want desperately to believe that if the government would just get out of the way the real free market could emerge like a phoenix and save us all.

Not saying government alone is the only answer. But free market alone isn't either. And as long as we let the free market basically own the government (with money...) they'll continue to work them like puppets anyway.

 

[slayerment]

Here's the truth.... A truly free market where everything is synergistic and businesses make the right decisions for our nation is a fallacy. A utopian ideal that can never become reality due to an infinitely persistent factor that all free market evangelists consistently (and comically) try to leave out of their arguments... Human greed. This thread is LITERALLY and in your face an example of that being an indisputable fact. Corporations will ALWAYS choose profits over "the right thing to do".

People pretend they don't know that because they want desperately to believe that if the government would just get out of the way the real free market could emerge like a phoenix and save us all.

Not saying government alone is the only answer. But free market alone isn't either. And as long as we let the free market basically own the government (with money...) they'll continue to work them like puppets anyway.

Greed is the oldest argument in the book. Everything operates on greed. If a greedy person makes your life better is that bad? If a socialist makes your life worse for being greedy is that good? It is hard to find an example where the government can do anything better than the free market.

Without a government is it much harder for the so-called greedy capitalists to have any influence. In a free market there is no such thing as rich monopolies that force people to do things. Force happens through government and monopolies of greed happen through government.

If a company wants to be greedy in a free market they can only do so by benefiting the people. People only buy things which they agree with. If a company is an asshole in a free market they won't survive. Asshole companies survive all the time with government.

It's like an immune system. It is not about trying to get rid of these bad, evil, greedy corporate diseases that have power over us. It is about building up our immune system to where these people don't make us sick. In a free market these people can't touch us. Greed can only affect us in a free market if we individually choose for it to affect us.

Profiting is not a bad thing. When a company profits that means that people are VOLUNTARILY choosing to support what they do. Nobody holds a gun to your head and says that you must buy this good or service in a free market. With a government they do. We have to use Federal Reserve Notes or we go to jail. We have to unconstitutionally pay income tax. If we choose not to we go to jail.

The problem isn't greedy corporations. The problem is weak, ignorant, ill-informed, needy sheeple that haven't the slightest amplitude for anything warranting wisdom, foresight or understanding. The problem is sheep who think the government can do things better than the private market because they haven't the sense to see 2 steps into the future. The problem is a gradual increase in socialism and stupidy. That is the problem. Not greed. Greed made us great. Ignorance made us complete and utter shit.

 

[lukep]

I fully realize the difference between free market capitalism and corporatism.

I am not convinced that you do.

It's not a red vs blue thing. I do believe the Dems are less inclined to be taken advantage of by corporate interests but I don't believe for a second they are immune.

I only brought up red & blue teams because you said: "Can we get some Republicans..." which in my mind is the red team. If you don't want to make this about politics as usual (red v/s blue thing) then it would be best to address the people you are most directly insulting; which appears to be us AnCaps, not republicans. (Though if you've lurked long enough you'd know that there are many ancaps on this board so I almost don't blame you.)

Have to disagree. The government has proven to be ineffective at influencing that at all thanks to effective lobbying efforts anytime anything even resembling a law that might do so is introduced.

Why disagree? By this very response you appear to dislike crony corporatism, not the free market.

Are you sure you know what free market capitalism is?

Here's the truth.... A truly free market where everything is synergistic and businesses make the right decisions for our nation is a fallacy. A utopian ideal that can never become reality due to an infinitely persistent factor that all free market evangelists consistently (and comically) try to leave out of their arguments... Human greed. This thread is LITERALLY and in your face an example of that being an indisputable fact. Corporations will ALWAYS choose profits over "the right thing to do".

It is clear that you don't. Well I'll give you a hint then: A free market cannot be had (and therefore seems utopian) when a government exists. They will always be at odds.

Governments want to control where money goes, and that creates monopolies. -Meanwhile a truly free market is in a delicate balance that requires all of the money to be going where consumers want it to go in order to survive... Governments will destroy this balance by their very existence.

People pretend they don't know that because they want desperately to believe that if the government would just get out of the way the real free market could emerge like a phoenix and save us all.

I don't pretend shit. I KNOW that greed is a natural force like hunger and fear in a market and should be treated as such. It is logical to be greedy. The way you seem to think is that greed has magical powers that will destroy a stable economy... Almost religious, if you ask me.

Not saying government alone is the only answer. But free market alone isn't either. And as long as we let the free market basically own the government (with money...) they'll continue to work them like puppets anyway.

You only say this because you haven't learned enough about free market economics. Check out Mises.org to catch up on how the world COULD be one day, but of course not until we find a way to remove ourselves from governments.

The problem isn't greedy corporations. The problem is weak, ignorant, ill-informed, needy sheeple that haven't the slightest amplitude for anything warranting wisdom, foresight or understanding. The problem is sheep who think the government can do things better than the private market because they haven't the sense to see 2 steps into the future. The problem is a gradual increase in socialism and stupidy.

Don't hold back, slayer; tell us how you really feel!

Myself I find it hard to choose who to blame exactly.

On one hand, the sheeple at the bottom are stupid and obviously too lazy as a whole to educate themselves and overthrow the powers that be at the top. On the other hand, those at the top, (yeah, the ones I can't prove exist) could simply decide not to do so much evil corporation-on-government manipulation and grant the world better lives without hardly any effort at all... So who is more to blame?

Afterall, if the people at the top wanted us to have a better educational system, it wouldn't be so hard for the people to see the problem they face and step up to stop it.