Xiaofan, On Tue, 12 Sep 2006 17:15:40 -0400, Xiaofan Chen wrote: > On 9/12/06, Howard Winter wrote: > > > Petrol prices in the USA a few years ago (say 5) were about 1/4 > > of those in Britain - now they're about 1/2 of our prices, so in real > > terms they have risen 100% over there - has it reduced driving > > mileage? Hardly. Would another 100% increase do so? No! > > How about another 100%? Another 1000%? Perhaps it will. No, there isn't a point where it suddenly becomes unviable to drive, unless it a *huge* rise in one go - say 10x overnight. Petrol costs thirty times what it did when I got my first car. Slow increases mean that people get used to them and carry on. And companies are never going to say to their managers / salesmen / delivery drivers / site engineers "You can't drive any more, you'll have to travel by bus", are they? Then there are plumbers, electricians, glaziers, washing-machine repairers, and so on, who have to drive to their places of work with the equipment and materials they need. Adding to their fuel costs just increases the cost of living for all, and will never reduce the fuel usage. > Of course this is all based on assumptions and I think it will not happen > any time soon. Just the same as the subject. Will engineer > rule the world? Not so soon... No of course not, they already have a job to do. But it would be nice if the top people in, say, engineering firms were engineers! > Why? Because we think politicians are more suitable for that job. ;-) No, it's because politicians are the ones who do it! > Leave the tough job of ruling the world to them so we can still have > people to discuss interesting topics in PIClist. ;-) I'd rather they all went on holiday for a couple of years, and left the rest of us to get on with things without the constantly moving targets that politicians produce by changing things just for the sake of it! Cheers, Howard Winter St.Albans, England -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist